“Sleeps like a baby,” they say about a person sleeping soundly. However, not all babies sleep peacefully. Many mothers experience nighttime crying and often cannot determine its cause. Today we will talk about why children cry at night and what a mother can do in this situation.
Crying children are a difficult test for every parent. It's no secret that for small child Healthy sleep is very important, since it is during these hours that it accumulates strength for development. However, his mother also needs proper rest; only after resting, she will be able to give the baby her love and good mood. How to react to nighttime tears and what does the baby want to say with them?
Babies interact with their parents through crying - they talk about their needs and problems: hunger, thirst, pain or the desire to communicate.
Older children relieve stress through tears and try to restore a comfortable state.
Therefore, in each specific case, the age of the baby and his psychological characteristics should be taken into account.
Very young children scream in their sleep due to any inconvenience. Parents shouldn't be left like this emotional manifestations without attention.
You definitely need to approach the little man, pick him up, examine him, and check if he is cold. What can cause night tears?
The following diseases can also cause night tears:
In this case, you cannot hesitate or hesitate, but you must urgently contact a pediatrician.
The reasons why children aged one year and older cry are, in most cases, related to psychological characteristics this age. U two year olds nightmares appear caused by disruption of the daily routine or excessive activity before bedtime.
If you encounter a similar situation where infant sobs in your sleep, you must definitely find out why this happens. To ensure that your child’s night’s rest is as calm and as long as possible, follow a few simple tips:
Try to respond to every call of your child. The baby needs to understand that you are always there and will certainly come to his aid.
If he whines but doesn't wake up, don't wake him up. Carefully check if he is cold, if anything is bothering him, pat him on the head and calm him down.
Reasons why your baby or one year old child cries at night, a lot actually. Your main task is to take a closer look at it, identify the traumatic factor in order to react to it correctly.
One baby needs the help of a pediatrician, while another only needs your presence. However, all children, without exception, need their mother’s love and care.
Lyudmila Sergeevna Sokolova
Reading time: 4 minutes
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Article last updated: 03/17/2019
Sound, healthy sleep is a kind of cure for all illnesses and stress. And every adult needs it, not to mention a baby. And it very often happens that new parents spend all night long near the baby’s crib. And the whole point is that the child screams and cries in his sleep. This is especially true at night. And sometimes mom and dad simply cannot find an explanation for this and wonder: why does their baby cry and scream in his sleep at night?
The famous children's doctor Komarovsky claims that sleep plays a vital role in human life. And sometimes the baby’s sleep process is surrounded by many problems that parents must solve, otherwise the baby will not get enough sleep, and his nervous system will be seriously weakened.
It’s no secret to any of us that a child usually spends most of the day sleeping. But before he is engulfed in sleep, the baby needs nutrition. From here we can trace the close relationship between feeding and sleep patterns. Mom should build the nutrition system in such a way that she in full determined when and how long the baby should sleep.
Today, many pediatricians come to the conclusion that a child should not be fed by the hour, but precisely when he wants it. Therefore you can do next output: The baby will sleep until he gets hungry. And if he is fed, but does not sleep, then something is wrong. The reason may lie in the child’s well-being, or in the room where he lives (it can be cold, hot, stuffy, etc.). Gradually, the toddler grows and his period of wakefulness increases. And this is a completely natural, logical process. But the important thing is that this very process should not be accompanied by crying and screaming. Otherwise, you need to look for the reason.
The highly qualified doctor Komarovsky believes that if a baby often wakes up, screams or cries in his sleep at night, then the reason may lie in his environment. And no matter how much mom and dad try to calm the baby down, everything will be unsuccessful. Initially, you need to figure out what needs to be changed in the child’s room.
The first thing you need to do is to understand whether the baby lives in his own room or does he share the room with his parents. There are a number of basic requirements that are the key to healthy and sound sleep for the baby, as well as his mother and father.
There is nothing more harmful to a newborn than warm and dry air. The optimal temperature should vary between 18-21 degrees. Moreover, more low temperature much preferable to a higher one. It would be better to dress the child warmly than to install some kind of heater.
In addition, in the room where the baby lives, under no circumstances should there be any dust collectors: carpets, upholstered furniture, toys, etc. It is better if the crib is made of wood, has a fairly hard mattress and no pillows at all.
It would be more correct if the children's room is intended for sleeping at night. IN daytime It’s better to go for a walk with a newborn fresh air. It will be good if he sleeps outside at this time. For babies, sleeping in the fresh air is comparable to walking. Therefore, during the day, the child should walk as much as the strength and capabilities of the parents allow.
Watch the video: Doctor Komarovsky talks about the reasons for children's crying
Night crying of an infant in his sleep is a well-known problem for most parents. It is relevant for both newborns and older children. Experts call this phenomenon “physiological night crying” and urge you not to worry about it. After all, the main work of the brain occurs during sleep, which is much more intense than during wakefulness. Relieving tension through crying in this case is a completely natural process.
However, worried parents are trying to figure out why their baby is crying in his sleep? There can be a lot of answers. It has been proven, for example, that 4 x-month baby sometimes cries in his sleep because he is dreaming unpleasant dream. And if a baby starts teething at an older age, then crying in a dream can mean calcium deficiency and, in connection with this, increased nervous excitability. Crying in your sleep is also possible due to an upcoming change in weather.
In general, oddly enough, a baby cries in his sleep because he is a baby. The light sleep of a newborn is conceived by nature for his survival and, crying in his sleep, the baby signals a problem that has arisen.
A baby cries in his sleep for only two reasons: he does not feel the presence of his mother nearby or loud noises disturb him. The first reason can be removed even through sleep - the mother approaches the baby, he feels her presence and, without waking up, calms down. By the way, this “test” can be used to instill an autonomous sleep pattern in the child, because the baby didn’t really need a mother at the moment. So you shouldn’t run up to him every time. But loud sounds when sleeping infant should definitely be eliminated for its own benefit.
Most often, a child starts crying in his sleep because:
Parents can figure out most of the above options on their own after observing the baby for some time. Some problems like clothes and wet diapers are removed preventively, some you just need to get over, and with the rest you only need to see a doctor. A doctor can diagnose pathological crying and sobbing in a child, which indicates the occurrence of some serious illness.
What else can you do when your newborn cries in his sleep? Experts advise the following:
Small children and crying are such identical concepts that no one has any doubt: a newborn baby will definitely cry. This is understandable, because through tears and screams, the baby can communicate his wishes and inconveniences in the only way available to him.
If a baby cries during the day, then it is relatively easy to determine the reason, because in addition to this, he gives some other signs. What if it’s dark outside the window, you lay down and tune in to sound sleep, but suddenly your baby’s crying wakes you up. Why does a child cry in his sleep and not wake up? We will solve this riddle in the article.
Experienced parents know that infants sleep differently than adults and older children. The whole point is in the child’s daily biorhythms. His internal clock, responsible for the sleep-wake cycle, has not yet been perfected, and the process of establishing it is accompanied by various malfunctions, thereby the baby’s body seems to select its individual time through experiments.
Children under the age of one year unconsciously change the duration and frequency of their sleep several times. For example, a baby aged 0 to 1 month sleeps from 20-22 hours a day. A growing baby begins to sleep less and less, until by about a year he has only one 2-hour sleep during the day and 8-9 hours at night.
As for crying in your sleep, until your sleep pattern is established, night whimpering will be your frequent companion. In most cases, it is short-lived and does not greatly affect the peace of mind of the child and his household. But if the crying is quite strong, frequent, constant and incomprehensible, and the newborn baby cries without waking up, then it’s time to think about hidden reasons such a phenomenon. It is possible that the problem will be easily fixable.
If you have an urgent question about why an infant cries in his sleep, then you need to do something and the sooner the better. What can cause attacks of night crying that a newborn baby torments himself and his parents?
There are many reasons and not all of them require intervention.
Sometimes it is enough to wait 1-2 minutes until the baby cries and he will calm down.
In some cases, recurrence of nighttime crying attacks can be avoided by doing the following before going to bed:
It is not so easy to find out why a child cried in his sleep, but it is worth doing. By finding out what exactly causes your baby to cry and taking appropriate actions before bed, you yourself will be able to sleep peacefully.
How to get rid of stretch marks after childbirth?
You are wrong to believe that newborns and infants cannot speak. How can they! Every time the baby starts to cry, he tries to convey to those around him, and mainly to his mother, that he needs something from her. There are many reasons why a baby may cry, but mothers find it especially alarming at night. Why does a baby cry in its sleep?
The reasons for a baby's tears during sleep can be divided into two groups:
But there can be many internal sub-items here. Let's figure it out in order.
From this article you will learn:
Most main reason The baby's worry was always the notorious feeling of hunger. From birth, a baby knows exactly the main formula of his life: hungry - screamed - fed. It may seem too frequent for a mother to demand a crumb of a late dinner, but each baby has its own needs, its own routine, and in the first months of life it simply may not be there yet.
The main task of the mother is to answer the baby’s call and feed him on demand. If the baby immediately calms down, it means it’s clear why your baby cries in his sleep - he just loves his mother’s milk too much!
There are such capricious and gentle creatures that from the first days of their lives cannot stand discomfort. Just think, he peed himself, you say, this is the norm for a baby. But for your baby this may be just a dissonance - if he feels moisture on his skin, he will scream furiously until you change his diapers. With regard to small needs, these days this behavior of a baby is rare, since modern diapers almost completely keep the baby’s skin dry.
But few kids are ready to put up with more serious toilet matters. And it doesn’t matter to him whether you, mommy, want to sleep at this moment. So, before you wonder why your baby cries in his sleep, first check his diaper.
Do not forget that a newborn baby cannot roll over on his own or change the position of his legs or arms. And then remember yourself: how many times do you turn over during the night? If your baby cries in his sleep, change his position in the crib, but be prepared for the fact that he will not fall asleep right away. After all, the little creature was already nervous and upset. He now needs to be lulled and calmed down. Gently pat his butt or shoulder, stroke his eyebrows, forehead, and crown.
If the reason was the inconvenience of the position, then he will quickly calm down. The main rule here is to be patient and not to get nervous. It is very difficult to wake up endlessly at night, but this is your test. If the mother is nervous, the baby will definitely not fall asleep!
Are you wondering why your baby cries in his sleep every night? Analyze his sleep and wakefulness patterns. Try to give him less sleep during the day, play with him more so that at night he recovers the amount of sleep he lost during the day.
This is a more serious problem, since it cannot be easily solved. The mother has two main solutions: during the day it is necessary to very clearly control the baby’s routine, uniform alternation of sleep and wakefulness, bathing before bed, temperature and humidity conditions in the room. The entire microclimate at home should work for the child’s comfort, and not vice versa. Otherwise, the baby’s still unstable nervous system will be strained.
The second way (if the first one did not work) is to contact the pediatrician and ask to be prescribed sedatives. This could be a banal infusion of valerian herb or pharmaceutical analogues. Here, under no circumstances can you give any advice, since only an experienced doctor will determine what exactly your baby needs.
Monitor the microclimate of the room less vigilantly than monitoring your child's stool. The world around us a newborn baby should be a cradle for him. For a child under one year old, even an overly heated room is already stressful. Use thermometers and humidifiers. Under no circumstances should you dry diapers in your baby’s room, do not place oilcloths under the sheets, which will make him sweat, and be sure to ventilate the room during the day.
I miss you! This is probably the most common reason babies cry in their sleep. They insistently demand to sleep next to their mother, and sooner or later they win this battle with the mother who is trying to discipline the baby. There are some babies with whom it is impossible to argue - they will scream until their mother takes them to her bed.
Allergic reactions at such a tender age are a common phenomenon. Moreover, the rash can be not only on the baby’s cheeks or buttocks, but also on internal organs. This makes the baby very uncomfortable, he really suffers, and this is especially acute at night, since all diseases worsen in sleep.
It is important not only to help the baby get rid of itching, but also to completely eliminate the allergen. The mother should reconsider her diet, think about what surrounding objects may interfere with the baby, and may have to feed antihistamines, which are prescribed by the pediatrician.
If your baby asks for the breast too often at night, but does not calm down at all, then there is a high probability that he is suffering from colic. Babies have an unconscious reflex to discomfort in the abdominal area - they perceive any troubles as a need to satisfy hunger. That’s why they are so greedily looking for a breast or a bottle.
But the problem is not solved, and the child cries in his sleep again and again. Then you need to help the baby get rid of the pain. Espumisan, dill water, Plantex and other analogs - only with the permission of the pediatrician. Warm diapers or warmers on the tummy sometimes solve the problem. A gas tube is also one of the options, but only after consultation with at least a visiting nurse who will show the mother how to use the tube.
One of the flawless effective methods to combat night colic is to place the baby with his tummy on the mother’s chest or stomach. Mother's warmth and smell, a feeling of closeness, like before childbirth, when he was so comfortable inside, mother's soothing voice and gentle hands - these simple manipulations often solve the problem of a baby crying in his sleep.
Temperature, discomfort, muscle pain, stuffy nose, sore throat and many other symptoms of an incipient disease can cause a baby to cry in his sleep. What do you recommend here? Just call a doctor at home! Give your baby more affection, attention, don’t let him go, if he is very restless, try to distract him by feeding, rocking him to sleep, rocking the crib or carrying him in your arms. When a child is sick, he needs maternal attention no less than drug treatment!
