Why does a child not want to sleep during the day or at night: reasons. What to do if a child does not sleep during the day

How much sleep do babies need: a little or a lot?

Before you sound the alarm, calculate how much your baby sleeps per day in general.
Perhaps the child spends enough time sleeping. However, some believe that their child is not getting enough sleep. Polyphasic sleep, when a child sleeps 2-3 or more times a day, is the norm for a newborn. At the same time, mothers still believe that the baby sleeps little, and believe that his sleep should be continuous, like that of an adult.

A newborn up to 1 month needs to sleep 16-19 hours a day. But this does not mean that the baby will be awake for 5-8 hours straight. In reality, the baby can sleep for 3 hours, then be awake for 1 hour, and then sleep again for several hours. Each baby's sleep rhythm is individual.

The child does not want to fall asleep - what to do: reviews

Many young mothers share their experiences on the Internet. And they also give an answer to the question of what to do if the child does not want to fall asleep. Some solved the problem in their own way, while others believe that everything will fall into place on its own. Please note that not all advice is equally useful and not all of them should be used.

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Features of night rest in infants

Naturally, all parents want their child to sleep soundly throughout the night, but in fact, for very young children waking up at night is the norm. Some toddlers, after waking up to feed in the dark, are able to fall asleep on their own again, while other babies are not able to fall asleep on their own. They demand maternal attention, starting to cry and whine.

The baby wakes up quite often at night when he is hungry. The rest of the time he remains in a state of sleep, unless discomfort occurs. The norm is for babies to wake up every hour at night. This state of affairs lasts until three months of age.

Why is this happening? The fact is that during this period of time the baby’s sleep is too sensitive. Even a little noise causes the child to toss and turn.

Five-month-old babies wake up less often, and by the age of one, parents will need to get up to the baby once or twice in the dark. 3-month-old babies sleep about 16 hours, and from six months they have enough sleep for 13-14 hours per day.

When such changes are not observed, the help of a doctor is required. He will be able to identify the causes of disturbances in the baby’s night rest and advise how to eliminate them.

Initially, if the baby has poor sleep, the possibility of neurological abnormalities should be excluded. If any are present, treatment should be prescribed by a pediatric psychoneurologist. If sleep disturbances occur due to any diseases, the baby should be shown to a doctor. Self-medication is unacceptable.

If your baby's sleep problems are due to teething, parents should take care to help their child relieve soreness in the gums. In such a situation, you can resort to the following measures, having first consulted with a doctor about the admissibility of their use:

lubricate the gums with special ointments or gels sold in pharmacies (Kalgel, Dentinox, Kamistad Baby, Holisal);
give the baby Parlazin drops or Dentokind tablets;
put Viburkol candles;
give painkillers (Ibuprofen-FT, Advil). During this period, parents should ensure that the baby sleeps on his side and not on his back. Increased salivation that accompanies the process of teething can lead to coughing attacks if the baby sleeps on his back. This also disrupts the baby’s nightly rest.

If the baby does not sleep well in the dark, parents really want to correct the situation. If you follow some simple recommendations, you can achieve good results and your baby’s sleep will improve and become more restful.

These include the following:

Walks in the fresh air in any weather at least twice a day. It is believed that difficulty sleeping occurs in children who have spent little energy during the day. Inactive babies tend to have difficulty falling asleep. Therefore, the mother must make every effort to ensure that the baby exhibits physical activity throughout the day. In addition to long walks, it is advisable to play with the baby and do special exercises. However, it should be remembered that the time for active games is only until lunch. They are not recommended in the afternoon, as they increase the baby’s nervous excitability.
Evening swimming in lukewarm water. The cooler the water, the more active the baby will be in it, and the faster he will get tired. It is advisable to add a decoction of string or motherwort to the bathing water. Healing herbs will calm the baby, and his sleep will be more sound.
In the evening hours, a massage is desirable for the baby, which includes gentle stroking movements of the mother's palms. It will help your baby relax and make it easier for him to fall asleep.
Parents should take care of high-quality bedding and the comfort of the baby's sleeping place. It is not advisable to wrap your baby up at night. It's hard for kids to sleep when it's hot.
The baby needs to create comfortable conditions for sleeping in the nursery, take care of the normal temperature in the room and humidify the air. You should ventilate the nursery before going to bed, as advised by the famous pediatrician, Dr. Komarovsky.
To ensure that the baby does not suffer from sleep problems, adherence to a sleep, wakefulness and feeding schedule is required. Mommy should gradually increase the time between night feedings until she can cancel them completely. The longer the time interval between feedings, the better. Thanks to this technique, the baby will begin to get used to eating less often, which means he will not wake up in the middle of the night so often. After the baby reaches six months of age, there will be no need for feeding at night if the mother does everything right.
In the evenings, you should feed your baby well. Not eating enough is just as bad as overfeeding. In both cases, the baby will wake up at night, cry and be capricious.
By properly preparing your baby for bed, he will develop the habit of falling asleep. Such preparation can be a “sleepy” ritual. It will make it easier for children six months of age and older to fall asleep. Every day, twenty minutes before going to bed, parents should perform the same sequence of actions that the baby will associate with falling asleep: bathing, massage, bedtime stories or lullabies. The final part of the ritual should take place in the nursery, where the child sleeps. In order to avoid difficulties with falling asleep in the future, it is highly recommended not to make changes to the established ritual, so as not to confuse your child. In this case, you should put your child to bed at the same time.
Parents need to teach their baby to fall asleep on his own by putting him in a crib without first rocking him to sleep in his arms. For some time they will have to put up with the whims of the baby, who does not want to fall asleep without his mother’s arms. However, soon the method will work, and the baby will begin to fall asleep on its own.
An important aspect is to create a warm and loving atmosphere in the home. Kids become anxious when their parents are in conflict, nervous and irritated. This negatively affects the quality of children's sleep.

If the baby is not sick and his parents are doing everything right, then he will not have problems with sleep.

Signs of violation

Sometimes parents groundlessly think that a child has been sleeping poorly for 2 months. The fact is that mothers most often count down their rest time from the moment the baby is in the crib. This is completely wrong. The baby often falls asleep during feeding - out of the 30-40 minutes allotted for a meal, he actively sucks the breast for only 10-15 minutes, the rest of the time the baby can simply sleep without letting the nipple out of his mouth. If you see that the baby’s eyelids are closed, his body is relaxed, his breathing is even, this means that he just fell asleep. This is a completely normal phenomenon, since children quickly calm down next to their mother, and a state of peace is conducive to rest.

However, there are times when the child does not sleep well, and the total number of hours is far from what is worth relying on.

If you notice that your child does not get enough rest, you need to record for 3-4 days when he is awake and when he is resting. This will help you find out in detail why the violation occurred and how to deal with it.

The following deviations are cause for concern:

the child does not sleep well at night;
the total amount of sleep is less than 14 hours;
the baby wakes up every 10-15 minutes;
The waking time between sleep sessions is 4 hours or more.

Sleep pattern of a child aged 1-2 months

As a rule, the baby sleeps little at one time, only 2-3 hours. And the baby wakes up most often because he wants to eat. A disorder can be considered a situation when a child sleeps during the day for more than 5 hours in a row, but in general sleeps less than 12 hours a day. If the newborn sleeps little, put the baby to bed at certain hours after a set period of time.

For example, a child woke up at 8:00, which means the next sleep should be no later than 9:00 am. Then again a three-hour sleep, getting up at 12:00, staying awake until 13:30-14:00 and sleep again. Of course, you shouldn’t intentionally wake up your baby. It is better to monitor your baby's natural sleep patterns and only then begin to develop a sleep routine.

Like an adult, a baby's sleep consists of phases - fast and slow. The child needs the fast phase for learning and brain development. Slow is necessary for bone growth, muscle corset and organ development.

In adults, the fast phase takes up 20% of all sleep. Moreover, in infants it lasts almost 80% of the total rest time. 6-9 months after birth, the amount of REM sleep is reduced to half. Thus, the duration of the fast phase at this age becomes equal to the phase of slow or deep sleep.

Daily routine for a two month old baby

Sometimes young parents have the wrong idea about their baby's sleep time. Knowing that the baby should sleep for up to two hours between feedings, the time is counted from the moment the baby is placed in the crib. When the baby wakes up earlier than expected, the mother believes that he sleeps little during the day. In fact, with an average feeding duration of more than 40 minutes, the baby actively nurses during the first 10 minutes. Then, having satisfied the feeling of hunger, the baby falls asleep without letting go of the nipple from her mouth. It is this time that is often not taken into account by mommy. Sometimes it is easier to navigate by the time you are awake, it should be about one hour between periods of sleep.

Lengthening the duration of night sleep often leads to the fact that the child sleeps less during the day. In this case, parents need to choose for themselves what is more convenient for them: sleep longer in the morning with the baby or have additional free time during the day.

Sleep disturbances in a two-month-old child are characterized by the following symptoms: total sleep time is less than 15 hours a day, the baby wakes up every 5-10 minutes, wakefulness lasts more than 4 hours in a row.

What can relatives do?

If a newborn does not sleep well at night, then parents should help him readjust to a new routine. To do this they will need to do the following:

study the symptoms of infant fatigue, because during this period the babies quickly get tired;
come to a clear division of the day into day and night;
pay attention to colic in the intestines.

From the age of two months, the baby wakes up for no reason much more often than in the first days of life. He develops negative or positive associations with falling asleep (rocking, swaddling, feeding, changing a diaper and many others), and a certain routine is developed.

If your baby opens his eyes at night and can’t sleep, it means something is bothering him.

Sleep disorders associated with the digestive process

A baby at two months often does not sleep well due to spasms in the intestines caused by the accumulation of gases. With rare exceptions, this is not a manifestation of the disease; the problem is associated with imperfections in the digestive system and improper feeding of the baby.

Usually the pain appears soon after feeding, often in the late afternoon. If the problem is not addressed, attacks of stomach colic can continue in a child for up to 4-5 hours a day.

The mother should follow a diet and avoid foods that contribute to increased flatulence, such as legumes, black bread, pickled vegetables, and spicy seasonings. When artificial feeding, you should not overfeed the baby and you must strictly follow the instructions for preparing the formula. Excessively concentrated food causes increased gas formation, which leads to colic. Foods with high fat content also cannot be fully absorbed at an early age; in this case, the newborn needs to be given water between feedings.

To help a child with colic, it is often enough to place a warm mother’s hand or an ironed diaper on the tummy; you can also massage with light circular movements clockwise and give the baby some dill water to drink.

The baby sleeps poorly and sleeps little - what to do

The problem is solved by a feeding regimen, which must be adhered to. Signs that the child is developing correctly are a good appetite and calmness of the baby. Otherwise, to normalize your baby's sleep and diet, follow the following recommendations.

Count the total duration of sleep per day. If this indicator is more than 20 hours, it is worth visiting a pediatrician.
Monitor your sleep frequency. Normally, a newborn wakes up every 2-3 hours because he wants to eat. This feeding regimen allows the growing body to develop correctly. If your child does not wake up for more than 5 hours in a row or does not want to eat even after waking up, consult a doctor.
Monitor the baby's condition. Constant drowsiness and lethargy in a newborn is not good. This means that the child does not have enough nutrients that enter his body with milk. In this case, it may be worth switching to mixtures. However, do not forget that it is better to change your baby’s diet after consulting a pediatrician.

To begin with, train yourself to maintain an optimal microclimate in the room, temperature within 18-20 degrees, humidity - 50-70%. These simple manipulations will help you avoid many problems not only with sleep, but also prevent the development of nasopharyngeal diseases.

How to improve your child's sleep:

Be sure to take long walks in the fresh air.
Before going to bed, play calm games with your baby, read, you can watch cartoons an hour before rest.
Change your diaper right before bed.
In the evening you can take baths with mint, lemon balm, chamomile, lavender; they are wonderfully relaxing and soothing.
Teach your baby to fall asleep not in your arms, but in his own bed, you can put his favorite toy next to him.
Do not put the baby in the parent's bed; when you move the child, there is a high probability that he will wake up.
Children also dream, so they may grunt or cry, but this does not mean that the baby is awake; most often he calms down on his own quite quickly. But if this does not happen, you need to come up and calm the baby down.
Massage is a good relaxing procedure. But for some children it has a tonic effect, so instead of a sleepy baby, you can get a cheerful and active child.
Bedtime ritual - if you always perform the same actions in a certain order, say the same phrases before bed to your child every day, he will soon fall asleep faster on his own, and the quality of sleep will improve.

Do not wrap your baby up; children have poor thermoregulation, so they can quickly overheat in warm clothes.

There is an opinion that if a child is swaddled, he will sleep more soundly. But here everything is also very individual, many babies do not tolerate any restrictions well from birth, so they will only be nervous in diapers. Look, observe, draw conclusions.

Psychologists say that proper rest is possible only in complete silence and darkness. But if your child cannot live without light, buy a dim night light.

Walking in the fresh air saturates the body with oxygen. The baby breathes easily and quickly falls asleep. In addition, the constant rocking when the stroller moves quickly lulls the baby to sleep. Walk as often and longer as possible. Staying in the fresh air at different times of the year helps to harden the child’s body.

It seems to adults that babies don’t understand anything yet. But that's not true! The baby senses when mom is nervous. Her condition is passed on to the child. A restless atmosphere in the house affects the baby's sleep and his condition. It is very important that mom is calm. Achieving this is not so easy. The child requires constant attention, and no one has canceled household responsibilities.

You’ll have to set yourself up in a positive mood: no one will do the work for you, but you should take care of your health and nerves. Invite your husband and other relatives to actively help. If grandparents come to visit you, let them sit by the baby’s bed, admire him, while the mother sleeps or takes a quiet bath.

Getting ready for bed takes a long time. A couple of hours before bedtime, you need to keep the house quiet. You should not play actively with your baby, or watch movies or shows with a lot of noise and fights. Loud music also does not help relax the body.

Bathing helps relax not only a child, but even an adult. It is worth leaving this procedure for the evening. You can add infusions of chamomile or mint to the water. They will help your baby calm down, which will promote sound sleep.

In addition to soothing infusions for bathing, you can use pads with dry medicinal plants: valerian or mint. The subtle aroma of these herbs will help your baby fall asleep.

If the baby sleeps restlessly, despite all the above conditions, then you should contact your pediatrician. It may be that the child has disorders associated with the nervous system. The sooner problems are detected, the greater the baby’s chances of becoming healthy.

Why does a child refuse to fall asleep during the day and evening: reasons

The child does not want to sleep during the day
When a child does not want to go to bed, this situation makes you think. It's okay if this only happened once. In children, sometimes the regime goes astray, but with constant adherence to it, it quickly returns to normal. If the situation repeats itself constantly, then you need to look for the reasons. Most likely, something is wrong and the child needs help.

So, the reasons when a child does not want to go to bed are the following:

Too little waking time . If a child wakes up later than usual after a nap, then the bedtime must be shifted. Of course, the regime must be followed, but it is not always possible to follow the schedule exactly. Your child is also a person and he cannot do everything strictly to the minute.
It's difficult to switch to sleep . If a child was dancing five minutes ago, and now you abruptly lay him down, then he is unlikely to actually do it. Even adults can't do this. Give yourself some time to go to sleep.
I want it like an adult . Children always want to be like their parents. They know that they are awake longer and also continue to do their business. Because of this, the child may not go to bed. In this case, it is worth showing that you will also sleep. Put down your work and pretend that you are going to bed.
Stressful situations . In this case, we mean new sleeping conditions. It takes a child some time to get used to a new place, for example when traveling. Even adults often cannot sleep in a new place, let alone children.
External stimuli . Turn off the lights, TV, etc. The child should be comfortable.
Overexcitement . If some overly joyful event occurs, the child may become overexcited. In this case, he will need time to relax.
Anxiety . Children also sometimes have nightmares. Talk about it.

Causes of poor sleep

In case of disturbances in night rest in infants, caring parents should identify the provoking factor. The causes of night sleep pathologies in a newborn include the following:

Trembling in a sleepy state. Babies tend to be active when they sleep. They throw up their legs and arms, shudder, twitch in their sleep, scaring themselves at the same time. This is considered the most common cause of sleep difficulties in infants. In such cases, doctors advise swaddling the baby. This method is used for up to nine months.
Feeling hungry. This happens if the child does not eat enough. The little one behaves restlessly immediately after feeding. Likewise, it requires mother's milk. He wakes up 4 times a night to get enough food.
Soiled diaper or wet diapers. For this reason, children cannot fall asleep or often wake up because they feel discomfort.
Incorrect temperature conditions in the room where the baby is. Sleep disorders may occur if the temperature in the house is below 20 degrees Celsius or above 22 degrees.
Teething. In infants, this is another common cause of sleep problems. The child behaves restlessly, begins to scream and cry due to inflammation of the gums, pain caused by teeth growth, and elevated temperature.
Noises. Third-party sounds such as loud music, conversation, radio or TV on can also disrupt sleep and wake up the baby.
Feeling of mother's absence. There is a close relationship between the baby and the mother, so when the baby is put to bed without his mother, he begins to be capricious and sob. To prevent this, the toddler must hear the mother's voice.

Occasionally, poor sleep can be caused by disorders in the child’s nervous system or tumors in the brain (a rare case).

When a baby has difficulty falling asleep, often wakes up, groans, cries, spins, tries to roll over in the crib, then most likely the reason for what is happening is the rapid phase of sleep. This is not a pathology.

But it is worth going to an appointment with a neurologist if parents observe repeated rhythmic twitching of the arms and legs in the baby, reminiscent of trembling during chills. Such convulsions lead to various psychological illnesses.

The baby may also have difficulty sleeping during the night if he has not completely used up his accumulated energy during the daytime and is not tired in the evening. Children go to bed not according to the clock, but when they feel tired.

If your child sleeps restlessly and whines at night, you should pay special attention to this. The reason may lie in the physical condition of the baby. Restless sleep occurs due to pain, fever, otitis media, colic.

The baby is not sleeping well, what does this mean? According to the recommendations of pediatricians, children under 3 months should sleep 17-18 hours, gradually the duration of sleep decreases, and by six months it is already 15 hours, by a year - 13-14. If your baby sleeps significantly less and often wakes up, this may be caused by external reasons, or indicate various malfunctions in the child’s body.

The baby's restlessness often manifests itself in the active sleep phase; the child grunts, tosses and turns, and the muscles of his face and limbs tremble - such phenomena are not considered a pathology. You should be alert to seizures - rhythmic twitching of the arms, legs or the whole body that occur at regular intervals and look like trembling. If you see something like this, visit a neurologist.

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

Reasons why a baby does not sleep well at night and often wakes up:

External factors - excessively dry and hot air in the room, too warm clothes, noisy neighbors, all this negatively affects the quality of a child's sleep. If you don’t observe any other deterioration in your baby’s well-being, just try to ventilate the bedroom more often and make it easier to dress your baby.
Problems with the digestive system are one of the main reasons for frequent awakening in infants. Colic, bloating, pain occur against the background of an imbalance of intestinal microflora, poor nutrition of the mother, and some congenital characteristics.
Wet diapers, diapers - feces contain many toxic substances that irritate the baby's delicate skin.
Hunger. A child’s appetite is a rather individual parameter; children with a faster metabolism need to be fed more often - after a snack they fall asleep again. Overeating may also be the cause.
Strong attachment to mother - this problem often arises in children who are constantly carried in their arms. In such situations, you will have to muster all your willpower and not run to the baby at the first request. An ignored baby calms down within a few minutes.
Teething – this problem becomes relevant when the child is six months old. The process of baby teeth appearing is often accompanied by a general deterioration in health, fever, gums hurt and itch - there’s no time for sleep.
The child confused day with night - a situation familiar to many parents. To correct it, you need to be patient, wake up the child during naps, and take more walks.

If you have eliminated all negative factors, and the baby still wakes up frequently, the cause of restless sleep may be improper development of the cerebral cortex. In such cases, you cannot do without consulting a pediatric neurologist.

Correcting the situation

So, what to do if your child does not sleep during the day? Correct all the shortcomings that I mentioned above. In particular:

Feed your baby on demand. Firstly, it is very relaxing and calming, and secondly, it helps to establish lactation (the first two months are just the period of its establishment. Read the article on this topic: Successful start of breastfeeding >>>);
Provide your baby with conditions similar to those in the womb:

create darkness;
remove extraneous noise;
to eliminate the risk of the baby waking up from a sharp sound, turn on monotonous white noise (read the article: White noise for a newborn >>>);
warmth and tightness perfectly imitate swaddling and rocking a baby under the mother's breast. You can carry your baby in a sling to ensure constant body contact, rock him on a fitball, or go outside for a nap in a stroller.

Know!

Don’t be afraid that your child will get used to these methods and will not be able to fall asleep on their own in the future. Children do not develop habits until 3 months of age.

Create a calm and friendly atmosphere in the family. Negative emotions and frequent screaming do not contribute to normal sleep, either day or night;
Give your child enough attention during waking hours so that he does not develop emotional deficits;
Ask your family to help you with household chores so that you have time not only for troubles with the baby, but also for yourself: for relaxation, beauty treatments, adequate rest;
Monitor your baby's waking hours and signs of fatigue. At this age, children get tired very quickly and if they are allowed to “overnight” (for more than an hour), their nervous system gets excited, preventing them from sleeping normally.

“Telling” signs may be an increase in the search reflex, constant clenching of fists, thumb sucking, dissatisfied “faces,” sudden throwing up of arms and legs.

Now you know what to do if your baby is 2 months old and does not sleep during the day.

Maybe you can easily find the reason that is preventing your child from sleeping, or maybe the situation is a little more complicated.

In this case, watch the online seminar on infant sleep to get a clear system for establishing a child’s sleep at this age: Restful sleep for a baby from 0 to 6 months >>>

A child’s proper overall development depends on adequate sleep. This is very important in the first year of life. And especially in the first months.

What difficulties have you encountered with your child's sleep?

Lyudmila Sharova, consultant on breastfeeding and children's sleep.

The child has been sleeping poorly for 2 months and cannot cope with everyday stress. Many parents are faced with the problem of establishing a “life schedule”, thanks to which the baby will not worry about lack of sleep, malnutrition and lack of attention. Hasty upbringing and excessive care can be the main causes of problems.

Thousands of parents have asked similar questions. Why can't a child rest properly? Is it impossible to do without qualified help from specialists? Of course you can!

It is worth paying attention to the following reasons for poor sleep:

Environment.
Family lifestyle.
Condition of the home.
The spiritual component of each “close” relative (living in close proximity to the baby).

By eliminating all possible troubles from the above, no one is exempt from force majeure circumstances. Remember: the body of any child also depends on the lifestyle of the carrier (mother), partly the character and stressful situations endured - the fewer of them, the less likely the likelihood of poor sleep becomes.

Basic facts should not escape the minds of adults - this is still a one-month-old child, incapacitated and dependent on his parents. His dream does not represent “nothing” - it is a process that defies explanation, directly repeating the lifestyle of those around him. If mom and dad sleep for 8 hours, enjoy life and do not disturb public peace, then the child will be sincerely happy (fortunately, he simply cannot hide his feelings at this stage). Despite full compliance with the “mother’s” standards, the baby will need professional advice.

Life is just beginning. A two-month-old baby continues to spend most of his life in deep sleep. His body adapts to real life. The child is two months old and does not sleep well - you need to carefully learn how to correctly arrange rest days. Any living organism adheres to a certain rhythm of life. The baby usually spends 6 to 8 hours sleeping during the day and 10-12 hours at night. Parents need to observe the frequency of sleep - dividing the total time throughout the day (several times an hour at a time will be great).

Of course, we should not forget about the development of mental activity:

within two months there is a sharp jump in development;
the world around us is perceived differently, slight changes in the structure of the head;
a massive influx of new information disturbs the baby and does not allow him to develop calmly.

The distribution of time for daytime and night sleep is the most important stages in the development of personality. If a child does not sleep well during the day, then the night must compensate for the emotional losses.

Finding himself in a completely new world, full of incredible things, the baby can perceive ordinary objects as something beautiful, or even terrible. Just a few hours ago he was sleeping peacefully, but now he is screaming for help. Unfortunately, it is not immediately possible to understand your loved one.

Based on your own experience, you need to consider:

Possible painful condition of the baby.
Possible release of harmless gases.
Providing maximum comfort.

If a person does not sleep well at night, then you need to seriously think about it. Sometimes, the problem can be the elementary light shining unpleasantly into a tiny eye. We sleep constantly, and in our adult years we also feel sleep deprived. A few days of certainty can save any situation.

Living in densely populated cities, parents are faced with the most important problem - their 2-month-old child does not sleep well during the day. As a rule, the main reason for daytime sleep in adults is lack of sleep at night. For kids, everything works out differently. Children need to be present in two phases, and if they were vigorously active at night, then it will not subside the next day.

The only solution is to find useful activities to eliminate unnecessary activity:

outdoor games;
unusual reading (with and without roles);
regular walks;
enhanced nutrition.

The process of original placement of an infant is especially important. You should provide the most comfortable conditions and re-enclose the bedroom from external life factors (road noise, sunlight, TV, and so on).

What needs to be done to ensure that the child sleeps peacefully, regardless of the time of day? Loving and educated parents need to draw up an action plan according to which the baby’s day will be rich and varied.

It is necessary to raise the bar from the very beginning, since with age the current routine will not represent anything special, and the regime will become stronger in the brain, and if properly observed, will never leave it:

A properly programmed routine is the main task of any conscious parent. Thanks to the regime (it is needed at any age), a person’s existence becomes much easier.

I sleep 8 hours - my baby sleeps 8 hours too!

Babies at 2 months still sleep a lot. Their nervous system continues to develop, and this requires long, high-quality sleep. However, its phases are still very far from those of “adults”; more time is allocated to shallow sleep, and it is during this that the baby’s brain develops. It is important that at this stage of life the baby gets quality and complete sleep, because it is during sleep that he produces growth hormone. If a 2-month-old child does not sleep well during the day, you must find out why this is happening and find a solution to the problem.

Rules for good sleep in a baby

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.

Monitor the temperature and humidity in your baby's bedroom. To do this, hang a room thermometer in the nursery and buy a hygrometer - a device that measures air humidity. We have already written that the normal temperature for sleep is 20-23 degrees. Humidity should be within 50-70%.

If the temperature in the room differs from that described above, ventilate the bedroom or turn on the heater (depending on which direction the temperature has changed). To increase air humidity, purchase a special humidifier. The device will “monitor” the amount of moisture in the air and will be able to automatically increase the humidity.

Regular ventilation of the children's bedroom will help reduce air humidity. To prevent your baby from getting sick, open the windows when the child is in another room.

Pediatricians do not recommend putting a baby to sleep for a long time. Otherwise he will just get used to it. And it will be difficult to fall asleep without mom’s help. The child must learn to fall asleep on his own. Therefore, you only need to rock the baby for a couple of minutes.

Let's summarize what recommendations you need to follow to ensure that your baby sleeps well all night.

Ventilate your child's bedroom before bedtime.
Monitor the humidity in the room.
If the air is dry, buy a humidifier.
Make sure that the air temperature in the room where the baby sleeps is between 20-23 degrees Celsius.
Don't make noise when the baby is sleeping.
Close the windows in the bedroom to protect your child from noise from the street.
Curtain your curtains more tightly.
If your child sleeps with a night light, it is better to move the lamp a little further from the bed so that it does not shine directly on the baby.
Buy natural sleepwear that your baby will sleep in.
Put your child to bed at the first sign of drowsiness.
Follow a bedtime ritual
Before bed, you can bathe your baby in a bath with soothing herbs (for example, chamomile or motherwort).
Place a soft toy in the crib with which the baby will fall asleep.
It is better to play with your child in the first half of the day.
Do not quarrel with household members if your newborn has problems sleeping.

If you follow all the recommendations for normalizing sleep, and your newborn still does not sleep well, contact your pediatrician.

Health to you and your baby!

A child does not want to sleep under a blanket - is this normal: what to do?

A child does not sleep under a blanket
Today, a problem often arises on the Internet when a child does not want to fall asleep under a blanket in the evening, and even if this happens, he still opens up during sleep. Mothers are worried that their children will freeze. Let's think about whether this is really a problem and whether we should worry so much about it?

In general, there is nothing wrong with this. The main thing is to choose safe clothing for the season and bedding. Then, even if the house is cool, the child will not freeze. Moreover, try to choose things so that the baby does not get confused. For example, sheets. If a child constantly tosses and turns, then it is better for him to choose sheets with elastic bands or a sleeping bag, especially for children under 1.5-2 years old.

After two years, sleeping bags are not needed, but it is worth checking whether it is too hot for the child to fall asleep, perhaps the humidity in the room is high, or the blanket is generally heavy and the child is not very comfortable under it.

There are other reasons when a child may not like a blanket. For example, highly active and sensitive children may feel unfree. These children need more time to settle into sleep. Perhaps the child simply requires your attention, then give it so that he falls asleep faster.

How to improve sleep?

Getting a good night's sleep is not as difficult as it seems at first glance. In this case, Evgeny Komarovsky offers ten “golden rules for healthy children’s sleep.”

Rule one

It is advisable to perform it as soon as you and your baby arrive from the maternity hospital. It is necessary to set priorities as quickly and irrevocably as possible. The child must intuitively understand that there is a time when everyone around him rests.

Komarovsky recommends immediately deciding what period of sleep is suitable for all household members. This could be from 9 pm to 5 am or from midnight to 8 am. The child should be put to bed at night at exactly this time (the time frame should not be shifted anywhere).

It is clear that at first the baby may wake up at night to eat. But by the age of 6 months, most babies do not need night feeding, and the mother will be able to get her 8 hours of sleep without waking up for her son or daughter’s meal.

Parents often complain that the baby sleeps only in their arms. As soon as he is transferred to his crib, he immediately wakes up and begins to express dissatisfaction. This case is the lack of discipline among the parents themselves. It is enough to remember that rocking in your arms does not in any way affect the health and soundness of sleep, it is just a whim of the parents themselves. Therefore, the choice is theirs - to download or not to download. Komarovsky’s opinion is that a child should sleep in his crib and go to bed at the same time.

Rule two

This rule follows from the previous one. If the family has decided what time night sleep should begin, then it’s time to think about the daily routine for the youngest member of the household. What time will he swim, walk, sleep during the day? Very quickly the newborn will get used to exactly the schedule that his parents offered him, and there will be no problems with sleep either day or night.

Rule three

You need to decide in advance where and how the child will sleep. Komarovsky believes that for a baby under 3 years old, the best option is his own crib, and up to a year it can easily be in the parents’ bedroom, because this way it will be more convenient for the mother to feed the baby at night and change clothes if the unexpected happens.

After a year, says Evgeniy Olegovich, it is best to allocate a separate room for the child and move his bed there (if, of course, such a possibility exists). Co-sleeping with parents, which many mothers and even fathers are now trying to practice, is not the best option. Evgeny Komarovsky believes that such rest has nothing to do with sound sleep, and does not add health to either mom and dad or the child. And therefore it simply makes no sense.

Rule four

There is no need to use it if the baby’s daily routine is well thought out by his parents. But if a toddler tosses and turns a lot at night, sleeps in fits and starts of 30 minutes or an hour, and the doctors have not found any physical illnesses or neurological diagnoses in him, most likely he simply gets too much sleep during the day. Evgeny Komarovsky recommends not to be shy and resolutely wake up a sleepy baby during the day so that an hour or two is “gone” in favor of night rest.

Rule five

Sleep and food are the baby’s basic needs in the first year of life. Therefore, parents need to find the right balance between them. To do this, Komarovsky advises optimizing your diet. From birth to 3 months, the baby may biologically need to be fed 1-2 times at night. From 3 months to six months - it is enough to feed once at night. After six months, you don’t need to feed at night at all, says the doctor.

With the implementation of this rule in practice, the most problems arise in families who try to feed the child on demand. If there is a clear regimen or a frequently recommended mixed regimen (on demand, but at certain intervals - at least 3 hours), then the baby gets used to eating this way.

Rule six

To sleep soundly at night, you need to be tired during the day. Therefore, you need to take more and more frequent walks in the fresh air with your child, engage in age-appropriate educational games, practice gymnastics, do massages and strengthen the baby. However, in the evening, a few hours before going to bed, it is better to limit active games and strong emotions.

Rule seven

It regulates the microclimate in the room in which the child sleeps. The baby should not be hot or cold, he should not breathe too dry or too humid air. Komarovsky recommends adhering to the following microclimate parameters: air temperature - from 18 to 20 degrees, air humidity - from 50 to 70%.

Rule eight

To make your baby sleep more soundly, do not forget about a massage before an evening swim. Komarovsky recommends bathing itself in a large adult bathtub filled with cool water (no higher than 32 degrees). After this procedure, good appetite and healthy sleep are guaranteed.

Rule nine

Parents who want to get a good night's sleep should make sure their baby sleeps comfortably. Particular attention should be paid to the quality of the mattress. It should not be too soft and squash under the weight of the baby. It is better if it is filled with environmentally friendly materials marked “hypoallergenic”.

Bed linen should be made from natural fabrics. You should not buy bright sheets and duvet covers with cartoon characters. It is much more useful for the baby if there are no textile dyes in the underwear, it will be a regular white color. Wash clothes with special baby powder and rinse thoroughly. A baby does not need a pillow until at least 2 years old, says Evgeny Komarovsky. After this age, the pillow should be small (no more than 40x60).

Rule ten

This is the most delicate rule, which Evgeniy Komarovsky himself calls the most important of the entire ten. Only a baby who is dry and comfortable can have a restful sleep. Therefore, you should be very picky when choosing a disposable diaper. It is better to give preference to expensive diapers with a “smart” absorbent layer, proven over generations and safe.

About children's sleep standards

Evgeny Komarovsky puts a bold equal sign between the concepts of “children’s sleep” and “sleep of the whole family.” If the baby sleeps well, then his parents can get enough sleep. The whole family feels great as a result. Otherwise, everyone in the household suffers.

In pediatrics, it is customary to evaluate the quality of a child’s daily sleep according to certain average standards:

Typically, a newborn sleeps up to 22 hours a day.
Child aged 1 to 3 months - about 20 hours.
From the age of 6 months, the baby needs at least 14 hours of sleep, of which 8 to 10 hours should be at night.
To remain healthy, a one-year-old child must sleep at least 13 hours a day, of which about 9-10 hours are allocated at night.
If the baby is between 2 and 4 years old, the child should spend about 12 hours sleeping.
After 4 years - at least 10 hours.
At 6 years old, a child should sleep 9 hours at night (or 8 hours, but then he must go to bed for another hour during the day).
After 11 years, nightly sleep should be no less than 8-8.5 hours.

At the same time, Komarovsky reminds, it is necessary to take into account the hours that the child sleeps during the day. There are no uniform standards here, everything is quite individual. In general, a child under one year old needs 2-3 small “quiet hours” during the day. A child under 3 years old is one or two. The situation when a 2-year-old child does not sleep during the day is not very normal, since he is still too small to withstand the whole day without rest.