Problems with sleeping in the child

Alas, sleep problems can occur not only in young mothers, but also in children. It is very important to see the boundary between pathology and the norm, because the baby's body is different from the adult. In addition, the child is still learning to understand this life and its rules. And this means that whether the child will have trouble sleeping or will be avoided depends primarily on the parents.

Let's return to the question of pathology and norm. The newborn's sleep takes 18 of 24 hours a day, with the concept of "day" and "night" in the first month of life for the child does not exist, so he can sleep during the day and stay awake at night, which is not a violation of sleep. Distinguish the time of day, the child learns gradually, and by the age of 1.5 years, many children are nocturnal feeding is not so relevant, because the child does not want to wake up in the middle of the night. In 3 years of such children already two thirds, and a year willing to eat at night remains only 10 percent. And daytime sleep is gradually becoming less necessary. By the age of 1-2, children sleep only once a day.

But we are only interested in a night's rest. What is the norm? Frightening of many parents, the weak crying and whimpering of a child in a dream turns out to be considered a completely physiological manifestation, allowing the child to get rid of the load of emotions accumulated during the day and to check the presence of parents nearby. To the kid it is enough only to make it clear that Mom and Dad are nearby and he will calm down.

But if you worry about this and pay too much attention to the baby   , he will have problems with sleep. The child will constantly demand attention to himself at the slightest awakening, this will not do good to the child or his parents.

Problems with sleep in infants

Awakening babies at night in a nap or fast-sleep phase is also not a violation. The newborn phase of sleep changes very often, respectively, and it will be more likely to wake up than a one-year-old baby. In most cases of such awakenings, if the child is dry and full, he will soon fall asleep on his own, and parents should not be prevented from doing so. At night, small children need to pay the minimum attention needed, which will allow them to get used to the regime of the day when you need to sleep at night, and in the afternoon - to communicate with parents.

A healthy child should learn to put up with his "loneliness" and calm down on his own. This will help to avoid various disturbances in sleep and the failure of biological rhythms, which are in their infancy in childhood.

Wincing a child in a dream should also not be a cause for concern if during the daytime the baby does not show undue anxiety. The jerking usually accompanies the transition of one stage of sleep to another, and the lack of formation of the CNS brake mechanisms in young children results in such an unusual symptom.

Problems with sleep in infants and young children are manifested in most cases in the form of insomnia, which is manifested by the difficulties of falling asleep in conjunction with night awakenings. As in adults, insomnia in a child can be both primary physiological and pathological. In the second case, most often the cause of insomnia in children under 1 year of age are perinatal disorders of the nervous system.

It must be said that most of the little children do not sleep well at all because of illness. The cause of sleep disorders is most often the wrong attitude to sleep and the baby, and his parents. And for a child, problems with sleep are unlikely to have negative consequences, sleep well in a day he will have time. But for parents nightly "concerts" can become a nightmare.

As we have already said, a baby can wake up several times during the night, after which he will fall asleep again, but only in the conditions in which he is accustomed. If the child is regularly rocked before going to bed, sitting next to him or the child falls asleep in the parental bed, at night he will demand the creation of the same conditions to which he is accustomed and feels comfortable. A child who has slept for a day can claim his night and hour, and two, which will result in a constant lack of sleep of parents, whose care will be day and night.

It is necessary from the very beginning to accustom a babe to fall asleep in the crib, without rocking and constant presence of parents. Incorrect installation is also considered falling asleep with a bottle of milk. The child develops the association of the process of falling asleep with feeding, motion sickness, the obligatory presence of parents, etc., which in the future will result in sleepless nights for the relatives.

That the kid did not feel lonely to it in a bed it is possible to put a favorite toy or a diaper with a mother's aroma. If the child has woken up and can not sleep for a long time, it is necessary to approach it, but only in order to check whether everything is in order, to change if necessary a diaper or diaper, to caress the baby and calm. Do not need to wind miles around the room with the baby in his arms, if the child is healthy and just capricious. In any case, the kid must learn to fall asleep and sleep alone.

The children after a year, more cunning and inventive, there are new pretexts to not sleep. When a child has learned to walk and knows how to express his discontent not only with shouting and crying, keeping him in bed will not be so easy, however, as well as putting him to bed. If the child regularly indulges and spends time not to go to bed at the set hour, and then constantly asks for a toilet, for water, food, etc., it's time to think about the violation of sleep in the child.

If in the previous example it was about the time of falling asleep, then further we will talk about the problems that arise with the place of sleep. It is clear that under the side of the parents the child feels less lonely and protected, so little children often try to defend their right to sleep in bed with their parents, especially if they are so accustomed to infancy. It would seem that there is nothing terrible in this, but the older the child becomes, the more difficult it will be to wean him to sleep with his parents. Even if the baby is put into his crib from the evening, he will run to the parents' bed in the middle of the night.

Such night "travel" can be caused by the fears of the baby or ordinary whims. In any case, the situation requires attention. If the child is afraid to sleep alone, you need to understand what is the reason for these fears and do everything to make the fears go away, even with the help of a psychologist. With vagaries also have to fight if the parents want that in bed the child does not violate their personal and rather intimate space.

In addition, it must be taken into account that in the parental bed the child will instantly fall asleep and wake up in the morning very satisfied and asleep. But parents will have much harder, their sleep is more sensitive, and it will not be easy to fall asleep, especially if most of the bed will be occupied by their child (children know how!).

It is much easier to accustom to a certain routine of the day, or rather, the night, the child to a year. With older children, we will have to make compromises in order to maintain a benevolent relationship in the family. It is about certain arrangements for the time of sleep, the preceding rituals (dreams, lullabies, etc.), the behavior of the child during the night.

There is nothing shameful if the parents, in order to preserve their peace and the child, will demand obedience in return for some good things in the future, but within the reasonable limits. After 1-3 weeks, the child develops a habit of going to bed at a certain time in his bed, and stimulation is no longer needed.

With relatives of the child, sometimes the child stays at night, it is necessary to agree on observance of the wakefulness and sleep regime. Even on a visit to the baby should be a separate bed and a release at the time determined by the parents.

In addition to violations of associations and sleep patterns at the time and place, there is another problem that causes sleep disorders in the child and his parents. This is the wrong eating behavior during sleep. Ideally, the baby should eat in the evening, play a little and fall asleep. Up to 3-6 months the baby can wake up at night 2-3 more times to eat. Older children do not need night feeding, and therefore, during awakenings in the middle of the night, they are not necessary to feed them.

Some parents do not understand this or simply make their lives easier, every time when crying overnight, slipping the baby bottle with food. Yes, the child will quickly fall asleep, but in the future he will not be able to fall asleep without eating. This will lead to damage to the teeth, because no one will rinse the mouth at night, the inflammation of the inner ear (the result of feeding in a horizontal position, when liquid food can get into the Eustachian tube and on), eating disorders (lack of rest in the gastrointestinal tract, consumption of excess food, excessive weight gain).

One more nuance. To a child quickly falling asleep in bed does not necessarily have to be tired. Little babies and already sufficiently mobile, so that their body needs to have a night of rest. But it will be a natural need.

Stimulating sleep with mobile games is unnecessarily emotional. This will have the opposite effect. Excited kid is unlikely to want to end the "holiday", so the time to go to bed can drag on for another hour.

For a quiet sleep of the child is very important and the psychological situation in the family. If the parents constantly quarrel and express discontent with each other at the child, the kid will constantly wake up at night and cry, he will have nightly fears, can develop enuresis, somnambulism and other sleep disorders.

As we can see, parents cause the child's sleep disorders most often, creating incorrect settings and not thinking about the child's mental health. Sometimes for their ambitions, moms and dads can overlook more serious sleep disorders than those described above. After all, a bad dream in a child can be due to illness, and not whims. And in this case, the baby simply needs to be shown to a specialist, because not only the illness itself can cause harm, but also the absence of a full night rest, caused by it.

This applies to toddlers and school-age children for whom a full-fledged sleep is one of the main conditions for good academic performance. In addition, at this age, self-esteem begins to form and any sleep disorders can play a cruel joke in this regard.

At school age, the regime of the day is especially important. At the same time, there is not enough time for sleep. It is also necessary to correctly plan the time before the night rest and the baby's nutrition. A schoolboy should not overeat for the night (a light dinner should be 2 hours before going to bed), teach the lessons until after hours (21-22 hours), play mobile games before going to bed. In the room where the child sleeps, the air should be cool (about 18-20 degrees) and sufficiently moist. 

All these requirements will help to make the dream of the junior schoolboy full and comfortable. But with the onset of adolescence, new difficulties may appear.

Problems with sleep in adolescents

The adolescent period is a special milestone in the life of every adult. Negativism and the reluctance to adhere to the accepted in the society and the collective framework are intertwined with a depressed state and the first love experiences. The fact that the child looked calmly a year or two ago now causes a lot of violent emotions that deprive the day of rest and prevent them from falling asleep at night.

It is especially difficult at night, when all the day's experiences are piled on the fragile psyche, plus weakened as a result of hormonal adjustment. Parents can for the time being not know that their maturing son or daughter for hours turning in bed unable to sleep. And only over time, the symptoms of night insomnia make themselves felt by difficulties in awakening, morning and afternoon drowsiness, lethargy, memory and attention impairment, declining academic performance, irritability, conflict, frequent headaches.

Some parents do not even know how many different factors can influence the dream of a high school student. The teenager's problems with sleeping can cause such moments:

• Non-compliance with the regime of the day, especially on weekends and holidays, when a teenager prefers to go to bed and wake up later than usual, thus violating his biological rhythms.
• Large mental stress during the training process can lead to overwork of the nervous system. As a result, drowsiness at lunch time. If the teenager does not get a normal rest during the day (and after all you need to do homework, visit mugs, etc.), at night, problems with sleep are possible. But if a child sleeps during the day long enough, at night he may also have trouble falling asleep.
• The main cause of insomnia in adolescence is experience. Hormonal failures and puberty make these experiences even more intense. The attractiveness for the opposite sex of many teenagers is being questioned, and against this background, experiences can be particularly strong.

They do not allow low self-esteem, conflicts with teachers about their academic performance, first love, etc. But this is all normal for adolescence, just parents need to try to find a common language with their growing-up children, help and support them in a difficult situation, to teach a teenager to cope with problems not at the expense of night rest.

• Hypodinamy harms adolescents no less than adults. In adolescence, children become less mobile. Intellectual work at school prevails over physical, but at teens and after school teenagers do not run, like children, do not play mobile games. Often, they can not even get out of the class.

But physical activity can reduce mental stress and vice versa. Thus, the balance of various loads on the body, helping to avoid fatigue, is compensated. The lack of physical labor in the school should be compensated by active studies outside of it (work at home, walking on air, sports and sports).

• Confronting various taboos (alcohol, drugs, smoking), innate curiosity and a desire to become (or at least seem) as adults, lead to the fact that the teenager tries to experience all that he was not allowed before. But that which is harmful even for an adult organism, can not but harm the health of the child. One of the consequences of the negative impact of substances harmful to the body is their negative impact on the central nervous system, and as a result neurological disorders and problems with sleep.

But the exciting influence on the central nervous system is not only famous for alcohol and nicotine, but also drinks such as coffee and energy. It is worth to drink such a drink before going to bed, and insomnia is provided. And many children are just beginning to be interested in adult drinks when they are teenagers, without even thinking about the rules for their use.

• Early sexual intercourse is another reason for insomnia. A teenager can spend hours in the head scrolling all the details of sexual contact, worrying about how everything happened and how parents will react to it, etc. This is a strong experience, not every teenager will share it.
• The problem of the modern world - rampant computerization - especially affects teenagers. Not only does the computer replace live communication with them, so this communication does not have a time frame. In online networks, children can communicate almost daily, sitting up to 1-2 hours of the night, and then scrolling through the head of the details of active communication. Still, any communication is the exchange of information that the brain needs to "digest". And this requires time, even at night, not to leave the same important moments in the morning, when the acuity of sensations is dulled.
• Another nuance associated with the Internet and television is the bright light coming from the screen, which does not contribute to the production of the melatonin sleep hormone, which is already produced late in adolescents (a scientific fact related to physiology). No bright light, no active communication, no online games, no intellectual work near the computer does not contribute to a quick falling asleep and a sound sleep.
• An important role in maintaining the biological rhythms of the body is played by the diet. Late dinner, overeating at night, too sharp and fatty food, snacks before going to sleep tell the body that it's too early to sleep, because the digestive system is in a state of active work. Therefore, the brain does not associate this period with the night, when all systems should rest, i.e. Work, but without loads. For example, if you dine at 21 o'clock, then the body may not want to sleep at 10, but at 11 o'clock, and from 10 to 11 it will be necessary to toss and turn in bed.
• A place to sleep. It's no secret that the absence of your room, uncomfortable bed, too intense illumination of the sleeping room, loud noises only aggravate the problem of teenage insomnia. In addition, it is very important to teach the teenager the right rituals of falling asleep.
• For example, a teenager should understand that a bed is a place to sleep, where a laptop, tablet or phone does not belong. Lying in bed before going to bed, you can read light prose or poetry, listen to pleasant music that promotes relaxation and quick falling asleep, but no more. Communication on the phone or the Internet should stay outside the bed, and ideally beyond the threshold of the bedroom.
• Psychological situation in the family. It is clear that the constant quarrels and scandals of parents affect the mentality of a teenager no less than personal experiences. And if the teenager himself became a participant in these scandals, he is provided with a restless night.

It is better to find out the relationships and the heart-to-heart talks, even quite friendly ones, in the daytime, rather than on the eve of the last day. After all, a teenager will think over the conversation in bed for a long time, which will noticeably reduce the number of hours of night rest, which at this age should be at least 8-10 hours.

Adolescence is not for nothing considered a very troubled period, because despite the seeming calmness and indifference of adolescents (and they like to put on such a mask), in the soul of these grown up children they really boil Shakespearian passions that prevent them from sleeping at night. And not a sleepy teenager, he is like a delayed-action mine, languid and apathetic, but at any moment ready to explode with many different words and emotions, mostly negative. And it is unlikely that someone will bring relief.

Effects

Problems with sleeping a child - this is a special conversation. Frequent awakenings and night travel of the baby from his bed to his parents, to the toilet, to the kitchen, etc. Cause sleep disorders in the child's parents. In the evenings, the child does not allow them to fall asleep in time, and at night makes them constantly get up, interrupting their sleep. But to fall asleep to the excited brain of mother or father after such awakenings is not so easy, if it concerns their beloved child. And in the morning it turns out that the nervous system is at the limit, and physical strength is running out, i.e. Rest as such was not at all.

Sleep disorders in healthy babies for themselves do not pose a danger. After all, a child can relax at any time of the day. When the baby gets older and comes to visit the kindergarten, the problems with sleeping gradually begin to remind oneself of drowsiness, lethargy and apathy of the child, a decrease in appetite and interest in communication. But these children have the opportunity to have lunch.

But when the child begins to attend school, serious problems also come. A sleepy kid is not able to fully absorb the information that the teacher gives him, which means that he will have poor academic performance. Very quickly the child will get tired of learning, and he will not remain silent about it. Moods, stubbornness, failure to comply with the requirements of the teacher will be the occasion for a serious conversation with parents and visits to the psychologist.

In adolescence, constant conflicts with teachers and parents, the aggravation of personal experiences, the addition of depression, which against the background of hormonal imbalance quite often leads to suicide attempts, will join the decline in academic performance.

But this is only the psychological side of the problem. And if we talk about physiology, then the lack of sleep will necessarily affect the work of various organs and systems, which I will work on wear even against a background of small loads.

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