Parents are really scared by night tantrums in a 2-year-old child. Komarovsky advises to consult a specialist with frequent nightly tantrums. After all, this indicates that the baby’s nervous system is exhausted, perhaps something hurts him or he has nightmares (again, against the background of a nervous strain). There are one-time attacks that are no longer repeated. Today we will talk about the causes of nocturnal tantrums in a 2-year-old child, which are repeated stably. We also learn how to deal with such a problem.
Unstable schedule
The cause of night tantrums in a 2-year-old child can be instability in the daily regimen. Especially acute kids react to a sharp change of regime. For example, he was just sent to a kindergarten, where everything is scheduled by the hour: classes, games, sleep hour, walks and so on. At home, the child had a completely different regime, he could play whenever he wanted, sleep as he was tired, eat as he needed, and walk only with his mother or father. In the kindergarten, children are taught a different routine, and he plays on the street now with the teacher and other kids.
If the child has not yet attended kindergarten, then a schedule must be set. The baby should wake up and fall asleep at the same time. Eat on the clock, walk on schedule. In the future, this will help to easily adapt to the kindergarten mode, and the changes will not affect the psyche of the baby.
Adults easily experience changes such as a shift in lunch or rest, and children still have a very weak nervous system, and any changes for them are real stress.
Another cause of night tantrums in a 2-year-old child may be an increase or decrease in daylight hours. For example, they put him to bed when it was already dark, but here it was light. Or vice versa - they went to bed when it was still light, and now it’s dark around, and against this background, the baby may have nightmares or, upon sudden awakening, fancy something.
Busy evening
Children’s night tantrums in a 2-year-old child can occur against the background of overwork in the afternoon. Many people like to go shopping after a daytime nap, take their kids to entertainment centers. And most often adults go to visit in the evening.
The child's saturated program should be before daytime sleep, in the afternoon he is very tired. Advice to parents: at least an hour before bedtime, you need to collect all the toys, persuade the child to play calm games, take a bath, watch a good cartoon, read a fairy tale. An hour before bedtime, the baby should calm down morally. Games in entertainment centers or visiting guests should be completely ruled out. If you need to get out of the house at this time, it is better to ask grandmothers, aunts, nannies, or other people close to the child to sit with him.
Lack of day rest
It is this factor that can provoke night tantrums in a 2 year old child. Until this age, children rest during the day without fail. With the onset of two years, many mothers and fathers make a mistake: the baby does not ask to sleep, well, let him play, he will fall asleep in the evening earlier and sleep better all night. You can’t give up daytime sleep. For a child, a whole day is a very long period, the baby's body must definitely rest for a while.
Many children really don’t feel tired, and they refuse to sleep for an hour, call them to run away, they may even start acting up. It's okay, try to calm the child as much as possible, he will surely fall asleep.
Disease
Night tantrums in a 2-year-old child can be triggered by an onset or existing disease, accompanied by pain or fever. Assess the condition of the baby for the whole day: were there any prerequisites for the disease. Ask if something hurts, measure the temperature, even if the forehead is not hot.
Stable recurring nocturnal tantrums in a 2-year-old child, when there are no signs of the disease, the schedule is stable and there is no overwork, can signal high intracranial pressure or an unbalanced psyche. It is impossible to identify this yourself, you need to see a doctor.
Nightmares
Tantrums at night in a child can be caused by nightmares. The cause of nightmares in a dream can be cartoons viewed before bedtime. Today there are a lot of cartoons (especially animated series), which featured villains, monsters, evil robots and other evil spirits. For a child, especially a two-year-old, watching such programs is harmful and dangerous, they are not best displayed on the psyche.
Do not turn on cartoons at night for the kid at all, unless these are stories about Winnie the Pooh or other goodies (with no villains). For example, Smeshariki, Soviet and Disney cartoons are great. And best of all, before going to bed do not turn on the baby’s TV at all, play a calm game, read a fairy tale.
Even if the child is just playing, running, do not turn on the action movies and horrors. The kid can see something out of the corner of his eye, and his brain picks up screams, shootings and other unpleasant noise, which in consequence can cause a nightmare and hysteria. Do not watch TV loudly while the baby is sleeping. Any loud sound can provoke a nightmare or a sharp waking up of a child, after which tantrums often occur.
Another reason for nightmares: someone abruptly (accidentally, or specifically during the game) scared the baby, jumped around the corner, or the child ran a lot, hid, tickled him. Such active games should be held only in the daytime, at least an hour before bedtime, hyperactive pastime should not be allowed.
Adverse psychological situation in the family
Children react sharply to the situation in the family. If parents swear, drink, scandals and even fights happen - all this affects the psyche of the child.
The kid can get nervous strain, even when parents scold the older brother or sister for the deuce received at school, during homework, for the lack of order in the room and so on.
You can’t shout at a two-year-old baby, let alone slap him for some pranks or sloppiness.
Always, everything and everyone can be explained calmly. Avoid scandals at home, especially in the presence of children, and moreover, do not yell at them. Children's psyche is very weak. First, nightmares, tantrums may appear, and then more serious psychological disorders.
Conversation with the kindergarten teacher
The cause of night tantrums in a child may be that he is offended in kindergarten. Other children can become abusers, even the nanny and the teacher himself. We don’t see what is happening in the garden group, and the teachers can hide something.
Bring the teacher to an open conversation. Find out if there was inappropriate behavior on his part (he slapped your child or another in front of his eyes), or if the teacher or nanny cursed. This can be traced. Just linger for a while in the garden, come there a day or earlier than usual for the child, talk with other parents. It is also necessary to find out if other children are offending the baby, if there was an incident during the games (he fell badly, got into a fight, hit and so on).
Night hysteria in a child of 2 years: what to do?
So, you put the baby to bed, went about their business or went on vacation too. And suddenly in the middle of the night there is a heart-rending cry. What to do in a situation where the baby does not respond to the fact that you have already come, breaks out of his hands and continues to scream strongly? Specialist advice for night tantrum in a 2-year-old child will help parents quickly recover and calm the baby.
- In no case do not succumb to panic, because this condition is transmitted to the child, and we do not need to aggravate his condition. Pull yourself together, because at the moment you are the guide of the baby from a nightmare to a calm reality. Start talking with your child, but without worry, calmly and measuredly.
- Show that the baby is not alone, remember some of his favorite fairy tales or a funny occasion, calmly talk with the baby.
- Body contact will also help calm a frightened child. Hug the baby, gently stroke the back, lie down next to him.
What to do after the first tantrum?
If this was an isolated case, then do not rush to resort to the help of drugs. Pediatrician Yevgeny Komarovsky advises generally to use medicines in a pinch. According to him, sleep normalization is not a drug treatment, but a correction of conditions.
Install a soft light in the child’s bedroom, and ventilate the room before going to bed. Do not overfeed your child before going to bed, but do not put him hungry. The food should be light, yogurt, milk with biscuits or a glass of sweetened kefir / fermented baked milk are perfect.
Drug solution
With nocturnal tantrums in a child of 2 years old, only a specialist should prescribe medication and only after establishing the cause of anxious sleep. You should not prescribe pills to the baby yourself, they can only do harm.
Typically, to improve sleep, prescribe a course of "Magnesium B6", "Glycine", soothing teas, for example, "Evening Tale". All these funds will not harm the baby, but still you can not start to give them to the child without the appointment of a doctor who will establish the correct dosage and frequency of admission.
Folk remedies
How to save a 2 year old child from night tantrums? Drugs may not be required at all, because there are a lot of folk ways to improve children's sleep and get rid of nightmares.
- Aromatherapy Before going to bed, bathe the baby in warm water, add a few drops of lavender oil to the bathroom. This tool has long been used for deep and calm sleep. The same oil can be dripped onto the far corner of the pillow or blankets of the child. After a couple of hours, it will begin to smell fragrant, giving the baby a restful sleep.
- Sleepy tea can be bought at the pharmacy, or you can make it yourself. Brew in a glass of boiling water 0.5-1 tablespoon of hop cones, let it brew and cool, and before going to bed, let the baby drink a third of the glass.
- "Sleepy Cocktail" will appeal to the sweet tooth. Crush a banana with half a glass of milk (warm) and half a glass of chamomile tea. Add two drops of motherwort and a spoonful of honey.