The child suddenly begins to cry in a dream Komarovsky. "Night Tears", or Why Does a Child Cry in a Sleep? Baby screams in a dream

Raising a single child and turning growing up into hard work, yourself into a mother-heroine, and family life into a feat is not at all difficult. To do this, you just need not get enough sleep.

Therefore, understand and remember the main thing: healthy children's sleep is a dream when it is sweet and comfortable for everyone - both adults and children!

Children's sleep organization is an organization healthy sleep all family members.

The simplest thing in the aforementioned organization is to purchase a high-quality disposable diaper, and this is, in fact, the only friend of a child's sleep that really exists without your parental involvement - it has already been invented and made for you and for you.

Everything else is entirely in your hands.

After all, sleep is closely related to other components of the way of life - with food, walking, air parameters, clothes, hygiene procedures, etc.

Proper nutrition, playing in the fresh air, cleaning the premises, bathing, soft, clean, dry bed - all this takes time, desire, knowledge, skills.

Read, learn, act.

Rule 1. Prioritize

A family is complete, happy and efficient when parents are able to sleep 8 hours a day.

More than anything else - more food and drink, more sleep and fresh air - a child needs healthy, rested and loving mom and dad.

Rule 2. Decide on your sleep schedule

From the moment of birth, the child's regime must be subordinated to the family regime.

Prepare for a night's sleep in advance and prepare your child for it. Determine the time when night sleep begins, and let it be a time convenient for you! From 9 pm to 5 am? You are welcome! From 11 pm to 7 am? To your health! Have you chosen? Now try to comply.

Rule 3. Decide where to sleep and with whom

Three options are theoretically and practically possible:

• a crib in the parents' bedroom - optimal for children of the first year of life and acceptable up to three years old;
• baby cot in the children's bedroom - ideal for children over a year old;
• sleeping in the same bed with parents is a fashionable hobby, which is not encouraged by most pediatricians and has nothing to do with healthy children's sleep.

Rule 4. Don't be afraid to wake up sleepyhead

If you want your baby to sleep well at night, avoid unnecessary sleep during the day. Unclear? Let's explain now.

The average daily sleep requirement in children is as follows: up to 3 months - 16-20 hours; 6 months - 14.5 hours; 12 months - 13.5 hours; 2 years - 13 hours; 4 years - 11.5 hours; 6 years old - 9.5 hours; 12 years old - 8.5 hours.

So, we know that a child at the age of 6 months sleeps approximately 14.5 hours a day. If we want to sleep peacefully for 8 hours of night, then on daytime sleep no more than 6.5 hours remain. And if you sleep 9 during the day, then 8 hours of sleep at night is unlikely.

Don't be afraid to wake up sleepyhead!

Rule 5. Optimize Feeding

In the first three months of life, the child can eat 1-2 times during the night. At the age of 3-6 months, a single night feed is quite possible. After 6 months, the baby does not biologically need night feeding.

A child may want handles, a child may demand companionship, sucking, hissing, rocking, and demand more and more actively, longer and more often as the demands are met.

Set the rules of the game once and for all. Can mom be used not for feeding but for sucking needs? Is it possible for dad, who, by the way, to work tomorrow, rock the baby midnight, and even sing at the same time? If you think you can - please, but about healthy baby sleep you can forget.

Try to underfeed slightly on the penultimate feed and feed as full as possible just before bedtime. Remember: hunger is not the only reason for crying, and do not stop a child's mouth with food at the first squeak. Overfeeding is a leading cause of abdominal pain and related sleep disorders.

Rule 6. Have a good day

Live active - walk, sleep in the fresh air during the day, encourage knowledge of the world and outdoor games.

Physical activity (without extremism) definitely promotes healthy children's sleep.

Limiting emotional stress in the evening has a beneficial effect on sleep.

Calm games, peaceful reading of good fairy tales, watching already familiar cartoons and, finally, mother's lulling song - what could be better for getting ready for bed until morning ...

Rule 7. Think about the air in the bedroom

Clean, cool, humid air in your bedroom is a rule of thumb.

Airing. Wet cleaning. Humidifier. Thermometer and hygrometer. Regulators on heating radiators.

• The optimum air temperature is 18-20 ° C, provided that this is a children's room (i.e. a place where the child not only sleeps, but also lives); if we are talking about a children's bedroom, then 16-18 ° C is optimal.
• The optimum relative humidity is 50-70%.

Rule 8. Use the possibilities of bathing

Evening bathing - in a large bath, in cool water - is a great way to get physically tired, get pretty hungry, and then eat with appetite and fall asleep until morning.

Massage and gymnastics before bathing, hygiene procedures and warm clothes after - all this enhances the benefits of bathing itself.

Rule 9. Prepare your bed

The mattress is dense and even - the weight of the baby's body should not lead to its sagging. No pillows until two years old. After two years, the pillow is quite possible (the standard dimensions of a child's pillow are 40 x 60 cm, and its thickness should be approximately equal to the width of a child's shoulder).

Bed linen made from natural fabrics, washed using special baby powders with a thorough rinse.

Rule 10. Take care of a quality diaper

Disposable diapers are the most effective of all human inventions related to sleep. It is disposable diapers that can qualitatively improve the sleep of all family members.

A good diaper at night is the law, this is the most affordable and easily implemented rule of 10 rules for healthy baby sleep.

Do you want your child to have a gentle, smooth butt, while you sleep peacefully all night? So you need a good diaper - high quality, comfortable, reliable, proven, effective and safe.

Sometimes parents are surprised to note that their newborn baby or baby can cry even in a dream. Without waking up, babies whimper and scream, shudder, wake up and fall asleep again. Fearing the worst, parents begin to look for an answer to the question of such behavior in medical reference books and ask for the opinion of children's doctors. However, there is no cause for concern. We will tell you about why a child cries in a dream in this article.

Reasons for crying at night

Spontaneous crying of babies in a dream is called physiological night cry. He rarely testifies to the disease. Usually, this behavior of a child is associated with an abundance of new impressions received during the day. Newborns and babies do not know how to express their emotions otherwise, they cannot tell, complain, ask for help. The only means of communication available to them is loud crying.

The baby's nervous system and motor functions are not yet sufficiently developed. Any change in impulses passing through complex system nerve plexuses, can cause crying. In a night scream in a dream, it is most often just such reasons - the features of the nervous organization of the baby. There is nothing dangerous, scary, alarming in this.

As the baby grows nervous system will get stronger, perception will develop. He will learn to express his emotions - with a smile, facial expressions, gestures, and then words. The sudden attacks of crying at night will stop. Another likely cause of physiological sleep crying is transition from fast sleep to slow sleep. Even in adults, such a transition can be accompanied by the appearance of vivid dreams and involuntary awakening, let alone babies!

Yes, they also have dreams, and, according to children's doctors, babies have dreams while still in the womb. The baby's sleep can become anxious and restless after the day's impressions.

If there were many guests in the house, if the child was given a lot of attention, if he was tired before bed, then with a high degree of probability his sleep will be very restless.

Psychologists point to one more possible reason night roar in a dream - on the child's psychological need for protection. During the nine months spent in the mother's womb, the baby is used to feeling protected, surrounded by her mother. After the birth, this feeling of reliable protection was somewhat shaken, because my mother is no longer always there, and sometimes she has to be called loudly.

Short-term night crying, sobbing can be a kind of "test" of parents - whether they are in place or nearby. If the mother runs to the squeak, then the baby can safely fall asleep further. That is why it is most convenient to place the crib in the adult bedroom in the first months. Sometimes it is enough to stroke the baby's back in a dream, and he calms down and calmly falls asleep again.

Normal physiological night crying is not prolonged, heart-rending, loud, persistent. It is more spontaneous and does not repeat itself at the same time. He does not need the use of sedatives and examination. If a child wakes up and starts crying demandingly or abruptly in a dream, then it is worth considering other reasons for this behavior.

When does a child need help?

A baby can whimper and scream in a dream not only because of age characteristics nervous system, but also for a number of others external and internal reasonsthat definitely need parental intervention.

Hunger

Newborns and infants up to about 6 months of age experience a physiological need for night feeding, or even more than one. Therefore, awakening and insisting on food is quite normal until a certain age. Such crying is persistent.

A child who wakes up from hunger will not calm down and fall asleep again until he gets what he needs. The solution is simple - to feed and put back to bed.

Discomfort

An uncomfortable bed, tight swaddling, annoying clothes - all these are reasons for a night awakening and demands to change circumstances. In this case, the awakening will be blurred, gradual. First, the baby will start to whimper in a dream, push, “fiddle”. The crying will gradually become more persistent.

By itself, the crumb will not calm down. You need to check if the seams of his clothes are rubbing, if his hands are numb in the diaper, which has been tightly wrapped, if there are protrusions, pits, uncomfortable folds on the mattress.

Swaddling is a matter of family choice. But the clothes must be seamless and sewn from natural fabrics that do not irritate the skin. Ideally, the child should sleep on a firm mattress without a pillow.

Unsuitable temperature and humidity

A gradual and smooth awakening with a transition from a sleepy whimpering to a loud cry may indicate that the child is hot or cold. It is easy to check this - if the back of the baby's head is sweaty, it means that the parents overdid it with heating the room, if the handles and nose are cold, then the little one is frozen.

In order for the baby to sleep comfortably, a certain temperature should be maintained - no higher than 20-21 degrees Celsius and a certain air humidity - 50-70%. 20 degrees on a room thermometer may seem too cool for adults. Children have a different thermoregulation, they feel very comfortable at this temperature.

And too dry air leads to drying out of the mucous membranes of the respiratory system, as a result, the baby not only becomes more difficult to breathe, but also increases the risk of respiratory diseases.

Wet diaper

The key to a good night's sleep is a good and high-quality diaper that will “withstand” at least 8 hours. However, the excretory abilities of the crumbs are different, in addition, the baby can go to the toilet for great need.

Waking up and crying in the case of a wet or dirty diaper usually does not happen more than once a night. Make sure that the diaper is not only dry, but also comfortable, does not pinch in the sides and folds of the skin, does not dangle or rub the baby's skin.

Pain

Crying when pain is felt is difficult to confuse with another. Pain in children is associated with screaming at the reflex level. When acute pain the baby begins to scream heart-rendingly and abruptly, immediately wakes up, it is difficult to calm him down. This happens, for example, with otitis media, with intestinal colic.

If the pain is aching or dull, the child generally does not sleep well, wakes up almost every hour, cries plaintively, prolonged, sometimes monotonously, sometimes without waking up to the end. This happens when the first teeth erupt, with increased intracranial pressure, which causes a headache.

How to Improve Baby's Sleep?

Physiological nocturnal crying usually goes away on its own when the infant is 4 months old. The nervous system of five-month-old babies is already more stable, although severe overwork can cause sleep disturbances in them.

To improve the sleep of babies 1 month old and older, remember that the daily routine for the crumbs is very important.During the day, the baby should spend enough time in the fresh air. All new impressions, games and acquaintances should be shifted to the first half of the day. In the evening, the child should not communicate with a large number strangers... Subdued light, quiet voices, and a general strengthening massage before bathing will benefit.

If the baby does not sleep well, parents can try bathing in cool water according to the method of Dr. Yevgeny Komarovsky.

You can not overfeed the childas this is also a common reason restless sleep at night. In the penultimate evening feeding, it is better that the child does not eat his fill, but in the last one, which completes all evening procedures, you need to feed the child as much as possible, but not excessively. In a ventilated room with humidified air, a clean and well-fed baby will sleep much better.

Another reason why a baby may sleep poorly at night is excessive daytime sleep. A newborn normally sleeps up to 20 hours a day. It is necessary to draw up a regimen in such a way that at least 12-13 hours are spent on night sleep. The rest of the time can be split into daytime rest. If the regimen fails, the child should not be allowed to sleep during the day. Usually 2-3 days of such decisive and tough behavior of adults is enough for the regime to fall into place, and the baby began to sleep at night.

Other causes of night crying are also quite easy to eliminate - a hungry baby needs to be fed, a raw one needs to be changed. The most difficult thing is to help a baby with a painful night cry, since it is difficult to understand what exactly hurts him. A small cheat sheet will help parents with this:

• The child screams and constantly pushes, draws his legs, he has a swollen and hard stomach - the thing is colic. On the tummy, you can apply a warm iron-ironed diaper, make a light massage around the navel clockwise, give dill water or any preparation based on simethicone - "Espumizan" or "Bobotik". Usually colic is a physiological "nuisance" that goes away by itself when the child is 3-4 months old.

• The child sobs in a dream, and then wakes up and screams sharply, "goes in" - the reason may be covered in inflammation of the middle ear. Otitis media is common in infants. It is simple to check this - when you press the tragus (protruding cartilage at the very entrance to auricle) the pain intensifies, and the child begins to cry even more. If no pus, blood or other fluid is released from the ear, you can drop Otipax or Otinum, wait for the morning and call a doctor.

If there is discharge, nothing can be dripped, you should not wait until morning and call an ambulance.

• The child whimpers in his sleep, worries, but does not wake up, and if he wakes up, he does not stop crying. Perhaps the reason for this behavior lies in teething.A clean finger should check the baby's gums, if there are bumps that are painful to the touch, then you should use one of dental gelsallowed by age - "Kalgel", "Metrogyl Denta". They will somewhat alleviate the child's condition, and he will be able to fall asleep.

• Sluggish crying in a dream, similar to whining, which lasts a long time and is repeated several times a night, should alert parents. If, at the same time, the child's “fontanelle” looks swollen and tense, it is quite possible that we are talking about increased intracranial pressure.It is imperative to show the child to the doctor.

• The child falls asleep well, but often flinches in sleep, cries episodes 5-7 times a night, wakes himself up. The reason for this behavior may lie in psychological discomfort.This is usually observed in families where there is a lot of scandal, quarreling, shouting, and conflict. The kids feel everything, they just can't say anything yet, in addition, they receive cortisone with their mother's milk - a stress hormone if the mother is very nervous and worried. Cortisone excites nervous activity... Parents will be able to notice certain nervous manifestations in the baby not only at night, but also after sleep. These are shudders, fearfulness, anxiety and moodiness. There is only one way out - to stop being nervous for mom.

And some more useful tips:

• Crying attacks at night always have a cause.But if a newborn usually cries only because of physiological necessity - hunger, thirst, cold, then a two-month-old baby is already emotionally developed enough to cry in the middle of the night about a terrible dream, a frightening feeling of loneliness, defenselessness. Parents must approach each specific case taking into account the individuality and age of the child.
• The true motives of whimpering and screaming in the dark will not become clear to parents at once.The first weeks the baby gets used to the new environment, to the world around him, and his parents get used to the baby and get to know him. Gradually, by the nature of crying, by the duration, the intonation of the cry, and other only understandable signals for mom and dad, they unmistakably guess what exactly the baby needs at one time or another. You just need to be patient.

• Physiological night crying is a short-lived phenomenon.If it lasts six months, it is worth showing the child to a pediatrician and a neurologist. It is possible that there are other reasons that prevent the baby from sleeping normally at night, and they may need medication.
• Quite often, prolonged night crying and whims in babies are a consequence of pedagogical mistakes of parents. APGAR scale
• When he begins to hear and see

Most parents perceive baby crying as absolutely normal, because this is just a way to convey information about some of the baby's needs to adults. Although in most cases the reason for crying is on the surface, there are also situations where it is problematic to guess the child's wishes expressed in this way. If a child cries in his sleep, and does it regularly, some parents can really panic - suddenly the little one is faced with a serious problem and needs the help of doctors?

For this reason, the question about possible reasons for crying in a dream is of great interest for young families, but we will try to give an answer whether it is worth worrying about in this situation.

The specifics of baby sleep

Most often, it is children under one year old who cry in a dream, and if a similar problem is observed in older children, then they can often express in words the reason for what is happening. This is why we will not consider children preschool age, but concentrate on babies.

Here you need to clarify right away that if a child for up to a year shudders in a dream, groans, jerks his legs, bends or even sobs, then there is really nothing strange or bad about it.

The fact is that most kids spend their rest in the phase of the so-called "REM sleep", which is typical for adults, but only at the moment of falling asleep and immediately before a gradual awakening.

A similar difference from adult norm caused by the rapid development of the child's brain, as a result of which the nervous system never actually rests. It is in this phase of sleep that a person sees dreams, so it is not surprising that parents can observe a visible reaction to what is happening in the form of:

• "Running" pupils with closed eyes;
• Active limb movements;
• A triggered sucking reflex;
• Grimacing;
• Various sounds including crying.

Such phenomena are called "physiological night cry", and according to doctors, they do not indicate the presence of any irritant.

In some cases, such an irritant can actually be a dream, in which the baby may find himself in uncomfortable or even frightening conditions - in such a situation, even a much older child talks in a dream, screams and cries. In general, crying is a common way to release emotional stress.so that the tears of a baby in a dream, if he does not wake up and quickly calms down, should not cause excitement.

Psychologists also believe that with the help of physiological crying, children instinctively check the situation around them - is the mother ready to help if something happens? That is why, by shaking the baby who did not have time to wake up in time, you can make it so that he continues to sleep.

Experts do not advise to calm the baby too actively, because he himself is not going to wake up yet, and zealous motion sickness can easily interrupt his sleep; in this case, it will be enough to gently shake it or even just quietly hum something - the little one will subconsciously understand that everything is in order, and will fall asleep again.

If the child does not observe any reaction, his brain signals insecurity, and then the baby wakes up and starts screaming much louder in order to attract the attention of adults.

By the end of the first year of life, this reflex of "scanning" space should disappear.

Too much emotion

In the first months of life, the baby does not have a sufficiently developed psyche so that what is happening around him causes some strong emotions - in fact, he only reacts to discomfort. However, at the age of 3-4 months, there is a strong emotional shift, which is the first serious step towards the psychological maturation of the personality.

This may not seem obvious to adults, but at this stage the child is already beginning to actively perceive the world and try to remember or understand it. The emotions accumulated during the day, even positive ones, do not allow the child to fall asleep quickly, excite him and excite him, which leads to poor quality sleep, including crying.

At this stage, parents should move away from strict adherence to the schedule, and to a greater extent focus on the current needs of children. So, if the child did not sleep well the previous time, the next period of wakefulness should be shortened. If this is not done, the child's lack of sleep will build up stress again due to lack of sleep, and this will lead to further lack of sleep, resulting in a vicious circle.

To emotional reasons did not interfere with the child's sleep and did not provoke him to cry in his sleep, adhere to a few simple rules:

• It is unacceptable to take away part of the time allotted for sleep from the baby for lulling. To ensure he falls asleep on time, start laying him in advance. Do not wait for the moment when the child begins to clearly demonstrate signs of fatigue - this is already an indicator of excessive overwork.
• Bright emotions, even positive ones, are not recommended at all for babies under one year old.This statement is especially true in the afternoon, otherwise you can waste too much time on lulling.
• Television for small children is very harmful precisely because of the large number of emotions. Even calm cartoons give a lot of different information, they cheer up with a large number of bright colors, and in general they do not seem so simple and accessible for a child as for an adult, therefore they can become a reason bad sleep and crying at night.

As for nightmares, they have not been proven to exist before the age of one year. At an older age, babies may cry over them, but this is usually a one-off rather than a repetitive phenomenon. If the child complains about regularly dreaming terrible dreams with a repetitive plot, it makes sense to contact a specialist psychologist.

Unsuitable microclimate

Since babies, as we have already said, sleep much more sensitively than adults, it is not surprising that, in general, they are much more demanding on indoor conditions. The situation is further aggravated by the fact that a child under the age of one year has little effect on the situation - after all, he cannot hide on his own when it is cold, or open up when it is hot. The child may not wake up, but feel discomfort and cry in his sleep, which will impair the quality of rest and can lead to full awakening.

To avoid such situations, parents should pay great attention to creating really comfortable conditions in the nursery and their constant support. Ideal comfort in understanding the baby looks like this:

• The temperature is about 18-22 degrees.It all depends on both the individual qualities of the baby and the number and thickness of the diapers in which he is wrapped. The argument "don't break your bones" doesn't work here at all! If the baby is uncomfortable falling asleep, he will cry regularly in his sleep.
• Humidity - within 40-60%. Too dry air makes the mucous membranes of the upper respiratory tract dry out and evaporates too much fluid from the baby's body, but we want him to sleep soundly, especially since he cannot drink on his own and will cry. In our latitudes, the air is usually just dry, and this problem can be solved with the help of a humidifier. Too humid air is not typical for our country.
• No dust.Getting into the baby's nose, dust clogs airways and interferes with the normal enrichment of the body with oxygen, although the child's brain, actively developing even in sleep, is in dire need of it. Because the stuck occurs gradually, dust is one of the most common causes of crying in sleep without waking up. To eliminate dust, ventilate the room and do regular wet cleaning, and minimize the amount of books, carpets, upholstered furniture and toys in the nursery.
• Fresh air. The growing body needs oxygen critically, so airing is almost a prerequisite before bed. If, due to the climate or pollen allergy, this is unacceptable, pay attention to difficult modern systems air conditioning can solve this problem.

How to solve the problem of hunger and thirst?

Babies want to eat much more often than adults, so the desire to eat in the middle of the night right up to crying is quite normal for them, but a person of any age can want to drink at night. Nevertheless, after such awakenings, the child will have to be euthanized each time, which does not allow his mother or himself to sleep, therefore, you have to come up with ways to reduce the number of such rises.

In the first months of life, it will not be possible to completely avoid night feedings - you will still have to wake up, but you can reduce the number of night worries if you feed your baby more intensively during the day. If an adult is not recommended to eat before bedtime, then for a baby such a procedure is not only possible, but also useful, since it will provide a stable sleep.

We have already mentioned how poor-quality rest can cause constant crying at night, so in the evening you should eat tightly,after all, a child of this age still does not eat anything that is difficult to digest.

At the same time, experts recommend intensifying the baby's nutrition not so much (whether it is the actual weight of food at one meal or the number of meals per day), as well as quality. With those children who are fed with baby food, the situation is clear - you just need to pay attention to more high-calorie foods.

As for babies feeding on mother's milk, there is a very important point that not everyone knows about: the fact is that when the baby is attached to the breast, the so-called front milk. It has a relatively low nutritional value, but in terms of volume, the baby does not need a lot - he feels that his tummy is full and refuses to drink further, that's just nutrientsobtained with front milk, it does not last long. As a result, the baby, who seemed full, very quickly wants to eat again, and therefore cries in his sleep.

If the infant is consuming clearly a little milk at a time, it should be first expressed so that he receives only the most high-calorie product.

Babies should be offered water during night feedings only in the heat, but if the baby is artificially fed, then water must necessarily accompany each feeding session.

Teeth

Very often, the cause of night crying is a phenomenon characteristic of all babies without exception - teething. These babies have a very difficult time, because they constantly feel itching and pain in the mouth.

Of course, even in such a situation, the child still needs to sleep, so it is possible to lull him to sleep, but at moments when the pain intensifies, he can scream, start crying abruptly and wake up. The problem is especially exacerbated if the baby is cutting not one tooth at the moment, but several at once.

Of course, there can be several reasons for crying at night, but if a child constantly tries to chew on clothes, toys, and any other available items, you can be sure that teething is one of them.

For a long time this problem was considered practically insoluble, but modern medicine is already able to offer a solution in the form of a special anesthetic gel. Be sure to note that this medical drug, like almost all other medicines, in the case of young children, it can be used only after consulting a doctor.

Special silicone teethers will help the child to "scratch" the itchy jaw, which somewhat reduce the discomfort from what is happening and help protect other objects from attempts to gnaw them, especially since it can even be dangerous for the baby.

Is the weather to blame?

It's no secret that sudden changes in the weather can negatively affect the well-being of some people. If earlier it was believed that this sensitivity is characteristic mainly of older people, today many experts believe that even some babies are able to respond to the vagaries of the climate.

Even risk groups are highlighted: difficulties during childbirth and cesarean section, as well as diseases during the time of being a fetus or increased intracranial pressure allegedly increase the likelihood that the child will show a synoptic "gift", which, in turn, will interfere with his rest and may cause night crying.

On the example of adults, it has been noticed that the following phenomena are especially strongly felt:

• Abnormal activity of the Sun;
• Gusty wind;
• Jumps in atmospheric pressure;
• Change of weather from sunny to rainy;
• Precipitation of any kind.

At the same time, doctors cannot give an exact answer to the question of why some children react to changes in the weather, while others do not. Moreover, they are unlikely to make such a diagnosis as "meteosensitivity", so they will not advise on a specific treatment.

If you yourself see a certain pattern in the behavior of your child associated with changes in the weather, and still want to get medical assistance, it is best to consult a neurologist, as any questions hypersensitivity it is he who decides.

How to improve baby's sleep and get enough sleep? Dr. Komarovsky will give the answer in this video.

• Doctor Komarovsky
• Psychological advice
• Crying or screaming in sleep

If you are soon expecting an addition to the family or a newborn has already appeared in your house - prepare yourself mentally in advance or just put up with the upcoming sleepless nights.

I was lucky with my eldest daughter: she gave a "sound signal" only once around midnight, practically without waking up, fed, and continued to sleep until 6-7 in the morning. She fed again, stayed awake a little and fell asleep again before 9-10. In general, with her, I practically did not suffer from lack of sleep.

Such a “gift” with the first child even convinced me that every baby can live like this, the main thing is to find an approach to it. But it was not there. 6 years later, the youngest daughter proved to me exactly the opposite. During our first 11 (!) Months together, my only need in life was an insatiable desire to sleep.

Why do children cry in their sleep?

Physiological causes

The child is hungry

All young mothers first check if the baby is starving. And this is an absolutely healthy and correct approach.

Old school pediatricians or your mothers and grandmothers can convince you that a newborn must be taught to a strict feeding regimen, and then he will pour out the allotted time, and wake up to eat strictly according to the clock. Don't listen to them. If you chose breast-feeding, your baby should receive breasts on demand.

Such a regime will make him healthier both physically and mentally. But, if for some reason you chose feeding with artificial mixtures, then you just have to feed the child by the hour and carefully observe the norm calculated by the neonatologist for the amount of formula per feeding.

With the question of the regime baby food there is one more controversial point: pediatricians claim that the average infant does not feel hungry for 2-3 hours after feeding. I am convinced that this conclusion can be attributed to the artificial: they "eat away" their rate, calculated in accordance with age and weight, and, indeed, are saturated for these 2-3 hours.

In addition, artificial formula is a denser meal for babies. It is carbohydrate and heavier in fat, so it gives a feeling of fullness faster and lasts longer. And a baby receiving lighter and less dense, but better balanced breast milk may well get hungry much faster.

My personal experience and observation of numerous young nursing mothers shows that newborn babies sometimes require breast every hour, but sometimes even more often. Thus, the first reason babies cry at night is hunger.

The diaper is dirty

The second action in the behavior algorithm of young mothers: if the baby is crying in its sleep, but the mother has already made sure of his satiety, check the diaper.

Earlier, before the era of disposable diapers, newborn babies could actually scream if their diapers got wet. IN modern world a wet diaper will rarely cause a baby to cry. Well, perhaps, if it hasn't been changed for a very long time.

But it is necessary to check the presence of poop in the diaper, because they irritate the baby's bottom and cause painful sensations. Don't change a soiled diaper in time - get a crying baby all night long.

Tummy hurts

The third most common cause of night crying in newborns is intestinal colic. The baby is fed, his diaper is clean, butt is fine, but he still screams. Mom instinctively takes him in her arms and starts to rock.

Attention: look at the child's behavior. If he shudders and jerks his legs, most likely his tummy hurts. It's colic. During the first month of life, the newborn adapts to outside worldand his internal organs and systems continue to form and adapt to "autonomous" life, already separate from the mother's body.

Since the type and way of food changes dramatically after birth, the gastrointestinal tract reacts with painful colic, and the baby cries during sleep.

Teeth are being cut

In babies under one year old, cutting teeth can cause crying at night. Usually the first teeth come out at about 6 months of age, but acceleration shows more and more early teeth: at 4-5 months, sometimes even at 2!

If the eruption process is not accompanied severe pain and temperature, the baby can cry during sleep, without even waking up. But this crying quickly stops.

Temperature discomfort

And, finally, a baby can cry and still not wake up if he is sweating or, conversely, cold. The conclusion suggests itself: the baby is hot and stuffy, or, on the contrary, cold. Remember that for this reason, babies can cry both before and after a year. Even at 2 years old they can.

Psychological reasons

The baby should always be with the mother. This is its nature. For newborns, this is at the level of instinct: they express the slightest need by screaming. The presence of a mother calms children, creates a sense of security.

If the mother separated the baby by putting him in the crib, he, without waking up, feels it and screams. It is clear that no mother will be able to hold her child in her arms around the clock, and by no means all mothers are ready to sleep with their babies. Then it is important to organize common space so that the baby feels: mom is near.

The child's sleep may be disturbed due to overexcitation. Excessive exercises, increased exercises and massages, a prolonged walk, too hot and prolonged bath before bedtime - young parents hope to "wind up" the child in the hope that it will fall asleep in a heroic dream.

But no. The kid is overexcited, or, as our grandmothers used to say, "goes overboard", and, as a result, cannot sleep at all.

Health problems

Trying to diagnose yourself by crying at night is absolutely pointless. That in 6 months, that in a year, that in 2 years. Even if we are talking only about teething teeth.

If the baby has a fever at night, or you notice something completely unusual and not very healthy in his behavior, call the doctor and let him personally inform you about the teeth. Or he will put another, correct diagnosis and immediately prescribe treatment.

Children get sick, sadly. But everything is fixable if you don't let the disease take its course. And do not forget that in some cases you can help the child on your own, for example, find a runny nose and clean the nose of the baby, and then drip the baby drops.

Why can an older child cry in a dream?

Older babies may cry at night because they are scared and dark. I wanted a pot, and all around was darkness. Of course, she will be scared and cry. It is such an ancient and often overlooked fear. If an older child cries and does not wake up, most likely, he has nightmares.

An uncomfortable sleep position, stuffiness and overheating, cold, runny nose, holding the breath, an unsuitable mattress or pillow - all this can cause night crying in children of preschool and sometimes primary school age.

How to help a baby if he burst into tears in a dream?

Newborn

With newborns - consistently perform all the actions of the above algorithm: pick up, check the diaper, feed. If the newborn is definitely not hungry, swing it.

Be prepared that a newborn baby may need to be carried in your arms every night. It's hard, but usually ends in a month. A joint dream of mother and child can save you from such a prospect.

But, it should be borne in mind that not all parents can sleep with their baby. Moreover, fathers, even if the young mother is ready for it. Unfortunately, newborn children can separate husband and wife in bed for a long time and lead to a situation where mom sleeps with the child, and dad is in another room.

I know families, and there are quite a few of them, in which the spouses never returned to common bed, even when the need to sleep with the child disappeared.

With colic

If the baby twitches and twists its legs, also pick it up and press it with its tummy to your own, it is better to keep the baby upright. Shake it like that.

You can try to give the baby a special venting agent, baby tea or dill water, but especially inventive babies do not want to drink all this, and if you have already managed to stuff such a liquid into his mouth, they spit it out.

By the way, a very warm bath helps with colic and gas. Be surprised how instantly the child will be silent. Well, if you, of course, are ready to fill his bath in the middle of the night.

For an older kid

It is easier to calm down crying older children: to wake up, comfort, hug. In extreme cases, take to sleep with you or lie down next to you.

With symptoms of the disease

Remember, all of the above techniques apply to healthy children. If the temperature rises, the child is sick - take appropriate medical measures.

In severe cases, you will have to call an ambulance, in simpler cases - lower the temperature, give a warm drink, put babies on your chest, call a doctor in the morning.

We will conclude the article with the hope that your children will be healthy, that mom and dad will enjoy eating and sleeping well. During.

Video: causes of crying during sleep

Babies and crying are so comparable concepts that everyone understands that babies often cry. The daytime cry of a child is more understandable, since in addition to sounds, the toddler can intensively gesture. But very often children cry at night. Why does the child cry in his sleep? Maybe in this way the baby tells his mother about his needs? The reasons for crying in children in a dream can be different and how to cope with it, we will try to figure it out in this article.

Experienced parents are undoubtedly familiar with the fact that infant sleep is different from that of older children. The baby's biorhythms, which take part in the "rest-wakefulness" cycle, are not adjusted, the body is still choosing the optimal mode for itself.

A child under one year old can unconsciously change the duration and frequency of sleep many times.

For example, a newborn up to one month of age sleeps almost 22 hours a day.
An older child sleeps less, and having reached the age of one year, he usually sleeps 2 hours during the day and 9 hours at night. The cry in a dream will not stop until the night sleep mode is established.


Whimpering in a dream is often short-lived, but in some cases the crying becomes protracted, the baby cries in a dream without waking up, sometimes it happens every night. In this case, it is necessary to think and analyze the hidden reasons for this behavior. It is likely that by understanding the nature of such a baby's condition, this problem can be eliminated.

Physiological causes

• Discomfort from an overflowing diaper;
• too hot air in the room;
• desire to eat;
• numb limb;
• dry mucous membrane in the nose, making it difficult to breathe, etc.

Overwork

The method of parents to actively load the child with games before bedtime so that he falls asleep as soon as possible is considered a mistake. Such “care” can have the opposite effect - the child will be overexcited.

The reason for this is the accumulation of crumbs of cortisol, a stress hormone, in the body.

It is produced with excessive stress on the psyche.

An overabundance of impressions

The information received during the whole day greatly affects the child's condition. At night, the baby's excited brain will process it and will not let you fall asleep.

The instinct to be with the mother

Babies are very sensitive, they constantly require affection and warmth from their mother. It often happens that, having fallen asleep in his arms, the baby will wake up very quickly in the bed into which he was transferred.

Dreaming

Sudden crying of a child at night can be associated with childhood dreams. The baby learns the world around him, and the baby's nervous system and brain are not yet fully formed, so dreams can be chaotic, frightening for the baby.


And if something not very good dreamed, the baby will also cry.

Negative information

Mom's tiredness and irritation, especially when she is suffering, tiring trips, strong sounds that the baby hears on the street - all this leads to severe stress, from which he can cry in his sleep.

Disease

The first signs of a cold, any other illness are also very common reason crying at night. The baby may start to have a fever, he is worried about intestinal colic or teething, and he seems to be crying about it.

Colic

Newborns almost always suffer from cramps and abdominal pain. To solve this problem, you need to buy drops, dill water or fennel tea. You also need to stroke the baby's tummy clockwise - maternal care will always help.

Teeth

For trouble-free sleep, a child of 4-5 months needs to purchase a special gel for pain relief of the gums.

Desire to eat

Once the baby is born, he sets the feeding schedule himself. If you give the baby food at his request, then he adapts and will sleep much longer at night.

Hot or cold indoors

Another reason why a child cries at night in his sleep is too hot or cold room. Try to ventilate the crumbs' bedroom more often - the air temperature in the room should be at the level of 20-22 degrees.

Causes of night crying in older children

The main causes of poor sleep in older children are playing with gadgets and watching TV.

Broadcasts and films with the presence of violence cause negative emotions.

It is better to shorten the time the child spends at the computer and TV, namely before bedtime. Better read a book to your child at night!
Strong impressions will not give your child peace of mind: a quarrel with comrades, scandals in the family, anxiety before exams or a test, fear, resentment - and from all this tears appear in the eyes. Ultimately, this can lead to, therefore, be vigilant.

Support the child in such a situation, calm down!

How to avoid crying baby in a dream

There are three basic needs for a child: affection, food, and cleanliness.

If the baby cries during sleep, check if everything is okay with him and if his needs are met.

Do repetitive activities before bed, such as bathing, feeding, reading. This will help to properly adjust the state of your baby's sleep.

You should not engage in active games before going to bed - it has been proven that they only harm the baby.

Create and maintain the correct microclimate in the child's room: you need a fresh, humid room and a comfortable temperature in it. Take care of your laundry as well - it should be clean and pleasant to the body.

Try not to allow conflict situations in the family - remember, first of all, the child suffers from the tense situation between the parents.

Work out a certain daily routine, if it is not, then night sleep will also be disrupted.

Do not feed your baby heavily before bed. After all, adults also sleep poorly from overeating, not to mention the fragile child's body.

Think carefully about your attitude to sleep with the child, because it has long been proven that the child sleeps better near the mother.

You can leave a dim night light for the night - do not completely immerse the bedroom in darkness. What to do if a child is afraid of the dark, we analyzed

Children tend to cry in their sleep and there is nothing wrong with that.

More often than not, there are no global reasons for concern.

The main thing is to be friends with the baby, monitor his condition and sleep well!