Newborn sleeps poorly: causes of sleep disturbances day and night

Your baby didn't sleep at night again and you didn't sleep with him? Nervous tension is accompanied by fatigue, and you don’t have the energy to do any household chores? Is it true that most parents are familiar with a similar situation?! Let's try to understand the main sources of disturbances and consequences of restless sleep in a child.

A child's restful sleep indicates his healthy state of health and proper routine. But if the baby often wakes up at a late hour, or shudders anxiously in his sleep, it is worth understanding the reasons. It is especially necessary to pay attention to disruptions in the sleep of newborns, since they are not yet able to talk about what worries them, and young parents do not have enough experience. It is with this problem that most mothers turn to pediatricians for help.

How long should a child sleep?

Almost the entire time that the baby was in his mother’s belly, he slept. With birth, the child’s sleep structure begins to gradually change, but this does not happen immediately.

• In the first 2 months, the newborn does not distinguish between day and night, waking up from hunger at approximately equal intervals during the day. After eating, the baby stays awake for only a short time and then falls asleep again. In total, at this age the baby sleeps from 16 to 18 hours a day.
• The daily routine “grows up” starting at 3 months. The duration of uninterrupted sleep at night gradually increases, and during the day the child does not close his eyes longer after waking up. By six months, total sleep time decreases to 15–16 hours a day.
• The process of normalizing the sleep schedule continues and by the time the baby is one year old, he sleeps 9–11 hours at night, without causing any trouble to his parents. During the day he falls asleep only a couple of times, and the rest of the time he stays awake and explores the world. At the age of one year, the total duration of daytime and night sleep is approximately 13–14 hours.

It is important to understand: the figures we have given are averages. Don't assume your baby is sleeping poorly if their sleep schedule is different. Each child has its own individual characteristics, and the key criterion for good sleep is the baby’s well-being. If the newborn is healthy and alert, everything is fine. If your baby often wakes up, groans and tosses and turns in the crib, is capricious and cries, this is a reason to talk to a specialist and discuss the problem.

Sleep organization

What should you do to organize a healthy holiday for your child? The following recommendations will help young parents establish sound and regular sleep in their baby:

We recommend reading: How to quickly put a baby to sleep

• Provide a comfortable atmosphere in the room. Humidity and air temperature must meet the standards. It is better to ventilate the room, especially before a long night's sleep.
• Take care of your clothes and bedding. Preference should be given to natural fabrics, neatly finished seams, and a loose fit. Avoid ties and large, chunky fasteners. The mattress in a crib should be hard.
• Strict adherence to the routine throughout the day and accompanying rituals that are pleasant for the baby will also contribute to an easy bedtime. It will be much easier for your baby to fall asleep if you give him a massage or sing a lullaby every evening. The usual algorithm of actions will set him up for a relaxing holiday. A special sleep toy can have the same calming effect. Teach your baby that she is always there while he sleeps. Even if he wakes up in the middle of the night, he will feel that his plush friend is nearby and will continue to sleep. Such an item must meet all the requirements for toys for newborns: soft materials, absence of rough and sharp parts, washable.
• Avoid excessive activity and noise before bed. Better take a walk with your child. After a walk or even during it, infants fall asleep well.
• It is better to put it down immediately after feeding. A well-fed baby will fall asleep faster.
• If the baby is tired and rubbing his eyes, do not wait for the allotted time, put him to bed early.
• Change your diaper before bed.
• When bathing, you can add herbal teas to the bath. Lavender has the best calming properties.
• To ensure your baby sleeps soundly, provide him with sufficient physical activity during the day.
• Talk to your pediatrician about calming drinks for babies from birth. Perhaps your child will like them.
• Co-sleeping between mom and baby is controversial among pediatricians, but for many families it is an effective treatment for sleep disorders in newborns.

If the measures taken do not work and you feel that something is wrong with your child, contact your doctor to make sure there are no serious illnesses.

In most cases, the causes of poor daytime sleep in infants are not that serious and can be easily corrected. Be patient and persistent, strictly follow the daily routine, and everything will return to normal. Organizing a full-fledged daytime rest for your baby is not at all difficult, but it is very important, because this is the key to his health and a rare opportunity to rest for his mother.

How to put your baby to sleep correctly?

Teach your baby to a certain daily routine. Each child’s evening should end the same way, according to a clear ritual. For example, if the baby gets used to being bathed at the same time, then given a massage, then read a fairy tale and immediately put to bed, this sequence of actions in itself will set him up for a sound sleep.

If a newborn does not sleep well, mothers often resort to rocking. Rhythmic movements and the quiet voice of the person closest to you in the world are great for falling asleep, but in the future this can become a problem. The day is not far off when you will have to stay late at work, go on a business trip, or go to visit relatives in another city. Even if you are one hundred percent sure that nothing like this will happen, in just a few months it will become physically difficult for you to carry a grown child in your arms for a long time.

Try not to form habits in your baby that will affect the quality of his sleep. If a child, falling asleep, sucks on his mother's breast or pacifier, then waking up for a moment during the REM sleep phase, he will not be able to fall asleep without it.

What should you do to wean your baby from this habit - just put him in bed without nightly rocking? Not an option: a baby, deprived of an important part of the bedtime ritual, will be capricious and refuse to close his eyes. Usually in such a situation the baby cries for a long time and then sleeps poorly, tosses and turns in his sleep, and often wakes up.

There is only one way out - the ritual of motion sickness must be replaced by another, and a special soft toy can best cope with this. Buy your baby a bunny, bear or other soft friend and do not use it for play during the day. The child must understand that this talisman always comes only at night, and gradually learns to quickly fall asleep by placing a hand on his fluffy side.

Most likely, on the first day of falling asleep according to the new rules, everything will not go as smoothly as we would like. You put a sleep toy in the crib, talk to the baby, pat him on the head, leave the room - and almost instantly hear the baby crying. Don't come back right away, wait one minute and only then come back. When the baby calms down, leave the room again. If the crying repeats a second and third time, wait longer - three minutes; for the fourth and subsequent returns, increase the wait to five minutes.

On the second day, instead of 1, 3 and 5 minutes, the return intervals should be increased to 3, 5 and 7 minutes, on the third and further - to 5, 7 and 9 minutes. In a few days, the child will forget about motion sickness and learn to fall asleep with his new night friend. By the way, don’t forget to come up with a nice name for him.

What you need to know about newborn sleep

The sleep structure of a small child is different from the sleep structure of an adult. In newborns, the phase of superficial sleep predominates; this is inherent in nature. In case of danger, the baby must wake up and scream for help. Therefore, it is easy to wake up an infant.

It has been established that the surface phase is especially important for a growing organism. Its suppression (i.e. unexpected awakening of the child) causes sleep disturbance and also leads to manifestations of aggression in the future.

Understanding this physiological feature of a newborn, in the first months of life it is worth excluding all possible external stimuli (for example, sharp sounds, too bright light), especially when the baby is trying to fall asleep.
*On a mobile device there is horizontal scrolling at the bottom of the table

Over time, the deep sleep phase increases, the baby will sleep more soundly and longer.

If your baby doesn't sleep well and cries constantly, is it colic?

Quite possibly. Colic is one of the common reasons why a newborn does not sleep well - up to 40% of babies worldwide suffer from it. Infant colic begins at a very early age - at 2-3 weeks of a baby’s life. At about 6 weeks they reach a maximum level, then begin to slowly decline and usually stop completely at 4-5 months.

It is almost impossible to miss or not understand that a child has colic. Symptoms of this condition in a healthy baby include bouts of crying lasting more than three hours, repeated more than three days a week. At the same time, the baby’s tummy becomes tense, he draws in his legs and starts screaming, from which his heart bleeds. Colic usually begins in the evening and, of course, you can’t count on a newborn’s quiet sleep on such evenings.

What should parents do in such a situation? There is no clear answer to this question. The fact is that medicine does not yet fully understand why colic occurs, and therefore cannot offer one hundred percent working methods to combat it. If your baby is constantly crying, pediatricians recommend trying to calm him down in the following ways:

• Motion sickness

  Take the baby in your arms, walk and rock him. This helps some babies - after a while they relax and fall asleep.

• Massage

  If your baby has a colic attack and is crying, gently massage his tummy and back.

• Quiet, rhythmic sounds

  Relaxing music, the gentle sound of the surf, the calm beating of a mother’s heart - in some cases, sound therapy can be the answer to the question of how to put your baby to sleep.

• Mom's warmth and care

  The following exercise can help calm your child. Dim the lights in the room, then lie on your back, hold your baby to your chest and talk quietly to him, rocking slightly from side to side.

• Vibration

  You may have come across cradles, chaise lounges and swings with a vibration mode on sale. If your baby is having trouble sleeping, these devices can help. Also, some parents note that the child quickly falls asleep in the car - all because of the same vibration.

• Proper diet

  With mother's milk, some undesirable substances can enter the baby's body, aggravating the course of colic. It is advisable for a nursing woman to avoid coffee, chocolate, onions, garlic and other spicy foods.

Which of these methods will help in your case? It is unknown, so doctors recommend trying them all one by one and choosing the one that suits your baby.

Having learned that your child is crying due to colic, some friends may recommend folk remedies - various herbal teas and dill water. The effectiveness of these methods has not been proven, and before using them you should definitely consult a specialist.

Signs of lack of sleep

You can be sure that something is preventing your infant from sleeping if the following signs are observed in his behavior:

• the baby is awake for 5 hours or more;
• he is overexcited and constantly cries;
• it is difficult for him to fall asleep, sleep is short with constant awakenings every 10 minutes;
• the total number of hours of sleep in one day is less than 15.

If you detect at least one of these signs, you should immediately find out the source of concern and eliminate it.

It also happens the other way around: the child sleeps almost all day long.

Based on the behavior of the baby, you can assess whether such a dream is beneficial or harmful. If there is underweight, weakness, hypoglycemia, prolonged jaundice, then the baby must be woken up and fed by the hour. If everything is fine with the weight, the baby is developing normally, then there is no need to interrupt long sleep. Such a child can continue to be fed on demand.

What should you do if your newborn sleeps poorly at night but does well during the day?

For some mothers, the child continues to seem small, even after he has already had his own children and built a successful career. For the same reason, they consider the baby to be a newborn up to a year or more. If you are now talking about a toddler who is crawling or even starting to walk and who has confused day with night, most likely the problem is related to insufficient physical activity or overstimulation.

Officially, a child is considered a newborn only 1 month of life, more precisely - 28 days from birth.

If your older baby is having trouble sleeping, try these methods. They can usually correct your sleep-wake schedule in just a few days.

• Help your baby get tired

  Play, walk, motivate your child to constantly move. Before you feed and quickly put your baby to bed, take him for a walk in the fresh air for half an hour.

• Adjust your diet

  Do not feed your baby rich food during the day, which makes him sleepy.

• Limit your nap time

  If your baby falls asleep during the day, let him take a nap for half an hour, and then wake him up. There is no need to experience mental suffering - now this is only for the benefit of the baby.

• Eliminate causes of overexcitement

  If the baby is not sleeping, perhaps something at home is helping to increase his tone. This could be a TV that is constantly on, adults communicating in a raised voice, long emotional conversations on the phone, loud music, etc. Because of these irritants, the child becomes too excited and then cannot fall asleep, tosses and turns in the crib and often wakes up.

In a truly newborn child, i.e. baby in the first month of life, there should be no differences in the structure of sleep during the day and night. If a newborn only sleeps poorly at night, the cause may be colic, which usually begins in the evening and prevents the baby from falling asleep. No colic? Then try to understand what goes differently at night than during the day. Maybe you turn on the heater and your baby gets hot? Maybe you're swaddling too tightly? Maybe the baby is afraid of the dark and needs to turn on the night light? Find out what's wrong and you can restore your baby's restful sleep by eliminating the causes of the problem.

If your newborn has trouble sleeping for several days and you cannot figure out why this is happening, contact a specialist.

General recommendations for parents

General advice from a pediatrician for eliminating the reasons why an infant is sleeping poorly is:

• do not wake up the sleeping person, if the baby needs feeding at night - wait until he wakes up on his own, this is the only way to improve his cycles;
• when the biological clock is disrupted and malfunctions, addiction slows down;
• teach your child to sleep to sounds - don’t walk quietly, speak loudly, turn on the TV, music, vacuum cleaner;
• when the child does not sleep at night, give him a heartier lunch so that he does not wake up because he is hungry;
• Do not use lamps at night, talk less to your baby to let him sleep peacefully after eating;
• During the day, feed your baby cheerfully, talk, laugh, turn on bright lamps, stand near the window;
• per year, switch from feeding at night, do not let him eat, do not pay attention to the fact that he is capricious - after half an hour the infant often falls asleep, and after a week he will not wake up at all at night.

Are there other reasons for poor sleep?

Most of the reasons why a baby has difficulty falling asleep and often wakes up are associated with physical or psychological discomfort:

• Malaise

  In addition to colic, a child may also experience other unpleasant sensations, such as ear pain, skin irritation from diaper rash, or allergic itching. Usually it is not difficult to localize such problems: if the baby’s hands are free, he pulls them towards the sore spot.

• Reflexive shaking of the hands

  The baby does not yet have full control of his body. Sometimes at night his arms begin to move reflexively, and he wakes up. Loose swaddling (in no case tight) will help to slightly limit movements during sleep. In general, this is a temporary phenomenon - it will disappear on its own by 6-8 months.

• Overfilled diaper or wet diaper

  The child must be changed in a timely manner, otherwise he will be rightly indignant. Huggies Elite Soft diapers have a special moisture indicator, with which you will immediately understand whether it is time to change clothes or the problem is something else. In any case, change diapers at least every 3-4 hours.

• Is your baby hot or cold?

  Many mothers are always afraid that their baby will freeze, and they wrap him up very tightly. However, overheating causes even more discomfort for the child. If the baby's face turns red and sweat appears under her clothes, it means that you have overdone the insulation.

• Stress

  Did guests come to you, and everyone took the baby in their arms? Have you traveled somewhere with your baby? Are your neighbors doing renovations and making a lot of noise? It is not surprising that the baby tosses and turns and often wakes up. This will pass, but you may need to get up and comfort your baby more often tonight.

If your newborn begins to sleep poorly, look for the cause and eliminate it. If this does not work, consult your pediatrician. In the vast majority of cases, sleep problems are easily resolved or disappear as you grow older, and you will soon forget about them forever. In the meantime, we wish good night and sweet dreams to you and your child!

Children's sleep standards at different ages

From birth, children spend most of their time sleeping. Experts explain this by saying that the baby’s brain perceives a huge amount of information while awake, so he needs strength to process data and replenish his strength. The baby's unstable nervous system also needs rest. That is why doctors insist on approving a certain daily regimen. In this case, the baby gets used to sleeping at approximately the same time; a few daytime naps and a night nap are enough for him to recharge his body with energy and be ready for further exploration.

Children's pediatricians, neurologists and psychologists draw the attention of parents to the fact that many health problems in children can be solved with the help of properly adjusted sleep.

In a dream, a child not only rests and gains strength, but also calms the nervous system

Some parents do not attach much importance to rest, especially during the day. This is the wrong decision, because sleep is of great importance for a child:

• The baby gains strength for an active pastime. A sleep-deprived baby will not be able to engage in physical exercise or developmental activities;
• growth hormone is produced during sleep. This happens in the first two hours of rest. Doctors have proven that children who do not have good sleep are lagging behind in physical development and growth;
• The child’s nervous system needs rest. And if the baby does not sleep enough time, the body is under tension. This situation can be reflected by the manifestation of whims, hysterics and tears.

How much sleep should children sleep at different ages - table

Not all children aged four years and older sleep during the day. If a child does not want to go to bed during the day, doctors recommend not forcing him to do so. This means the body can cope with the load and does not need time to recuperate.

Children's sleep rules - video

If your newborn baby doesn't sleep well, should you worry?

Young parents often encounter sleep problems in newborns. If the child is healthy, then he sleeps continuously for 3-4 hours during the day, and wakes up at night to feed. But situations often arise when a mother rushes to consult a doctor, because... her baby does not sleep for 4–8 hours in a row, or falls asleep and wakes up after 5–10 minutes. A child can sleep a maximum of one hour without waking up, but this is not enough for a newborn baby.

Experts explain that a healthy child sleeps well during the day because... the body needs rest. But if the baby often asks for food, constantly cries and sleeps poorly, this is a reason to seek advice from a doctor, pediatrician or neurologist. This behavior may indicate serious diseases of the infant’s central nervous system, breathing disorders, or increased intracranial pressure.

Of course, first parents should rule out all sorts of domestic causes. The baby may be hungry, uncomfortable in a wet diaper or clothes, noise disturbs the baby, etc. But sleep improves as soon as parents eliminate the irritants. However, persistent sleep disturbances in an infant are a reason to consult a specialist, and urgently.

You should not delay visiting the doctor if your baby has persistent sleep disorders. Only a doctor can determine the cause and prescribe effective treatment

The baby grunts and pushes in his sleep

The most common reason why children under one year of age feel restless at night is their developing digestive system. If a child strains during sleep, making grunting sounds, then with a high degree of probability the problem is colic.

They form when too much air enters a child's esophagus during feeding. To rid the baby of accumulated gases, you need to give him a light abdominal massage, lightly pat him on the back, bend him several times - straighten his legs with his knees towards his stomach. Excess air will come out and the cause of discomfort will disappear.

If the above manipulations are ineffective, you should consult a doctor. Doctors usually recommend medications that promote complete digestion of food by the baby’s incompletely formed digestive system. In some cases, you have to use a tube to remove gases.

In the future, to avoid such circumstances, you should follow the rules for attaching the baby to the breast when feeding. Most often, the problem of gas accumulation, which interferes with sleep, goes away on its own by the fourth or fifth month of life. Sometimes grunting at night can be a consequence of constipation. In this case, it is necessary to adjust the baby’s diet.

Infants often wake up in the dark due to colic. About 80% of infants face this problem. Tummy pain can appear in babies who are only two weeks old.

When waking up, a baby suffering from colic cries a lot, throws a tantrum, roars and is capricious. At the same time, parents can see that he lifts his legs up towards his tummy.

Doctors do not know the exact cause of colic. However, they are most often observed in breastfed babies if the mother drinks a lot of cow's milk. Sometimes this problem also occurs in bottle-fed babies. Unsuitable temperature conditions in the nursery, as well as overfeeding, can also contribute to the development of colic in a baby.

Since it takes about six months for a baby to adapt to his intestines, the appearance of colic can be called normal. Their symptoms include painful sensations in the abdomen, tingling sensations and even attacks of acute pain.

The medications recommended by pediatricians in such a situation do not eliminate the cause of colic, but only reduce the degree of discomfort and pain.

If you need to accustom a two-month-old baby to a daily routine, then it is enough to show restraint and patience, and after some time he will get used to the new routine.

But in the case when parents are faced with the task of establishing proper sleep for a one-year-old child who has already grown out of diapers, they will have to develop a different tactic:

• increase physical activity so that he gets tired during the day;
• limit the influx of new impressions;
• reduce activity in the evening hours;
• reduce the duration of daytime sleep.

If, after following all the recommendations, the baby continues to sleep anxiously, you should consult a pediatrician or psychologist. To do this, you should carefully observe the child’s behavior during sleep and his postures for some time.

Well-known TV presenter and doctor Evgeniy Komarovsky advises parents to follow ten “golden rules of healthy sleep” that will help ensure a good night’s rest for both the child and all family members.

Set priorities. From the first days of life, the baby should feel that there is a period of time for those around him to rest. You should determine it in advance and strictly adhere to it in the future, when the time comes to put your baby to bed every day.

Develop a daily routine. Gradually accustom the toddler to the routine. He must know the order of daily actions - when to get up, eat, walk, swim, go to bed during the day and evening.

Choose a sleeping place. The best option is a separate crib with a comfortable mattress and high-quality bed linen. In the first year, she can be in the parents’ bedroom for the mother’s convenience and the baby’s feeling of security.

Reduce the duration of daytime rest. If the baby fidgets for a long time, fidgets for a long time, dozes for a long time, sleeps restlessly and often wakes up, then he most likely got enough sleep during the day. Mom should cut back on sleep by a couple of hours to ensure proper rest at night.

Optimize nutrition. A one-month-old toddler needs additional food 1-2 times a night, a six-month-old child needs only once. Older children do without night feeding, which should be taken into account when creating a diet.

Increase daily activity. Regular walks, active and educational games, massage, hardening are measures that will help establish the correct sleep pattern.

Comfortable microclimate. Maintaining an optimal temperature of 18-20°C with an air humidity of 50-70%, regular ventilation will help normalize rest at night.

Evening procedures. A warm bath and relaxing massage guarantee a healthy appetite and sound sleep.

Personal hygiene. Healthy sleep, according to the doctor, can only be achieved by a baby who sleeps in a clean and comfortable diaper. Preference should be given to proven products with a high-quality absorbent layer. An older child should have dry diapers and underwear.

Physiological reasons

After birth, the baby's lifestyle changes dramatically. In the womb, he fed through the umbilical cord, did not use his lungs, and so on. In the new conditions, everything is different: the baby eats differently, which means the digestive system works in a new mode. He breathes using the respiratory organs; the ambient temperature is also significantly different from the mother’s body temperature.

• Teeth begin to cut. The process of the appearance of baby teeth is always accompanied by painful sensations. To alleviate the discomfort, after consulting a doctor, you can lubricate the baby’s gums with a special gel; there are also other preparations.
• Consequences of the baby not being born to term. Adaptation to new living conditions for such children takes longer and is more difficult. This is due to the fact that in the womb they did not completely go through all the preparatory stages for the new phase of life. Premature babies tend to be more restless in their sleep than normal-term babies.
• Sleep phases change. At the same time, brain activity changes, which can lead to the baby moaning and moving his limbs.
• Excessive physical or emotional stress. The result may be difficulty transitioning into deep sleep.
• I had a terrible dream. A newborn may have not only good dreams, but also bad ones, which may be caused by fear. If the baby wakes up as a result and begins to cry, then the problem is solved with mother’s hugs and kind words. Feeling safe, the baby will fall asleep again.

How to fight

The first and easiest step to healthy sleep for a child is to create comfortable conditions for him and eliminate the physical causes of restless sleep.

You need to take a responsible approach to choosing a crib, mattress, and bed linen. It is better to choose wallpaper and textiles in light, calm colors, as bright shades are tiring.

In the children's room, the temperature should be maintained at 18-20 ° C and the humidity around 60%, and the room should be regularly ventilated. Newborns can be frightened by complete silence; older children also fall asleep more easily to quiet monotonous melodies, so during “quiet hour” you can turn on a recording of the sounds of nature: rain, the sound of the sea, birdsong and others.

Before going to bed, the baby should be fed and changed. It is recommended to have dinner no later than an hour and a half before lights out. Drinking heavily before bed is not advisable. Newborns sleep better in diapers; for older babies, you need to choose comfortable pajamas that do not restrict movement. After falling asleep, you should ensure peace, protect from loud sounds and bright light.

In the first months of life, the baby is still learning to sleep, so often during the active phase of sleep he opens his eyes and begins to whine.

You should not rush to your child at the first sign of awakening; you need to give him the opportunity to calm down and fall back into sleep.

During night feedings, nothing should disturb the baby or attract his attention. If, waking up in the middle of the night, he sees a familiar picture - his room, a night light, his favorite toy - then he will quickly and easily fall asleep again.

Solving psycho-emotional problems will require more effort. First of all, you need to take care of maintaining your daily routine. It can be formed starting from the age of one and a half months, because at this time the little person already pays attention to the difference between day and night. And even in the short time when a two-month-old baby is awake, this difference can be emphasized. Night feedings and changing clothes should be carried out in silence, without talking to the baby, by the light of a night lamp.

Every family should have a strict rule: wish each other good night only in a good mood.

A person - both an adult and a child - should fall asleep in a relaxed, calm state.

Therefore, all grievances and quarrels should be resolved and forgotten long before bedtime. Otherwise, worries will bother the little impressionable person all night.

Joyful shocks can play the same cruel joke. It is better to move good news, new clothes, a visit from a beloved relative and other joyful events to an earlier time of day.

It is very important for a child to follow a certain familiar ritual before bed. Reading fairy tales, singing lullabies, discussing the events of the day, or another evening tradition will help you calm down and get ready to relax. When choosing such a ritual, you need to take into account the baby’s temperament: someone can be lulled to sleep by a short lullaby, while others need a whole hour to fall asleep.

For the same reason, it is not recommended to organize noisy active games in the evening. The parent who puts the baby to bed should be in a good, calm mood. The child feels his parents’ feelings very well, and if mom or dad are in a hurry or nervous, he unwittingly copies their behavior and then bedtime can take hours.

If a child is prevented from falling asleep by some fears or is tormented by nightmares, he also cannot do without the help of adults. You should treat the child’s problem with all understanding and sympathy. If he asks you to stay with him at night or hide him under his blanket from imaginary monsters, you cannot brush him off or laugh at his request.

In addition, you need to talk to the child about everything that scares him, explain that he is safe and protected. You can share memories of your childhood fears.

Or you can joke and laugh together about what scared the baby.

But to be ironic about the cause of fear, and not about the child himself!

To prevent this problem, you should carefully select the films and fairy tales that your child watches and listens to. They must be age appropriate.

Children should also not see news stories about natural disasters, catastrophes and crimes.

If the causes of sleep disturbances lie in health problems, you need to devote all your efforts to treating the child and alleviating the symptoms that caused insomnia. Recovery will be followed by normalization of sleep.

The health and well-being of a child depends on many factors. And the task of parents is to create all the conditions so that the baby eats properly, sleeps soundly, is healthy and cheerful. Only then will he be able to regularly delight his loved ones with new achievements.

Stages of life accompanied by “restless sleep”

There are several stages in a child's life when sleep problems arise.
- a week after birth. At this age, the baby is bothered by new, unfamiliar sensations. He is often malnourished due to the fact that his mother has not yet improved

. Therefore, the baby often wakes up and demands food. In addition, before the first bowel movement, he may be bothered by abdominal pain. Within a week, these first difficulties end: intestinal function improves, the mother's milk comes in - sleep becomes more restful and longer.

The second stage is the age from three to six months. This is the time when most children begin to experience flatulence and intestinal colic. Increased gas formation causes severe discomfort to the child. Also, at this age, the first teeth most often begin to cut, causing severe pain to the baby. These unpleasant sensations worsen at night, so restful, sound sleep is out of the question.

The third stage begins at three years of age. The child develops his first childhood fears. He begins to be afraid of the dark, negative heroes of fairy tales and imaginary monsters. And also - he gets acquainted with such a feeling as jealousy. The baby is jealous of mom and dad for everyone and often worries. All these fears cause nightmares, which often wake the child in the middle of the night.

The fourth stage is five to seven years. At this age, the child is visited by serious adult thoughts. For the first time he thinks about death, begins to fear catastrophes and natural disasters. In addition, he becomes a schoolchild, and this new role adds excitement to the person. All these experiences negatively affect the quality of sleep.

A child’s sleep, just like an adult’s, is divided into two phases:

1. REM sleep is a superficial and active phase, during which a person moves, smiles, dreams and processes knowledge acquired during the day. During this phase, even minor discomfort or external irritation can wake a person.
2. Slow-wave sleep is deep and calm, the body rests and grows, and the immune system is strengthened.

In infants, the REM phase takes up up to 50% of all sleep time. Therefore, they wake up quite often.

Anything can disrupt a child's sensitive sleep.

Its quality depends:

• from well-being;
• lifestyle;
• age characteristics;
• temperament;
• the environment in which he sleeps;
• global changes in life.

In fact, there are many more reasons for restless sleep. They are divided into three groups:

1. physical;
2. psycho-emotional;
3. pathological.

Experts recommend early bedtime - about seven to eight hours. It is believed that this is the best time for the young body to rest and grow.