A month-old baby, and a baby after a year or two, when the period of teething and colic has already passed, can cry in a dream. Children's sleep is disturbed not only at night, so the whole day the newborn can be very capricious, want to sleep, but when trying to rest, it will turn, toss and turn due to emotional overload. The child cries in his sleep for various reasons, if the baby sleeps poorly and restlessly for several weeks or months, crying turns into a sharp cry, then it is worth going to a neurologist and starting the necessary treatment.
Baby crying in his sleep
Sleep features of children under one year old
In both adults and infants, sleep includes two phases: slow and fast.
In the fast phase, which in a newborn is up to 60-80% of the time of the whole sleep, the baby begins to fall asleep, the movement of his eyeballs can be noted. From the point of view of physiology, this increases blood pressure, trembles the limbs and muscles of the child's face. He also has dreams.
Important! In this phase, the baby may wake up for some time, so it is better not to disturb the baby.
The slow phase is deep, the baby is completely resting, all the muscles relax. At such a moment you cannot wake him up, sometimes only his legs and arms tremble (this is the so-called hypnagogic fright).
Dr. Komarovsky, a Russian pediatrician, gives advice on keeping track of your baby's sleep hours. Normally these are:
- before 20:00 - in the first three months;
- at 3-6 months - up to 16 hours;
- at 1-2 years old - 12-13 hours;
- at 4 years old - at least 11 hours;
- at 6-12 years old and further - from 8 to 9 hours a day.
Causes of crying in a dream
Why a child cries and screams in a dream is a question that can relate to both physiology, discomfort due to external factors, and the developed pathology. In most cases, the problem is resolved by eliminating the cause, and sleep quickly improves.
Physiological
The most common causes of sleep and crying disorders are physiological:
- Intestinal colic. In the first three months, this ailment worries many babies and their mothers. The toddler cries, bends, screams and sobs, but does not always wake up.
Intestinal colic in a baby
- Hunger. The baby has a very small stomach, so satiety does not last long. When the baby sleeps, he can wake up from hunger and start crying.
- Wet diaper. The baby does not always cry from the discomfort associated with filling the diaper. Sometimes a dry diaper is unpleasant for him, because it is uncomfortable, presses, causes diaper rash and painful sensations. That is why the baby is capricious, turns over, jerks its legs.
- Difficulties in adaptation. When the baby is just born, or the parents have changed their place of residence, the child needs time to get used to the new environment. Mom should often communicate with the baby, calming her with a gentle voice and a kind song.
- A runny nose that makes breathing difficult, making the baby anxious and crying.
- Severe fatigue after a day spent, negative emotions and impressions.
Pathological
If a child does not wake up screaming in a dream, this may be due to pathology, it is:
- intracranial pressure;
- encephalopathy;
Perinatal encephalopathy in infants
- rickets;
- a brain tumor;
- also otitis media, intestinal dysbiosis and infectious diseases.
Note! With a pathological reason, crying is difficult to calm down, you have to resort to tricks and all kinds of means, medical intervention and medication are often required.
Other reasons
Also, the child screams in a dream due to uncomfortable external factors:
- Uncomfortable indoor conditions: low or high temperature, high or low humidity. The crumb may freeze, or, conversely, he became hot. The room must be well ventilated, monitoring the humidity in the region of 50-70%.
- The need for a mom. While the baby is small, he needs attention and care. Therefore, you should not listen to the advice of grandmothers who suggest not to carry the child in your arms once again, otherwise he will get used to them. Then the baby will start to worry and feel "torn off" from the mother. In addition, at night, mother's hands "warm" the baby.
- Nightmare. Babies rarely have bad dreams. As they mature, dreams become more real and believable. Sometimes the child begins to moan, giggle or say something.
What to do
First of all, you need to think about why the baby can start crying in a dream:
- Babies always require attention in this way, because they cannot say. The intensity of the cry and the timbre color will tell you exactly what the baby needs.
- "Acute" causes of crying are excluded: trauma, shortness of breath. Usually pathologies are accompanied by a number of symptoms: redness of the skin, swelling of the fontanelle, the umbilical wound is inflamed. Any shrill cry cannot be ignored; an ambulance must be called urgently.
- Determining the cause of crying: it can be hunger, pain, boredom, colic, discomfort, relaxation after an emotional day.
Additional Information. Doctor Komarovsky proposes to exclude the reasons one by one: feed the baby by offering the breast - perhaps he swallowed air while sucking and did not eat, then change the diaper, change the baby's clothes.
How to help your child with restless sleep
What to do to prevent sleep problems:
- Think over the daily routine: strictly monitor the hours of waking and sleep and adhere to them.
- Go for a walk more often, ventilate the room in the evening while preparing for bed.
Remember! Excessively long outdoor games, physical activity should not turn into fatigue. The mistake of parents is that they associate fatigue with the subsequent sound sleep of the baby. In the case of a child, the opposite effect works, and he does not sleep, because he received a strong mental stress.
- Elimination of external causes. The room should have comfortable humidity and temperature - the baby's nervous system reacts positively to 18-20 degrees of heat in the room, 50-70% humidity.
- Take care of comfortable bedding made from natural fabrics and baby clothes. Also, the bed should be soft and comfortable.
Baby bedding set
- It will be better if the bed is made of wood, the mattress is hard enough. Up to two years old, a child does not need a pillow at all.
- During the day, play actively, communicate, provide the baby with a quiet pastime a few hours before bedtime.
- No emotional overload. The accumulated experiences of the crumbs at the end of the day are very exciting, so they do not allow them to sleep peacefully. Rituals should be introduced to promote rapid relaxation.
Bedtime ritual - reading a fairy tale
- You should not change the environment too quickly - it will be more effective to acquaint the kid with reality gradually, not to rush to see new people and go to crowded places.
- While bathing, it is allowed to add chamomile, a series, sedative infusions to the bath, which will have a beneficial effect on the psycho-emotional state of the baby. It's good if mom has a relaxing massage.
- Do not feed the baby right before bedtime - a hearty dinner can disrupt the digestion process, cause colic and bloating.
- If at the time of sleep the baby was scared, began to shake, worry, you should caress him, hug, lull him to sleep. At such moments, the baby realizes that his mother is nearby, and quickly calms down.
- At night, the baby may scream from teething. Consideration should be given to pain relieving gels that relieve discomfort.
- So that the baby does not feel lonely, you can sing him a lullaby, read your favorite nursery rhyme, put a toy next to him that he likes to play with.
- To prevent the child's nightmares from bothering the child, doctors recommend leaving a dim light in the room, using a night light, since children become afraid of the dark as they grow up.
When to contact a specialist
Parents should be attentive to the baby in order to notice serious problems in time. Therefore, you should not postpone a visit to the doctor if:
- The crumb is crying in pain.
- The dream has changed dramatically: before nothing bothered, but today the baby sleeps anxiously and constantly wakes up.
- Sleep disturbances continue for several days in a row.
- Problems with breastfeeding began to appear, it seems that there is less milk, or the baby refuses the artificial formula.
- The kid is inadequate, he cannot wake up for a long time, he harms himself by his actions.
- Over the next day, the behavior of the baby changes dramatically.
- At the time of crying, urinary incontinence is noted.
The kid cannot calm down in his sleep.
A small child may wake up at night in tears and scream after seeing a nightmare or because of discomfort from various external factors. If nightmares continue for a long time, pathology is possible, which is diagnosed by a specialist.
