Baby sleep structure

Things you need to know about your baby's sleep structure

Children's sleep changes and develops with age and living space. In this development process, there are many obstacles. However, the difficulty in children's sleep is not inevitable.

A good night's sleep also needs to be learned. This guide is written with the purpose of more or less helping parents understand about the functioning of their sleep in the first months of life.

Watch your child to understand him better. Although a child is a unique individual, he, like every other child, needs balance, tranquility and tenderness to feel safe and comfortable, which is essential for establishing steps to fall asleep. sleep.

 

Things you need to know about your baby's sleep structure

Sleep patterns for babies - A handbook for mothers taking care of babies

How do I know if my child is awake?

A newborn's sleep lasts about 50 minutes. A long sleep consists of several short cycles, each beginning with shallow sleep (sleeping and dreaming at the same time) and continuing into deep sleep. This phenomenon lasts until about the 4th or 6th month of age.

A shallow sleep often looks like a baby is awake, but it's not at all: a child has movements in his face, and body. It is a sign that the child's brain is active, the nervous system is connecting, the child is learning expressions and communicating emotions. We may mistakenly think that the child is awake, but absolutely not, this sleep needs absolute respect.

Babies stay awake when they are quiet, eyes wide, seeing and communicating with their eyes and gestures. Or the child is awake when they forcefully call for attention. It is time to take care of the child.

Do mothers need to wake up babies to breastfeed?

 

Things you need to know about your baby's sleep structure

Usually there is no need to wake the baby to breastfeed. You should wait for your child to wake up on their own to feed them or take care of them.

It depends on special circumstances such as a preterm baby or a low birth weight infant that needs to be fed regularly, because the baby has no energy reserves, and the baby is too weak to cry when the baby is hungry. However, by around 4 months of age, we can help babies get breastfed on time.

My baby sleeps very little during the day. Is this normal?

Your child may be a little-sleeper or their living space has too many things to excite them. In the case of agitation, in addition to sleeping a little, the baby cries a lot.

Young children don't need to be stimulated all the time. On the contrary, children need silence, balance, and silence.

Why do babies sleep a lot?

 

Things you need to know about your baby's sleep structure

Newborn babies sleep a lot, on average, about 16 hours a day. Because sleep is essential in a newborn for brain development. During sleep, the child's body secretes growth hormones to help children grow. However, like adults, with children sleeping a lot and having babies sleeping less, this has absolutely no effect on the child's development.

What to do when a child confuses day and night?

It is normal for children to sleep day and night during the first weeks. The child's physiological clock has not yet kept pace with 24-hour life. The day-night cycle is naturally established by the time the baby is 1 month old: the amount of time the baby stays awake during the day is gradually lengthened, and so does the night's sleep.

At 4 months of age, the physiological clock can go into balance, children can sleep from 8 pm to 9 am the next morning. There are children that have difficulty in this. We can help children.

How to help children establish circadian rhythm of sleep?

To do this, help your child feel a distinct difference between day and night. During the day, the child should be placed in a well-lit place, and at night in a completely dark place. Daytime care and conversation; At night, all care should be taken in silence, and in dim light.

Starting from the 4th month of age, waking time, bedtime and mealtime are gradually implemented on time. This helps your child extend the amount of time that he stays awake during the day, and the time he sleeps at night.

At what age can my baby sleep all night?

Around 4 months. However, it is difficult to give a certain age because the pace of life of each child is different. If your baby hasn't slept all night by the 4th month, it's not his fault. Children just need help. This depends on the regularity of the rhythm of activities, meal times, food, and sleep that you create for your child.

Children cry at night, what to do?

 

Things you need to know about your baby's sleep structure

The process of setting the rhythm of life, discerning between day and night of children causes many troublesome phenomena for parents. As your baby begins to spend the morning and afternoon with meal - sleep and play becomes regular, he cries quite a lot at dusk and evening. There is almost nothing to stop a baby from crying.

Often this crying is mistaken for a baby that is hungry or in pain. This phenomenon shows the natural flow of volatility at the end of the day. Children are swept up in the process of activities and do not know how to stop.

The only thing that can help your baby get through this stage is to take care of him or her in quiet, dim light, speechless, not breastfeeding, not attracting attention or focusing on things. If your baby still cries, leave him or her in a dark room alone. Give your child a chance to find calm alone.

Why does my baby stay up many times during the night?

 

Things you need to know about your baby's sleep structure

During the first month of age, children are not aware of day and night, children have a routine of sleeping and staying awake for 24 hours. Therefore, it is not surprising that babies stay up several times during the night during the first weeks of life.

Between 3 months and 6 months, the structure of nocturnal sleep is still incomplete, and babies may stay awake several times in the middle of the night. This is normal and natural. It is perfectly possible for a baby to lie awake alone in bed, and find sleep alone.

Problems arise when babies wake up in the middle of the night, they ask to be breastfed, to be held, and someone needs to be lulled to sleep. So, from the beginning, help children go to bed, find sleep alone.

When the baby cries, don't rush in immediately Sometimes it's just the cry of a baby's dream. Stay calm, listen to your baby's cries, learn to estimate the time to cry, the rhythm of the cry, the energy in the cry, the urgency in the cry. After evaluating and feeling the need, now come over to your child's side.

You should only pamper your baby for a few minutes, do not hold the baby in your arms, do not breastfeed, comfort the baby and come out.

Need to breastfeed each time the baby cries at night?

 

Things you need to know about your baby's sleep structure

Are not.

Babies need to be fed overnight only in the first weeks after birth. Babies may need 1 to 2 night feeds, especially premature and low birth weight babies. After the first month of age, babies begin to slowly and irregularly prolong the time between feedings.

At 4-5 months of age, babies in good health may not be able to stay up at night and feed. If your child is awake at night, give him the chance to go to sleep alone, and do not think that he is definitely hungry. Day as well as night, if we continue to feed the baby even though the baby is not hungry, we are practicing conditional sleep: it is only possible to fall asleep while feeding.

Another thing to note, if the baby sucks too much during the night, the baby will urinate a lot, the diaper is wet a lot and the baby will get cold. The feeling of being wet makes children feel uncomfortable, which is also one of the reasons why children wake up at night.

When a baby cries, is it necessary to hold the baby?

Crying is the only way babies can express their emotions: hunger, thirst, stomach ache, fatigue, needing to be cuddled ... Initially, we must create good conditions for babies to sleep: quiet . If a child really needs sleep, he or she will hold off and go to sleep alone, quickly or slowly.

If your child needs something else: hunger, thirst, colic, wet diaper, too hot, too cold, he will tell us with a cry of energy.

What is the best way to put your baby to sleep?

 

Things you need to know about your baby's sleep structure

Mom needs to put the baby in a cradle that is not too big for the baby to feel safe.

Safety conditions need to be absolutely guaranteed, to avoid sudden death when sleeping in young children are:

The mattress must be hard, the mattress must fit into the crib, there should be no holes.

No pillows, pillows, quilts

The best room temperature is 19 ° C, 20 ° C

Do not take too many classes for your child, especially if the child has a fever

In the early years of a child's life, babies must sleep on their backs, their head is clear, and there is no danger of suffocation.

Don't put too many teddy bears in your baby's bed. If your child has a favorite teddy bear, the condition is that it is not too big to press on his face, he can bring the bear to sleep.

At what age can children sleep separately in bed?

 

Things you need to know about your baby's sleep structure

When the baby reaches the age of not sleeping immediately after the feed is finished, the baby is completely able to lie awake in silence. At this point, we need to create a good habit for the child when it is time to go to bed: put the baby in bed when he or she is fully awake, so that he / she can observe and get used to the bed space.

Therefore, it is very important to create a quiet space that does not attract children's attention with the voice, with toys around, with rotating toys - with music in the child's eye view.

If a child has a habit of going to sleep when being held, lulled, lying in the parent's bed, breastfed, in general, the child goes to sleep conditionally, he will remember this condition.

When children wake up in the middle of the night, they will feel alienated from the current space and ask to have previous conditions, they do not know how to calm down and sleep on their own.

Be mindful of the toys that hang from the head of your child's bed

 

Things you need to know about your baby's sleep structure

Do not use too many swivel toys with music, placed on the child's head, because all visual and auditory attention items make it difficult for children to fall asleep.

Children will feel overwhelmed with stimuli brought by objects, they do not know how to manage these stimuli. Too much stimulation will make the baby very tired, thereby crying a lot.

Conversely, you can sing to your baby, but not until the baby goes to sleep. Sing only when the baby is awake, and go outside to let the baby fall asleep alone.

A regular routine will train your baby to know it is almost time for bed

 

Things you need to know about your baby's sleep structure

Children need to be identified bedtime by a routine, repetitive, routine, routine preparation process.

This process can last for a few hours before going to bed, which can start with a bath (to help relax the baby), a suck or a supper, a parent reading or singing, and cuddling ( depending on the preferences of the child and of the parents).

When it is time to go to bed, children are put in bed while awake, quiet and dark. Parents go out to let a child fall asleep alone. Children who are well-prepared, informed when it is time to sleep, are familiar with the space, will fall asleep faster.

Train pictograms are used to explain the structure of a child's sleep

The sleep of adults of young children is completely different in structure and pace. This causes many difficulties for parents: parents are awakened by the crying of their children when they are in deep sleep.

Properly understanding the structure and pace of sleep will not help parents sleep better, but better understand, approve, not worry too much, and better respect their child's sleep rhythm.

To understand the structure and pace of sleep we need to use the image of a train.

Train sleep

A sleep is made up of many small trains. Each train is a sleep cycle, composed of many small cars. The length of each train, means the length of each sleep, and its structure depends on age.

In children 2 months old, each train consists of 2 cars: 1 car for shallow sleep, and 1 car for deep sleep. Meanwhile, in adults, a small train includes 5 cars: 2 cars for shallow sleep, 2 cars for deep sleep, and 1 car for sleep.

Sleep structure of babies from infancy to 2 months of age

Children's sleep consists of one or more consecutive short trains, alternating for 24 hours.

Children begin to sleep with a train to sleep in shallow sleep, followed by a train car to sleep deeply. Together these two carriages can last 50 minutes.

Sleep structure of babies from 2 months to 6-9 months of age

The characteristics of sleep for children at this age:

The train can last up to 70 minutes

The deep-sleeping wagon in month 2 becomes a slow-sleeping train. The train is composed of 3 cars: shallow, slow, slow and deep.

Late night sleep can last for 12 hours, including about 10 to 12 trains

Morning sleep shortened, and play time started to lengthen

When you finish the last train, which is a deep and deep sleeping car, your child can "catch another train". Between 2 trains, children will have a very shallow sleep.

During this time of very shallow sleep, if you disturb your baby with sounds, physical touches (because of hearing baby's movements, his cries), you can make your baby awake and not. caught the 2nd train car.

The expression of the train carriage is shallow

When the child is in the train sleepy, he will have a lot of facial expressions, his breathing is irregular, his brain is very active now.

Babies may experience a lot of physical movements, their skin becomes red, their limbs push up, and snore. Children can open their eyes within seconds. This can take 1 to 2 minutes and the baby regains quiet.

The expression of the train is slow and deep

The child is not moving, his eyes are closed and the irises are not moving, his face is relaxed. Sometimes children have regular button inertia. Breathe lightly and evenly.

This article is based on CPAM's Grenoble material

Performed by Pediatricians, Psychologists of Lyon Sud Hospital

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