Young parents often have situations when a newborn child falls asleep badly or falls asleep only on his hands.
If the child does not fall asleep for a long time, he begins to be capricious, crying, experiencing nervous excitement. The reaction of parents sometimes is emotional dullness, because they simply do not know how to help them go to bed. During the newborn period, this phenomenon is observed quite often when the child restlessly falls asleep. This is due to the period of adaptation of the child's organism to extrauterine life. Until one month, such a restless sleep is the norm. In this case, you can try to practice the joint sleep of the child with his mother. Children who are breastfed often fall asleep on their mother's chest, feeling completely safe.
Why does the child fall asleep badly in the evening at an older age?
The life of a child of older age, as a rule, is full of new impressions, games, people. And sometimes he hardly sleeps in the evening, continuing to "digest" the information received. "
If a child does not go to bed at night and continues to play, demanding the attention of parents, this behavior may be due to lack of love and attention from mom and dad. And, for a long time going to bed, continuing the game, the child attracts attention to himself and in such a non-constructive way.
If parents play little with the child during the day, are not interested in his affairs, his life and interests, then over time the child begins to experience psychosomatic symptoms:
- nervous overexcitation;
- disturbance of the alternation of phases of sleep;
- difficulties of going to bed in the evening.
The child falls asleep badly at night: what to do?
To help the child painlessly accept the ritual of going to sleep, it is important to follow several rules:
- Compliance with the regime of the day. It is important to feed the child, put him to bed every day at the same time.
- Creating rituals. Parents need to create an appropriate environment that is at rest: the muted light of a night lamp, the conversation in a whisper, the reading of a fairy tale for the night. The child should have a day-to-day ritual every day. It is important not to violate such a regime, since even the slightest failure in time can cause a negative reaction in the child: if the mother did not have time to read the book and the time to go to bed, the child may start to riot and demand a "relying" book. If the regime has slightly moved, it is better to shorten each stage of retreatment to sleep: dinner - taking baths - reading a book - a dream.
- The child's bedding and pajamas should be pleasant to the touch, soft. It is important that the bed remains warm at any time of the year, which is especially important in the period of heating shutdown. It is possible for a child to lie uncomfortably in a cold bed and tries in every possible way to delay the process of packing.
- At the first signs of the child's fatigue (yawning, rubbing the eye, loss of interest in playing activity) it is important to immediately put the child to bed, otherwise the moment may be missed and the child will want to go to bed again only after a couple of hours.
How to teach a child to fall asleep himself?
First of all, the bed and sleep in the child should only cause positive associations. He should like to go to bed. After all, this is an extra reason to chat with your mother, discuss the past day with your dad a few minutes before bedtime. Such a trusting relationship between the parents and the child provides him with a sense of security and the possibility of accepting him as a person.
You can invite a child to take a toy to bed while sleeping. And as soon as mom takes this toy in her hands, the child will immediately understand that it's time to go to bed.
When a child prepares to sleep, you need to talk to him in a quiet, calm voice, repeating a limited range of phrases (for example, "good night, baby, it's time to sleep").
For a long time the child can wake up at night several times. The reasons can be different: he wants to pot, drink water, just scared of a terrible dream. In such a situation it is important for mother to be there and continue to calm the child in a quiet voice. Over time, he will get used to the fact that his mother is nearby and is ready to come to him at any moment and will sleep more soundly at night and feel secure.
However, do not forget that the child can fall asleep badly because of the presence of physiological reasons: the teeth are climbing, the baby is sick, only after the inoculation, his glands or adenoids are enlarged. Psychological reasons can also affect sleep: often when a child begins to fall asleep himself, he is tortured by nightmares, he wakes up in complete darkness and is afraid that he is alone in the dark. In this case, you can help the child overcome their fears,
Late putting the child to sleep at night helps to overwork the child's body. Some parents mistakenly believe that the more activity the child showed during the day, the faster he falls asleep and sleeps all night. Sleep and wakefulness, activity and rest should be strictly observed. In this case, the child will not experience any problems during the night stowage.