The stronger and healthier the child's sleep, the healthier his whole family is. It's no secret that a tattered, nervous, screaming baby and the same, but also sleepy, mom is a wonderful powerful tandem to ruin the life of each other and all households, young and old. That is why it is important to organize a normal sleep for the baby from the very first days of his life. Everyone understands this. In theory. But how to do it in practice, is only a very small percentage of moms and dads. Dr. Evgeny Komarovsky tells what needs to be done for this.
About sleep in general
Children need naps. The kid learns the world, sometimes very actively, and the abundance of impressions drains him greatly.
Sleeping during the day allows you to restore strength, give rest to the nervous system and the entire body as a whole. It is as important for the growing man as nutrition and treatment if a baby is sick. During sleep, the composition of the blood is renewed, the muscles and the musculoskeletal system relax, the most important enzymes and many vital hormones are produced.
Sleep rate is a rather vague concept, one nevertheless exists. The baby sleeps longer than the baby after a year. It is normal for a newborn to sniff sweetly in the crib after each feed, for a total of 19-22 hours a day. From 1 to 3 months, the child makes 3-4 daytime sleep, taking into account the nighttime they sleep up to 17 hours a day. From 4 months, the child can go to bed 2-3 times for 3 hours during the day, and together with the night he sleeps up to 15-16 hours a day.
At the age of 1 to 2 years, the child can sleep once during the day, and can be applied twice for 2-3 hours. Pediatricians recommend transferring a child to one day's sleep from 2 years old. At about this time, the beginning of the kindergarten visit also falls, so it is usually easy to make such a transition. The duration of a quiet hour for such a child is from 1 to 3 hours.
However, it is impossible to measure all children by existing standards, because babies have a different temperament, level of impressionability, the ability to switch from activity to rest. Maybe that's why the norms remain norms on paper, but in reality the statistics vary greatly. But the value of a daytime sleep is not lost from this.
The opinion of Dr. Komarovsky
The only thing that does not depend on parents in organizing children's sleep is a diaper, says Evgeny Komarovsky. If mom and dad did not spare money and bought a good, high-quality and comfortable diaper, then this is half the success, since it is discomfort and dampness that are the most common causes of children's sleep disorders. There is no need to invent anything, the doctor says, everything has already been created and should be beneficial to both children and adults.
The rest of the parents will have to do on their own. Usually, the baby sleeps better at night if he managed to get a good rest during the day. However, one should not think that good is too long a dream. After all, it is clear that the baby, who slept through the whole daylight hours, will stay awake at night. Therefore, proper planning of daytime sleep will help solve some of the disturbances in this process at night.
The need for daytime sleep
Official medicine believes that daytime sleep is necessary for a child until they reach the age of seven. Yevgeny Komarovsky is sure that after five years, the child no longer needs daytime dreams. However, if the baby stopped sleeping during the day at 2 years old, then this is a reason to understand the reasons, make adjustments to the daily routine and return daytime rest back as soon as possible. The child is still too young to lead a normal life from night to night without rest.
Evgeny Komarovsky urges parents to properly analyze the baby's lifestyle. Does he eat well, is he overfed, whether he walks in the fresh air enough, are the temperature and humidity in the children's room normal. All these factors, according to the doctor, have the most direct impact on the quality (and quantity!) Of sleep.
The baby's bed should be comfortable, and the underwear and pajamas should be made of natural fabrics that are pleasant to the baby and do not interfere with his sleep. The room should have fresh air, the temperature of which does not exceed 20 degrees, and the humidity is 50-70%.
Dr. Komarovsky will tell you more about this in the video below.
Mode correction
It is a big mistake for parents to adjust to the child. The baby was brought from the hospital, and mom and dad started sleeping when a small family member allows them to do it. Komarovsky advises to immediately transfer the child to the regime that is acceptable to all household members, and not vice versa.
Once you decide on nighttime sleep, you can plan your daytime sleep, knowing the average norms for the total amount of time that babies at a given age should devote to sleep. This will require discipline, first of all, from the parents themselves, because the regime they have created will have to be observed first of all by themselves, then the child will be able to quickly accept the daily routine as something completely natural.
Evgeny Olegovich advises, without hesitation and remorse, to wake up a baby who has slept during the day so that he does not have problems falling asleep at night, and the daily routine built with such difficulty does not collapse overnight.
In order for the child to go to bed more willingly during the day, the doctor recommends thinking about his leisure time in the morning, in the morning. It is good if it will be active games, physical activity, according to age, massage or gymnastics, and necessarily - a walk in the fresh air. After the child eats for lunch, he does not have to be persuaded to sleep, he himself will strongly want to.
The less healthy activity, the worse the daytime sleep of the child. Therefore, if parents complain that the child “usually sleeps well during the day, but has recently stopped going to bed,” Evgeny Olegovich advises simply to revise his lifestyle, add walks, sports, and come up with new entertainment.
Useful Tips
Pay special attention to the mattress on which the baby sleeps. It should be flat and not squeezed. It is best to choose an orthopedic mattress.
Up to 2 years old, a child should sleep without a pillow. This is the recommendation of Evgeny Komarovsky. After two years, parents can give the baby a pillow if they wish, but its size should not be adults. The optimal thickness of the pillow is equal to the size of the child's hanger.
If no home measures to improve daytime sleep help, Komarovsky recommends contacting a pediatrician, psychologist and pediatric neurologist, they will help establish the hidden causes of sleep disturbances and help eliminate them. It is important to do this without leaving the problem to chance, if only for the reason that sometimes pain prevents the baby from sleeping peacefully in a quiet hour. Find and neutralize - in this situation, the common task of parents and doctors.
