The child does not sleep well: the reasons and what to do?

The child does not sleep well - many parents face such a problem, according to statistics, about 25% of all children under three have sleep disorders, both day and night.

The norm is the amount of sleep for children of different ages: 

• At the age from birth to six months - not less than 16-17 hours; 
• At the age of six months to a year - not less than 14 hours; 
• At the age of one to two years - not less than 13.5 hours; 
• At the age from two to three years - not less than 13 hours; 
• Older than three years - not less than 10-11 hours.

Causes of the poor sleep in the child

The reasons why a child does not sleep a lot is:

• Natural physiological features not associated with the pathology of internal organs and systems (adaptation to night sleep in the first three to four months of life); 
• Violation of the daily routine, non-compliance with hygiene rules; 
• Emotional stresses, overloads, not inherent in age; 
• Violations of the functioning of internal organs and systems; 
• Violation of the functions of the nervous system; 
• Sharp change in diet, eating regimen; 
• Physiological causes - colic, appearing teeth; 
• Body blow, hypothermia.

If a child does not sleep well, you need to carefully monitor the dynamics of sleep disturbances, and with the help of the doctor to find out the reason to remove it in a timely manner. Among the symptoms that parents should watch out for, one can note the following: 

• It makes sounds, screams in a dream, flinches, but does not wake up; 
• Scrubs his teeth in a dream (bruxism); 
• Wakes up at night from dreaming nightmares; 
• Enuresis; 
• Violation of breathing, its stop (apnea); 
• The child does not sleep well, twitching his legs (restless legs syndrome).

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Pathogenesis

Since the main task of sleep, for both adults and children, is to restore the forces spent in active day-time activity, a disturbed sleep can lead to weakness, irritability. During sleep in the body of children, growth hormones are activated, it is no coincidence that there is a belief that the tighter the baby sleeps, the faster it grows. Also in a dream, the accumulation and restoration of important protective elements of the immune system - immunoglobulins and T-lymphocytes. All information, impressions are processed in the part of the brain that is responsible for short-term, operating memory. Then the information is transferred to a long-term "archive" memory. Any lack of sleep or the interruption of sleep disturbs the natural processes that tend to occur while the body is resting. Consequently, disturbed sleep is a disturbed physiological process.

Sleep, as is known, consists of several stages - phases. First comes the phase of sleep, in which there is no dream, a slow phase. Following it, the phase of a paradoxical or fast sleep, in which a person usually sees dreams, must enter into his own rights. In a "slow" dream, the whole body rests and restores its strength, in a paradoxical phase, impressions, thoughts, in a word, brainwashed information are processed, and the body begins to activate its processes. All intensive activity during the fast phase occurs only in the brain, the remaining parts of the body do not participate in this "work", they continue to sleep. Children sleep usually lasts longer than adults, in addition, children need full rest and sleep even more than in food.

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Symptoms of the poor sleep in the child

If a child does not sleep well and shudders, screams in a dream, this is a characteristic sign of a change in the phases of sleep, which have not yet normalized due to the age characteristics of the child. If these symptoms are repeated too often - every night, and last for a month, the child should be shown to a neurologist to exclude neurologic pathology, epilepsy. 

If a child does not sleep well, creaks, grinds teeth, he may have arrhythmia, blood pressure jumps. In addition, that bruxism damages the tooth enamel, it can testify to congenital maxillary pathology, neurological problems. The child should be shown to the doctor if the creaking of teeth lasts more than a week. 

If a child often has bad, terrible dreams, this may indicate psychoemotional excitability, impressionability. Nightmares, as a rule, persecute boys at the age of three years, and independently stop at the beginning of the puberty period. The reason may be a movie, a book read before going to bed, music. Quite often nightmares in children are a signal about the beginning of hidden diseases (choking is a possible symptom of a beginning cold). Nightmares, unlike night fears, are not accompanied by twitching of limbs, the kid can retell the plot of sleep upon awakening. As therapeutic measures, it is sometimes enough to exclude all stimuli and provide a comfortable sleep, that is, a phase of slow sleep. 

Twinning. In a dream, a baby can scream, pronounce strange sounds and words, it comes from excessive excitability and the presence of irritants, which provoke a similar reaction in the child. Usually, "loquacity" goes by itself, when parents provide a quiet environment before falling asleep, exclude sharp sounds, watching aggressive films and reading books with a dramatic plot. 

Sleepwalking (sleeping). Such strange night "adventures" can manifest themselves in children of any age, except, of course, newborns. The most frequent cases of falling asleep in children from five years to nine or ten years. The child wakes up, can even say something, but with open eyes, he does not see anyone and does not understand where he is. A small episode of somnambulism is the awakening of a child in bed when he sits down, but does not get up. A big episode is actually walking. To wake up such a "sleepwalker" should not be, you need to carefully monitor the child, so that he does not harm himself unconsciously - did not fall, did not hit. If the occurrence does not happen often, it is possible that this is a single manifestation of the psychoemotional reaction. If sleepwalking repeats regularly, the child should be shown to the neurologist and go through all the prescribed studies to exclude the organic pathology of the brain.

Treatment of the poor sleep in the child

If parents do not notice anxious symptoms and associate a sleep disorder with the child's excessive sensitivity, the following rules should be adhered to: 

If possible, for a half to two hours before sleep, you can take a joint walk in the fresh air. 

One hour before sleep, you need to calm the child, excluding active activities, moving games and fun. You can read a book, preferably quiet content, listen to slow music, tell a story. 

Do not overfeed your baby before bed, the last meal should be an hour before bedtime. Before going to bed, you can give the child warm milk with honey or loose tea. 

A good effect is given by evening baths with infusion of herbs or the addition of relaxing aromatic oils (if the child does not have allergies on them). Melissa herb, brewed in the proportion of 2 tablespoons per cup of boiling water, is filtered and added to water. The water temperature should not be too hot, 37-38 degrees is enough. A good relaxing effect is the oils of lavender or lemon. In a bathroom filled with warm water, 3-4 drops of essential oil should be added. Essential oils can be used for bathing children aged from three years. 

Under the pillow on which the baby sleeps, you can put a bag filled with dry grass of lavender or the root of valerian. These plants are considered essential oil and even in a dry form exude a fragrance that can reduce anxiety and soothe the child. 

Before going to bed, you can water the child with a weak decoction of chamomile with the addition of a teaspoon of honey. Chamomile has a mild soothing effect as well as natural honey. In addition, both chamomile and honey contribute to the normalization of digestion, which can be one of the causes of restless sleep.

The child does not sleep well, as a rule, for physiological reasons or because of external stimuli, and they are quite simple to eliminate. All other cases of sleep disorders should be supervised by a doctor: to conduct a comprehensive examination and prescribe appropriate age-appropriate treatment.