A child constantly wants to sleep for 2-3 years

What are the reasons for concern?

Most newborns up to 4-6 months do not give rest to their parents. Therefore, all adults dream that their child will become more “comfortable” - sleep more and be capricious less. However, mothers of such children need to be on guard. It is extremely important to understand where the line is between a “calm child” and a “lethargic” child.

A “lethargic” baby may be lazy to breastfeed, and this will inevitably lead to malnutrition. In infancy, a lack of mother's milk has an extremely negative impact on the development of children, and can even be a life-threatening factor.

First, not having enough milk before 6 weeks of age can make jaundice worse because there is not enough food to clear the excess bilirubin from the body.
Secondly, insufficient feeding can lead to hypoglycemia in the newborn.
Thirdly, malnutrition contributes to even greater weakness of the child and a gradual reduction in food portions to volumes insufficient for normal growth and development.
Fourthly, milk is not only food for a baby, but also a liquid. And dehydration at this age is extremely dangerous.

A child constantly wants to sleep for 2-3 years - reasons?

Every young parent really values the time when their child falls asleep and sleeps soundly and for a long time, and it is not often that new mothers and fathers know about the rules and norms of sleep in children. But literally every month, the waking time should increase, and the sleeping time, therefore, should be reduced, because often too much sleep, in a child starting from 2-3 years old, can become the first sign of the disease.

The sleep norm for children aged 2-3 years is approximately 11 hours at night and 1.5 - 2 hours during the day. An important observance of sleep culture at this age is the separation of the bed between parents and child, that is, gradually weaning the baby from his parents and teaching him to sleep on his own. The main problem in following this rule may be frequent childhood fears, which are almost the norm for children of this age.

It is necessary, as soon as the child has a nightmare, to help him: explain the dream, tell a good story and wait until the baby falls asleep again, if the dream was too abrupt and the child began to become hysterical, psychologists and children's pediatricians allow you to take the child to your bed , but only for one night.

A rather acute problem, also related to sleep in a child, is its excess; if a child of 2 or 3 years old sleeps about 13-15 hours at night, this is already a reason to think about it and pay special attention to the child.

Main reasons:

The child begins to get sick and, due to lack of strength, needs constant sleep.
Low immunity. The body tries to gain additional strength during sleep.
Frequent stress and emotional overload. If the baby has just started kindergarten or you have moved to a new apartment, the body can react to the stress suffered and protect the child’s psyche through sleep. In this case, it is worth explaining to the child as often as possible that everything here will be the same as it was before.
If a child not only sleeps a lot, but periodically feels nauseous and has a stomach ache, this is intoxication and it is important to see a doctor as soon as possible.
Sleep pattern disorder. If a child has not slept enough for some time, the child’s body will try to compensate for everything and regain the missing strength.

Sleep is an important part of a child's life, so parents should approach this issue with full responsibility. Since any sleep disturbances, be it an excess or, on the contrary, a lack of it, are a serious stress for a small organism and can cause mental problems.

What signs indicate a threat to a child’s health?

When your child sleeps for a long time and exhibits at least one of the symptoms listed below, you should immediately consult a doctor. Since they indicate the presence of serious health problems.

Dangerous accompanying symptoms:

The baby sleeps for more than 3 hours in one position and does not move.
He has flaccid skin, which does not immediately straighten after a pinch.
Very weak, exhausted crying.
Poor urine output (less than 2 wet diapers per day).
The child has a sunken fontanel.
Dry mouth and mucous eyes are observed.
Increased temperature.

Painful conditions that provoke increased sleepiness in childhood

Anemia. With anemia in childhood, there is a sharp loss of strength, weakness, lethargy, inhibition of reactions, and a state where the child constantly feels sleepy.

Diseases of the gastrointestinal tract . Diseases affecting the gastrointestinal tract affect the general well-being of the child. If the child's body does not receive the necessary nutrients due to the fact that digestion is impaired and normal absorption of food does not occur, then the child will complain of weakness and lack of energy. In addition, in case of poisoning, increased drowsiness is also possible.

Viral, infectious diseases . If any inflammatory process caused by viruses occurs in a child’s body, if there is an elevated body temperature, then the occurrence of weakness and lethargy is a completely natural result. With colds and flu, the child will constantly want to sleep.

Hypotension. Low blood pressure is characterized by headaches, dizziness, tinnitus, drowsiness, yawning, and a feeling of lack of oxygen.

Nervous, mental illnesses and borderline conditions . With childhood depression or asthenic syndrome, the child may constantly want to sleep. In the context of these conditions, as a rule, the duration of night sleep increases; if the child does not suffer from insomnia, it can be very difficult to wake up the baby in the morning. Drowsiness can be a symptom of other pathologies; here it is very important to get competent advice from a doctor.

Other diseases and pathological conditions that cause increased daytime sleepiness in a child:

low hemoglobin;
encephalopathy;
kidney diseases;
diseases of the endocrine system, in particular diabetes;
bronchial asthma;
obesity;
bleeding in internal organs;
infections affecting the brain;
head injuries;
liver and gallbladder diseases;
problems with blood vessels and the heart, for example, atherosclerosis or heart failure;
various chronic diseases, including tonsillitis, pharyngitis;
allergic reactions;
avitaminosis.

How do you know that everything is okay with the baby?

To be 100% sure that your baby’s long sleep does not threaten his health in any way, take the mini-survey below. If you answer yes to all three questions, then you don’t have to worry about the health of your sleepyhead.

Your baby sleeps a lot and:

Grows and gains weight according to his age.
In the intervals between sleep, he moves actively and requires attention.
The baby watches your movements when you try to come into contact with him.

Please note that if you gave a negative answer to at least one question, this is a sign that you need to immediately visit a pediatrician, since every day of delay can cost your baby’s health dearly.

How much sleep do children need?

Adequate sleep is important for children. In their sleep, they assimilate the information received during the day, rest and grow. Lack of sleep is fraught not only with bad behavior, whims and hysterics, but also with a decrease in immunity. Therefore, it is important to know how much sleep children need at different ages.

At 1.5 years old, the baby switches to two sleeps - day and night. He sleeps like this until he reaches school age, after which there is no need for daytime rest. The age limits are arbitrary: each child refuses additional sleep at its own time.

The main thing is that children should sleep the prescribed number of hours.

Causes of drowsiness:

The older children get, the less time they spend sleeping and the more active and inquisitive they become. And if an active baby prefers to sleep instead of playing, this is an alarming sign. Think about what caused this and then you will understand how to act.

Let's look at the main reasons why a child constantly feels sleepy.

The child gets sick

Weakness and lethargy are symptoms of the development of the disease. What to do:

measure the temperature;
examine the baby's throat;
ask what hurts him; small children have difficulty withstanding even mild illnesses;
start treatment in a timely manner and give the baby a rest.

The child is recovering

When the body has already overcome the disease, it needs time to recover.

Therefore, drowsiness is a common occurrence and not something to worry about.

The child is very tired

Perhaps he had overexerted himself the day before for some reason. Active games or long trips exhaust children. Give your child as much rest as the body needs and remove all tiring factors.

The child is stressed

If a small person constantly lives under stress, the body will react to this by disrupting its proper functioning.

The child does not follow the daily routine

Going to bed late prevents you from getting enough sleep. Lack of early rises will not improve the situation. A preschooler is supposed to go to bed between 18:00 and 21:00. If a child gets up too early, a day's rest is indispensable to avoid lack of sleep.

Pay attention to the temperature and humidity where your baby sleeps. If it's too hot or too dry, these are uncomfortable sleeping conditions. The room should be about +20 degrees and at least 50% humidity. Otherwise, the child does not get enough sleep at night and then constantly wants to sleep during the day.

The table shows sleep norms by age:

MaryVe's blog

Girls, I just don’t have the strength anymore - neither physical nor moral. Sometimes I want to step out the window...

My daughter is almost a year old. She has been sleeping very poorly since July. When the colic passed, she began to sleep well; she woke up only at 3 and 6 to munch on her boobs. Then, apparently, teeth began to set in and she began to wake up every 1.5-2 hours. Since July, 6 teeth have come out, the last ones a week ago, no more swollen ones are visible. And still no sleep. Moreover, she wakes up every 40 minutes-hour. And the boob no longer works - she will eat, turn away and begin to rush about and whine. Our dream looks like this: she suckles at the breast for 20-30 minutes, turns away, I stroke her, slap her on the back, after 20-30 minutes she starts whimpering and tossing and turning, I stroke her again, sometimes it helps for another 20 minutes, then she sits down and cries. I get up, carry her for about 10 minutes, put her down, stroke her again and she sleeps for 20-30 minutes. And so on every hour. In the morning he can sleep for 1.5-2 hours and not always

The pediatrician and neurologist do not find any abnormalities. Well, they prescribed glycine (it only makes her aroused, but they canceled it), baths with pine extract - it didn’t help. In the morning he wakes up in a great mood, with a smile. During the day she behaves well, sleeps during the day 2 times for an hour and a half, during this time she also wakes up once - if she sees me sleeping further or petting her.

I'm already scratching my head about what's bothering her:

- nervous excitement? We tried to walk a lot, not turn on the TV, and not play especially in the evening.

- belly? — she farts both night and day, I can’t say that it’s a lot, but still. They drank primadophilus, excluded various foods, dairy.

I fed him porridge at night or, on the contrary, gave him less to eat for dinner, only breastfeeding at night.

- teeth? — I used to insert viburkol and she slept for at least 2 hours, now she rushes about with it all night. I smeared it with calgel and cholisal.

Everything tried - zero emotions.

But I can't do this anymore! Grandmothers live far away, husband works from 8 to 9 on the road.

I don’t sleep, I don’t rest, I don’t communicate with my husband, because my daughter starts going to bed at 21-21:30, I put her down and then rock her every half hour (before, at least she had her first sleep from 22 to 00-01, then I woke up often). And now he goes to sleep with difficulty and sleeps terribly.

It’s hard for me physically and mentally - that the child is tormented by something, but I can’t help!

And one more thing - the last few days he has been peeing little at night, the diaper is half full, although before it was full. Maybe she doesn't have enough water? Or does she ask to go potty at night? During the day, with rare mistakes, we piss on the potty, we always poop there.

In short, I've already gone through everything. Can you give me some advice or support in some way? And what the heck, I want to pull myself up...