How to increase your child's nighttime sleep. How to improve your child's sleep

  • The date: 08.03.2020

It is well known that a newborn baby sleeps most of the day. If the baby is not worried about anything, nothing hurts him, then the child of the first month of life wakes up only to eat. After the first month, the baby has periods of wakefulness, at first small, 15–20 minutes each, well, by three months the child can already be awake in a row for about 1.5–2 hours. At the same time, daytime sleep is very important for both physical and mental health. mental health and development of the child.

Sleep features of a newborn

Up to three months, the life of a child consists mainly of three alternating elements of food-sleep-hygiene. Their order may change. Some children prefer to stay awake after eating, and when they wake up, they immediately want to eat, others, on the contrary, fall asleep immediately after eating, and after sleeping, they are ready to play. At the same time, the time of wakefulness gradually increases. There are such "rebels" who do not recognize any routine and wake up much more often than their parents would like. At the same time, the child does not care whether it is day or night. He woke up - it means he needs attention.

It would be a mistake to immediately take the child in his arms, trying to calm him down. At the same time, leaving the child to “shout”, as some parents and teachers advise, is also not true. Yes, having screamed, the child, of course, will fall asleep. But what is this dream? Take a closer look at the baby: he sobs for a long time, shudders, worries. Such an attitude will by no means make the child calmer, although he may cry less, making sure that it is useless. But this may be the first sign of alienation between the child and parents. It is not for nothing that psychologists say that the roots of many problems of adults lie in their early childhood, about which even memories have not been preserved.

What to do if the baby does not fall asleep well or often wakes up during the day?

How to organize daytime sleep for a child up to a year

In the literature, one can find the opinion that a child under 3 months old should sleep 16-18 hours a day, with age this number gradually decreases. However, it should be noted that in fact the required amount of sleep is very individual, and each child sleeps exactly as much as he needs, no more, no less. It is only necessary to create the necessary conditions for this.

First, from the very early age the situation during the day should be very different from the night - this will help the baby build the right routine. This means that there is no need to darken the room with curtains, turn off the light, just slightly shade it so that the harsh light does not fall on the face. There is no need to create absolute silence. During daytime sleep ordinary household sounds are quite appropriate - a quiet conversation, the sound of dishes, the sound of pouring water, etc.

Secondly, the room where the child sleeps, regardless of day or night, should be well ventilated. And at least one daytime sleep, if possible, it is better to organize on the street. Only without fanaticism: you should not walk with your child in severe frost (above 15–20 ° C) and in strong wind, as well as in extreme heat. Babies are known to get cold and overheat easily.

The child once again did not sleep at night? Are your nerves stretched to the limit, and again you didn’t get enough sleep and were exhausted trying to calm your child? It's so familiar! Let's analyze the reasons bad sleep to find out why children under one year old can sleep poorly at night. What exactly is bothering your child and what to do about it? Find out the most common sources of sleep disturbance in children, and actionable advice in order to fight it.

Why does my child sleep badly at night?

  • Intestinal colic. This unpleasant phenomenon often worries newborn babies: there are pain in the abdomen, bloating and discomfort. The child is restless, cries loudly, pulls his arms and pulls his legs to the body ();
  • Childhood fears. For the first time they begin to disturb children after the first year of life. The child may be afraid to be alone in a dark room, he may be frightened by extraneous noises or sounds coming from the street, the fear that his mother is not around and she may not return;
  • Premature laying in a separate large bed. Sometimes parents are too quick with this. And it may be uncomfortable for the baby to sleep in a big bed alone, he is not ready for this yet;
  • Teething. Many children do not tolerate the stage of teething well. The gums become inflamed, hurt and itch, and at night, when toys and games do not distract the child, these sensations become more acute and deliver more discomfort ();
  • Not comfortable conditions. It can be too stuffy or cold in the nursery. It is possible that the mattress on the baby bed is too hard or vice versa too soft ();
  • Overwork and overexcitation. If the child was very excited and active in the evening before going to bed, then it will be harder for him to calm down in bed, and his sleep will be intermittent and not deep;
  • Cold, fever or pain. When sick, children find it harder to sleep at night. Because of high temperature it can unpleasantly break the whole body, and nasal congestion or coughing does not allow you to rest normally at night, irritates and disturbs;
  • Weather sensitivity. Some children react sharply to a change in the weather, to an impending thunderstorm, a full moon. With a sharp change in weather, the child can become lethargic, passive, sometimes there is headache and decreasing blood pressure. All this interferes with a good night's rest;
  • New stages of development. A child can have bad sleep even after new achievements! For example, after the child began to sit or walk, roll over, crawl, etc., in general, he mastered something new;
  • An abundance of emotional experiences. Sleep problems can start on the ground severe stress, nervous experiences or a large number emotions. Many children do not sleep well after meeting new people, moving, or even going to an entertainment center;
  • Fear of losing mom. Young children may experience the period of their first independence in different ways. Some become very restless, crying and frightened, even if the mother briefly goes into another room or into the kitchen. At night, it is difficult for a child to fall asleep if the mother is not around;
  • Babies begin to sleep worse at night if the mother suddenly begins to reduce daytime feedings and attachments. The baby will need to breastfeed longer and more often at night;
  • Something is preventing the child from falling asleep. A working TV can interfere with your baby's sleep. The included light will also prevent the child from falling asleep normally at night.
  • With a lack of children's body vitamin D . A lack of this vitamin can also negatively affect night sleep. The right analysis can be taken at a children's clinic, and if the study reveals a vitamin D deficiency, the pediatrician will advise giving the baby special vitamin drops (usually they also include calcium for better absorption).

How to get restful sleep?

We got acquainted with the main reasons, and now it's time to learn valuable tips in order to normalize your child's nighttime sleep:

  • Don't let your child get overtired! This always has a very negative effect on the duration and depth of a night's sleep. The child should be tired, but not overtired!
  • It is very helpful to do the same activities every day before going to bed. Such a kind of ritual will help the child quickly tune in to a calm mood, relax the psyche. For example, you can turn on soothing songs for your child before going to bed, read children's fairy tales, collect toys with him and put them in their place. You can independently choose or come up with the optimal ritual suitable for the child. It is important to observe regularity and perform these actions every time before a night's sleep ();
  • Pay attention to how the child behaves after an evening bath. If after washing he becomes vigorous and immediately runs to play, then soothing decoctions of healing herbs, aromatic drops and essential oils. For example, an infusion of lemon balm leaves, mint or chamomile flowers will help relax the child's psyche and relieve overexcitation;
  • It is important that the child's room has a comfortable temperature. And shortly before laying down, it is worth ventilating the room so that the child has a deep night's sleep and breathes fresh air easily (experts in the field of pediatrics advise keeping the temperature in the room with the child within 18-22 degrees -);
  • Use deficiency prevention important trace elements in the baby's body give your child vitamin D drops once a day;
  • Pay attention to the position in which your baby likes to sleep. Some babies like to fall asleep exclusively on their stomachs. By the way, this pose is great for reducing pain and reducing bloating with intestinal colic!
  • If a small child worried about pain in the stomach and intestinal colic , then you should give him special remedy before going to bed so that at night the baby does not suffer and does not cry from pain. Espumizan children's drops helped us very well, which effectively and quickly eliminated bloating ();
  • The same applies to the situation with erupting teeth. Don't make your child feel uncomfortable. Get rid of discomfort by anointing sore gums with a special soothing and cooling gel. For example, Kamistad or Dentinox ();
  • Make sure your child gets enough naps so that the baby does not overwork;
  • AT individual cases(especially if the child is afraid of the dark or reacts sharply to the mother leaving the room), you can offer the baby a joint dream. Many children immediately calm down, feeling their mother's presence nearby, they begin to sleep much calmer;
  • Try to leave the child to fall asleep on his own, maybe you are the one who is distracting him .. Sometimes it is the mother who distracts the baby, preventing him from sleeping soundly!
  • Don't force your child to overeat before bed. full stomach often interferes with the process of falling asleep , the body cannot fully rest if it is forced to digest food!

It's brilliant 🙂

Sometimes you just need to be patient and wait until the cause of poor sleep passes by itself. For example, teeth will come out sooner or later, and intestinal colic will go away on its own when the baby reaches the age of three months. Can you help your child cope with these unpleasant periods, more sympathize with him. To provide all possible assistance with colic, often laying the baby on the tummy.

And do not forget that it is very important to always put the children to bed. at the same time, observe! It is easier and easier for young children to fall asleep in the evening if the time for going to bed is the same every day. Your baby's biological clock adjusts to your schedule. And if you send your child to bed at 9 o’clock every evening, then by this time his whole body is already starting to slow down and prepare to fall asleep on its own, no additional tricks are needed.

The child does not sleep well at night: How to improve the baby's sleep and get enough sleep? — Doctor Komarovsky

It is important for young parents to understand how the rest period of the baby should go. Sleep for a newborn is a time when the body rests and gains new strength, babies grow in a dream. How to understand how much a newborn should sleep? Is it worth introducing a special mode, and what are the phases of sleep for a child? All these important questions are faced by moms and dads.

Sleep duration of babies

Children are born weak, so the first weeks of their lives are spent building up the strength required for development. Being in the womb, the child got used to the aquatic environment. At birth, he finds himself in a different space, with a different atmospheric pressure, which he has to get used to again. For adults, the world around us seems simple: it is easy to breathe air, the pressure of the atmospheric column goes unnoticed. Newborns have to make a lot of effort in order to breathe and make simple movements. Therefore, the first days of life, the baby sleeps more, gains strength and gets used to the world. In the first month, the duration of rest is much longer than the period of wakefulness: babies sleep for about 20 hours, the rest of the time they eat. In the future, the baby sleeps less and less, will appear more strength to study the environment.

Sleep duration by months up to a year

The sleep of the baby at first depends on how much time has passed since his birth. Further, the duration of sleep in newborns varies by month:

  • The sleep of a newborn for the first 2 weeks of life takes almost a whole day (20-22 hours). He sleeps at this time with breaks, because the baby does not yet understand when day and night come. During the day, the baby sleeps in a row for 2-3 hours, at night a little longer. He periodically wakes up to refresh himself. If he does not receive milk every 3-4 hours, he will not have enough strength, so frequent awakenings are the norm.
  • Over the next few weeks, the duration of rest is slowly reduced to 16-18 hours per day. The baby is accustomed to the environment and can do at night without feeding for about 6 hours. In the afternoon after feeding, he will not immediately fall asleep. Now he will study the world around him, only after that he will get tired.
  • Sleep in infants by months begins to change from the third. By the end of this period, it is enough for the baby to pour out 15-16 total hours per day.
  • In the period up to six months, there is a transition to night rest, but he still needs rest breaks in daytime. In total, the rest will also take about 15 hours, of which 8-10 - in night period, the rest is divided into short dreams in the baby during the day for 1-1.5 hours.
  • Over the next 3 months (from 6 to 9) total time rest is reduced to 12 hours a day. Most of the time, the baby rests at night. During the day, rest is required in the pre-lunch time and in the afternoon for 1-1.5 hours.
  • From 9 months to a year, children need 10-11 hours of rest, which includes two short rest breaks during the day. Parents try to establish a daily routine for the crumbs and not violate it.

How to organize a child's sleep

How much the children will sleep depends on the parents. Sleep in newborns at night can be made longer by introducing an approximate regimen from 2-3 months. Gradually, babies get used to the routine and quickly switch to nighttime rest. To introduce the regimen, parents do the following:

  • They try to observe the same time every day when they put the baby on daytime rest.
  • The period of wakefulness before going to bed is slightly lengthened to tire the baby.
  • In order for the baby to sleep soundly at night, they bathe him, feed him, communicate with him, sometimes they walk. All of these activities are important for babies to sleep.

Attention! It is not worth delaying the period of wakefulness, otherwise the baby will be capricious and it will be more difficult to fall asleep.

Starting from six months, children better grasp the daily routine - this is the ideal time to introduce a clearer regimen. Many parents during this period try to accustom the baby to the procedures:

  • In the morning, his mother washes him.
  • Bathes in the evening in the bath.
  • All procedures are accompanied by repetitive words, songs, so that a reaction to familiar actions is triggered.

Sleep of a child in the 1st year

Parents can track sleep by months in a newborn using a short table.

Sleep intervals up to a year

Night time

At first, the baby will sleep almost around the clock. Periods for night and day rest are not separated. From 3 months, when babies get better sleep at night, the intervals between feedings also increase. At night, the baby can go without feeding longer. Gradually, children begin to sleep continuously at night, by the year the duration of night rest in total decreases to 10 hours.

Day time for rest

Daytime rest is formed in infants from 3 months, when during this period they rest more at night. Up to six months, children sleep in small intervals three times a day. From 6-9 months, daytime rest is required twice a day. Gradually, by the year, parents can introduce 1 rest break.

Sleep phases in infants

The sleep of an adult contains about 6 phases. When children are not yet a year old, they distinguish only two phases:

  1. Deep. Children during this period are relaxed, the rest of the body is happening right now.
  2. Surface. The baby continues to rest, but this is accompanied by body movements: he can open his mouth, open his eyes, change facial expressions. During this period, children are easy to wake up, they themselves often wake up from their own touch of the hand or a start.

Phase influence

Most of a child's dream is occupied by the deep phase (60%), the rest is superficial. For the entire period of rest, these phases alternately replace each other every 20-30 minutes. In children up to six months, the phase change cycle is about 50-60 minutes: 30/40 minutes of deep sleep and 20 minutes of superficial sleep. Up to a year, this cycle increases to 70 minutes.

After a year, children will gradually add other phases. In order not to disturb them, parents keep silence and switch to subdued lighting (they draw the curtains, turn on the night light).

If the baby confuses day and night

For healthy development, the baby sleeps the prescribed number of hours at night and daytime, but it happens that he seems to confuse the time of day. The reasons why this happens can be different:

  • Difficulties with night sleep occur when a child has poor and restless daytime sleep - often wakes up. He does not have time to rest, he is overexcited and sleeps more restlessly at night.
  • Strong children's rest is possible in comfortable conditions. If the baby has wet diapers, too hot clothes, dry indoor air - all this can affect anxiety. From this, the night hours of rest are shifted.
  • Lack of fresh air can interfere with sleep. Before going to bed, try to ventilate the room.
  • Walking on the street tires the baby in a timely manner and helps to fall asleep more soundly. In winter, frost promotes deep sleep, in summer period children get tired faster from the heat.
  • The cause of concern may lie in the pain in the abdomen.

How to improve sleep

In order for children to develop according to their age, they need rest. Sleep problems and sound sleep parents can foresee.

Often children get used to sleeping with their mother and feel fear without her presence. Resting in a baby crib will be calmer. Here the baby feels comfortable. To organize a relaxing holiday, the mother tries to satisfy all the needs of the baby before going to bed.

When the baby is put to bed, the parents stay close and talk to him. He falls asleep more calmly when he feels the closeness of his parents. Parents can leave when they are sure that the baby is fast asleep, leave the door open. If he starts screaming and crying, they react immediately.

From birth to a year old, the sleep period in children changes smoothly every couple of months. Parents are guided by the above norm for time, but this is not a mandatory number of hours, it may differ for everyone. The gradual introduction of the regime allows you to transfer the child first to a night's rest, then evens out the daily regimen.

Video

Text: Daria Terevtsova

Usually, new parents all around want to get enough sleep. To the fact that you will have to sleep in fits and starts for at least a couple of months, one way or another everyone is ready, but what if the child continues to worry at night?

We asked experts why children fall asleep and sleep poorly and what parents can do to change the situation.

Tatyana Chkhikvishvili

sleep consultant, head of online projects Baby-sleep.ru

If the child does not sleep well and constantly wakes up at night, this is an occasion to think and change something. It is not simple. It takes time, effort and motivation. Improving sleep is always the job of parents. Common mistake- parents do not attach to the organization quality sleep their children the same importance as, for example, the choice of clothes, toys, food. And they hope that with sleep everything will work out somehow by itself, the child will outgrow it. And this can take months or even years. As a result, a constant lack of sleep is experienced not only by parents, but also by the baby himself.

As a rule, parents simply do not know when to put the child to bed so that he falls asleep quickly and easily. Often, tears and whims become a signal that it is time to put the child to bed. But it's too late. Whims speak of excessive fatigue. Overwork leads to excitement (this is due to the immaturity nervous system children), prevents you from falling asleep quickly and does not allow you to sleep long and calmly.

In order to normalize sleep, you first need a system. For young children, orderliness and predictability are important. They face a staggering flow of information every day, their life is full of changes, anxieties, events and stresses (because everything is new for them). The presence of a fairly clear rhythm of sleep and wakefulness, when day after day everything is clear, stable and habitual, calms the child and helps him fall asleep and sleep well.

To understand that the child wants to sleep, and not to miss this moment, you need to learn to notice the very first signs of fatigue. Everyone has their own. These may be changes in gaze, facial expression, movements. Someone may start tugging at their earlobe or rubbing their nose. The child may lose interest in the game, turn away, become thoughtful.

Remember how long after waking up the signs of fatigue in your baby become obvious (yawns, naughty, spoils the mood), and in the future, very carefully observe him some time before. Gradually, you will see patterns and understand when the “window to sleep” opens - the moment when the body is ready to fall asleep, but not yet overtired, when it is easiest to fall asleep.

As for age sleep norms, this is a good guideline for parents. But, of course, children are different, and individual characteristics affect the needs of each child. It may be okay for a child to sleep a little less than most of their peers, but only on the condition that this amount of sleep is really enough for him. It is easy to understand: if a child wakes up cheerful and cheerful in the morning, maintains a good mood all day, falls asleep easily and without tears in the evening and sleeps well at night, then everything is in order, there are no problems.

Olga Alexandrova
somnologist

consultant for children's sleep Aleksandrovaov.ru

If there are problems with sleep, then first of all you need to understand whether they are organizational or medical. Growing teeth, weather, pressure, snowfall can really affect and ruin a child's sleep. Of course they can. But that's the issue of the week. If we are talking about a month or more, the teeth or the weather have nothing to do with it.

Therefore, it is better to start with an examination in order to exclude neurological diseases. If all is well, the next step is to analyze how consistent and consistent you are with the child. What is possible and impossible, when and how - all this is fundamental.

The third moment - mother's psychological condition. After all, mother's anxiety, lack of sleep, irritability can bring down the sleep of even a healthy and calm child.

The ritual will help to improve sleep. These are the same actions repeated every day for 10-15 minutes before bedtime. You can put away toys, brush your teeth, read a book, sing a song. The script can be anything. The most important thing is that it should be relaxing, the same and that the baby and you like it.

The ritual, like anything new, takes some getting used to. Set aside at least a week for this. During this time, you and your baby will have the opportunity to develop your own unique bedtime routine.

For the same reason, sleep associations are important - a set of conditions necessary for the child to sleep. Imagine that you fell asleep in your bed with a bear or your beloved husband (wife) in an embrace. And woke up - well, let's say, on a bench in the park. What is your reaction? You will be at least very unhappy.

The child experiences the same thing when he fell asleep with motion sickness or while feeding in his mother's arms, and woke up alone in the crib, without food and without rocking. A child, falling asleep with a set of associations, waking up, needs to restore these conditions.

Daytime sleep plays an important role in a restful night's sleep. It is needed so that the child can rest and recover. The fact is that if the child is too tired during the day, then by the evening he will be so overexcited that it will be difficult for him to quickly fall asleep and sleep through the night. Therefore, do not rush to cancel it. Up to three years it is mandatory, up to five it is desirable, and up to seven it would be great.

But main criterion cancellations - the child's well-being, his good mood and the absence of whims in the afternoon. However, if the child does not fall asleep once during the day, it is better to put him to bed an hour and a half earlier than usual. This will allow the baby to recover well.

Olga Snegovskaya

baby sleep consultant O-sne.online

Often parents think that the later they go to bed, the later their child will get up, but in most cases this does not work. Children are more sensitive to biorhythms. Excessive wakefulness leads to the accumulation of fatigue, to stress, with which the body struggles with the release of an additional portion of the wakefulness hormone, which contributes to an even earlier rise in the morning.
And if an adult can get enough sleep, then the child will most often get up as usual even with a later bedtime.

Another common misconception is that a child should run more before bed to get tired and fall asleep better. Actually physical activity also increases the production of the wakefulness hormone. It contributes to the accumulation of fatigue, but does not contribute to a calm and sleep soon. The child needs time for the wakefulness hormone levels to level off and decrease. Therefore, about an hour before bedtime, it is better to start playing calm games, then by the time you fall asleep, the blood composition will contribute to good sleep.

Parents are especially worried about the nighttime awakenings of children. But here I can say that night awakenings are considered the norm all my life. Even adults wake up several times during the night, but most often they don't even remember it in the morning. So a child at any age can wake up at night.

But after six to nine months, he can fall asleep on his own at night. This is due to the fact that it is at this age that the baby becomes ready to go without food at night, and therefore, to cope with nocturnal awakenings on his own, combining sleep into a single continuous period.


If you are interested in the time of a child’s sleep (a child’s sleep up to a year, from a year to 2 years), the causes of a baby’s sleep disturbance and ways to solve the problem, why a child wakes up and cries in a dream, if you want to improve a child’s daytime sleep, then I strongly advise you to read the article Oli (olkan):

upd: if you want to stop night feedings (night "hanging" on the chest), but plan to continue breastfeeding, you are worried about lactation stimulation - read the comments!!

SLEEP - Main problems and how to help
If it is still possible to force to eat (although it is not necessary), then it is impossible to force sleep. The huge changes that a child goes through in the first 2 years of life willy-nilly constantly disturb his sleep, and give us parents the eternal task of helping them cope.
Listed below are the most common sleep disorders, their causes, and solutions.

DAY DREAMS ARE TOO SHORT

Short naps are the real scourge of a good regimen! A 30 minute nap usually means that the child was OVERWALKING at the previous waking time. A 45-minute sleep can mean both OVERWALKING (then the child will most likely wake up crying), and NOT STARTED. Therefore, it is important to know how much your child has been awake. If he walked for an hour and slept for 45 minutes, it may be worth lengthening the time of wakefulness, if it is 2 hours and slept for 30 minutes, it is possible to reduce it.

Whatever the reason for the short nap, the child will not be rested, and therefore the next WB will not be able to maintain a normal gap for his age. Therefore, for the next cycle (and possibly for the whole day), the WB needs to be reduced.

Therefore, if the child overslept a short sleep, and you cannot put him to sleep further (the time of attempts to put him to bed counts for the WB of the next cycle), it is worth offering them a short, calm wakefulness not in bed (but possibly in the bedroom), and putting him through It's time for one more dream. Your feeding schedule may shift, but with short naps it is more important to let them sleep (and not bring them to HYPER FATIGUE).

So even though you plan your day in cycles based on the usual WB, in fact the WB and the whole day depend on the first day of sleep. If the first sleep is long enough (more than an hour), repeat the same WB for the following cycles throughout the day. If the first sleep is short (less than 45 minutes), reduce the WB in the following cycles by at least 30 minutes. .

The first 20 minutes of sleep are light sleep, the second 20 are deep sleep, between them there is a partial awakening during the transition in sleep phases. If the child has not yet learned to walk this transition on his own, or if he is hypertired, he may wake up in 20 minutes.

At first, it is better to help the child through these phases (often the child “jumps up” during the transition)

There are several ways to deal with this:

The most important thing is good swaddling. This allows you to keep the limbs from throwing up, and the arms and legs do not wake up and do not frighten the child.

After the baby has fallen asleep, you sit next to him and help him make this transition by keeping your hands firmly but gently on his stomach (back), after he falls asleep, and after 20 minutes you will feel a lift. Swaddling pressure can be enough, perhaps a little hissing shhhhh to get him to sleep. If you do this for several days (don't worry if it doesn't work out right away, the main thing is perseverance), he will learn to switch between cycles by himself, and you will no longer have to do this.

In some children, jet lag prevents long daytime naps. Most babies have long naps at 1-2 months of age, then go through the nap stage (45 minutes) from 2 to 6 months, and then learn to sleep again. You can understand what your child’s biorhythms are and whether his daytime sleep is sufficient by asking yourself questions:
- has he ever slept more than 45 minutes?
Does he wake up from sleep crying?
Does he act up during the day, does he look tired?
Does he sleep well at night?
If the answers are no, no, no, yes - then your child is most likely "sleepless"

BABY IS UP TOO EARLY

Early awakenings (waking up at 4, 5, 6 in the morning) are one of the most common problems and one of the most difficult. However, that doesn't mean you shouldn't try. Children wake up different reasons, and some of them are completely solvable.

Getting up early is a subjective thing, and it depends on what parents consider early. A normal sleep cycle for a baby is 7.30pm - 7.30am, however many babies are unable to sleep 11-12 hours before 6 months of age.

Causes of Waking Early and Ways to Help
1. Hunger
The child may wake up hungry because he is too small to eat enough to sustain the long gaps.
In principle, by 3 months, most babies are able to sleep for 6 hours straight.
How to help: feed.

2. habitual hunger

Children can learn to feel hungry. If they are fed at the same time all the time, they will get used to and start waking up to feed even if they are not actually hungry.
How to help:
- Gradually postpone the time of morning feeding.
- gradually reducing the feeding time, then switch to just laying down, replacing with a nipple.
- Replace feedings with water in older children.

3. External stimuli

Babies can wake up early because of light, noise, heat or cold (if open), a wet diaper, and so on.
Around 5 am, cortisol levels rise in the blood, and the motivation to continue to sleep drops. If an external stimulus acts constantly enough, they begin to expect it and wake up out of habit.
How can I help you:
- blackout blinds, cover the window with foil (although the foil will make noise if the window is open)
- sleeping bags or duvet holders
- the other is a double diaper
- toys to keep the child occupied
- bottled water (for older children)
- accustoming to the alarm clock

4. Forced Dependencies

Early rises can be the result of forced addiction instilled by parents. If a child wakes up for some reason, and you, without understanding, feed, shake or take him to bed regularly enough, he will develop the habit of waking up at this time and will need the same thing to fall asleep again.
How can I help you:
- If you feed in the morning, gradually push back the feed
- If you download, look for another way to help them fall asleep
- If you bring them to your bed, start teaching them to stay in their bed.

5. Low need for sleep
All children are different, some need less sleep. Watch your child's behavior and it will be possible to tell if he gets enough sleep during those hours that he sleeps, or is in a cycle of hyper-fatigue and overexcitation. If they really need less sleep, then you can go to bed a little later.

6. High expectations
If you expect too much sleep from a child, he may start waking up early, simply because he already had a good night's sleep.
How to help: Try cutting back on naps and/or moving your bedtime to bed later.

7. Hyper fatigue
Often, early rises are caused by hyper-fatigue, staying awake for too long, and chronic sleep deprivation. If the WB before bedtime is too long, the child becomes nervous, irritable, overly active. He has difficulty relaxing and may resist lying down. Hyper-fatigue increases the number of wakings at night.
How can I help you:
Reduce VB, watch closely for signs of fatigue, and when you see them, act immediately. Make sure your daytime naps are age appropriate.

8. First nap too early
Children wake up early if the first daytime nap is too early. This leads to the fact that the final part of the night sleep is separated, and passes into daytime sleep.
How to help: Gradually and slowly shift daytime naps a little later over the course of several days.

9. Lark
The usual phase of sleep goes from 19.30 - 7.30. If the child is an early bird, he will be very irritable in the afternoon and early evening, and wake up early and want to sleep early, often in the early evening. A lark can be created by allowing the child to go to bed early (before 6 pm) on a regular basis. The trend is more common in infants and less common in children older than one year, and many outgrow it over time.
How to help: Sometimes this can be changed, but it will take a few weeks. First you need to build a regimen that starts at their early hour (say at 6 am), and then evenly shift the entire regimen by 15 minutes a day. The whole routine has to shift - both daytime naps and feedings. Sometimes you can't change the lark, but most kids outgrow it. If you have tried everything with patience and perseverance, just accept that for the time being the baby sleeps like this and he needs to go to bed early, and so do you.

10. Stages of development I
Children wake up early when they are going through new physical or psychological development sometimes to practice new skills.
How can I help you:
If the child woke up in good mood, then sometimes it is worth leaving him, and he can fall asleep again. If this does not work, use one of the stacking methods.

THE CHILD WAKES UP AT NIGHT

A child can wake up at night for a variety of reasons, and the method of correction will depend on how accurately we can determine the reason why a night's sleep is disturbed:

1. Forced dependencies
Anything that parents use to put their baby to sleep that creates addiction - breasts, nipples, motion sickness, falling asleep in arms, in a stroller, in a car seat - can turn into a forced addiction when a child cannot sleep without foreign aid. If any of these are used occasionally, this is usually not a problem. Also, if a baby falls asleep with a pacifier, then spit it out before going to daytime sleep, and the parents do not rush to give it back, this will not be a problem.
In other cases, sooner or later this will lead to serious sleep disturbances (especially if the parents are unable to maintain dependence on all dreams).
How can I help you:
Get rid of addiction.

2. Hyper-fatigue before bedtime
Usually manifests itself in the form of nocturnal awakenings in the first half of the night (1-2 hours after falling asleep), and is associated with a lack of daytime sleep, and too long WB in the evening.

How can I help you:
Work on the regimen, lengthen daytime naps, reduce WB before bed

3. Incorrect feeding regimen
Feeding too infrequent (less than every 3 hours) for children under 4 months of age, and too frequent (more than every 3 hours) for children over 4 months. Too frequent feedings lead to the fact that the child's instinct to stock up on food ceases to work, and he stops doing this before bedtime too, but begins to eat little and often. Also after 4 months, babies are often distracted and may eat little. Introduction of complementary foods before the child is ready for it. There is a myth that after the introduction of complementary foods, children begin to sleep better, they often wake up more often, they may have tummy ache, they consume less liquid milk, and they may wake up thirsty.

How to help:
Feed in a semi-dark, quiet room so that the child is not distracted
Adjust feeding schedule to age appropriate

4. Fear of separation from mom (after 7 months)
The child wakes up and needs to make sure that he is not abandoned and that mom will return
How to help:
DO NOT IGNORE the child, spend as much time with him as possible, respond to his needs and requests quickly and carefully. Children are not manipulated, this is a real developmental stage, and ignoring the need can lead to more big problems with sleep.

5. Inconsistency in packing.
An inconsistent attitude to bedtime (sometimes sit with the baby, then leave him to cry), the lack of a ritual confuses the child, and he does not know how to behave and what to expect, and is even more nervous.

How to help:
Establish regular bedtime rituals and stick to them.
If you make changes, let those changes apply 100% of the time.

6. Responding to every squeak
Often a child can talk, hoot, squeal, sigh, whimper softly in the crib - often the child soothes himself and helps him fall asleep. There is also the crying “mantra”, it is quiet, mournful, subsiding by the end of each call - the child does not switch to op, does not call, does not express indignation. Many children soothe themselves with such crying, after 6 months it can transform into a mournful "mooing" under the nose, and persist until adulthood as a way to calm down. Too fast response, approach to the child, interference prevent the child from calming down himself and only disrupt the process of falling asleep.

How to help:
Learn to differentiate between your baby's different cries so you know when you'll react. When in doubt, decide to count to 20-50-100 before reacting so you don't jump too early. ALWAYS approach loud, real crying.

7. Acute lack of sleep for several days, weeks, months.
As sleep deprivation builds up, one day of sleep deprivation may not directly affect the next night, or the next few nights. If a child does not get enough sleep for several days in a row, then sooner or later it will hit him. This is most commonly seen in babies who sleep less than 7 hours a night at 3 months, less than 10 at 4, and less than 11 at 6 months, and who are not getting enough daytime sleep. Since the lack of daytime sleep is bad for nighttime sleep and vice versa, a vicious circle is formed. It is very common for babies over 4 months of age to wake up at night if they go to bed after 8:30 pm, because they often wake up at 6-7 am anyway, meaning they don't get enough sleep at night. Some people wake up earlier and earlier. And while not all kids go to bed early, most do, and most benefit from it.

How to help: Put your baby to bed early for several nights in a row. This will allow him to sleep. It may not get rid of night waking immediately, but it should help gradually. For example, if your child wakes up at 7 am, try to put him to bed at 6 or 6:30 pm several nights in a row and see what changes. It may take some effort to style early, so do it gradually, say for half an hour every night. After 3 months, the recommended bedtime is between 6 and 8 pm.
Only you and your child know how much sleep they need. Some need more, some less. But if you're having trouble waking up at night and your child is sleeping less than the recommended amount at night, try increasing the amount of sleep at night and see what happens. You may be pleasantly surprised by the result.