How to correct the routine of a child who has confused day with night?

Anxious sleep and situations when a child does not want to go to bed at night at an early age, constantly wakes up and sleeps restlessly, often worry parents. A variety of benefits provide norms for daytime and nighttime rest for children of different ages. Unfortunately, it is not always possible to adhere to the recommended regimen.

It is necessary to figure out why a child does not want to sleep at night at 8 months and older and how to solve this situation. Normal sleep will provide him with proper rest and complete restoration of strength.

Why does the baby sleep during the day and stay awake at night?

In cases where a child becomes the initiator of collective family insomnia, it is necessary to find the reason for this behavior. It is quite possible that he is experiencing discomfort - his tummy hurts, he suffers from colic, he is teething. Then remedies to alleviate such conditions will help. But it happens that the baby does not seem restless, and he slept most of the day to the delight of his mother, who was calmly doing household chores. And if you count the hours of his sleep, you can conclude that he has shifted to the wrong time of day.

To understand how the regime change occurred and to prevent it from happening in the future, you can try to remember what preceded it. Perhaps something prevented the child from sleeping at night and he slept during the day. By evening he is still not tired and continues to stay awake. As a result, the situation repeats itself, and the baby gets used to this regime.

A variety of factors can interfere with your night's sleep.

• Discomfort caused by pain. Most often this occurs due to colic or teething. Means to alleviate the condition will help; if teething, then cooling gels for the gums. Soothing tea for the baby or his mother in case of breastfeeding can also be beneficial.
• Overexcitement. After too much active play in the evening, it may be difficult for a child to relax.
• Excess of emotions. An immature nervous system may not be able to cope with the influx of impressions after a busy day, and the sleep schedule will be disrupted.
• Lack of activity. It is important for a child to be able to move according to his age and walk in the fresh air. If the energy does not find a way out, then he simply will not be able to fall asleep.
• Uncomfortable conditions. The famous pediatrician E. O. Komarovsky believes that most often sleep disturbances occur due to dry air and high temperature in the room.

Useful: Can Ingalipt be used for children? Safe use and what substitutes are there

Why does a child wake up at night and play?

There are incidents where a year-old child wakes up, doesn’t want to sleep at night and starts playing. When waking up, the baby can talk, play familiar games, or just lie down. These nights are often referred to as “night festivities” by a sleep specialist. Such phenomena can last an hour or more and cause discomfort to all family members. What are the reasons for such moments of wakefulness and how to avoid such situations? It is worth understanding such moments in detail and choosing the right model of behavior during the “night festivities” of the baby.

How should parents behave correctly during their baby's night out?

If your baby often wakes up at night and doesn’t want to go back to sleep, you should pay attention to the following aspects of behavior in this situation:

• Do not turn on the light in the children's room - also, you do not need to turn on gadgets, because artificial light destroys melatonin, the hormone responsible for falling asleep.
• Do not get involved in games - you do not need to start playing with your baby at night when he wakes up. You need to show your child that it is night outside and this is a time for sound sleep, but not for playing.
• Avoid dialogue - no need to start a conversation with the baby. The best option would be a monotonous soothing voice.
• Help in prolonging sleep - you can help to fall asleep with the help of a lullaby, a fairy tale, rocking in your arms.
• Do not take the baby out of the bedroom - you should not move the child in space, because he recognizes awakening according to morning rituals. The best option would be to introduce morning wake-up rituals - exercise, watching a cartoon in bed or telling stories.

Disadvantages of the wrong mode

For a child, the inverted mode can be quite convenient and does not affect his well-being at all. After all, this is not a disease, he gets enough rest and, most likely, sleeps a lot. But during the day. But for parents, such a schedule becomes a real test. Dad doesn’t get enough sleep and goes to work tired. Mom tries to sleep during the day with the baby, but she needs to do housework or take care of the older child. The relationship between parents goes wrong due to a mismatch in time. It’s good if it’s possible for dad to spend the night in a separate room and hire a housekeeper and nanny to help with the housework. But even this does not solve the problem, although it greatly simplifies life.

Why a child does not sleep at night: reasons for newborns

In children under six months of age, frequent awakenings are caused by changing periods and phases of sleep. A one-month-old baby's sleep is superficial, but not deep. A baby may not sleep for various reasons - physiological or mental.

Many children cannot fall asleep on their own after waking up suddenly, and infants most often wake up to eat. In some situations, sleeping together solves the problem - tactile contact with the mother calms the child and helps him fall asleep when he wakes up. If such cases become regular, it is necessary to establish their cause, and also to qualitatively correct the situation. The baby may wake up due to the following factors:

• during feeding, the baby drinks too quickly, which leads to gas formation in the intestines and the appearance of colic;
• stuffiness in the room or dry hot air;
• late sleep in accordance with the parents' regimen;
• wet diaper or diaper;
• illness or onset of a cold;
• disturbances in the functioning of the nervous system;
• hunger or thirst;
• sound or light stimuli, in particular TV or computer;
• teething.

An important point is to maintain a friendly atmosphere in the family. Serious conflicts and anxiety of the mother are transmitted to the baby and become the cause of his anxiety and nervousness.

If no obvious reasons for restless sleep are found, you can contact a neurologist or pediatrician. Some sleep disorders can directly indicate disorders in the baby's nervous system.

Limiting daytime sleep

In order to establish the baby’s regime and, accordingly, their own, parents must be ready for decisive action. If a child has confused day with night, then you need to start by controlling daytime sleep. This may not be as easy as it seems, because a sweetly sleeping baby will have to be woken up or prevented from falling asleep.

To prevent your child from getting enough sleep before nightfall, you can eliminate one of the daytime naps without increasing the duration of the others. Entertain him as you please - sing, dance, play any games that come to mind. Another option is to reduce the duration of daytime naps. To do this, wake up the baby at certain intervals. The baby will be dissatisfied, he will not adjust immediately, but usually fatigue quickly takes its toll and two or three days are enough to switch to a new schedule.

It will be easier for a child to separate day and night if daytime sleep is organized on walks, and nighttime sleep is organized in his crib. In cases where it is not possible to go outside, Dr. Komarovsky recommends mastering the balcony. This is convenient both for the mother, who, instead of endless circles with the stroller, gets the opportunity to take care of the house or just relax, and for the baby, who will receive enough fresh air.

Useful: How to organize a baby's routine at 4 months

Also, during the day, while the baby is sleeping, you should not curtain the windows, speak in a whisper, walk on tiptoe, that is, achieve maximum silence and darkness. This is especially true for children with an inverted mode.

Why doesn't a one-year-old baby sleep at night?

At the age of one, the baby’s diet expands, new dishes and completely unusual foods appear. Adaptations of the digestive system can directly affect night's rest. This connection can manifest itself in:

• stomach ache;
• allergies to foods new to the baby;
• gas formation.

Also, sources of disturbing sleep may lie in headaches, enuresis, night terrors, ear pain or nasal congestion, which require consultation with a pediatrician.

In the absence of diseases, the causes of disturbing sleep may lie on the surface in the family’s lifestyle. In particular, these are:

• an undefined rest schedule, which often causes difficulty falling asleep at night;
• rare walks in the fresh air;
• strong emotions before bedtime - fussing with joyful emotions, a horror movie, scary stories, fright or fear;
• hot or cold air, lack of moisture;
• The bedtime does not correspond to the baby’s biorhythm;
• working on a TV or computer near the child’s crib;
• uncomfortable or out-of-season bedding.

If one of these reasons has been identified, it is worth changing your rhythm of life and activity during the daytime in order to make your baby's sleep restful and much better.

Daytime activity

In order for your baby to sleep soundly at night, he must be well tired during the day. A newborn child is not yet capable of active actions, so parents must help him. Exercise with him, walk, play, do massage and gymnastics. For evening entertainment, it is better to choose calm ones to avoid overstimulation. Active bathing also promotes sleep; it expends a lot of energy and relaxes the nervous system. This is most useful to do in cool water, to which the child is gradually accustomed. To do this, every few days the temperature is reduced by one degree until it reaches 30. For these purposes, a large bath is suitable, in which the baby will actively move, warming itself. With this bathing, the musculoskeletal system develops well, the immune system is strengthened, and the lungs are cleansed. In addition, after half an hour of such swimming, the child will be thoroughly exhausted, which has a beneficial effect on sleep. So bathing is an important part of the bedtime ritual.

How to ensure comfortable conditions?

For a child to sleep well, the temperature and humidity in the room are of great importance. The room should be ventilated, in the summer you should sleep with the window open to get fresh air. In order not to worry that your newborn baby will throw off the blanket, you can put him in a special sleeping bag. Older children will be comfortable in pajamas or slips.

Feeding can also influence sleep. A well-fed child sleeps better. Therefore, the last meal should be especially filling if the baby is already eating complementary foods. Porridge is good for this purpose. If the food so far consists of formula or breast milk, then you can try to underfeed at the previous feeding, then the baby will be hungrier and eat better shortly before bedtime.

Before bed ritual

A special bedtime ritual will help indicate nighttime sleep. Repeated routines are important for children to give them a sense of security. The purpose of the ritual is to relax and set you up for sleep. After bathing and feeding, the lights in the room are dimmed, and the child is spoken to in a low, calm voice. To make it clear that it's time to sleep, parents repeat the same actions: sing a lullaby, read a book and put them in the crib. At the same time, the baby relaxes and prepares for rest. If the baby tends to stay awake outside his sleeping place, then the ritual is carried out by putting him to bed.

Useful: Correct sleep schedule for a newborn

An important part of the action, which parents often forget about, is establishing closeness with the child. If the baby has the feeling that his mother is in a hurry to put him to bed in order to quickly go about her business, he tries to hold her back. It is important for him to feel that he is loved and his mother will not leave him. Parents should learn not to perceive bedtime as a struggle, but try to enjoy communicating with the baby. Although this may not always work, it will help to avoid problems with night sleep in the future.

What to do if your child doesn't sleep well at night

If your child often wakes up at night, it is necessary to organize the space in the room and the time before falling asleep in such a way as to minimize all risks:

1. Keep track of your bedtime. Babies who have missed the optimal period for falling asleep become overexcited, become whiny, irritable, and can be difficult to put them to sleep. Even adult children should be put to bed at 10:00 p.m. maximum.
2. Come up with rituals that will be repeated day after day . This could be swimming, reading a fairy tale, listening to calm music, finger games, and so on. A baby who falls asleep in a calm atmosphere will wake up much less often.
3. Co-sleeping . There is no consensus among pediatricians regarding the co-sleeping of children and mother (parents). But most experts advise teaching your baby to fall asleep on his own in his own bed, ideally in a separate room. Avoid too frequent and prolonged rocking, or wearing your baby in a sling in the evening. Sit or lie down next to him, and as soon as the baby falls asleep, leave.
4. Bathing and massage. For infants, it is advisable to use ready-made mixtures or essential oils with soothing herbs; older children can take a shower.
5. Microclimate . Create a microclimate in the bedroom so that the baby is comfortable. Be sure to monitor temperature and humidity indicators. Before going to bed, even in winter, ventilate for at least 15 minutes.
6. Daytime activity is equally important. The more energy a child expels during the daytime, the stronger and more restful his sleep will be.
7. Diapers . For babies who have not learned to go to the toilet on their own, it is best to use diapers. In children, this age varies from 1 to 3 years, not counting pathological cases of enuresis and other diseases.

If the situation with sleep disturbance recurs regularly, do not let yourself sleep too long during the day. For children over 2 years old, sleeping once during the day for 1.5-2.5 hours is considered the norm, for younger children - 2-3 times for 1.5-2 hours. The consequences of too much daytime rest are inadequate night sleep, frequent awakenings, tearfulness, and the inability to put the child to bed.

Traditional methods

Our grandmothers can give advice on what to do if a child confuses day with night. The most common popular recommendations:

• turn the suit that the baby wore during the day inside out and put it in his crib;
• put on the inside out rompers in the morning and let them stay in them until the evening;
• put the baby to sleep in the opposite position, that is, move his head to the side where his legs used to be;
• hide scissors under the mattress near your head;
• Place a cup filled with water near the head of the child’s bed;
• Place a bay leaf on the baby.

Although the inverted mode may be quite comfortable for a child, it is unlikely that the same can be said about his parents. To achieve their goal, they will have to be persistent and patient in following the recommendations. It will not be easy for the baby to cope with the changes, and he cannot do without the help of mom and dad. However, this should be done only if he is healthy and no stress is expected for him in the coming days (moving, attending holidays, vaccinations). In cases where it seems cruel to the mother to wake up the baby and underfeed him, it is better to let things take their course. Over time, most likely, the regime will level out on its own.