Women who are just preparing to become mothers have a beautiful picture painted before their eyes: a newborn sleeps all day long, with short breaks for feeding, bathing and hygiene.
But sometimes everything turns out to be quite the opposite. Namely: a month-old baby does not sleep all day, going on vacation only for short periods of time.
Is this normal or pathological, and most importantly, what can be done to make life easier for babies and new parents who sometimes don’t rest for days?
Features of sleep in young children at 1 month
The baby’s body at this age does not yet understand what day and night are, so periods of wakefulness and sleep replace each other throughout the day.
As a rule, the duration of activity in one month does not exceed 60 minutes - after this the baby needs rest. There are generally accepted standards by which you can determine whether a child sleeps enough time a day or not. So, in the first month the baby spends from 15 to 18 hours sleeping.
Night rest takes about 8-10, daytime rest - from 6 to 9. During daylight hours, a newborn should sleep at least 3-4 times with breaks for feeding, hygiene procedures, massage, etc. In the second month of life, the norms are approximately the same, but the limit of total sleep duration is somewhat less: from 15 to 17 hours. It turns out 8-10 hours and 6-7 hours at night and during the day, respectively.
Often, it is at the turn of the first and second months (4-5 weeks of life) that a noticeable deterioration in the situation with the baby’s routine occurs - he begins to have difficulty falling asleep, waking up more often, etc. Pediatricians consider this a normal stage of development, but only if it does not take more than 7-10 days.
The norms of 15-18 hours are only approximate - some newborns spend up to 20 hours a day sleeping, and this is also considered absolutely acceptable.
Night awakenings and teething in a child
In my experience, children who have a routine from a young age and have developed healthy sleep habits are rarely bothered by teething. Of the three hundred children I looked after, only a few were worried at night because they were teething. In these cases, the main concern was only the molars and only a few nights. I have found that babies who wake up when they are teething are more likely to have colic and develop poor sleep habits.
If your baby is teething and wakes up during the night but quickly goes back to sleep with the help of a cuddle or a pacifier, it's likely that the real reason for the awakening is not his teeth. A child who really suffers from teething finds it very difficult to fall asleep again. In addition, he shows signs of discomfort not only at night, but also during the day. I would encourage you to read the section on constant night waking and waking up too early to rule out other reasons your baby may be waking up.
If you think your baby's night wakings are due to pain due to teething, I suggest you talk to your doctor about using paracetamol. While teething pain may lead to a few restless nights, it should never last for weeks. If your child looks unwell, has a fever and suffers from lack of appetite or diarrhea, be sure to take your child to the doctor. Don't assume these are just teething symptoms. Very often I saw that the ailment that parents attributed to teething turned into an ear or throat infection.
Why does a one-month-old baby sleep poorly during the day?
Let's consider the main reasons, which are divided into two large groups: external, that is, not related to diseases, and internal.
External reasons:
- discomfort. It is most often caused by hunger or a wet diaper;
- noise. Although it is believed that it should not disturb children, if neighbors are doing repairs or someone is screaming under the window, this can hardly accompany normal falling asleep;
- physical and emotional overstimulation. He can be suspected by his overly active behavior, crying and persistent reluctance to sleep;
- bad microclimate. Optimal temperature and humidity conditions: 19-21 degrees, 50-70%. It is extremely important to ventilate more often so that the room where the baby rests is filled with fresh air. ;
- too light in the room;
- lack of daily routine.
Internal reasons:
- imperfection of the nervous system. This phenomenon is temporary, due to the fact that the baby, who has survived childbirth, which is a huge stress, simply wants to feel safe all the time, that is, to be in his mother’s arms. But since she cannot hold the baby all the time, he wakes up at the slightest attempt to put him to sleep;
- consequences of difficult childbirth or trauma received during birth;
- neurological diseases;
- imperfection of the digestive system. A mother who is breastfeeding may not eat properly, sometimes the child is simply overfed or the pediatrician’s recommendation to supplement the baby with water is ignored, and constant pain in the tummy and accumulated gases are unlikely to contribute to normal sleep.
Symptoms for which you should visit a specialist (pediatrician, neurologist):
- the total number of hours of sleep per day is less than 15;
- every 5-10 minutes the baby wakes up, even if he had been awake for a long time;
- there are constant signs of anxiety for no reason;
- up to 4-5 hours the baby is active without sleep breaks;
- the process of going to bed is accompanied by whims - getting the baby to sleep is extremely difficult.
Should I wake up my newborn at night to feed him?
The opinions of pediatricians vary: some say that this should not be done categorically, while others recommend not exceeding a three-hour interval between meals.
In addition, night feeding stimulates lactation and is especially important for women who have little milk.
The duration of daytime sleep in 1-month-old babies usually ranges from forty minutes to 1.5-2 hours. At night, most newborns are able to withstand much longer without food (up to 3-5 hours).
What do you need for a good sleep?
Here are a number of specific recommendations on how to improve a baby’s sleep at the age of 1 month:
- It is necessary to maximize the time spent in the fresh air. During the warm season, it is better for the baby to sleep outside during the day. If there is no opportunity to walk for a long time, some parents practice putting their child to sleep on the balcony, but this approach is not a replacement for a walk in the fresh air;
- massage, stroking, games and other useful types of physical activity will help the baby “get tired”, which means he can go to bed faster and have a more complete rest;
- if the baby sleeps in the house, it should be quiet, moderately dark, cool and fairly humid;
- You should not wait until the baby is so tired that his nervous system experiences excessive stress, which will result in crying, whims and refusal to sleep. You need to learn to “catch” the moment when the very first signs of fatigue appear - at this time you can easily persuade the newborn to rest;
- For some, loose swaddling helps. The baby is wrapped in a diaper or sleeping bag, as a result - he feels safe, does not twitch his arms, which means he sleeps better;
- adherence to a daily routine is another important point. Moreover, it is useful not only for the baby, but also for the mother. It is important to try to adhere to the same rituals at certain times, for example, eating, walking, sleeping, etc.;
- breastfeeding is one of the most “working” methods. Having satisfied the hunger and sucking reflex, the child will fall asleep with a high degree of probability;
- lullabies that the mother sings, as well as rhythmic rocking (in the arms or in a special rocking chair, crib with a pendulum or other similar devices) also help a lot;
- the psychological stability of a nursing mother is another important condition. In principle, there should be no stress;
- The situation in the family should also be normalized. Noisy guests, shouting, etc. must be eliminated.
In most cases, sleep problems are temporary. However, if they do not go away for a month or more, it is better to consult a specialist.
Babies often react to dramatically changing weather conditions. Before rain, strong winds, magnetic storms or other similar phenomena, the sleep of even the calmest babies can be disturbed.
Does swaddling help your baby sleep peacefully?
The moment of swaddling still remains controversial. Doctors recommend doing this to help your baby sleep better. After all, his legs and arms will be immobilized, and an opportunity will be created to take a break from his own body. But modern mothers do not consider swaddling their babies obligatory. It seems to them that the baby does not like this confinement and they begin to move their legs and arms.
In fact, a newborn baby makes many unconscious movements during sleep under any circumstances. This is explained by the fact that the child is still very small and does not trust support, since he recently left the womb, where he felt protected.
Unconscious movements of the baby are regarded by mothers as dissatisfaction, so they do not swaddle them. But in this way they only increase the baby’s tendency to become overexcited. Therefore, the baby cannot fall asleep in a timely manner.
You can ensure a restful and long sleep for your child in the first weeks of his birth thanks to special attention, affection, and love from his parents. Each mother makes her own daily schedule, according to which the baby eats, bathes and falls asleep on time.
What to do if your baby cries and doesn’t sleep all day?
If a one-month-old baby does not sleep all day, this becomes a real problem - the mother does not rest, cannot do household chores, which means that the state of her nervous system is significantly disturbed and her strength is lost.
What can be done? First, you need to calm down yourself . If possible, at least for a short time hand the baby over to dad or grandma and rest a little. Secondly, it is necessary to exclude the influence of external factors, which we wrote about above.
If this does not bring results, then you need to pay closer attention to the baby’s health. Usually, a consultation with a neurologist and pediatrician is sufficient, who can recommend medications to eliminate certain symptoms that prevent the baby from sleeping.
Psychological reasons
Among these reasons, one should first of all highlight children's fear. It appears after the child begins to fully understand himself (at about 1 year). Fears may cause him to wake up at night, screaming and crying. It is quite possible that their root is hidden deep in the baby’s psyche. But, as a rule, the reasons are more banal - fear of the dark, fear of being alone, extraneous noises, rustling noises, and so on.
Often a child sleeps lightly due to very strong emotional experiences or even shocks. Stress received during daylight hours or a large number of emotions force you to rethink what you saw and heard. For this reason, the nervous system cannot completely relax.
Children may have difficulty sleeping at night, for example, after moving to a new place, meeting new people, visiting children's entertainment centers, and so on.
If a child does not sleep well during the day, and wakes up at night and cannot fall asleep for a long time, the root of the problem should be sought, oddly enough, in his new achievements. So, for example, a baby learned to sit or walk on his own, got a good grade at school, or performed well in training. In reality there are many reasons.
The first independence is often accompanied by:
- anxiety;
- excitement;
- we cry;
- fright;
- sleep disturbance.
So, what to do if your child sleeps poorly not only at night, but also during the day? Pay attention to the size of the crib. Often parents are in a hurry and transfer their children too early to larger beds, where they feel uncomfortable and uncomfortable
It might be worth holding off on “moving” for a bit.
How to help your child fall asleep? How to improve the quality of his sleep, make the baby more calm? Create suitable conditions in the children's room and select the optimal mode.
