Young and inexperienced parents constantly have to solve new problems for them. Often the child’s poor sleep becomes a concern. Having brought the baby from the hospital, they notice that their baby does not sleep at night. What to do in this case? In no case do not take any measures without consulting a local pediatrician or a patronage nurse!
Child's sleep problems are familiar to every parent
Difficulties with sleep occur at any age. In infants, they are only in exceptional cases associated with functional health disorders.
No need to be afraid that a small child does not sleep at night. What to do in this case in the first place? Find out if he really is awake all the time. Most likely, upon closer examination, it turns out that the parent's fears are exaggerated. After observing the baby during the day, you can understand whether he is resting enough. If he is active, inquisitive, eats well and is not capricious, then he gets enough sleep. Despite the fact that each person has his own need for sleep, due to physiological characteristics, children should sleep more than their parents.
Different duration of sleep depends on age and diet
Up to a year, sleep requirements change very quickly. If in the first month the baby sleeps almost constantly, taking only twenty-minute breaks for feeding, then gradually the intervals of wakefulness increase. Breast babies who can access their mother’s breasts at any time often give the impression of never sleeping. In fact, the baby can constantly hold his chest and at the same time sleep, waking up only after a new portion of milk has accumulated. He sucks it and falls asleep again, chewing on the nipple. Mother thinks that he does not sleep at all, but he, on the contrary, sleeps almost all the time.
Introducing complementary foods, the parent teaches the baby to eat larger portions, to receive food not as often as before. Therefore, gradually wakefulness intervals increase. Then it becomes clear how different the child’s behavior is at different hours of the day - he plays with rattles, catches his legs in funny booties, tries to talk (walks) or quietly sniffs at his mother’s chest. Before panic and running to the doctor with an alarming question: “A month-old baby does not sleep at night. What to do ?! ”, think - maybe your baby regains strength when it is applied to the chest? Most often it turns out that way.
How to find out what worries a child?
In order to understand what to do so that the child sleeps well at night, you need to find out what can bother the baby. If the mother does not have experience with small children, then she will experience great difficulties with her firstborn, because he himself does not know how to say what is stopping him. Mom needs help and support. She can be provided by an older relative, a friend who had the same problems, and a district doctor.
When the baby does not sleep, he screams, moves restlessly, which means that he is ill. Something needs to be done. Encyclopedic guides of young mothers and Internet resources often turn out to be very good helpers if there is no opportunity to talk with a competent person. From them you can learn the hygiene rules for children of different ages, find out the possible causes of crying of newborns, as well as find tips on what to do so that the child sleeps at night, eats well during the day, etc.
The duration of daily sleep depends on the age of the baby. A newborn sleeps eighteen hours a day, waking up only in order to feed. Up to a year, every two months, the required amount of sleep is reduced by an hour. You need to understand that this process is consistent. Only in the first three months, changes that occur with the baby are immediately visible. At this time, it is little dependent on external factors. He only eats, sleeps, defecates and spends a lot of energy getting used to a new reality for him outside his mother’s belly.
Diaper rash - cause restless behavior
Growing up, the child begins to react more actively to the environment. New food, new impressions of toys and people, change of weather (jumps in atmospheric pressure) - all this significantly affects the well-being of the baby. Unable to say in words what upsets him, he has the opportunity to convey information to his parents in only a few ways.
First of all, this is the mood of the baby. If he is capricious, sluggishly reacts to your attempts to play with him, cries out sharply, makes inappropriate movements, some parents believe that the time has come to reconsider his diet, sleep and wakefulness. In an unbalanced mode, the child sleeps very poorly at night. What to do first? Before changing the diet and daily routine, check to see if it has appeared between the folds of skin, in the groin, in the area of ​​the diaper rash from diapers or from too warm clothes. In most cases, this works, because even slight redness hurts the child. The baby should be bathed in warm water with a decoction of a string, the inflamed places should be greased with sea buckthorn oil or a special baby ointment and no longer wrapped too tight. In a very warm room, you can let him stay in bed without clothes. In the future, it is necessary to carefully monitor the freshness of the linen and change diapers and diapers in time.
Establishing a child’s sleep, we build future relationships in the family
If your baby does not have diaper rash, but due to an ill-conceived regimen, the child sleeps very poorly at night, what should I do to accustom him to a more convenient and more adult daily routine?
It is very useful to take a half-hour walk through the fresh air before going to bed. The room where the baby sleeps should be aired in the morning and evening. Poor sleep is often the result of oxygen starvation. It is recommended to install an air ionizer and an aquarium with fish in the children's bedroom. In this room, it’s better not to play afternoon games. Her whole environment should create a feeling of peace, relaxation and sleep. Even if the number of rooms in the apartment does not allow to separate several of them into separate bedrooms for each family member, then when a small child appears, one of the rooms should become a common oasis of peace, freshness and peace for him and his parents. Let her mom, dad and baby sleep in it. As you know, with their parents, children sleep better and stronger. They are not tormented by nightly fears - they do not experience feelings of loneliness and abandonment. In addition, the daily ritual performed before going to bed is of great importance.
When raising children, young parents at all times and in all parts of the world always faced the same problems: a newborn, one-year-old, or an older child does not sleep at night. What to do? It is clear that a healthy baby will be happy to sleep or doze off next to his mother, father, grandmother or grandfather, but it is impossible to be with him constantly. And he sensitively monitors all attempts by unfortunate parents to quietly leave the room. In this sense, modern mothers and fathers are much better than their predecessors. They are greatly assisted by electronic equipment. They have the opportunity to connect headphones to the gadget and watch a movie, play a computer game, read an interesting online magazine or book while the baby falls asleep. This must be used. In past times, children were given nipples soaked with calming drugs, in particular poppy broth, alcohol tinctures, etc. After all, it’s too early for an adult to pack at eight to nine, and the baby does not want to be alone.
It is important not to overdo it with electronic assistants. Live communication with the child is of great importance both for his development and for relations within the family in the future. In addition, it is necessary to instill communication skills, without which it is very difficult in adulthood. If a one-year-old child does not sleep well at night, what should be done so that this does not cause a chronic lack of sleep for his parents? It is very difficult for working parents to feed, plant, pot, play and communicate with the baby every time he wakes up. Sooner or later, the kid will have to be accustomed to the fact that people sleep at night, but are awake, play and communicate during the day. So it is in our world.
How to prepare for bed
It will help to make quiet relaxing games, such as laying dolls and teddy bears. Evening classes should not strain attention. Intensive developmental activities should be left for daytime. Plasma or LCD screens should also be excluded. I must say that the contemplation of pictures (films, anime, etc.) from electronic media adversely affects the psychosomatic development of children. Better read him a book or tell a fairy tale. This will calm the nervous system and set you up for rest.
Plants help relax
Herbal medicine is an indispensable assistant for difficulties with falling asleep. Baths with extracts of chamomile, motherwort, mint or lemon balm, decoctions of oak bark, pine needles, cedar, fir, etc. are very relaxing. It is useful to drink evening tea with chamomile, linden, raspberries, motherwort or half an hour before bedtime, after bathing. A pillow with non-blooming cones of dry hops will give a sound and healthy sleep to both the child and his parents.
The beneficial effects of pets
In children, a calming effect is provided by classes with pets. If this is an aquarium with fish, then you can feed them, see how they swim, talk about it, listen to the murmur of water. After laying the child in bed, invite him to watch the inhabitants of the aquatic world. An aquarium illuminated by a weak light is an excellent sedative that acts non-verbally on the psyche only through visual contact.
Before going to bed, a lesson with hamsters, a rabbit, a dog or a cat will have a very pacifying effect on an overexcited outdoor child. These fluffy animals can be stroked, fed, and see how they mess around. The rumbling of a cat will lull even the smartest kid. The presence in the house of an animal, even a reptile, such as a water turtle or a slow iguana, an exotic insect or bird, always reassures. Does your child not want to sleep at night? What to do? Get a pet. Just try especially carefully to observe the rules of hygiene.
Calm down and pull yourself together before puzzling how to lull a child and once again ask the question: "What to do?" A child does not sleep at night if he is hungry, overexcited or has something to hurt. Children's fears of secret monsters is a fiction. Kids do not know anything about them until they see it on TV or another gadget. You don’t entertain your baby with horror movies?
Teething is a common cause of insomnia
You fed your little one, stroked it on the head, back, or tummy, and yet your baby does not sleep well at night. What to do in this situation? Measure his temperature. Perhaps he got sick. With babies who are breast-fed and isolated from external infections, this is extremely rare. Most often, an increase in temperature indicates teething. In this situation, the baby's salivation increases, he tries to take something in his mouth, he screams sharply. Maternal breasts are the best soothing and analgesic for him. In some cases, you can use anesthetic gel designed to lubricate the gums, but it can only be given after consulting a pediatrician. When a month-old baby does not sleep at night, the same doctor will tell you what to do.
If the tummy hurts, the baby cannot sleep peacefully
In infancy, children often suffer from colic or gas. A thin tube inserted into the anus will help ease the condition and free the intestines. It should be hollow and have smooth edges. The easiest way is to use a plastic tip from a small children's syringe.
A colicky newborn baby does not sleep at night. What should parents do if they are afraid to divert gases by themselves using a tube? Put the baby on the back, place a soft diaper on the tummy and stroke the tummy with your palm clockwise. Start with a small circle around the navel and gradually increase the diameter in a spiral.
Flexion and extension of the knees can help. This exercise is known as a bicycle. Lay the child on the back and make a few movements with his legs. Should help.
What to do - the baby does not sleep at night after feeding? In this case, he needs to burp the air. Often, newborn babies, not knowing how to suck properly, swallow a lot of air. This makes them uncomfortable. Take the child in your arms, hold it upright, slightly pressing it to you. Stroke the back. As soon as he burps, it will become easier for him and he will be able to sleep.
Vaccines create short-term problems, but you cannot do without them.
What to do - the child does not sleep at night after vaccination? This is a common situation. There is nothing to be afraid of. You just have to wait. Most children have a fever after this procedure, they become restless, scream a lot. Carry your baby in your arms for more time, protect from sudden changes in temperature, do not go out with him for a couple of days. Vaccination is a difficult test for a tiny person, but it is necessary. Some parents make the mistake of refusing to vaccinate their child with polio, mumps, rubella and other diseases. A good doctor will not send him for vaccination if he is too weak or there is a threat to his health.
Medicines
Self-medication is unacceptable! There are completely safe means that can be given if the question arose: “What does the child do - doesn’t sleep at night?”, But they should be taken only with the permission of the pediatrician.
Glycine is often known to help parents. It has a mild sedative and tranquilizing effect. Relieving psychoemotional stress, glycine makes falling asleep easier and normalizes sleep. One tablet half an hour before bedtime is enough.
Sanason and Persen are also harmless sedatives. They are made on the basis of medicinal herbs, but they cannot be given to a healthy child without the consent of a doctor. They contain an extract of valerian roots, and this plant is capable of provoking an allergic reaction.
During teething, the baby's body urgently needs additional calcium. Its disadvantage is manifested in increased nervous and psycho-emotional excitability. Ask your pediatrician to prescribe the appropriate drug for you.
Another safe remedy is sodium bromide solution . Currently, it is rarely prescribed, because it is made to order according to an individual prescription.