The problem of childhood sleep is one of the most frequently discussed among mothers on the playground. "He does not sleep at all!" - complaining exhausted mother. In fact, her baby sleeps, like all babies, 16-17, or even 20 hours a day. But he does it so "illogically" from the point of view of an adult, so intermittent and restless that the impression is exactly the opposite - the child does not sleep! Obviously, the main question is not how much the child sleeps, but how and when he does it.
In its rhythm
The baby is born with an unregulated daily rhythm. Even in his mother's womb, he was at odds with his mother: he slept while she was awake, and began to actively tumbling about when her mother was about to rest a little. A newborn baby sleeps most of the day, but rarely more than 90 minutes in a row.
Approximately so much he has a sleep-wake cycle. Therefore, sleep falls snatches and mom.
At the age of 2-8 weeks a 4-hour cycle appears, which is fairly stable until about 3 months. But you will probably have to wait for a continuous night's sleep for a long time: only one in ten children of a month's age can sleep almost all night, and another 10% will not learn this until a year.
At the age from 1 to 5 years, children sleep on average 12 hours a day, then this figure decreases to 10. However, it should be noted that the data given are average norms. Meanwhile, each child is individual, so it may be that your child does not necessarily have to rest as much as indicated in this table. Or, on the contrary, he is a "sleepwalker", and he does not have the average "sleepy" time.
A well-established circadian rhythm is formed around the age of 2 years, and for parents this is a huge relief. But at the same time it is at this age that children begin to "fit" longer, they need more time to fall asleep.
Such a different dream
Infant dream is not uniform. As you know, there are two types of sleep: "fast" sleep with dreams and "slow" sleep without dreams. However, in infants, the first type of sleep prevails - they have not yet formed an internal biological clock. During such a "fast" sleep, there may be sucking movements, slight grimaces, wincing, smiles. This is not a cause for concern, however, contact the pediatrician if the twitching becomes permanent.
The adult person during dreams sees dreams. And the baby? Yes, and he also dreams something. Moreover, the number of dreams that visit the baby, would be enough for the eyes of several adults! Scientists have proved that as early as 25-30 weeks of pregnancy, the fetus has a dream, which at that time it sees almost constantly. After birth, the share of "fast sleep" with dreams is reduced to 60%. What exactly sees the child, why there are dreams and what is the role of dreams in the development of the baby, has not yet been accurately established. Some experts believe that a child's dream is similar to a movie session, only "on the screen" is displayed some kind of genetically stored information in memory. What for? For development, the brain needs to work, train, and here it loads itself in this way. This, in turn, develops the child's feelings and thinking. In adults, however, the nature of dreams is different: dreams are intended for the process of memorizing and processing the information accumulated for the day. With age, the proportion of "fast" sleep in a child decreases and by about 8 months it is, as in adults, only 20-25% of the total duration of sleep.
But the imperfection of the internal biological clock is only one of the reasons that newborns sleep fractionally. Another reason is hunger. Kids eat small portions and wake up from hunger, regardless of whether the day is in the yard or night. However, during the first three months, the baby will begin to adjust his sleep regime to the mother's regime, and even sleep will be less: immediately after birth, he will have four "quiet hours" in the daytime, and by three months he passes to a three-day daytime sleep. In the first months of the child's life, the mother's task is to feed him, let him regain air and put him to bed again.
Together or separately?
It is especially important at night. Even at three months old, a rare baby sleeps all night long. So, it is very important at night to create certain conditions that will not allow the baby to wake up definitively. Do not play with it, do not turn on a bright light. There is one more important detail: the baby needs to be taught to fall asleep, to accustom to the fact that at night everyone is asleep. The first two months of his life is still permissible to allow a child to fall asleep during feeding or motion sickness. However, from the age of 2-3 months of age, it is necessary to begin to create a ritual of preparing for bed.
Speaking of sleep, it is impossible not to touch upon one more aspect - a joint dream of parents and a child. There are two diametrically opposed points of view: some believe that the child should not sleep with his parents, others say that a calm and comfortable sleep can only be if the child sleeps next to the mother. Supporters of both opinions will find enough arguments in defense of their own point of view. However, the decision where the child should sleep, in any case, only the parents take. Of course, the ideal situation is when the baby quietly falls asleep in his crib or cradle. Try and you will teach him to this. Muffle light in the room, turn on a soft music or moving musical toy, sing to him a quiet lullaby. All this will be the ritual that will help the baby fall asleep.
Infringements of a children's dream
A little patience, and eventually the baby will learn to calm down and fall asleep. But if the child screams, do not leave the cry unanswered. The baby is too small to understand why Mom ignores his calls. Moreover, my mother's help is often needed!
In the first months of life, sleep disorders are most often associated with a fast-paced hunger, which means that the baby needs to be fed.
Up to three months, the cause of a bad night's sleep may be intestinal colic associated with immaturity of the gastrointestinal tract. Usually abdominal pains appear at the age of 2 weeks and last an average of 100 days. At half of children with colic the improvement comes to 2 months, and at some colic will last till 4-5 months. Children who are on artificial feeding, may not be suitable nutrient mixture. In any case, determine the root cause of screaming and cope with this problem will help a pediatrician, who will prescribe medications that alleviate the suffering of the baby.
With the introduction of complementary feeding, chronic sleep disorders can be caused by food allergy to certain foods, in particular salicylates, which are contained in food additives, cucumbers, tomatoes, citrus fruits. However, even at an earlier age this issue can become relevant if the mother does not follow the diet. If you exclude allergens, sleep will normalize after a few days.
Since 5-6 months of age, the cause of restless night sleep can be and erupting teeth. The pain is strong enough, and a child who has slept well before can wake up several times a night. Help in this case are capable of local painkillers, which a pediatrician will recommend.
Many mothers jump on each weak sob of a child. However, during sleep, the baby often issues various sounds, for example, sobs when moving from one phase of sleep to another. However, if night wakes become regular, then, first of all, you need to make sure that there is no medical problem of sleep disturbance. The doctor should carefully examine the baby in order to rule out common diseases.
And night awakenings can be related to the fact that the child just needs your attention. Sometimes a kid should just feel your presence in the room, hear your voice. It is enough to approach the baby, stroke it, take it by the hand. In the six-month-old child, it is necessary to adhere to the ritual of falling asleep. This ritual will play into the hands of later, months at 9-10, when problems of a completely different kind appear - the child is difficult to put to bed. At this age the child begins to realize what is happening, and sleep for him is tantamount to separation, so falling asleep can become a very long process. It makes sense to make part of the ritual of falling asleep your favorite toy, which will give him a sense of security. At this age, the baby is already responsive to what is happening around him, in particular, the situation in the family. Right now, insomnia can be caused by mistakes in raising a child, when parents themselves create a situation that contributes to the occurrence of sleep disorders.
In a year about 5% of children begin to snore in a dream. In this case, you need to see a doctor and make sure that there is no increase in tonsils and adenoids. Strongly adenoids can sometimes completely cover the airways and can lead to apnea. These brief breathing stops in a dream make the night rest restless and unproductive, and very often accompanied by increased sweating, enuresis, nocturnal fears and nightmares.
Nightmares can appear in the child and "just like that," for no apparent reason. Usually this occurs at the age of 2 years and is associated with the peculiarities of mental development at this stage of life. These manifestations should not cause parents to panic, because children who have never had nightmares or, at least, anxious sleep, are the exception to the rules. Night terrors and nightmares, sudden awakenings and restless sleep are all a reflection of the child's inner anxiety, so you always need to find the cause of these conditions. To understand this help children's psychologists.
How to make the baby's sleep calm?
To establish a good full sleep to the baby of the first year of life, you must adhere to the following rules.
• Do not wake the baby on purpose, even if it's time to feed it - because that's why you are violating the course of his biological clock.
• Before you put the baby, make sure that it is full.
• Night feeding should be quiet and calm, the light should be muffled, and your communication with the child is minimal.
• Children's daytime sleep is not at all an excuse for household members to walk around the house on tiptoe and give up TV or radio. Getting used to sleep in complete silence, the baby will wake up from any rustle. The earlier you accustom a child to fall asleep under the usual sounds of the house, the easier it will be for you in the future.
• If possible, in childhood 10-12 months it is advisable to abandon night feeding. To do this, you will have to muster up courage and endure nightly moods for about a week: the child, having not received the desired, will calm down within half an hour, and enter the new regime without much difficulty.
• During the day, feeding should not lull, but excite: games and nursery rhymes, funny songs and laughter, bright daylight are welcome.
• Do not rush to the child at the first sobs: perhaps he just sees a dream.
• Put the baby to bed at the same time. This will set its internal clock to work without malfunctioning.
• Do not let a grown up child play in a crib - it should be associated only with sleep. As soon as the baby learns to get up in the crib, it is worth insuring himself for his safety: raise the sides of the bed, remove soft and pendant toys from it and check its stability.
• Closer to the one-year-old child's age, observe the ritual of falling asleep, make it a part of your child's favorite toy, which will always be with him in bed and give a feeling of calm and confidence.
Usually all this is enough to cope with most of the problems of childhood sleep. However, if violations are observed for more than a month, it is worthwhile to seek professional help. Timely treatment of the problem will be much easier and faster than overcoming the neglected state.