If the child tosses at night. Sleep baby. Why does a child sleep badly night and day

17.03.2019

The baby sleeps restlessly

Everybody knows that children grow up in a dream, while restoring strength, they compensate for the loss of energy. When a child sleeps, his body fully develops and in case of a sleep disturbance of a small person, negative consequences may occur. Long sleep of newborns is completely normal and says that the child is developing properly. However, a very common phenomenon is sleep disturbance in newborns. This, as a rule, happens due to the occurrence of problems with the development of the infant's body, which may in the future have a negative impact on its health.

Why the baby sleeps restlessly

Restless sleep baby may be associated with violations of his diet or other troubles. This may be any disease, a violation of his living conditions.

The reasons for the restless sleep of an infant include the following factors:

Very often, anxiety during sleep of a baby is caused by the reason that traditional healers call the "subcutaneous bristle", another official name is lanugo. So called fine hairs that cover the body of a newborn baby. When the child is two weeks old, the setae fall out and normal bulbous hairs grow on their places. At this time, the baby's skin may itch, which causes a restless sleep.
The child may restlessly sleep from the heat, while he sweats, his skin becomes red and dry mucous membranes. You should open the window, water the baby and moisten the room.
Child restlessness can also be caused by cold. In this case, his skin gets a bluish tinge, his hands, legs and back feel cold. The baby should be warm and dressed.
A bad child’s sleep can be triggered by uncomfortable or dirty bed and dirty clothes. The kid starts screaming and a trace of a button or a seam can remain on his skin. You should examine him and replace his clothes.
Loud parties do not contribute sound sleep baby Parents should decide what is more important for them - their own fun or the health of their child.
Constipation can prevent a child from sleeping. In this case, he vainly teases and goes over with his legs, his stomach becomes hard, his stool is rare, and his stools harden and become dark in color. Before feeding the child should be held on the tummy, and put to sleep in a frog pose on the abdomen. It is necessary to feed it only with special mixes, to drink with weakly boiled water. You can smear the anus with baby cream and put special candles

What to do at night with restless babies

Infants have not yet had a clear distribution between sleep and active wakefulness. However, over the course of each month, its biological rhythms become more and more similar to ours. In order for the infant not to feel anxious at night, measures should be taken to prevent the discomfort and discomfort that he may begin to experience.

It is very important to replace the diaper in a timely manner, monitor the state of air humidity in the room and not allow the temperature in the nursery to rise above 22 degrees Celsius and not fall below 18 degrees on the same scale. In that case, if the child begins to experience discomfort during sleep, you can wake him up quite easily.

The child should be set to normal. day mode. Before going to sleep at night, the child should have at least four consecutive hours of wakefulness. If the child does not sleep in the daytime, it should be taken up with some kind of active activity involving physical activity, however, one should not overwork him. Not getting any physical activity, the child will sleep badly at night.

The child should be taught to fall asleep independently, for which purpose he should be laid in a crib and not carried in her arms while swaying. Children accustomed to their hands have difficulty falling asleep independently. The child should be taught to sleep in his room.

Baby restless during feeding

Breastfeeding is a great science and very often it happens that it does not flow quite smoothly. When feeding, the baby may be anxious, crying and acting up. Despite the fact that the child and the mother are endowed with nature with certain reflexes, they need some experience in order for the feeding to take place smoothly and calmly. Of particular importance when feeding is the position in which it is produced. It often happens that the restless behavior of an infant is due to feeding disturbances.

Causes of anxiety during feeding

During the first few weeks after the birth of the child, he and the mother gradually become accustomed to each other and the mother is much unclear in the behavior of her baby. Very often she does not understand why the baby is anxious during feeding and does not eat. There can be many explanations for this, which will be discussed below.

The first thing a nursing mother can think of is the lack of breast milk. Most great complexity at the same time there is the fact that very often the mother does not know how much milk her baby receives, how much milk he needs and how much of it she has at all. In order to find answers to all these simple questions, you should do a few simple steps:

first of all, to track how the child meets the need and draw the right conclusions. If after six days the mother receives six wet diapers, then the baby has enough milk;
it is absolutely normal to carry out feeding frequently. During the first few weeks of the baby’s life, he needs from eight to twelve breastfeeds throughout the day. In the beginning, most likely, the mother will have to constantly keep the child in her arms, since he will constantly ask for food for several hours and then fall asleep for several hours. After he learns to suck efficiently, the number of feedings will begin to decrease;
need to constantly monitor the weight of the child. After two weeks, the baby must regain its original weight, after which for three months to gain at least 200 grams within a week.

In that case, if the mother continues to pinch about the lack of milk she has, it makes sense to contact a specialist in lactation in order to get all the necessary advice and advice on how to increase the amount of milk from a woman, if she needs it.

The baby may be restless when the mother's breasts swell, which may occur during the first few weeks after delivery. To reduce swelling, you should hand out some milk and the breast will become softer, after which it will be easy for the baby to take it. A lot of milk should not be decanted, as this may cause its production. To reduce swelling and pain, cold compresses should be applied to the chest.
If mother flat nipples, the baby may also be anxious when feeding. To eliminate the phenomenon, you should wear special lining between feedings. Pulling the nipples helps to turn on the breast pump before the baby is attached to the breast. At the same time, the milk flow is activated, which helps the child to stop crying and start eating.
In addition, the child may be worried because of its incorrect position on the chest. The baby and his mother can be uncomfortable because there is little pressure on the breast, as a result of which the milk flow is disturbed. If the baby is very nervous, it is best to apply a feeding position in which the baby is placed on the side of the mother and applied to the nearest breast or applied to the breast horizontally. In these positions it is convenient to monitor the position of the baby's head. Thus it turns out well to direct the child to the chest and hold it in this position. He presses his nose and chin into the mother's breast and begins to suck better if the mother holds him tight.
Almost all children have various forms of gastroesophageal reflux expression. This name is a condition characterized by incomplete formation of the sphincter, which causes insufficient overlap of the entrance to the stomach. As a result, part of the milk with gastric juice is returned to the esophagus, causing the occurrence of heartburn. Impressions are quite unpleasant, to eliminate them in an infant one should maintain the vertical position of his body.

Reflux may occur during feeding. It can be avoided by keeping the baby upright and taking breaks while feeding. With the growth of a child, its muscles strengthen and reflux gradually disappears. If there are violations of the feeding regime of the baby due to the occurrence of reflux, you should consult a doctor because of the seriousness of the situation.

Perhaps the development on the mother's nipples yeast infection - thrush. At the same time, the nipples become brightly red and begin to itch after the end of the process. breast feeding they begin an unpleasant burning sensation. In this case, the baby may be somewhat more restless than usual when feeding. If thrush occurs, a woman should consult a doctor for a special course of treatment. Its necessity is explained by the fact that the infection has a fungal origin and can be dangerous both for the mother’s body and for her child.

Anxiety of a newborn child can be explained by several reasons. Below are some of them.

Almost all newborn babies suffer from flatulence. When feeding a child, a reflex of gases is launched, which is necessary to eliminate the objects of his life activity from the body. Their rapid release prevents the occurrence of constipation.

It takes very little time for breastmilk to pass through the digestive system of the infant, since mother's milk is easily digested. When sucking the breast of a child, you can often hear very distinctive sounds. Despite the fact that gases are observed in almost all children, some tolerate them better than others. Impact on the process and imposes the time of day at which feeding occurs, with flatulence most pronounced at the end of the day. A child may not want to let go of the mother's breast, which only increases flatulence. As the baby develops, the problem recedes.

At the very beginning of the feeding process, mother's milk has a high sugar content - lactose. This is the so-called "front" milk, produced in the first quarter of an hour of breastfeeding. If you continue to continue to feed the baby with the same breast, “back” milk is produced. It neutralizes lactose due to its richness in fats, due to which there is a decrease in the level of gas formation. Flatulence may increase due to an excess of lactose from a large amount of incoming front milk.

If the baby has not yet learned to suck well, he may begin to choke on mother's milk. At the same time he can throw his chest and start to get nervous and scream. In this case, the mother should, strongly pushing on the breast, decant the flow of milk, and then again attach her baby to it. You can express the milk before feeding, in order to ensure that it is possible to stop its release before the baby takes the breast. The baby should be fed from under the arm. When the baby grows up a little, he will be able to independently control the reflex of milk release, being in any position during feeding.

Constantly spinning, he has a disturbing sleep, often wakes up - he is sick, naughty, he wants attention or is banal to drink.

Trouble falling asleep

If it is difficult for your child to calm down before bedtime, pay special attention to how much you begin to lay him down and how much time it takes. Most children find it difficult to calm down due to extreme fatigue or overstimulation. When you set a routine for sleeping and feeding your baby, I strongly recommend that you help him learn how to fall asleep on his own. It will be hard to listen to him cry, but the child will quickly learn how to fall asleep himself. You can not leave it for more than 15-10 minutes before checking how things are. I helped hundreds of parents whose children had serious problems with sleep, and I can say that as soon as the child learns to fall asleep himself, he becomes happier and more relaxed. When you establish the correct daytime sleep, the night’s sleep will also improve. The following tips will help your child learn to calm down on their own:

If you allow the child to fall asleep at the breast or with a bottle, and then put in the crib, it is more likely that he will sleep restlessly. When he is 35-40 minutes after falling asleep will enter a phase of light sleep, it will be more difficult for him to fall asleep back without your help. If the baby falls asleep while feeding, put it on a changing mat and change the diaper. That should wake him enough so that he goes to bed in a drowsy bed.
Severe fatigue is the main reason why most children do not calm down and sleep badly during the day. If a child under the age of three months is allowed to stay awake for more than two hours in a row, he may be so tired that he will resist sleeping for another 2 hours. After three months, most children will stay awake a little longer, sometimes up to two and a half hours in a row. After an hour and a half of wakefulness, children should be carefully monitored so as not to miss the desire to sleep.

Another problem for young children is an excess of contact before bedtime. Everyone wants to caress the child a little bit. Unfortunately, because of this, the child may begin to worry and it will be difficult to calm him down. Your child is not a toy. Do not feel guilty by limiting contact with him in the first weeks of life, especially before bedtime.

Excessive stimulation at bedtime is another reason why children do not calm down. Children under six months should be given 20 minutes to calm them down before putting them to bed. With children older than six months, avoid games and activities that move them. With all children, regardless of their age, try not to talk a lot before bedtime. Speak in a quiet, calm voice, using the same simple phrases: “Good night, bear. Good night, doll. Good night". When you leave the room, do not constantly return to it to check the child.

Incorrect sleep associations can cause long-term sleep problems. The child must be kept awake in the crib and learn to sleep by himself. If the child already has the wrong associations for sleeping, this problem is rarely resolved without crying. Fortunately, most children learn to fall asleep themselves within a few days, if given the opportunity.

Early awakening

All babies and small children between 5:00 and 6:00 am enter a light sleep. Some calm down and fall asleep for another hour, but many do not. I believe that whether a child wakes up early depends on two factors. The first is the darkness in the nursery. I attach a lot of importance to the fact that the nursery is very dark, but I sincerely believe that this is why most of my children quickly fall asleep again when they go into a light sleep at 5: 00-6: 00 am. When the door is closed in the nursery and the curtains are drawn, it must be so dark that even the outlines of books and toys are not visible. The sight of these things may be enough to wake the child from a nap and make him want to start the day.

On how parents relate to early awakening in the first three months, it also depends on whether he will wake up early. In the first few weeks of life, a child who wakes up and eats at 2: 00-2: 30 may wake up around 6:00 in the morning and really want to eat. But this feeding must be carried out as night. It should occur as quietly and quickly as possible, in the light of a small night lamp and without talking and contacting views. Then the child must be put to bed again until 7: 00-7: 30. If possible, try not to change the diaper, because usually the children wake up.

When a child begins to sleep and eat closer to 4:00, at 6:00, he usually wakes up not from hunger. This is the only situation when I recommend parents to help the child fall asleep. At this stage, the most important thing is to quickly put him to sleep again, even if it means affection and a pacifier, before 7:00. The following are tips to help prevent an early awakening of a child:

Do not use a night light and do not leave the door open when you put the baby to bed. Studies show that in the dark the brain produces other chemicals in preparation for sleep. Even the slightest ray of light can be enough to wake the child when he enters the first phase of light sleep.

Children up to six months can wake up from the fact that they dropped a blanket. By experience, I can say that at this age, children sleep better if they cover and tuck them properly. Sheet should be put across the bed to fill the back side with at least 20 cm, and from the near side - 10. I also advise you to roll up a small towel and place it between the wall of the bed and the mattress from the near side.

Children who climb up the bed and crawl out from under the covers will sleep better if they are put in a light 100% cotton sleeping bag and tucked into a sheet as described above. Depending on the weather, blankets may not be needed.

When the child begins to move in the crib and learns to roll, I advise you to remove sheets and blankets and use only a sleeping bag. This will give the child the opportunity to move freely, and you do not have to worry that he will freeze at night. Choose a sleeping bag suitable for the season.

Do not cancel feeding at 10:30 pm until the baby is six months old and he begins to eat solid food. If he starts a period of rapid growth before he begins to eat solid writing, at this time he can be given more milk. This reduces the likelihood early awakening starvation, which can happen if it is too early to stop feeding at 22:30.

When the baby is more than six months old and you cancel feeding at 10:30 pm, you should encourage him to stay awake until 7:00 pm If the child enters deep dream before, it’s more likely to wake up before 7:00 in the morning.

Constant waking at night

Until the mother has milk, the newborn baby can wake up several times during the night and should be fed. By the end of the first week, a child weighing more than 3.2 kg should sleep four hours after feeding at 22: 00-23: 00, if he eats well during the day. More young children will have to be fed every three hours around the clock. In my experience, all healthy children who eat well at the age of four to six weeks can sleep for one long period of 5-6 hours. If I follow my regimen, it will happen at night. The main goal of my regime is to help parents organize feeding and sleeping for the child during the day to avoid frequent nightly awakenings.

How long a baby wakes up to feed at night depends on it. Some babies sleep six to eight weeks all night after feeding at 10:30 pm, others begin to do this between the tenth and twelfth weeks. Someone needs even more time. All children begin to sleep all night, when they are physically and mentally capable of this, if properly structured daytime feeding and sleep. The following are the main reasons for frequent waking up at night in healthy children under the age of one year:

Too much sleep during the day. Even the youngest children need to be awake for a while. After a day's feeding, encourage the baby to stay awake for an hour and a half. At the age of six to eight weeks, most children are able to stay awake for up to two hours in a row.

Not enough food in the afternoon. To avoid frequent night feedings, the baby must be fed six times between 7:00 and 23:00. To be in time, the day must begin at 7:00.
Insufficient portion at each feeding. In the first days of the child should be kept at one breast for at least 25 minutes. If the child weighs more than 3.6 kg, he must be given a second breast.
Babies who are breastfed often wake up at night several times if they have eaten badly at 10:30 pm They may need additional feeding.

In children younger than six weeks, there is a strong Moro reflex. They may wake up several times during the night from the sudden start. It will be better for these children to swaddle them in a light cotton sheet.
Older children wake up several times during the night because they knocked down the covers and they were cold or they were stuck with their feet in the lattice of the bed. A sleeping bag will not let them freeze or get stuck in the lattice.

The child had the wrong sleep associations. Between the second and third months, the sleep cycle changes and the child several times during the night enters a phase of light sleep. If he is used to being fed, rocked or given a pacifier to fall asleep, he will need the same kind of help so that he falls asleep again at night.

If parents leave the door to the nursery open or turn on the night light there, they are more likely to be woken several times during the night.
If milk feeding is reduced too quickly with solid food, the child will wake up at night from the real desire to get milk.

Most of my first children managed to survive their first year without all the colds and coughs that constantly tormented my second and third children. By the time most of the first-borns I was caring for had a cold, their sleep was already so orderly that they rarely woke up at night. The situation is different with the second and third children, because they usually catch cold much earlier than their siblings, and sleep disturbance is inevitable. Children younger than three months, if they are sick or have a cold, usually need help at night. Small child with a cold can suffer greatly, especially during feeding, because he does not know how to breathe through his mouth.

When a sick child needs attention in the evening and at night, everything must be done calmly and quietly. I believe that a sick child needs to rest more than a healthy one. You need to avoid a large number of guests and activity in the nursery in the evenings. When I need to care for a sick child who wakes up several times a night, it is much easier for me to sleep in the same room with the child. Because of this, I can quickly approach him and much less disturb the older children, because I am reading through the corridor.

I accidentally discovered that an older child, who no longer needs nightly feeding, after waking up, can wake up at night in search of the attention he received during his illness. In the first few nights I checked him and offered to drink cool boiled water, but when I realized that the child had fully recovered, I showed firmness and left him to fall asleep on his own. In my experience, parents who are not ready for this usually end up with long-term problems with the child’s sleep.

If your child does not have a cold or cough, then no matter how poorly the disease manifests, you should consult with your doctor. I have too often heard from frustrated parents about the lung infections of their children, which could have been easily avoided if the child had been shown to the doctor earlier. Too many mothers do not call a doctor to the child, being afraid of being considered neurotic, but any questions about the health of the child, even the most frivolous, should be discussed with the doctor. If your baby is sick, it is natural for you to literally follow the advice of a doctor, especially with regards to feeding.

Afternoon nap

Afternoon sleep is a fundamental part of my CP regime. Recent studies have shown that organized mid-day sleep is beneficial for the physical and psychological development of children under two years of age. As your child grows and becomes more active, this dream becomes a time of rest and recovery after the morning classes, and thanks to it, the child can enjoy communicating with you and the others in the afternoon.

Like many sides of the regime, it takes time to organize an afternoon nap, and you need to be patient and persistent until the child acquires this habit. When this happens, an afternoon nap will find tremendous value not only for your child, but also for you. Many of the mothers I worked with told me for years how vivacious the afternoon nap had become for them. In the first months of a child’s life, you can use this time for the rest you need so much. When your child begins to sleep all night long, during his afternoon nap, you can do homework, make the necessary phone calls, or even start working like
testify many mothers. This dream may persist for the second year of life, and for some children - the third. If you have a second child, and your elder is still enjoying an afternoon nap, it is invaluable.

In the early days of life, an afternoon nap may be restless, your child refuses to fall asleep, even if you offer him food. Minutes 30-45 after the child fell asleep, he enters the phase of light sleep. Some children wake up completely, and then it is important to teach them to go back to sleep on their own, if they managed to avoid wrong associations with sleep.

Sleep associations

During the first months of life, many children tend to nap in a car armchair or in a portable crib, which is very convenient because it gives parents more opportunities. Unfortunately, when a child becomes older and more active, he is unlikely to be able to sleep well or long enough in a car armchair. If this habit persists, it will be very difficult for the child to be put to bed during the day. Sleeping in a car armchair is hardly enough rest, and when a child gets older, he will rather sleep in fits and starts and after such a dream he becomes tired and irritable. The direct result of this may be that the child will not eat properly in the afternoon tea or fall asleep without drinking the full portion of evening milk. After that, he may wake up from hunger at night, and the next day you will feel tired, and so the situation will get worse and worse. You need to start putting him to bed in the dark as early as possible. If this is not possible due to the older child and the school schedule, try to put the baby in a stroller in the quietest part of the house so that he can sleep easily as long as possible.

If the child has the wrong associations with sleep, you will need to focus on getting the child to sleep properly, whenever he does. This is called helping the baby to sleep. Take him for a walk in a stroller or by car or put him to bed next to him and let him sleep for 2 hours. I usually find that if you do this for a week or ten days, you can correct the baby’s sleep cycle, and then it becomes easier to put him in a bed without any particular whims.

Babies who are weaned at six months may need more solid food or more milk. A child of about nine months every day needs at least 600 ml of milk. After nine months, the baby still needs 500-600 ml of milk per day. By the age of seven months, the child should eat three times a day and already go on solid food. If you have already weaned a child by the age of six months, you will need to quickly go through all the recommendations to find the right amount of food.

Young children can move feeding at 11:00 at 10:30, so you can divide this feeding and feed the baby just before bedtime. This way, you will be sure that the child is not hungry when he falls asleep.

Older children should have a second breakfast at 11:00. You can go back to feeding the baby just before bedtime for a portion of the feeding portion at 14:30. Try it for a week and see if it helps. If after a week it is obvious that the baby is really hungry, then you need to increase the amount of solid food per day, move the second breakfast to the previous time, and then cancel the feeding. Do this gradually over the next week.
If the child has finally switched to solid food and is no longer receiving milk, he still needs to drink plenty of water during the second breakfast — water or diluted juice — and also drink in the middle of the morning. Thirst can cause a child to wake up too quickly, especially in hot weather.

Daytime sleep

Observe the child’s morning sleep and make sure that he is sleeping on time and right time. Try to keep the baby awake no earlier than 9:00, and older children - not earlier than 9: 15-9: 30. If you see that the baby is sleeping too long in the morning, then it would be wise not to let it sleep so long in the afternoon. Afternoon sleep is ultimately more important because it is longer and corresponds to the child’s natural sleep cycles. Somewhere between the ninth and twelfth months, most children need to reduce morning sleep, and some can completely abandon it, especially if they sleep to 7: 30-7: 45. Other children may need a nap of 10-15 minutes. To give up your morning sleep, try reducing it by 10 minutes every three or four days until the child at the age of nine months is only sleeping for 20-25 minutes. If the child is very tired, you can move the time for lunch and put the child early.

What if something goes wrong

Your child cannot stay awake in the afternoon, because in the afternoon he sleeps only 40-60 minutes. In this case, it is best to allow him to sleep 30 minutes after feeding at 14:30, and then 30 minutes at 16:30. Due to this, the child should not overwork and become irritable, and you can return to the regime at 17:00 and normally put the child at 19:00. If your child sleeps between 3:00 pm and 4:00 pm, he can fall asleep again at 6:00 pm With a small child, you just have to accept it. I suggest you move the feeding from 17:00 to 16:30 and put him to bed at 18:00. An older child can go to bed at 18: 15-18: 30, and I suggest that you accordingly move snacks and bathing. When the child, as he grows older, will be able to abandon his afternoon nap, you can put him back at 19:00.

If you have adjusted the mode to allow it to sleep more due to the rejection of afternoon sleep, you can follow my recommendations at the beginning of each mode regarding the maximum amount of daytime sleep. Always try to wake the child at 17:00, if you want to lay it at 19:00.

Checklist

Eliminate hunger from possible reasons awakening.
Check if the child wants to drink - offer him water before he goes to bed.

Correct any incorrect associations with sleep, such as falling asleep in a car armchair, and try to have a well-fed baby go to bed in the dark. Try to make it happen at the same time - this is how the child develops the right habits. You will need patience.

Make sure the room is really dark and there is no light in it. If the eldest child's return from kindergarten or school at 12-12: 30 means that the baby will not be able to lay in the dark, at least try to lay it in a car chair or pram in the quietest part of the house.

Eliminate all other causes of arousal, such as noise or a blanket not carefully tucked. Remember that children under six months have a very pronounced Moro reflex, so it is very important to carefully tuck a blanket over the child, even if he does not wake up on his own.

When you check all the reasons listed in the checklist and give time to make a difference, you can be one of those few parents who still have problems. Such children are usually older than six months, and they have established strong abnormal associations with sleep. I must emphasize that this is the last resort, which should not be used in mild cases, and definitely cannot be used without the advice of your doctor or case manager who can advise you on a sleep clinic.

Night waking and cutting teeth

In my experience, children who are accustomed to the regime from the very early age and acquired healthy sleep habits, rarely worry about cutting teeth. Of the three hundred children I looked after, only a few were worried at night because their teeth were being cut. In these cases, the main concern was delivered only by the molars and only a few nights. I found that children who wake up when their teeth are cut are more likely to suffer from colic, and have developed abnormal sleep habits.

If your child has teeth cut, he wakes up at night, but quickly falls asleep again with a caress or pacifier, most likely, the real reason for awakening is not in the teeth. A child really suffering from cutting teeth falls asleep again with great difficulty. In addition, he shows signs of discomfort not only at night, but also during the day. I would advise you to study the section on constant nighttime awakenings and getting up too early to rule out other reasons why your child may wake up.

If you think your child’s nighttime wake-ups are caused by pain due to teething, I suggest you consult your doctor about the use of paracetamol. Although the pain of cutting teeth can lead to several hectic nights, it should never last for several weeks. If your child looks unwell, his temperature rises and he suffers from lack of appetite or diarrhea - be sure to show the child to the doctor. You should not assume that these are just teething symptoms. Very often I saw that the malaise that parents attributed to cutting teeth turned into an infection of the ear or throat.

When a baby is six months old, his life changes drastically. The child begins to actively develop new skills, he learns to sit, crawl, can hold hands and rearrange objects. Every day the toddler learns something new, all the world for him is miraculous and unexplored. The rapid maturation of children of six months is a real fun for parents, because it is so nice to watch a baby learn something new every day. However, this period has a significant disadvantage - poor sleep. Let's try to figure out why this is happening, and how parents can help their karapuz.

Norm for half year old children

It is worth considering that month child and half a year need a different amount of sleep per day. With age, the wakefulness period of babies increases, and the rest period decreases. In half a year, crumbs should sleep a total of 12-14 hours a day. On daytime sleep twice a time of 40-60 minutes is allotted, and at night a pipsqueak can sleep for a whole 7 hours. However, this is only average, one might even say, “idealized” data. In fact, everything happens completely differently.

A child of 6 months is bad and sleeps little at night if he is disturbed by any problems.It should be borne in mind that "bad sleep" is not a deviation from the norm for 10-20 minutes, but in the constant waking up of the baby at night, poor sleep, irritability and moodiness.

If children sleep 1-2 hours less than they should be, but at the same time they are consistently gaining weight and have no diseases, you should not panic.

What leads to a violation

If a child 6 months does not sleep well, parents should carefully monitor him for several days. There are many reasons why sleep crumbs can be broken. Some of them are completely harmless and are very easily eliminated without the help of specialists, but there are also factors that only a doctor can eliminate.

Insomnia of children can be provoked by violations in the following areas:

the physical condition of the baby;
emotional background of the child and parents;
feeding;
the process of growing up and active growth;
environment.

When, it is necessary to analyze his life. The problem may be associated with banal things, such as unsuitable pajamas.

You also need to carefully analyze the moral situation in order to eliminate problems with nervous overstrain. The day regimen plays an important role, since in a half-year-old child he should already be well-established.

Consider in more detail what can cause sleep problems, and how to deal with them.

Increased degree of emotional excitability

This factor can cause problems with sleep. Kids of six months of age grow very quickly, their skeleton develops rapidly, teeth start to erupt. The process can cause calcium deficiency, which adversely affects the work of inhibitory reflexes. A crumb very emotionally perceives everything and cannot quickly switch from waking to resting, because he falls asleep very badly and often wakes up at night.

Tips for parents:

Avoid emotional excitement of the child in the evening - in the afternoon you should exclude active games, communication with strangers, bursts of joy or frustration also will not benefit the child.
2 hours before bedtime, dim the lights in the room, talk more quietly, reduce the sound of the TV.
Take a relaxing massage before going to bed, bathe it in the bathroom with an infusion of soothing herbs.
Do not leave the baby alone, wait until he completely falls asleep.

Overwork

Six-month-old children are quite active, so they can do many interesting things during the day, learning new skills. All this can be too tiring to the crumb, and this leads to the production of stress hormone. In this case you will have to forget about a good night's sleep.

Tips for parents:

Do not over-excite nervous system baby after 18.00. For example, if dad comes home from work late, then having met him and having played, the child can no longer fall asleep normally, postpone communication in the morning, in order to give the crumb a rest. Or choose not too active games.
Make sure that the child sleeps normally during the day, if he is unable to regain his strength in the allotted time for rest, he will not be able to sleep at night either.
Avoid frequent long-distance trips and travels with the baby; such activities exhaust him greatly and do not allow you to rest quietly at night.

Emotional background mom

Children of any age have a strong emotional connection with their mother. They are keenly aware of any changes in her mood and react to them.

Often, baby's insomnia is associated with a broken emotional background of the mother. This problem must be solved immediately, since an unfavorable psychological situation may entail serious consequences.

What to do mom:

Eliminate any stress from your life - if you are nervous, your baby will be nervous too.
To walk more in the fresh air, it is advisable to do this before bedtime and with the child, so you can both tune in to a deep and long sleep.
Avoid negative emotions and irritation so that they do not indulge in the crumbs.
Do not break on the child, even if it is very difficult for you, it will only aggravate the situation, you should always keep yourself in hand.

Physical discomfort

The child often cannot fall asleep simply because he is uncomfortable. This may be due to the microclimate in the room, the bed itself, clothing.

The life of the baby should be thought out to the smallest details, only in comfortable conditions the baby can sleep peacefully.

Tips for parents:

Keep the nursery clean, wash the floor several times a day and wipe the dust.
Air often room child.
Maintain humidity in the range of 60-70%, and air temperature - 20-21 ° C.
Wear a new diaper before bed, or lay a clean diaper to sleep.
Choose bedding and clothing made from natural fabrics, underwear should not push or hamper the movement of the toddler.
Remove all the toys from the bed before going to bed so that they do not distract the child and he was not cramped.

Bad dreams

Often, half-year-old crumbs wake up in the middle of the night from nightmares. This phenomenon cannot be ignored, as it has good reasons for its occurrence. You can help your child alone or with the help of specialists.

Tips for parents:

If nightmares torture your baby rarely, just come to him at night when you hear sobbing or crying, and calm down until sleep resumes.
In the case when the nightmares are repeated often, you need to contact a neurologist.

Teething

It is exactly in half a year that children start teething. This is one of the most difficult episodes in the life of the crumbs and their parents. Children experience very severe pain, their body temperature may rise, and indigestion begins.

How to help the child:

Treat your gums with anesthetics with special anesthetics before going to bed, it is better to choose those that increase the softness of the soft tissues and contribute to the rapid eruption of teeth.
If your baby has a high body temperature, be sure to give him a painkiller.
Buy for the crumbs special rodents, they will simplify the process of teething teeth.
Problems with digestion can be solved with the help of special preparations that the pediatrician will prescribe.

Excessive energy

When a child realizes that he can walk and crawl, he no longer wants to sit in a crib or playpen all day. Scarce craves the test of their acquired skills, and therefore becomes more active. Often in a day it is not possible to spend all the energy, because the kids can not sleep normally at night - they are not tired.

What should parents do:

Long walk with the children on the street, fresh air will benefit them and tire quickly.
Teach the crumbs to walk, do not forbid them to aktivnichat, but only under supervision. Physical activity is exhausting, it promotes fast sleep and restful sleep.
Play with your child more often, it can be not only active, but also educational games, the child also spends a lot of energy on them.

Babes on breastfeeding begin to introduce lure from six months, the artifacts get it a month or a fortnight earlier. New products - this is a whole test for the digestive system, if you exceed their dosage, then the crumb will suffer from gas or indigestion all night.

How to properly enter the lure:

To try new products you need no more than half a teaspoon.
The menu should be expanded gradually so that the child does not show an allergy.
It is necessary to keep a “Food Diary” in which the names of new products will be recorded, the child’s reaction to them, the nature of his chair.

Diseases

The absence of a night's sleep during illness is absolutely normal for babies of six months. If the child has something to hurt, he becomes moody, starts crying, spinning in the crib.

Children of this age still can not explain what worries them, because it is important that parents respond adequately to the deterioration of the health of the crumbs.

What to do to mom and dad:

Inspect the child from head to toe, check for changes in the skin, ears, eyes, mouth.
Measure the baby's body temperature, if it is elevated, give antipyretic.
Trace where the crumb pulls his hands, most often the kids try to touch exactly the place that hurts them.
Call a local doctor, if the condition is severe, then an ambulance.

In conclusion

Not all babies of half a year can sleep without rest at night for 7 hours. This age is quite bright for the child himself, he is accompanied by new events and active knowledge of the surrounding world. This can cause a psychological and emotional imbalance that negatively affects the quality of sleep.

Also, children sleep poorly because of their physiological characteristics or the improper organization of their life.

However, there are situations when a sleep disorder causes a disease. In time to identify the cause of the problem with a night rest, closely follow the toddler and changes in his behavior and well-being.

What can bother a child at night? To know this is very important not only for the sake of your own comfort, but also for the sake of the child's health.

The daily rhythm of the newborn is cyclical. First dominated by a 90-minute cycle of sleep and wakefulness. At the age of 2-8 weeks, a 4-hour cycle is manifested, which is fairly stable up to about 3 months. After 3 months, the baby can sleep all night, waking up only for feeding.

Possible reasons that the child does not sleep well:

One of the most common causes of sleep disorders in newborns are abdominal pain, which usually occurs two weeks after birth. Half of them get better by two months, and some will experience pain for up to four or five months. The exact cause of colic is unknown, presumably cow's milk is to blame. It is known that the most common pain in the stomach is worried about breastfed babies if mothers consume more than 0.5 liters of cow's milk per day. In addition, these pains may be associated with the composition of infant formula.

Often, chronic sleep disorders may be due to allergies to salicylates, which are contained in aspirin, food additives (yellow dye tartrazine E 102) and some vegetables and fruits (tomatoes, citrus fruits, raspberries). A diet with the exception of salicylates significantly improves sleep in a few days. In any case, before you risk introducing something into your child’s diet or changing yours, consult a pediatrician.

Another reason that a baby sleeps poorly may be teething. In this case, soothing gels and massaging the gums with ice can provide effective help.

The cause of poor sleep can often be associated with congenital diseases of the central nervous system - encephalopathies. Gynecological diseases in pregnant women, your bad habits and transferred stress can become a trigger for their development.

The cause of poor sleep can be brain tumors.

Severe anxiety at night in babies causes both ear diseases (otitis) and dysbiosis. All this is accompanied pretty severe painand the baby does not sleep well.

Sometimes irritability and poor sleep are characteristic of children suffering from pinworms. The child is not only worried about itching, but his nervous system is constantly being poisoned by toxins secreted by pinworms.

Infectious diseases can also lead to sleep disorders - flu, meningitis, encephalitis, and simply heat (38-40 degrees).

Child can be tormented by terrible dreams, leading to sudden waking up. It has been scientifically proven that a baby dreams in the womb from the 25-30th week of pregnancy. It is still not known why these dreams arise, what dreams the child and what is the role of dreams in the development of the child. According to one of the theories, dreams in children are their gene memory, which is seen as in a cinema and provides the brain with necessary information, as well as develops feelings and thinking. Bad sleep can disrupt physical and mental development baby

In older children, the cause of "insomnia" often lies behind various night terrors.

From three to five years, it is rare for any of the children to avoid the fear of the dark. As a rule, during this period, the child becomes acquainted with the book and cartoon negative characters. Their images are so bright that the child begins to fear meeting them, left alone in a dark room.

At five to seven years old, some children start thinking about death. Most often, they avoid frank conversations with their parents on this topic simply because this is a completely incomprehensible and mysterious phenomenon for them. But, if someone from the family dies in the family, the child worries very deeply, although apparently it does not show this. The moment of falling asleep in a child in some cases begins to unconsciously be associated with the moment of departure from life.

More common for this age of fear - the fear of the elements. In today's boys and girls, it is fueled in no small measure by the popular and uncontrollably shown on television disaster films about fires, earthquakes, floods, tornadoes, etc.

Seven years is the age of the first school bell. When, after the celebrations, the first working days begin, new fears often come with them: fear of an unsuccessful answer, teacher disapproval, or unkind classmates. The child is afraid to seem ridiculous, weak or stupid. And if at this moment he does not find sympathy with his parents, fears are easily fixed, after which problems with sleep begin. Putting to bed, the child cannot get rid of the thought that the next morning a school nightmare awaits him. Trying to delay time, he deliberately lingers in front of the TV and is even ready to sit late at the desk, doing his homework much longer than is required.

Insomnia is also caused by mistakes in the upbringing of the child, when the parents themselves create a situation conducive to the occurrence of sleep disorders. This non-observance of sleep when the child is laid to sleep every day at different times, noisy games before bedtime. The child does not sleep well, if you raise your voice at him, scream.

The restless sleep of the child suggests that the baby has something wrong, maybe something hurts. Therefore, we must try to find out the cause of poor sleep and first of all try to eliminate it. Causes of restless sleep can be, in particular: colic, rickets or any vitamin deficiency, neurological disorders (or the child was too excited before bedtime), teething, weather changes in a meteorological child.

Recipes Vanga from restless sleep in a child

There can be many causes of insomnia in children: overexcitement at bedtime, indisposition, defacement, etc. For the treatment of childhood insomnia, Wang offered the following remedies:

Early in the morning, when dew falls on the grass, spread a clean white sheet on the meadow and thoroughly saturate it with dew. Then wrap the baby in the sheet, let him sleep an hour and a half, until the sheet dries on it.
Giving a child to drink 1/4 cup of pumpkin broth with honey at night: for 1 cup of water - 200 g of ground pumpkin and 1 tablespoon of honey. Boil the pumpkin for 15 - 20 minutes and add honey in the cooled broth.

Chamomile decoction without tongue: one tablespoon of chamomile herb without flowers with flowers, pour one cup of sweetened boiling water, cook for 15 minutes. Give the child in the form of heat for one hour before bedtime to 1/4 cup.

Infusion of valerian root: one tablespoon of chopped valerian root drug pour a glass of boiling water. Boil for 15 minutes over low heat. Insist 45 minutes, strain. Take the children one teaspoon three times a day.

From the evil eye, fear and insomnia in children helps Valerian. At night, you need to bathe the child in the water broth of valerian, so that sleep would be even and calm.

You can bathe the children in the broth of the grass of the present. For a bath, you need five tablespoons of grass of a bed of present per one liter of boiling water. Insist half an hour, strain into the bath. Immediately after bathing, you need to put the child to bed.

Folk remedies treating restless sleep

Pour 1 teaspoon of dill juice and 1 teaspoon of honey with 1 glass of milk. Store in the refrigerator no more than a day, at room temperature no more than half an hour. Give children 1 teaspoon after a heated meal to improve sleep.

Put valerian root wrapped in a gauze cloth at the head of the child so that the child sleeps more easily.

Pour 1 dessert spoon of chamomile flowers with a pharmacy with 1 cup boiling water and leave for 1 night. Strain and give the child 1 teaspoon 5-6 times a day so that the child sleeps more easily.

Pour 1 tablespoon of fresh chopped dill or dill seeds with 2 cups of water. Insist, strain, give the child 1 teaspoon for the night.

There is an opinion that all small children sleep a lot. But in reality, many newborn babies often “confuse” day after night, wake up every few hours, shudder or sob. In adults who do not experience stress, sleep problems do not arise, which can not be said about children, especially those who are under six months. We need to understand why babies have difficulty sleeping.

Sleep is divided into phases that alternate. During the slow sleep phase, the person completely relaxes and does not experience dreams. Healthy adults sleep deeply and undisturbed throughout the night. However, at night, a person experiences a phase fast sleep - it is susceptible to sounds, makes movements (turns over, spreads arms). At this phase, a person dreams.

All babies sleep "fast." This is due to insufficient maturity of the nervous system. It is for this reason that young children sleep restlessly and often wake up in the middle of the night. If a child in the first months of life is overworked, has experienced stress or fright, the problem with sleep will only get worse. The baby still does not know how to cope with their emotions, so a peaceful sleep will become an impossible task for him. But adults can help their baby, the main thing is to know how to do it.

Lack of sleep

Babies do not have a clear sleep schedule, so parents can not accurately calculate how many hours a day their child sleeps. The children of the first months of life sleep not only in the crib and stroller, but also in the arms of adults, as well as near the mother's breast. If the crumb closes his eyes for at least ten minutes and snores peacefully - he is sleeping. A young mother should keep track of how many times a baby is sleeping. If a baby, for example, sleeps every hour for five minutes, it is unlikely that he will sleep for three or four hours during the day.

Restless sleep in half a year

It often happens that up to six months the baby did not experience difficulties with a night rest, but by the first half of the year the dream suddenly becomes restless and weak. What is the reason?

At six months, the life of the baby becomes diverse and interesting - the baby learns to move, gets acquainted with the new food and plays. By the end of the day, the baby gets a lot of vivid impressions, because he has the opportunity to learn about the world around him. However, even positive emotions tire the child, which explains the fact that the baby does not sleep well at night.

Bedding

Children who are tired of new impressions by the end of the day are naughty and crying before going to bed. The thing is that kids want to sleep, but emotional stress keeps them from calming down, which is why they experience moral and physical discomfort. This is especially true of children who are entertained by their parents before bedtime with active games, lively music and cartoons.

If the mother is late in preparing the baby for sleep at least half an hour, the sensitive baby will certainly respond to the failure of the schedule with a cry. It is for this reason that the baby should be on time, not deviating from the daily routine, laid on a night's sleep. An excited child will be helped to calm down such procedures as:

warm bath;
breastfeeding;
lullaby;
motion sickness

In the room where the baby sleeps, you need to dim the lights. Computer screens and TV should be turned off at least an hour before bedtime.

Motion sickness

Most children of the first year of life can not fall asleep on their own and sleep badly, so parents use various techniques that help the baby calm down. Motion sickness is an effective measure that allows the baby to fall asleep quickly and quietly. Many mothers try not to accustom the baby to motion sickness in her arms, fearing that the pussy will quickly get used to this ritual and will not be able to fall asleep on its own. But these fears are unfounded, because children of the first year of life physically need maternal warmth and rhythmic swaying.

The motion sickness really helps the baby to fall asleep, and there is an explanation. When a woman bears a baby, the crumb calms down with rhythmic movements of the mother's body. After birth, the child also responds positively to the rhythmic swing and falls asleep without difficulty.

When the mother takes the baby in her arms, he feels the warmth of a loved one, which also has a positive effect on the children's nervous system.

Joint dream

If a child of six months does not sleep well at night, the parents decide to organize joint sleep. This approach has undoubted advantages:

parents get enough sleep;
the crumb feels not so lonely, as in a separate bed, and therefore sleeps better;
mom easier to organize night feedings.

However, in many babies, joint sleep causes a firm reluctance to sleep in my crib. There are often cases when kindergarten children flatly refuse to fit separately. To prevent this from happening, co-sleeping is resorted to as a last resort. It is not recommended to sleep with the baby in one bed all night long - if the baby is fast falling asleep, it can be shifted to the sleeping place for children.

When will sleep improve?

It is noted that the baby begins to sleep better when it stops eating breast milk. After weaning, children become independent. If the baby does not eat at night, his digestive organs are inactive, so the crumb is not disturbed by the rumbling in the stomach or swelling in the intestines. However, each mother should make every effort to breastfeed the baby for at least one year.

By the age of two, almost all children can fall asleep on their own. If a grown-up baby sleeps badly at night (sobs, cries, shudders), and also he has other behavioral disturbances - aggression, hysteria without cause and constant fear, you should visit a child neurologist.

How to stack a child

In order for the baby of the first months of life to fully relax at night, you need to follow some simple rules. The child is laid every day at the same time. A couple of hours before bedtime, they do not play active romps and do not attend unfamiliar places with the child. But a walk in the fresh air for a couple of hours before night rest. Before going to bed the baby should be peaceful and calm.

Bathing is a great way to calm an excited child. Half a year old toddler can already bathe in a large bath. Swimming perfectly relieves muscle tension and soothes the baby. Small children can safely swim with a special inflatable circle, which is fixed on the neck. However, if the child will be active for more than ten minutes, he will be even more energetic, therefore, the time of water procedures is limited.

The temperature of the water in which the baby is bathing does not exceed thirty-six degrees.

You can not put on a night sleep hungry child. Children of the first months of life react sharply to the feeling of hunger, which interferes with normal sleep, so they feed the baby before laying down.

The room where the child is resting should be well ventilated. It is also recommended to equip it with a humidifier, because children's body reacts badly to hot dry air.

The clothes in which the baby sleeps should be “breathable” and comfortable. In a bed a cotton sheet is laid. Pillow children of the first months of life is not needed. As for the posture, the six-month-old crumb can already comfortably sit in the crib for himself.