How to wake up a child

For many parents, putting a child to bed is a much more serious problem than waking him up. However, not everything is so simple with a forced awakening. If you wake up the baby is wrong, then this can not only spoil the mood of the child, but his fragile psyche and nervous system will be under attack. To avoid this, it is worth listening to the recommendations of psychologists.

Ideally, the child should fall asleep and wake up of his own free will and it is better not to wake the child at all. The child’s body itself knows how many hours it needs to sleep. But in real life, situations where you have to obey circumstances and change the regime of the day are not excluded. The reasons for the forced awakening may be as follows:

• Transition to one daytime sleep, when the baby has reached kindergarten age and is preparing for preschool;
• The need to take the child to the toilet at night (potty training);
• In connection with the regimen of taking medications or medical procedures;
• The kid fell asleep in transport, but it was time to get out;
• The child fell asleep before the doctor arrived ... and so on

If you wake up the child sharply, it can scare him, he will start to cry, in some babies, in this case, tremor can begin. All these are symptoms of the fact that the blow fell on the fragile central nervous system of the child and the consequences can be the most unpleasant: restless sleep, stuttering, neurosis, speech impairment.

Sleeping is important

The correct sleep mode for a small child affects all spheres of his life: psycho-emotional state, activity, mood, cheerfulness. With a lack of sleep, the baby will be lethargic, quickly tired, irritable. The child will have poor performance. And morning awakening will be a real problem.

Several reasons for hard waking up

Your child lived peacefully, lay down when his eyes stick together, got up when he wants. But it's time to go to kindergarten and everything has changed. For some reason, always such a loyal mother tries to lay at 9 o’clock and wakes up when it is still dark outside. What happened? The kid resists, mom swears. A real nightmare!

To prevent this from happening, the child needs to be accustomed to the regime of the day in advance, and preferably from the first days of life. At first, he will wake up only for feeding and changing clothes, then the breaks between sleep will increase until it comes to daytime sleep once a day. All hours of sleep and wakefulness are recommended to be done at the appointed time, and not when the child falls asleep on the go.

Take an interest in the daily routine in kindergarten and bring your child’s sleep and wake time closer to it.Thus, when entering a preschool, addiction will be the least painful.

One of the important factors is the duration of daytime sleep. The smaller the child’s age, the longer he should sleep during the day. From about 1 to 1.5 years old, children begin to sleep once in the daytime. A child who, for whatever reason, has missed daytime sleep, must definitely make up for it at night. In this case, try to put the baby early in the evening. Most likely, this will not be too problematic, as the child will get tired during such a long wakefulness. When putting your baby to sleep earlier than usual, turn off the TV, turn off the lights, read a book or tell a story. Caught in a warm cozy bed and hearing the native soothing sounds of my mother’s voice, the baby is unlikely to be able to cope with a nap and will fall asleep.

Some babies, due to the physiological characteristics of the body at the age of three, generally abandon daytime sleep. In this case, it is important to ensure a good calm sleep at night. The baby should go to bed on time, especially if the next day you have to go to kindergarten.

The duration of the daily sleep of a child, like an adult, also depends on the time of year. In winter, the baby should sleep more, in the summer, when daylight hours increase, the body needs to rest about an hour less than usual.

An important role for calm falling asleep is played by the general daily routine in the family. If you put the baby to sleep, and in the other room, dad watches a funny show and laugh, there will be little sense. Agree with all family members living with you that the time of silence comes from 9 o’clock in the evening. It is not necessary for everyone to go to bed at this time, you just need to go to quiet quiet activities. Dim the lights in the adjoining rooms, make the TV quieter, stop loud conversations and laughter. Tell the baby that mom and dad also go to bed, then he will not be interested in further wakefulness.

For a good night's sleep, try to put the child early in the afternoon. We walked, dined and went to bed. Daytime sleep should be daily at the same time. The child’s body will gradually get used to, and falling asleep will be simple.

The deliberate formation of conditioned reflexes is possible only with a clear daily observance of the daily regimen. The psycho-emotional state of the child, his activity, the ability to learn new knowledge and acquire the necessary skills directly depend on the correct distribution of sleep and wake time.

To ensure comfortable falling asleep and a good sleep throughout the night, it is necessary to create certain conditions.

• Dress your baby in spacious clothes made of soft, body-friendly fabric. Make sure that there are no tight cuffs, ties, tight seams. If the child often opens, then the pajamas should be warm.
• When choosing bedding, make sure that the material is soft. After washing, you do not need to starch it, so as not to harm the baby's skin.
• Ventilate the room daily before going to bed. The optimum temperature for sleep is 18 ° C.
• When buying a bed, pay attention to make it comfortable and spacious. Pay special attention to the choice of the mattress, find out what it is filled with and check the quality of the fabric.
• Do not put your baby to bed if he is hungry. It is advisable that after eating a little time has passed. On a full stomach, going to bed is also not recommended.
• To prevent fear of the dark, turn on a dim night light.

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Subject to the above conditions, the baby will be cozy and comfortable, the sleep will be long and calm, which means that the child will be able to relax and gain strength before a new day.

Some quick tips for falling asleep

Preliminary preparation for bed is an important procedure, thanks to which you can correctly set the baby's biological clock.Lying down at the same time, the child’s body will get used to a certain rhythm and will independently signal when he needs rest.

The laying procedure can be a calm and enjoyable moment, ending the day, if you constantly follow the following rules.

• Create your own ritual of falling asleep. Gentle strokes, “hugs”, a gentle massage and gentle words will calm the baby and set him up for the sleep phase.
• Lay the baby every day at the same time.
• Create a dream-like atmosphere in your apartment: hang curtains, turn off the computer and TV, and dim the bright light. In the kid’s room you can leave dim lighting, and it’s better if you teach your child to sleep in the dark. So the dream will be much longer and calmer. The presence of bright lighting makes children restless and nervous.
• About an hour before bedtime, make sure that the child switches to calm games. If he is overexcited before bedtime, falling asleep can be difficult, and sleep restless.
• Make sure that the baby spends the day actively: walking in the fresh air, playing outdoor games. Having run up and tired, children fall asleep much easier, because the body needs rest.
• Come up with a ritual of activities preceding sleep: evening washing, reading a book or telling a fairy tale, a lullaby before bedtime, watching a good, good cartoon.
• The laying ceremony should be short.
• When choosing fairy tales, give preference to stories with a good ending, without violence and cruel scenes.
• If the child is overexcited, a warm herbal bath will help calm down and tune in to sleep.
• Have your baby fall asleep in company with a soft toy. Being in a room without a mother, the child will not feel alone.
• A few minutes spent in the mother’s arms will calm the baby and make it easier to fall asleep.

How to wake up a child: useful tips

1. Analyze the baby’s dream: how many hours he sleeps, what time he wakes up. If you wake up at night - how long after falling asleep it happens. A person’s sleep has several phases combined in a cycle. The easiest way to wake up between cycles, usually they are 90-100 minutes. That is, the child will be able to wake up faster and easier in one and a half, three, four and a half, six, seven and a half, nine hours of sleep.
2. If you don’t know exactly how many hours the baby sleeps, try to time the awakening to the “REM sleep” phase. Pay attention to the signs of the child’s behavior during sleep: he makes sounds, blinks, turns his eyes, the baby has rapid breathing, the baby is moving in bed - all this means that the baby is in a state of quick sleep. It is very easy to wake him up at such a moment, a gentle touch or a quiet call to wake up is enough.
3. Gently massage the ears, feet, palms, stroke, kiss - all these are much more effective methods for waking up in a good mood.
4. Turn on a dim night light or quiet, pleasant music.
5. If a child has to go to kindergarten or school, you should start waking him up as early as possible so that you have some time left to lie down and soak in bed.
6. If you spend a little exercise, lying in bed, or a light massage, sipping - the child’s muscles become toned, the blood accelerates, and the child’s body quickly goes into a state of wakefulness.
7. Make a pleasant morning ritualsto help fight moods and bad moods. Turn waking up into a game: whoever rushes to the bathroom faster, rush to wake up your favorite doll, look through the window what is happening there today, drink delicious cocoa. In other words, to find any reason to cheer up and charge the baby with positive energy.

How not to wake a child?

Abrupt awakening can frighten the child and cause him psychological trauma (not to mention the fact that crying and whims after that are provided to you), therefore it is unacceptable:

• to wake the child with a sharp command voice or scream;
• turn on loud music or an alarm;
• turn on bright light;
• pull off the blanket sharply;
• wake up in a hurry and rush the child.

All of these tricks and warnings are simple, but they must be followed with some persistence. Thus, the child will develop an internal regime, and awakening at the right time will cease to be a problem.

Why doesn't the child want to wake up?

In addition to knowledge of the methodology for the correct awakening of the baby, one should know the reasons that cause unwillingness to get up on time. If eliminated, the waking process will be easy and desirable.

While the baby constantly spends time at home, the daily routine is adjusted to his wishes: voluntary falling asleep and waking up. But when you have to change the regime to kindergarten or school, difficulties begin. To cope with them, you need to prepare. Parents need to familiarize themselves with the routine of the preschool institution, find out what time the kids eat, play, what time is the quiet time. If you gradually change to a new schedule, the child will not have problems with sleep and waking up.

An important condition for the full development and good health of the baby is a dream, it must be healthy, strong and calm. Only a well-slept baby can be easily woken up and not harm his health and mood.

We also read:

• How to wake a child in the morning in kindergarten: advice from a psychologist
• How to wake a child in kindergarten

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