How to help your baby sleep. What to do to make a newborn fall asleep quickly. Causes of poor sleep in babies

Parents usually run out of batteries before the child runs out of power. Here are ways to make those little eyes close.

Relax during the day. If you hold your baby a lot and soothe him during the day, the baby becomes calmer and sleeps better at night.

Use repetitive bedtime ceremonies. How

the older the child, the more desirable the constant ceremonies and rituals. Children who have repetitive, within reason, bedtime ceremonies tend to sleep better. Due to the modern pace of life, putting a child to bed early and on a strict timetable is not as realistic, and this regimen does not occur as often as it used to. Imagine working parents who, more often than not, don't get home until six or seven in the evening. This is the most interesting time for the child: do not expect him to fall asleep as soon as you come home. By the time the parents have returned home, the father, mother, or both may have a great desire to put the child to bed early, instead of tormenting the whole evening with a cranky child. If one or both parents usually come home late, put the child to bed later more practical and realistic. In this situation, give your child the opportunity to sleep as late as possible in the afternoon so that the child is well rested when the main time comes for him to communicate with tired parents in the evening.

Use relaxation techniques. A soothing massage or a warm bath is a good solution for relaxing tense muscles and overworked minds.

Rock in your bag. This technique worked best for our children, especially one who spent most of the day in an overexcited state and could not calm down.

Lull your chest. Waste to

sleep at the mother's breast is on the list of natural sleeping pills. Sit comfortably next to your baby and breastfeed him until he falls asleep. The smooth transition from a warm bath through warm hands to warm breasts and then into a warm bed usually leads to sleep. Formula-fed babies can also be lulled in this way.

Lull with the help of your father.

As stated above, lulling does not necessarily mean breastfeeding. Fathers can lull too, using their own uniquely masculine ways. It makes sense to give the child the opportunity to experience both maternal and paternal ways of going to bed.

Make your child feel comfortable.

Your child may be almost ready to sleep, but may not want to be put to sleep lonely. After rocking your baby, scolding your baby in your arms or in a bag, or feeding your baby so that he falls asleep in your arms, lie down on your bed with your sleeping baby, snuggle up to him and wait until he is sound asleep (or until you won't sleep soundly).

Rock me. The rocking chair next to the bed is perhaps the most important piece of furniture for your bedroom. Treasure these moments of motion sickness, as they only come at an early age and soon pass.

Bed on wheels. Let's say you've tried everything. You are ready to go to bed, or you are ready to send your child to bed, but he can not calm down. As a last resort, put your child in a car seat and ride until he falls asleep. Constant movement is the fastest way to induce sleep. This bedtime ritual is especially good for fathers and gives tired mothers a break from their baby. We also used this travel time for much-needed interaction with each other, talking in the car while the baby nods off and falls asleep from the non-stop traffic and the noise of the engine. When you get home and find your baby sound asleep, don't take him out of the car seat right away, or he'll likely wake up.

Carry your baby right into the seat in your bedroom and let the baby stay in it like in a crib. Or, if the baby is in a very deep sleep (check for flaccid limbs), you may be able to get him out of the seat and into the crib without waking him up.

Mechanical moms. Technical devices designed to put children to bed and keep them from waking up are becoming a bigger and bigger industry. Tired parents pay big bucks to get a good night's sleep. It's okay to use them as a last resort when your real mom's batteries run out, but using these artificial remedies all the time can be unhealthy. I remember a newspaper article touting the benefits of a sleepy teddy bear with a cassette player inside that plays songs or recorded breath sounds. Baby can snuggle up to the singing, breathable, synthetic bear. We personally do not want our children to fall asleep under someone else's inanimate voice. Why not give the child a real parent?

See if the limbs are flaccid. All of these tips for putting your baby to bed will do you no good and all your hard work will be wasted if you try to sneak out while your baby is still in REM or light sleep. See if there are signs of deep sleep, such as a motionless face and flaccid limbs, and if so, then you can safely transfer your sleeping treasure to its nest and slip away.

If a child at 1 or 5 months cannot be put to bed, then it is best to consult a pediatrician. But in the absence of serious reasons for concern, you can use one of the methods of quickly falling asleep or listen to popular advice from experienced professionals.

The question of how to properly put a newborn or a little older child to sleep does not have a clear answer. The prerequisites for insomnia can be intestinal colic, teething, and poor health.

There are some rules and age-specific features that will allow you to get to know the baby better and understand how to put the newborn to sleep at night.

Many doctors are convinced that it is not so important for a baby to follow a special regimen, since biological rhythms have not yet been fully established before the age of one. In addition, the quality and duration of sleep is also affected by temperament and characteristics of the nervous system.

Popular laying methods

How to put a child to sleep without any problems? There are many effective methods known since ancient times - the so-called grandmother's advice.

For example, many people still use lullabies, since the lulling mother's voice cannot be replaced by any modern technology. Moreover, the crumbs are not interested in the aesthetics of the song, but in the emotional mood and soothing rhythm. How else to put the baby to sleep?

This method should take into account the age, characteristics of the nervous system of the child. In this case, a ritual is understood as some action that is repeated every day at a certain time, and it does not matter if it is summer or winter.

For children under 6 months old, being in familiar surroundings can help to calm down. But a violation of the ritual can create problems with falling asleep - changing the bed, room, pajamas, mother's hairstyle, the appearance of strangers in the room, etc.

If the child is already 6 months old, it is imperative to create your own ritual, which would be associated with falling asleep in the crumbs. The most important rule is that this “rite” should be associated exclusively with positive emotions.

An example of such "sleepy" actions are:

• "farewell to the sun" Mom takes the baby in her arms, brings it to the window and says that the sun, as well as all the animals, have already fallen asleep, therefore, it’s also time for small children to “bainki”. Then the curtains are drawn, the lights are turned off, and the baby is placed in the crib;
• reading fairy tales, poems, viewing colorful pictures;
• hugging a child's favorite teddy bear;
• singing a lullaby;
• observation of aquarium fish, etc.

Such ritual actions usually allow you to put the child to sleep without problems, who already understands their meaning. However, when the baby gets sick, even this method does not always work.

Contrary to the fears of many mothers, it is possible to rock a child, of course, if there are no medical contraindications. On the contrary, some doctors are convinced that moderate motion sickness can benefit the children's body.

Rhythmic swaying, repeating the heartbeat, stabilizes the biological rhythms of the baby.

It is only important to remember that in babies the vestibular apparatus is imperfect, so the question of how to rock the baby correctly is really relevant.

The main thing is to act extremely carefully, slowly rocking the baby held on the handles back and forth.

Such monotonous movements act on the human body, like a sleeping pill.

On the other hand, rocking the child constantly, parents run the risk of turning this habit into a kind of psychological addiction.

Therefore, if there is an opportunity to do without motion sickness, then you should use it. In such a situation, you will not have to then wean the baby from the habit of falling asleep from constant swaying and only if he is on his mother's arms.

Babies at both 2 and 4 months have developed a sucking reflex, which they seek to satisfy in all available ways. If you can’t put your baby to sleep, you can offer him a pacifier that will allow him to calm down and fall asleep.

After the child falls asleep, it is better to remove the pacifier. Otherwise, there is a risk of a new undesirable habit - pacifier sucking.

At five or six months, the sucking reflex begins to fade. And when the baby is one year old, it is generally better to refuse the silicone assistant and find other methods that allow the child to calm down before falling asleep.

Musical works

You can lay the baby either in silence or with appropriate musical accompaniment. Melodies for falling asleep should be chosen soothing. The sound of the ocean, raindrops, the singing of birds, etc. will perfectly cope with this role.

By the way, pediatricians do not recommend putting babies to bed in absolute silence. If the parents behave quietly in a rhyme, then the child will react to any rustle. However, it is also undesirable to teach the baby to fall asleep under a working TV.

swaddling

This method works both for falling asleep as soon as possible, and for quickly calming the newborn baby. The baby, especially if he is less than 4 months old, often tosses and turns in his sleep, spreading his arms and thereby disturbing his own sleep.

If you don't know how to put a 2-month-old baby to bed, try swaddling him, fairly tight, but not too tight. The tightness of the diaper creates an association with the mother's womb in the baby, so it rather calms and lulls.

In order to be able to quickly and seamlessly put the baby to sleep, it is necessary to create a strong association with him: the bed is a place for falling asleep and sweet dreams, and not for play activities or ordinary rest.

Imagine if mom puts the baby in bed for almost the whole day, except for the time for walking and feeding. In this case, the child will not have the necessary connection, signaling that it is time to close his eyes when going to bed.

Of course, sometimes it turns out that the child falls asleep where necessary: ​​in the infant carrier, stroller, on mother's arms or a feeding chair. However, it is necessary to accustom to the crib, which becomes an ideal place to sleep.

For more information on how to teach a child, read the article by a child psychologist. From this material, you can learn the pros and cons of co-sleeping, as well as possible mistakes in accustoming.

"Exit - entrance"

A rather ambiguous way, its meaning lies in the fact that the child needs to be put in a crib and immediately go out for five to seven minutes, without waiting for the little undesirable to fall asleep.

If during this period the baby has not fallen asleep, then the mother needs to return, try to calm him down, lull him and leave the room again so that the baby can doze off on his own.

Usually, after a few days, the child understands that he needs to fall asleep "on his own." Therefore, this method is more suitable for babies at 2 years old or a little younger, but not for newborns.

caress and hugs

You can soothe the child with gentle strokes when he is already in bed. Some children like it when they stroke their eyebrows, ears, hands. Others calm down from gentle touches on the back or tummy.

A similar feature is typical for children under 6 months old, in whom tactile sensations are developed quite strongly. Therefore, the question of how to quickly put a child to sleep can be answered simply: touch the baby more often or hold him close to you.

complacency

If not a single method has worked and the problem of how to put the baby to sleep during the day or at night has not been resolved, first of all, mom needs to calm down. A woman trying to lull her child is trying too hard, as a result, the baby feels tension and cries even more.

Therefore, the mother needs to give up excessive efforts and just try to distract the baby in any way: show something bright, turn on unfamiliar music, dance with him. After the stress is relieved, the child will begin to calm down and fall asleep faster.

Pediatricians recommend understanding the underlying reason for childhood insomnia and eliminating it. Therefore, parents need to make sure that the child is not sick, fed, he is not worried about too high or low air temperature in the room.

Author's methods

The question of how to properly put a child to sleep is asked not only by parents, but also by specialists - somnologists or pediatricians. They offer their own methods, which involve either the baby quickly falling asleep on his own, or the mother performing certain sequential actions.

For several decades, the technique of the American pediatrician Karp has been used in practice by parents around the world. It consists of 5 effective techniques:

All these steps can be used in combination or separately. Someone manages to send the baby to a daytime sleep or put it to bed at night after motion sickness, other parents note that the child instantly calms down when hissing over his ear (“white noise”).

This technique of the Spanish pediatrician is more suitable for children over one and a half years old, who already understand a little the words spoken by their parents. For newborns, this method of laying is unacceptable.

Dr. Esteville's method of falling asleep on his own consists in the fact that the mother regularly tells the baby during daylight hours that he is sleeping in his own crib today without motion sickness and a reminder.

In the evening, mom puts the baby to bed, wishes him pleasant dreams and says that she will come to check on him in a minute. She then leaves the room and locks the door. These 60 seconds must be sustained, although the baby will cry loudly.

During the week, the duration of the child's seclusion increases. At the same time, the mother does not need to feel sorry for him, but to explain in the same words why he is now sleeping in his bed. The pediatrician even developed a special plate of intervals through which the baby is taken.

This technique of falling asleep has both followers and opponents. Therefore, you should focus not on the opinion of other parents on the network, but on your own child.

The Nathan Dylo Method

Is it possible to put a baby to sleep in a minute? It turns out that this is possible if you approach the matter with a certain imagination. So, a young father from Australia showed in a video how he put his two-month-old son into a restful sleep in 40 seconds, running a paper napkin over his face.

As experts explain, there is nothing extraordinary in this, since many newborn children react in a similar way to the touch of a soft object on their face and ears. Touching the fingernails or toenails is also often triggered.

Naturally, a guaranteed way to lull an infant or an older child to sleep is not easy to find. What works for one baby may not work for another. Trial and error will help you find the best option.

The popular TV doctor Yevgeny Komarovsky identifies 10 basic recommendations, the implementation of which will help ensure healthy sleep for the baby and other household members.

1. Prioritize. The first point in other words - all family members should rest. For newborns, it is necessary that the mother be calm, happy and well-rested.
2. Determine your sleep pattern. The schedule of sleep and wakefulness must necessarily take into account the features of the daily regimen of the parents, as well as the biorhythms of the baby. And you need to observe the time of falling asleep every day.
3. Decide where the baby will sleep. Komarovsky believes that the baby should sleep alone in a separate bed. In such a situation, adults will get enough sleep, and at 1 year old the bed can be moved to another room. However, mom can lay the baby next to her.
4. Don't be afraid to wake your baby. Often the question of how to put a child to sleep during the day smoothly flows into the problem of his unwillingness to sleep at night. Therefore, adjust the time of daytime sleep.
5. Optimize your feeding. See how your child reacts to food. If after eating he is drawn to sleep, feed him tightly in the evening. If the situation is reversed and the baby wants to play after milk, on the contrary, reduce the amount of food.
6. Increase activity during the day. Make your wakefulness more active: walk outside, communicate with people and animals, observe the world around you, play. This will increase the duration of the night's sleep.
7. Provide fresh air. If the room is stuffy, the baby simply will not fall asleep. Also, low humidity does not contribute to healthy sleep. Bring these parameters to optimal performance.
8. bathe the baby. Warm water will relieve fatigue, improve mood, and also relax the little bather.
9. Prepare the crib. Komarovsky advises each time to monitor whether the bed is organized correctly. It is important to purchase only high-quality sheets, mattresses and diapers.
10. Don't forget the diaper. A high-quality disposable diaper will allow the child to sleep and the mother to rest. Therefore, do not be afraid to use these hygiene items.

As a conclusion

The question of how to put a child to sleep in 5 minutes, perhaps, will never lose its relevance. In order for the baby to fall asleep quickly and without tears, you will have to try many methods and use a variety of recommendations.

It is important not to forget about yourself and your mental health. Agree that a twitchy mother and a tired father will in no way contribute to a child falling asleep soon. Therefore, stay calm and solve the problem without unnecessary nerves.

Sooner or later, all mothers wonder how to help the child sleep all night. Here you have to ... teach him. It is to teach, because the key skill in this case will be self-falling asleep. The fact is that we all naturally wake up several times a night, including children, and due to the fact that we can immediately fall asleep, most often we do not remember these awakenings. However, children must learn to fall asleep on their own without the help of motion sickness, breasts, nipples, etc., otherwise they will need your help again and again with every night awakening (and there can be up to 12-20 per night!).

When to start?

First of all, you need to understand that before the age of 3-4 months, the child is physiologically and neurologically not capable of the feat of even 6 hours of sleep without awakening. Both the need for food every 2-4 hours and the immaturity of the nervous system, which simply cannot provide a sufficient level of control over nervous excitation and inhibition, play a role here. Moreover, it is absolutely normal to keep 1-2 feedings per night up to 8-9 months.

Therefore, stock up on some patience, take a closer look at your child, listen to yourself - not all mothers are ready to stop the nightly feedings of their 6-month-old baby. The psychological mood of the mother is very important, because if she cannot follow her plan and returns to old habits, this will be a signal for the baby that the mother herself does not know what she wants and will have to insist on her desires. The next time after the failure, it will be more difficult to achieve the goal.

What's stopping you?

There are several reasons that keep your baby (and you) from sleeping for longer periods of time.

Finding out and eliminating these causes will help you get the whole family to sleep faster at night.

• Negative associations - If your baby needs your help every time he falls asleep, then he has formed a negative association. For example, he can only fall asleep in your arms, during feeding, after long motion sickness, with a pacifier, etc. The point is that with normal partial awakenings, the baby does not know how to fall asleep on his own, he always relies on your help, he associates falling asleep only with rocking in your arms. The exclusion of such associations and, as a result, the acquisition of the ability to fall asleep on their own, will solve the problem of nocturnal awakenings;
• Excessive fatigue of the child. No matter how strange it may sound, but excessive fatigue prevents your baby from sleeping. If he fits late for his age, lacks sleep during the day, then frequent night awakenings and an early rise before 6 in the morning are guaranteed to you;
• Health problems. A food allergy, often a symptom of itchy skin, is not a good friend to a good night's sleep. If your little one snores in his sleep or often breathes through his mouth, he may be having difficulty breathing and should definitely be shown to the ENT for more than just a good night's sleep! There are more complex medical diagnoses, but parents are more likely to know about them and understand their consequences. In any case, consult your doctor if you have even the slightest suspicion that it is the physical condition of the child that does not allow him to sleep;
• The habit of night feeding. Each mother decides for herself when it is time to stop night feedings. Someone sees the readiness of the child for 5-6 months, someone continues up to a year. On average, we can say with confidence that by 9 months, most children can physiologically do without night feedings. Often there remains an emotional moment - whether it is the habit of eating at night, the desire of the mother to extend the time of solitude with the baby, an attempt to compensate for the lack of mother's company during the day;
• Environmental factors. Unfortunately, we cannot expect a child older than 2-3 months to be able to sleep in all conditions. Noise, new surroundings, light - all this will seriously interfere with children's (however, often adult) sleep. The good news is that this is the easiest cause to fix. Install blackout curtains, and in extreme cases, glue thick black garbage bags to the window panes - this will solve the problem of excess light. Organize a source of "white noise", it will absorb most of the home sounds. When changing environments, bring a bed sheet (not washed!), a favorite soft toy, and a blanket with you to help create the feeling of a home away from home;
• Lack of attention. Children are very sensitive and smart creatures. If for some reason they cannot communicate enough time with their mother during the day, they find a way out - night awakenings. Don't beat yourself up if you're at work or have to spend time away from your child for family reasons, few people in our lives manage to be "perfect". It is possible to correct the situation.

Young parents are always worried if their baby's behavior differs from "generally accepted norms." If the child sleeps or eats less than expected, cries and acts up all the time, mommy immediately starts to sound the alarm. The fact that the baby does not sleep or sleeps very little and irregularly always makes his parents worry. “Babies, especially newborns, always sleep a lot,” we read in manuals for young mothers or in some publications on pediatrics. However, this is not always the case, the regimen of some children differs significantly from the daily routine of other kids, and in any case, you should not panic. You just need to figure out why the baby is not sleeping, and help him fall asleep sweetly and with pleasure.

Why does the baby not sleep or sleeps very little?

Babies, indeed, sleep most of the day, however, there are exceptions to the rule. The baby may not fall asleep, because he is worried about intestinal colic: due to bloating, gas formation increases in him, which causes considerable discomfort. It also happens that after eating the baby cannot poop, which also prevents him from falling asleep. In any case, he will not interfere with a light massage of the tummy, which is performed in circular stroking movements clockwise.

Also, the baby may not sleep, or sleep little due to the constant feeling of hunger, which is explained by insufficient milk from the mother or its low fat content. In this case, many mothers supplement their baby with formula milk, and at this time they take measures to increase breast milk (eating high-calorie foods - milk, cheese, butter, nuts; taking medications that increase lactation; adequate sleep and rest).

An infant may not sleep because of the discomfort associated with teething. Itching and pain can be reduced by special gels and ointments that need to be treated on the baby's gums, you also need to give him a cooling teether - this will distract the baby and significantly reduce discomfort, after which the baby will be able to sleep. The baby may not sleep because of the unwillingness to part with his mother, because at this age he needs almost round-the-clock contact with her.

A baby can ask for a breast every hour, since being at the breast is so far the only way for him to communicate with his mother. And, of course, the fact that the baby sleeps little can be caused by its individual biological rhythms. He is what he is and he should not sleep at all as much as other kids - his peers - sleep. He has his own temperament and daily routine, and the task of parents is to make the child’s sleep as comfortable as possible and always follow the ritual of the baby going to bed.

Helping the baby to sleep

The baby may not sleep if he feels that mommy is nervous or very tense. Therefore, putting the baby to sleep, you need to relax as much as possible, enjoying unforgettable minutes of communication with him. In addition, you should not play noisy games with the child before bedtime, you should avoid overexciting him. If the baby does not sleep or constantly wakes up, try to avoid finding a large number of people in the apartment for some time, protect the baby from an excess of impressions. The child needs to create comfortable conditions for sleeping: the room should not be too light or dark, stuffy or hot: the ideal air temperature is 18-22 degrees, you also need to take care of the air humidity - not less than 50 and not more than 70%.

Many children fall asleep quickly and soundly after taking a relaxing bath with herbs: chamomile and string. It is necessary to allow the baby from the first months to swim independently, using a special circle for this, which is worn around the baby's neck. The baby will pleasantly get tired, relax and sleep soundly and sweetly. Before going to bed, the child needs to be properly fed, sung to him a gentle lullaby, and stroked on the back.

If the baby categorically refuses to fall asleep in the crib on his own, you can remove or lower the front wall from his crib, move it to your own, hold the baby by the handle or stroke him - this way he will feel mommy's presence and his sleep will become stronger.

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Peaceful sleep is a real headache for parents For a month now, mothers have been complaining that it is simply impossible to put the baby to sleep. Constant rises, tears, laughter are daily components when laying children down.

Especially for parents who cannot put their children to bed, the BOMBORA publishing house has released the book “Sleep, baby! 9 steps to a healthy and restful sleep of a child ”with practical tips on how to improve the sleep of children from birth to 5 years.
Its author is a popular blogger, founder of the School of Motherhood and sleep consultant Maria Aleshkina.

The NNmama.Ru website has collected the main points that you need to consider when you are preparing your baby for bed - what smart devices are there for baby sleep, what to wear for a child, is a special sleeping toy needed and when is it better to give it to a child? The author of the book will talk about this.

The baby products industry today offers a huge selection of accessories for a cozy baby sleep. Depending on how your child sleeps, you may need certain items. Usually, moms fall for marketing hooks easily and buy a lot of necessary and unnecessary devices. I will list only what you really can come in handy.

Baby sleep pads

Cocoon

Supports the physiological posture of the child, relieves colic (according to manufacturers and some mothers). In someone's house, a cocoon becomes a salvation and an indispensable accessory in which the baby quietly spends most of his time, but for someone it is a useless acquisition (well, the child does not lie in it, and that's it!). Please note that sleeping in a cocoon is possible only under the supervision of adults, so it is not worth putting a child in it at night. A cocoon is a rather massive thing compared to a child. If at night the cocoon with the baby accidentally rolls over or falls on its side, the child will not have enough strength to push off, throw it off and breathe freely.
For the same reason, you can not use the cocoon after the baby is 4 months old. When children already know how to roll over, they involuntarily themselves can turn themselves over with a cocoon and remain in such an unsafe position. After all, they can't turn back.

Nest mattress

Gently limits the space of the baby, creates the necessary tightness and comfort in which little children fall asleep well. Nest mattress can be used as an insert in a baby bed. In it, the child is easy to rock in his arms and carefully shift to where he will sleep all night.

Will a diaper, changing bag, sleeping bag and blanket help baby sleep?

Do you need a night light in a child's room?

Sleepy toy - saving mom when putting the baby to bed

Modern gadgets for restful sleep and fast falling asleep children

What clothes to choose for a comfortable baby sleep?

Children's sleepwear should be:

• Made from high quality natural materials.

• Loose, no tight elastic bands.

• In size, so that it does not gather in folds, which are uncomfortable to sleep on, and so that the child does not get confused in the sleeves and legs.

• Without ties, laces, large voluminous buttons, zippers.

• Without labels and coarse internal seams, and for newborns it is better to choose clothes with external seams.

• Comfortable for dressing up at night.

• Pleasant for a child. Older children may choose their favorite pajamas and refuse to sleep in anything but them.

• Selected according to the weather, if the child sleeps outside or on the balcony in the stroller.