Sleep is the most important physiological need in babies. It ensures their best physical and brain development. The required sleep rhythm develops very gradually, throughout the first year of life. A baby sleeps differently from an adult. Therefore, parents need to know the characteristics of children's sleep in order to provide the baby with the most effective rest and wakefulness regimen.
Baby sleeping
Normal sleep duration
Each baby has its own individual sleep needs. During the first few weeks, the newborn has no idea of day or night. But parents can do their part in shaping the baby's habits, including the rhythm of sleep.
Important! Some babies quickly get used to sleeping longer at night, staying awake more often during the day. Others - for many months, they may wake up at night as often as during the day, require food, change a diaper, or just want to play. They need the help of their parents to find the right rhythm of rest and wakefulness.
The baby's sleep is undergoing significant changes for months. In the first weeks, babies spend most of the day asleep, interrupting only for feeding. As you grow, the need for rest begins to decrease, and by the end of the first year of life, the duration of daytime sleep is reduced to 2-3 hours, and night rest becomes continuous and long.
Features of sleep in the first year of life
Sleep is essential for daily brain recovery. It influences the formation of neural connections in the brain, the proper functioning of the hormone-producing glands, and is important for the normal functioning of the immune system.
Important! Despite the fact that there are average norms of rest for infants of different ages, each child may have slight deviations from them in one direction or another.
Age
The rhythms of rest and wakefulness primarily depend on the age of the baby. The baby's sleep by months has age characteristics.
In a newborn baby up to 1 month old, sleep consists of two phases that make up a cycle:
- Superficial. The baby's breathing can be intermittent, facial expressions are mobile, the child even sometimes opens his eyes;
- Deep. The baby does not move, muscles are relaxed, breathing is calm. Only occasionally can the baby move his lips, as if smacking his lips.
Newborn sleep
Up to 3 months, the child's internal biorhythms are gradually adjusted, depending on the rate of maturation of the nervous system and the quality of the environment, the first sleeping habits are formed.
Important! In accordance with the inner needs of the baby, even at the age of 3 months, babies can be “long sleeping” and “short sleeping”.
Until three months, the child learns to distinguish between day and night, his circadian rhythm is slowly established.
Between the 3rd and 4th months, deep sleep of the baby is divided into 2 more phases:
- the child relaxes, but still hears external noises;
- the baby does not feel anything, he is in a deep sleep.
At 4 5 months, baby's sleep becomes more orderly. Short sleepy intervals turn into long periods of rest. The baby's internal biological clock has already been adjusted, and the need for sleep decreases.
After 6 months, most babies are able to sleep long at night and rest 2-3 times during the day.
Important! From 7 to 11 months, a baby usually experiences separation anxiety from mom. This is a normal developmental stage, but creates problems with falling asleep. During this time, babies especially need parental affection.
After a year, a long night's sleep and a single or double rest during the day are considered normal.
Night rest
The norm of night sleep in infants by months:
- Night rest of a newborn is practically no different from daytime. The frequency of his awakenings depends on the need for food. The total sleep rate of 20 hours a day is divided equally into daytime and nighttime;
- At 1-2 months, the nature of the rest remains almost unchanged. By the end of the second month, the duration of night sleep is already about 60% of the total amount of time when the baby sleeps, and is 9-10 hours;
- At 3-5 months, night rest already accounts for about 70% of the time, although its duration with breaks is still the same 10-11 hours. Sleep intervals become longer at night - up to 5-6 hours;
Important! If the baby is receiving mixed feeding, it is preferable to breastfeed the baby on night awakenings for eating. This has a positive effect on lactation.
Night feeding
- From 6 months to a year, the duration of night rest does not change. It remains equal to 10-11 hours. The baby is already able to sleep all night without waking up.
Day rest
Approximate norms for how much a child should sleep during the day by months to a year:
- A newborn up to 2 months of age sleeps in short 50-minute cycles. Sometimes 2-3 cycles follow one another and have a total duration of 3-4 hours. The child does not yet have a circadian rhythm, for him there is no difference: daytime rest or nighttime;
- From 3 to 5 months, the baby is already able to distinguish day from night, his need for daytime sleep gradually decreases. He usually sleeps 3 times a day, the total duration of the day's rest is 5-6 hours;
- From 5 to 12 months, the baby sleeps less and less during the day. If the frequency of daytime sleep of a 5-month-old child is still at least 3 times a day, then for an eight-month-old it is already 2 times, and for a one-year-old it may be once. At the same time, the duration of daytime rest is also reduced: from 6 hours to 2-3.
Daily rate
The daily need for rest also gradually decreases during the first year of life:
- For the first few weeks, newborns sleep 18 to 20 hours a day with very short breaks from being awake;
- Up to 2 months, the daily number of hours for sleep is slightly reduced, to 16-18, while the baby sleeps slightly less during the day than at night;
- From 3 to 5 months, the changes are already sensitive. The norm is 15-17 hours, most of which falls at night;
- Between 6 and 12 months, the daily number of hours of rest decreases from 14-15 to 12-13.
Summary table of sleep rate for children under one year by month
| Age in months | Daily sleep rate, h. | Daytime sleep, h. | Daytime sleep | Night sleep, h. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0-1 | 18-20 | 9-10 | 5-6 | 9-10 |
| 1 | 15-18 | 8-9 | 4-5 | 9-10 |
| 2 | 15-18 | 7-9 | 3-4 | 9-10 |
| 3 | 15-17 | 5-6 | 3 | 10-11 |
| 4 | 14-16 | 5-6 | 3 | 10-11 |
| 5 | 14-16 | 5-6 | 3 | 10-11 |
| 6 | 13-15 | 4-5 | 2-3 | 10-11 |
| 7 | 12-14 | 3-4 | 2 | 10-11 |
| 8 | 12-14 | 2-3 | 2 | 10-11 |
| 9 | 12-14 | 2-3 | 2 | 10-11 |
| 10 | 12-14 | 2-3 | 2 | 10-11 |
| 11 | 12-14 | 2-3 | 2 | 10-11 |
| 12 | 12-14 | 2-3 | 1-2 | 10-11 |
When your baby doesn't sleep enough
Sleep deprivation affects the baby's health and development. In addition, parents may experience a variety of infant sleep disorders, such as:
- crying before falling asleep;
- night awakenings, spontaneous and forced;
- waking up too early;
- crying on awakening.
The child does not want to sleep
When at least one of these symptoms appears, it is already advisable to shorten the periods of wakefulness, revise the duration and schedule of rest in order to compensate for the accumulated fatigue. In all cases, parents must adapt to the real needs of the baby.
Important! Sometimes parents think that the more tired the child gets, the better he will sleep. This is a misconception. Tired children are the ones who experience sleep disorders.
Signs of lack of rest in babies:
- Irritation. Babies do not want to play, do not respond with a smile to the faces and words of their parents, and throw toys in irritation. They are less tolerant of parental manipulations (changing a diaper, dressing, undressing, etc.);
- Toddlers become clumsy. If they already know how to crawl or walk, then they begin to fall more often, bump and immediately react with loud crying;
- Some children snuggle up to their parents, all the time asking for their arms, resting their heads on their shoulders. Others, on the contrary, are intolerant of touch and demand to leave them alone;
- As in adults, rubbing of the eyes and frequent yawning can be signs of a lack of sleep in babies;
Kid rubs his eyes
- Baby's movements can also signal fatigue. Some children suddenly become active and make violent movements with their legs and arms. Others are overly calm and seem almost absent. Sometimes they clench and unclench their fists;
- When babies get tired, they often ask for a pacifier or start thumb sucking.
Important! The more time elapses between when the baby begins to show signs of fatigue until the moment when he is put to bed, the more difficult it will be for the baby to fall asleep.
Baby sucks thumb
How to organize sleep
Few babies love to sleep. Therefore, the task of parents is to correctly catch the signs of fatigue and to lay them down at the right time. A few tips on how to get the right sleep pattern for babies of different ages:
- It is necessary to check the sleeping conditions: the temperature in the room should be about 20 ° C, there should be no smell of tobacco smoke or deodorants, too strong background noise is unacceptable;
Important! For newborns in the first weeks and months of life, you need to create a comfortable environment that reminds them of life in the mother's womb. For example, it can be soft rocking, warmth, soft music, the sound of mom's voice, etc.
- Up to 2 months, you can swaddle a baby, so he will calm down faster and fall asleep;
- From 3 to 6 months, it is time to establish a sleep regimen, since the intervals of wakefulness and rest of the baby are already more predictable. To do this, you need to organize a routine bedtime routine: feeding, bathing, changing clothes, etc.;
- The massage will help the baby sleep, as it relaxes the baby, and after the procedure, the baby's body releases more melatonin (sleep hormone);
Relaxing massage for babies
- When a child shows signs of fatigue, one should not wait long to bed;
Important! When breastfeeding, when the baby does not fall asleep for a long time, mothers need to exclude caffeine (chocolate, coffee, tea) from the diet for about 2 weeks and see if the baby sleeps better.
- From 6 to 12 months, you need to continue the ritual procedures before bedtime. At this age, it is necessary to give the baby a sense of security. This will be helped by a familiar and calm atmosphere (the bedroom door is ajar, the night light is on);
- If a child wakes up at night, chances are he will try to fall asleep again. At this moment, you can come up, stroke him, say soothing words, but not pick him up.
Despite the well-established rituals, many factors (teething, illness, leaps in development) can interfere with the rest of the baby. The main thing is to remain calm and resume the routine after the end of the hectic period.
There is no right or wrong way to put your baby to bed. It is important to choose a path that suits the parents and takes into account the temperament of the baby.
