Why does a 1-year-old child sleep poorly at night?

After about 9-10 months, the child becomes more and more independent. His daily routine is stabilizing, every day he acquires new skills, tries to show independence, and in most cases sleeps peacefully throughout the night, giving his parents the opportunity to rest normally. But many mothers are upset and note that their one-year-old baby does not sleep well at night or cannot fall asleep for a long time. Most often, this is the first major age-related crisis that provokes sleep regression. But there may be more serious reasons.

Rhythms of a baby's dreams

Your newborn baby has only one sleep rhythm - his own.
During the first month of a baby’s life, talking about rules and routines is completely pointless.

The norm is to sleep a lot, but since each baby is individual: with its own temperament, character traits and nervous system, there may be deviations in any direction.

Even in a family, one child sleeps more, another less.

Your goal is to monitor your child and not let him overdo it and get overexcited.

When a month-old baby doesn’t sleep well during the day or at night, first make sure that he’s well-fed. Other common causes of disrupted sleep:

1. cold or heat;
2. overexcitement, fatigue;
3. wet, dirty diapers or diapers;
4. colic (for more information on how to cope with colic in a baby, see the course Soft tummy >>>);
5. diseases of the nervous system.

Start building the correct sleep rhythm for your baby after the age of 1-2 months.

You will need to monitor the time between naps, help your baby fall asleep, learn how to prolong naps, and help your baby differentiate between day and night.

You can also help your child sleep well and fall asleep without crying in the online course Calm baby sleep from 0 to 6 months>>>.

Click on the link to find out the full course program and help your baby sleep sweetly.

If a month old baby does not sleep well at night. What to do?

Mom's belly provides ideal conditions for sleep. Let's remember which ones.

In the womb, the baby is in a cramped space, there is twilight and a constant hum. Everything that was familiar and familiar to the baby during the 9 months of pregnancy calms him even now, after childbirth.

Swaddling. This method is thousands of years old. Do not neglect the experience of our ancestors. Be sure to swaddle your baby for the first month of life. This will help him sleep peacefully. Just do it correctly - do not tighten your arms and legs, leave freedom for movement;

In the baby sleep course, I will teach you the free swaddling technique.

• Movement. Most children are unable to fall asleep on their own in their crib. Light rocking in your arms in your arms, stroller, sling will create an atmosphere of movement in the womb;
• White noise. The uniform hum has saved more than one mother when putting her baby to bed. Turn on the water, hair dryer, vacuum cleaner and place the baby in these conditions (read more in the article White noise for a newborn>>>).

1. When you feed your baby at night, do not turn on bright lights, TV or computer. Use a night light with dim, amber light;
2. In the dark, when carrying out the necessary procedures, do not entertain the baby. Try to talk to him less, thereby teaching him to understand that the night is intended for deep sleep;
3. Open the curtains in the morning. During the activity phase, keep your baby in bright natural light.
4. Also, read the important article: The child confused day with night>>>.

Remember that it makes sense to form correct sleep habits only after one month of age, not earlier.

Be sure to monitor your child for signs of fatigue and do not allow him to become overexcited or be exposed to human noise for a long time. By observing your baby, you should learn to recognize signs of overtiredness.

If you keep your child awake for more than he can handle, the result will be a heart-rending cry. In this state, putting the baby to sleep is a real challenge. When you notice that the baby:

• rubs eyes;
• yawns;
• slows down movements;
• stops his gaze and looks into “nowhere”;
• capricious, worried.

Try to immediately create a calm environment and put the child to rest.

If you have trouble falling asleep, try co-sleeping. Sometimes this is the only way to save a child from incessant crying.

Use the tips above and come to a detailed sleep course if your 1-month-old baby doesn’t sleep well at night.

You should expect a miracle only on New Year’s Eve, but you need to take care of your child’s sleep from birth.

• Can a newborn sleep on his stomach?
• Sleep norms for children under one year old
• Baby doesn't sleep well during the day

How to achieve healthy and sound sleep

In order to normalize your baby’s sleep, you need to create good conditions:

1. Ventilate the room before resting. The optimal temperature is 18-20 degrees;
2. The child's pajamas and bedding should be made of cotton. It is better that pajamas do not have buttons, tight elastic bands, or ties. Before resting, the bed must be straightened so that there are no foreign objects or folds;
3. Create pleasant bedtime rituals. Carrying in your arms, a lullaby, stroking will help relax the child and help him fall asleep;
4. Do not play active games with your baby before bedtime, do not show him educational cartoons. Try to ensure that dad, who comes home in the evening, does not provoke the baby before bed. Otherwise, it will be difficult for the child to relax and fall asleep;
5. At 9 months, the baby should already be receiving complementary feeding and eating decent amounts of food. 30-60 minutes before bedtime, give your baby a light dinner, and then breastfeed.

Food affects a child's sleep, so a good appetite is the key to good sleep.

Be careful!

Healthy sleep is very important for a baby's development. If there are problems with falling asleep, the duration of daytime or night sleep, you need to analyze and find errors that prevent the child from sleeping well.

There is no need to wait for your sleep to improve on its own or blame everything on teething. Mothers who have been waiting for 3, 6, 9 months for their teeth to come out and the child to start sleeping well come to me for consultation, but no miracle happened.

But when we eliminated gross disturbances in the organization of the child’s sleep, then sleep improvement occurred.

We deal with the sleep of a child during breastfeeding as part of the course How to teach a child to fall asleep and sleep without breastfeeding, night awakenings and motion sickness >>>

Lyudmila Sharova, consultant on children's sleep and breastfeeding, child psychologist

The sweet sleep of your beloved baby brings rest not only to the child’s body. His mother also rests with him, and in the end everyone wakes up in a great mood. What could be better? It happens, and quite often, that babies do not sleep for the period prescribed by general norms. Why does this happen and how much should a baby sleep at 8-9 months?

It happens that a child’s sleep schedule is far from generally accepted norms, and this tires parents and the baby himself.

How to help your child sleep?

Children of 8-9 months are extremely active, and this leads to the fact that putting a fidget to bed can be extremely difficult. It is difficult for a child to rebuild his nervous system - even while in a crib, he still craves games and action. It can be difficult for parents to calm down a wild toddler.

What are some ways to get the little naughty boy to sleep? It is important to distribute games wisely throughout the day. In the evening, be sure to exclude all noisy and active games

When dad returns home from work, he wants to coddle and tickle his baby, but active games would be inappropriate in this case too. At this time, the child should immerse himself in a peaceful and calm environment that would put him in a sleepy mood. It is useful and very effective to include some rituals that are observed daily. The baby will immediately understand that bedtime will soon come and it will be much easier to put him to bed. As rituals, you can choose bathing in the bath, dressing in pajamas, reading a fairy tale, stroking massage, etc.

It will be easier to put the fidget to bed if you include rocking in your arms or in the crib in the process. Sometimes a child is capricious only with his mother, then it would be useful to involve his father or other family members in bedtime. Most likely, the whims will fade away and the baby will fall into a peaceful sleep within 5 minutes.

If there are no results, we connect the stroller to the action. You can rock your little one to sleep in it and then transfer it to the crib. Babies who are used to sleeping in a stroller during the day instantly fall asleep in it in the evening.

Deviations from the norm

This article talks about typical ways to solve your issues, but each case is unique! If you want to find out from me how to solve your particular problem, ask your question. It's fast and free

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• Analyze the possible causes of the baby’s agitation and try to eliminate them. For example, loud music invigorates a child, or older children are enticed into active games, etc.
• Adjust the climate in the room. Often children do not sleep well due to the heat. More comfortable conditions for sleeping - fresh and cool air in the bedroom.
• Stick to a daily routine. Strict adherence to the established rules should not be affected by weekends or holidays. By leaving the regime just once, you risk undermining the entire existing system.
• Help the baby follow the regime (we recommend reading:). Seeing that your baby is capricious before bed, delay bedtime a little. You can engage your child in reading or hold him in your arms while speaking in a calm voice. The baby must go to sleep at strictly set hours.

Causes of sleep disturbances at 9 months

Not all children under one year of age sleep throughout the night. Why does a 9 month old baby sleep poorly at night? In fact, there are quite a few reasons for this phenomenon. These may be, first of all, physiological characteristics. The most common of them, according to doctors:

• sleep patterns at this age. Nine-month-old babies are characterized by longer shallow sleep, while deep sleep lasts much less time. Due to this feature, babies may often wake up at night;
• need for food. This is more true for breastfed babies, since breast milk is digested much faster than formula. Therefore, artificial children, in most cases, sleep better at night.

The reasons why a child sleeps poorly may not be physiological, but related to improper daily routine and nutrition:

• The baby is not accustomed to rest and sleep. By 9 months, the baby should already have this regime in place;
• an unusual place to sleep at night, or the absence of parents. Children may sleep poorly in an unusual environment, for example, visiting their grandmother; the baby will often wake up and cry;
• improper distribution of daytime and night sleep. If the baby sleeps too much during the day, then poor sleep at night will not be at all surprising;
• violation of the feeding regime. After reaching 9 months, night feedings are optional. If the baby wakes up due to hunger, then the feeding regimen during the day should be reconsidered;
• lack of physical activity. If children are inactive during the day, they tend to sleep worse at night;
• discomfort. This is another reason why your baby may not sleep well. If the room is too hot, stuffy or too humid, or vice versa, the air is too dry, sleep will not be comfortable and long. An uncomfortable mattress and diapers can also negatively impact your baby's sleep.

Another reason for poor sleep in a baby may be colic or teething. Sleeping when something hurts is difficult even for an adult, and even more so for a child.

If your child does not sleep well during the day, you should pay attention to the environment. In order for him to sleep as much as he should at his age, you should ensure that there is no too loud conversations, music, phone calls, etc.

If sharp sounds wake up the baby and he starts crying, then it will be very difficult for him to fall asleep again.

Causes of the disorder

Parents, exhausted by their children's insomnia, often begin to panic, because it seems to them that something is wrong with the child. Disturbances in the functioning of the nervous system can indeed negatively affect a child’s sleep, but in most cases the reasons are more banal. Let's take a closer look at what keeps children from sleeping at night:

1. Overwork. It may seem strange, but nine-month-old babies are very often overtired. This is due to their increased curiosity and activity; the baby wants to know everything as quickly as possible. However, his nervous system is still not fully formed, so it gets tired too quickly. Overwork provokes the production of a stress hormone, due to which the child cannot fall asleep in the evening.
2. Increased excitability of the nervous system. This is not a terrible diagnosis, but a feature of 70% of children under the age of 3 years. Kids are too sensitive and react sharply to any changes or events. Their nervous system is constantly under tension, therefore, when putting the child in the crib, it cannot adjust in time from wakefulness to rest.
3. Wrong daily routine. A nine-month-old baby should already have his own daily routine. It includes feeding, games, walks, naps, bathing, massage, exercise and communication with family. If the order of actions is chaotic and changes every day, it is difficult for the baby to figure out what he needs to do at a certain moment. Without a well-established routine, children feel unprotected, disoriented and cannot sleep well at night.
4. Long daytime sleep. If the mother allows the little one to get enough sleep during the day, it is likely that at night he will not want to rest. It is important that the total daytime sleep does not exceed 4-5 hours, otherwise the baby will not be able to rest properly at night.
5. Excess energy. At 9 months old, it is important for children to play a lot of active and educational games, spend enough time outside and do other things. If the child cannot expend all his energy during the day, it is likely that at night he will prefer playing with his mother to restful sleep.
6. Poor sleep hygiene. If children sleep in an uncomfortable bed, in hot or tight pajamas, or suffer from cold or heat, then they will not get normal rest. Parents should ensure that there is always an optimal microclimate in the toddler’s room, and that his clothes and linen are comfortable.
7. No ritual for falling asleep. A special ritual of falling asleep is an important process for a baby. Mom must carry out preparatory procedures for rest in strict sequence and pronounce the same words. This way, the child will develop an association of certain actions with sleep, and he will fall asleep better.
8. Incorrect care. Often young parents simply do not know how to properly prepare their child for bed. Insufficient food for dinner, dirty diapers, too many toys in the crib and other shortcomings can cause the baby to have poor sleep.
9. Mom's nervous tension. If the mother is irritated, upset or experiences other negative emotions, the child is unlikely to be able to sleep. Children very keenly sense the mood of the person closest to them, and quickly adopt it.

A mother's emotional disorder always leads to insomnia in children.

1. Health problems. At 9 months, babies may still be bothered by digestive problems and teething. Infectious and inflammatory diseases also often appear in children of this age. This can cause insomnia, moodiness, tears and loss of appetite.

Children's naps

Monitor your child's morning sleep and make sure he sleeps at the right time. Try to ensure that babies fall asleep no earlier than 9:00, and older children no earlier than 9:15-9:30. If you see that your child sleeps too long in the morning, then it would be wise not to allow him to sleep too long in the afternoon. Afternoon naps are ultimately much more important because they are longer and align with baby's natural sleep cycles. Somewhere between the ninth and twelfth month, most babies need to cut back on their morning naps, and some may need to eliminate them altogether, especially if they sleep until 7:30-7:45. Other children may need a 10-15 minute nap. To eliminate morning naps, try reducing them by 10 minutes every three or four days until your baby is sleeping just 20 to 25 minutes at nine months. If your child is very tired, you can move up the time of second breakfast and put your child to bed earlier.

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.

Parents' reaction

Sleep disturbances in a 1-month-old baby cause real stupor in inexperienced parents. In a panic, they start visiting doctors, trying to find out what is wrong or taking measures that are best avoided.

The Right Action

How to restore sleep to a baby is a question that worries all parents without exception. The baby will fall asleep if mom and dad approach this responsibly. Below is a list of things you can do to calm your baby.

1. Calm down. The subtle connection between mother and baby helps the baby feel everything that mother feels. There is no need to be nervous and irritated if the baby wakes up - the mother’s negative emotions will provoke the baby even more.
2. Examine the baby carefully. Maybe he's hot? Or is the diaper already soiled? In this case, you need to eliminate the cause of awakening - change the diaper, ventilate the room, and so on.
3. Bring the baby to you. Children sleep soundly next to their parents. At one month of age this is normal. The most important thing is that such a situation does not become habitual in the future, as the baby grows up.

Almost always, parents are prompted to take the right actions by their instincts and inner instincts. This allows you to not only help your baby return to sleep when he wakes up, but also provide him with the opportunity to fall asleep. However, there are mistakes that most parents make.

There's no need to do that

Sometimes parents can make mistakes when trying to calm their baby. Many people believe that a child who wakes up screams and cries from hunger - this is not always the case. They gag him with a bottle or breast, but after eating for just a couple of minutes, he refuses, continuing his hysteria. In fact, first you should have examined the baby for a dirty diaper, or looked at his pajamas - maybe he is uncomfortable in them.

Advice! There is no need to be irritated when the baby wakes up. The emotional background in the house and the mother’s feelings in particular only aggravate the problem.

It is very difficult to put a child who has woken up in the middle of the night and is out of sorts to sleep. The same applies to the moment of going to bed. The mother hurriedly puts the baby in the crib, worrying that the process will not drag on, because she has already made plans on how to spend several hours while the baby naps. This is wrong - the mother should help the child go to bed responsibly and calmly, without haste.

Why you shouldn't worry

Children are sensitive to the condition of their parents. Increased anxiety and restlessness affect his further mental development. In addition, parents' excessive worries can affect the baby's sleep quality. He is not yet accustomed to sleep, does not know how to control his feelings, breathing, cannot start counting sheep, as adults sometimes do in order to fall asleep faster, so insomnia is a frequent guest in the lives of children. If he also wakes up at night in the dark, alone, then this causes negative emotions in him. When parents become overly anxious, it only makes the baby's anxiety worse. However, if a mother who is caring and confident in the baby’s well-being is nearby all the time, the child will endure this period easier.

It is important that the mother is nearby and calms the crying child in time

So, the causes of insomnia in children 9 months of age come down to the following:

• Babies have different sleep phases, so they can wake up every hour. If your baby wakes up frequently, the main thing is to be nearby to calm him down.
• Little people have recently entered this life and do not yet know how to control the process of falling asleep.
• Children often take naps during the day, so if a mother thinks that her baby only falls asleep for one hour a day, then she should take a closer look at him - in fact, this happens much more often.
• Children are very active, so at night they often suffer from insomnia due to overwork. Crying at night signals fatigue associated with the inability to fall asleep.
• Unfavorable conditions: noise, uncomfortable crib, disturbing light.
• Physiological reasons: pain, systemic disorders, temperature.

Only the last two reasons require additional intervention from parents, in addition to the usual care of the child. Poor sleep hygiene affects infant health by disrupting the fragile physiology of infant sleep. If the reasons lie in infectious diseases, then this can be life-threatening. If you notice your baby has a fever, contact your pediatrician immediately.

Child development level at 8 months

At 8 months, the baby shows his individual characteristics, which are the first signs of independence. He observes the world around him with interest; everything seems mysterious to him. During this period, the child increasingly uses movements, facial expressions, gestures and thus expresses his feelings. He can tinker with toys for a long time, look at them and taste them.

Despite the fact that children are different, there are still certain general criteria in their development that are considered normal. The following indicators are typical for a baby at 8 months:

• In terms of physical development, an 8-month-old child can stand up, sit down, and point his finger at objects that interest him. He rolls over from his back to his tummy without any problems.
• Emotional development at this age also does not stand still. The baby actively shows his emotions, can show his attitude towards loved ones, delight or rejection of any situation. Every minute his mood changes.
• Sensory development is expressed in throwing toys on the floor and watching how parents pick them up.
• Psychological development can be judged by the child’s facial expressions, which convey the entire gamut of his mood. At this age, he distinguishes his loved ones from strangers. He tends to understand music and clap his hands after listening to it.

Reasonable actions of parents

There are many methods by which caring parents can ensure and normalize their child’s sleep. One method or another is suitable for each case. In order for your baby to fall asleep quickly and not toss and turn in his sleep, you must follow these recommendations:

Find the cause of his overexcitation and try to eliminate it. It is necessary to spend enough time with your baby in the fresh air. When bathing your child in the evening, use herbs that soothe. Chamomile and valerian have proven themselves well in this regard. A child should not be allowed to go hungry. Only a well-fed baby can sleep peacefully. As the child grows up, it is necessary to reconsider his sleep schedule. If previously a baby fell asleep at 21 o'clock, then with age he may need more time to stay awake

In such cases, it is better to move the night's sleep to half an hour to an hour. It is important to maintain a normal microclimate in the room. If you have hives that wake your baby up with itching, it is necessary to eliminate this skin problem. During teething, it is advisable to use special means to numb the baby’s gums. The mother should try to be less nervous; her mood is transmitted to the child. The baby's falling asleep and waking up should be accompanied by a smile and gentle words. Such an environment is conducive, the child does not experience the fear of loneliness.

What you can do - tips for restoring the regime

To eliminate the problem of a situation where a 7-month-old baby has trouble falling asleep at night or during the day, parents can take the following actions:

• Before falling asleep, exclude all active, outdoor games. You should spend time in a calm, relaxing environment.
• Create your own falling asleep ritual. It can consist of any actions. The main thing is that they occur at the same time, are identical and consistent;
• Prepare the room. Make a damp cleaning, ventilate well, organize the supply of fresh air. During the daytime rest, you can curtain the windows, creating a subdued atmosphere.
• Regular walks in the fresh air. While the little one is small, if possible, let him sleep outside.
• A calm atmosphere in the family will eliminate bad dreams and worries, which will contribute to proper rest.
• Bathing with herbs as it is relaxing and soothing.

You can also try motion sickness, but experts do not recommend this, as it is addictive in children. Subsequently, they are unable to fall asleep on their own.

It is important to strictly adhere to the established daily routine. Thanks to this, at 7 months the baby will develop certain reflexes; over time, he will get into a routine and be able to fall asleep on his own.

What absolutely should not be done

To eliminate the causes of a child’s sleep disorder, the following actions should be avoided: deliberately waking up the child, feeding him tightly before bed, yelling at him, getting irritated, visiting crowded places, leaving him alone in a dark room, not putting him to rest during the day for greater fatigue, for faster When falling asleep, use different sedatives.

How to teach independence

Having eliminated the reasons why a 7-month-old baby does not sleep well during the day or at night, you can gradually teach him to go to bed on his own. To do this you can use the following:

• offer to go to bed with your favorite soft toy;
• hang interesting pictures over his bed;
• read a bedtime story, a fairy tale, sing a lullaby.
• talk to him in a calm, monotone voice.

If he wakes up, do not rush to go to the crib, give him the opportunity to go to sleep on his own. A seven-month-old baby can get up in the middle of the night for various reasons, so don’t rush to pick him up. Sometimes it is enough to talk calmly, indicating your presence. When teaching independence, it is necessary to take into account the individual characteristics of the toddler and his needs.

The need to adhere to the regime

For every nine-month-old baby, there are rules for falling asleep and waking up. Guided by them, parents try to create a proper sleep routine. It must include several stages that require execution. If you don’t do this, you can undermine the emotional background.

Sleep norms and routine

As the baby grows, it spends less and less time sleeping. An alternative is outdoor games and exploring the world around us.

If the child is feeling well, he or she should sleep at least 13 hours throughout the day. At the same time, at night - up to 11 hours, and during the day - 40 minutes 2 or 3 times. If he gets up 2 times during the day, the duration of sleep will increase to 2 hours.

Parents assume that falling asleep occurs according to established norms, but this is far from the truth. Time intervals are just an approximation.

Due to the individual characteristics of the body, the biological rhythm is formed in different ways. Night sleep is sometimes interrupted: the little one may wobble and moan. But these are normal phenomena, because at this moment the phases are rearranged. Parents need to calm their child down by talking to him or petting him.

But if the child often wakes up at night, and a heightened emotional state becomes the norm, then the cause of what is happening should be established. It is different for each baby.

When should you sound the alarm?

If your baby has trouble falling asleep and starts tossing and turning and crying in the crib, then there is nothing wrong with that. Such changes characterize a change of phases; they have not yet been properly formed.

However, if the symptoms recur daily, and even for a long period of time, then you should contact a professional. The cause may be a serious illness - epilepsy.

If there is creaking of tooth enamel, which lasts about 7 days, it is necessary to undergo an examination. With such symptoms, jaw disease or neuralgic disorders are detected.

If the first signs of changing behavior are observed, the child should be examined by a specialist, and then sent for the necessary studies of the body. Correct and prompt identification of the cause gives the best chance of maximum recovery.

Constant regime change

If your baby doesn't have any kind of sleep-wake schedule at all, he can become extremely moody and whiny. Constant regime change does not bode well either. The child gets used to the chaos, that he can go to bed at any time and get up regardless of the time. Such behavior greatly interferes with character development and contributes to the formation of an emotionally unstable personality.

In the future, parents, as a rule, come to their senses and realize that they made a mistake. However, it is very difficult to teach a three- to four-year-old child to follow a routine when he resists it.

That is why it is important to instill in your own child a desire for order as early as possible. It will be easier for everyone

Still, the regime is a great thing. It makes it possible to develop a specific schedule and stick to it for a long period.

Etiology of sleep disorders

Komarovsky, a famous pediatrician and TV presenter, covered the problem of sleep disturbances in infants. He identified the leading causes of insomnia in children, which will be discussed further.

Parents, when a child of 9 months sleeps poorly (especially if this continues for a long time), often, very frightened, immediately decide that the baby is sick.

Healthy children sometimes also sleep poorly, and this is possible due to many reasons:

1. High excitability of the central nervous system. This is a common occurrence for a nine-month-old toddler, who, while awake, greedily absorbs all information coming from outside. When the time for rest comes, he cannot fall asleep under the influence of the impressions he has experienced during the day.
2. Overwork (typical of such children and normal). Trying to study everything possible during the day, the baby puts a lot of stress on his nervous system. As a result, when it is time to sleep, the child is in a state of stress.
3. Violation of the daily routine. Even such a small person should have his own daily routine. Eating, resting, walking and playing should occur at approximately the same time every day. If everything is new every day, the baby does not have time to adapt, and he has problems sleeping.
4. Negative emotions experienced by mother. The mother's anxiety is easily transmitted to the baby.
5. Poor care. The reason your baby won't fall asleep may be an overfilled diaper. Also, the baby will constantly wake up if he is put to bed hungry.
6. Lack of ritual before bed. There should be a set sequence of actions that always occurs before putting the baby to bed. Its presence makes the process of falling asleep easier. If there is no ritual, it is more difficult to fall asleep.

Not all reasons are listed here. We are talking only about the most common ones. Komarovsky attaches special importance to the first two of them.

Why does a 7 month old baby sleep poorly?

There are a number of most likely reasons that prevent a baby from falling asleep.

• Too much nap during the day. If a child sleeps a lot during the day, then at night he feels well-rested.
• Late bedtime. If the child has been awake for a long time, this leads to overstimulation. It is necessary that the baby has time to sleep 4 hours before midnight.
• Wrong daily routine. Set a consistent bedtime in the evening and wake-up time in the morning. For example, in the evening, sleep from 20.00, awakening at 7.00 in the morning. The biological clock does not have time to adjust itself too often.
• There is no ability to fall asleep independently. If in the evening the mother puts the baby to sleep and lulls him to sleep, then when he wakes up at night, he cannot fall asleep on his own. At 7 months, it’s time to teach your baby to fall asleep on his own. To do this, it is recommended to put a toy in the crib that is pleasant to the touch. The child will not feel lonely.
• Character traits. Emotional children sleep worse than passive ones. They will be soothed by a massage or a lullaby.
• Lack of activity during the day. If the child is not tired during the day, it will be difficult for him to sleep at night. Spend more time with him, play active games that make him move, roll over, and reach for toys. Take your baby for a walk outside every day.
• Wrong feeding time. Gradually, the child must be weaned from eating frequently at night.
• Teeth are being cut. At 7 months, the lower central incisors begin to erupt. Pain, fever, vomiting provoke sleep disturbances.
• Nervous atmosphere at home. At this age, the baby is very sensitive to the emotional climate in the family. If conflicts occur between parents and they raise their voices at each other, this causes nervous tension. The baby will become restless and cry often.
• The child is hot. The room must be regularly ventilated and the temperature maintained at no higher than 23°C. Do wet cleaning often. It is not recommended to install heaters in a children's room; they dry out the air.
• Allergy. Children may experience a reaction to new food in the form of redness and itching.
• Excessive gas formation. Gases contribute to the appearance of colic in the tummy. Dill water will help deal with them.
• The lighting is disturbing. Some children even react to the light of night lights; turn them off before putting your baby in the crib.
• Wet diapers, diapers. Make sure your baby is comfortable and dry in the crib. Choose diapers carefully and according to size. If they are too big for the child, they will leak.
• Diseases. Contact your doctor and make sure that the baby does not have any abnormalities.

The main thing for such a small child is the attentive attitude of the parents. If you take into account all the above aspects, your baby's sleep will soon improve.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=8Y27CvnDZy0

General information about sleep at 6 months

Each age period in a child’s life has its own developmental characteristics.

Therefore, it is important to understand what kind of sleep is the norm, then it is easier to identify and pay attention to deviations.

Here are some nuances of sleep in a six-month-old baby:

• the duration should be 14 hours per day. This is exactly how much a child needs for normal mental and physical development;
• daytime sleep - 2 periods, no more than 4 hours in total. At night at this age, babies sleep for up to 7 hours without waking up;
• the active period of life begins, which affects the psychological state of the baby;
• new complementary foods are introduced and the diet changes, which also affects sleep. This is especially true for children with gastrointestinal problems. Sometimes eliminating just one food item from your diet improves sleep.

All these features, together with an unregulated day and night sleep pattern, can affect the development of your child

It is important to understand that at 6 months, unlike at an earlier age, the child is already able to distinguish between day and night. This means you should lay it down according to normal biological rhythms.

Physical activity, which is associated with active cognition of the world around us, can lead to overwork of the fragile nervous system.

At each age, the mental and physical state of the baby changes, parents may not notice this. Therefore, you should be careful about all changes in the baby’s diet and mobility. If he wakes up every hour at night, this threatens lack of sleep and poor development.

What to do if something goes wrong

Your baby can't stay awake in the afternoon because he only sleeps for 40 to 60 minutes in the afternoon. In this case, it is best to let him sleep for 30 minutes after feeding at 14:30, and then 30 minutes at 16:30. Thanks to this, the child should not become overtired and irritable, and you can return to the 17:00 routine and put the child to bed normally at 19:00. If your baby slept between 3:00 pm and 4:00 pm, he will be able to go back to sleep at 6:00 pm. With a small child you just have to accept it. I suggest you move the feeding from 5:00 pm to 4:30 pm and put him to bed at 6:00 pm. An older child may go to bed between 6:15-6:30 p.m., and I suggest you reschedule your afternoon snack and bath time accordingly. When your child gets older and can refuse the afternoon nap, you can put him to bed again at 19:00.

If you've adjusted his routine to allow him to sleep more by eliminating afternoon naps, you can follow my recommendations at the beginning of each routine for maximizing the amount of naps during the day. Always try to get your baby to wake up at 5:00 pm if you want to put him to bed at 7:00 pm.

Checklist

Eliminate hunger as a possible reason for waking up. Check to see if your child is thirsty - offer him water before he goes to bed. Correct any sleep associations, such as falling asleep in a car seat, and ensure that your baby goes to bed in the dark when he or she is well fed. Try to have this happen at the same time - this way the child will develop the right habits. You will need patience. Make sure the room is really dark and there is no light in it. If your older child's return from daycare or school at 12-12:30 means that the baby won't be able to be put down in the dark, at least try to put him down in a car seat or stroller in the quietest part of the house. Rule out other reasons for waking up, such as noise or the blanket not being tucked in properly.

Remember that babies under six months have a very strong Moro reflex, so it is very important to carefully tuck the blanket on your baby, even if he does not wake up on his own.

When you go through all the reasons listed in the checklist and give time for change to take place, you may find yourself among the few parents who continue to have problems. These babies are usually older than six months and have developed strong misassociations with sleep. I must stress that this is a last resort and should not be used in mild cases, and certainly should not be used without the advice of your doctor or health visitor, who can recommend a sleep clinic.

What to do to improve your baby's sleep

First, practice good sleep hygiene. The baby should go to bed at the same hour, this will develop a day and night routine for him and teach him to fall asleep on time. Secondly, protect his crib from all irritants - noise, light, unpleasant odors and other inconveniences. Third, rule out the possibility of an infectious disease.

We've found that waking up every hour is normal for babies. When does this happen? Children begin to sleep much better by the age of one and a half years. The psyche becomes more formed, and instincts begin to give way to conscious comprehension of the world. In addition, breastfeeding, which sometimes occurs just an hour before bedtime and activates the digestive system, stops. Until then, here are some ways to help your 9-month-old sleep at night:

• Swaddling.
  This method is controversial in the medical community. According to one point of view, the child has a large number of chaotic movements. The baby does not control his body the way adults do, so swaddling allows him to temporarily forget about the need to move and allows him to take a break from movement and activity.

Swaddling helps some babies sleep well

• Motion sickness
  . Intrauterine conditions are such that the child is constantly rocked. This state is familiar to him, it helps him fall asleep in the future, as it relieves anxiety. If your baby wakes up just an hour after going to bed, rocking can sometimes quickly bring him back to sleep.

The method of rocking a baby has its supporters and opponents.

• Hugs
  . And again - in the womb of the mother, the baby is surrounded by a warm and cramped space, which he associates with protection and safety. By hugging a child before bed, we give him warmth and closeness, soothe him before falling asleep.

Hugs are an indispensable attribute of communication between parents and children.

• Co-sleeping
  . Sleeping with your baby for up to six months is a way to have a positive impact on your health and that of your baby. The baby is comfortable near his mother at night, he feels part of her. If he wakes up every hour, she can comfort him right away. Subsequently, however, you will have to accustom him to a separate crib; this is a necessary stage of growing up.

A nine-month-old baby is a real explorer. He already knows how to crawl, some babies even make their first attempts at learning to walk. The baby plays educational games with interest, watches cartoons and actively gets acquainted with the world around him. At this age, children begin to perceive more and more consciously, their temperament is formed. A poor night's sleep can overshadow the progress of a toddler's development. This disorder negatively affects the well-being of children and parents, because the whole family is deprived of proper rest. Let's look at what causes this phenomenon and how to deal with it.