Five common parental mistakes that prevent a baby from sleeping

Very often, parents who are worried that their baby does not sleep well do not notice that they are partly the cause of the problem, although they act with the best of intentions. By indulging their child, accustoming him to sleep in perfect silence, in transport or on his hands, to feeding before bedtime, they form wrong habits that not only complicate their own lives, but can also subsequently cause serious sleep problems in children. We repeat the same mistakes. How to avoid them? We listen to the following tips from experienced professionals.

No need to run up to the child “for every squeak”

Of course, it is necessary to listen to the calls of the baby and check whether everything is in order. But do not headlong to run to the crib, barely hearing the groaning of a sleepy child. Children often make various sounds in their sleep, but tend to calm down very quickly. After a minute, it makes sense to go quietly and, for example, straighten the blanket if necessary. Do not accustom your child to the fact that parents are ready to come to him on demand, because as he grows up this can bring new problems to both you and him. Sometimes, even at school age, children continue to habitually come to their parents' bedrooms. No need to indulge the vagaries of a grown child - he must understand that the regime should be respected.

Give your child a chance to calm down and fall asleep on their own. You will be surprised, but in half the cases this is exactly what will happen.

Feeding should not be associated with sleep.

Many mothers prefer to finally feed the baby before putting him to bed for the night. This is the same mistake that many mothers make - breastfeeding directly before going to bed. This is wrong, since subsequently the habit will form of falling asleep exclusively on the hands of mom and with breasts in the mouth. And now every time the baby wakes up at night, you have to feed him before he can fall asleep, because otherwise he simply does not know how to fall asleep. It is important to understand that falling asleep is a skill that can be trained. Ideally feed your baby at least 20 minutes before falling asleep.

All wrong habits associated with sleep should be corrected only after the child is four months old.

Feed your baby in the wrong room where he will sleep so that food is no longer associated with sleep.After the baby eats, take him to the crib, and then sit next to him, so that he feels that he is protected, he is loved. But you do not need to hold the baby in your arms at this moment.

Do not strive to create perfect silence while sleeping

The mistake is made by those parents who believe that the newborn should sleep in absolute silence. Firstly, such conditions are almost impossible to create in the daytime, if you do not live in a private house away from people (after all, in city apartments no one is safe from the fact that your neighbor will suddenly have a desire to ring the doorbell or drill a wall), and You’ll have to minimize your activity at certain hours. Secondly, the child himself will subsequently encounter difficulties, because no one will indulge them all his life.

If a child from birth gets used to falling asleep only in deathly silence, then you will have to observe this silence for the next 3-4 years. To tiptoe, in no case do not slam the doors, put the phone in silent mode forever and replace the usual windows with soundproof ones.

In infants, the nervous system is only forming, they can easily sleep in the presence of household noise (creak of floorboards, a truck driving in the street, the sound of a boiling kettle, a quiet conversation of relatives in the next room, etc.). This is normal.

If the baby learns to sleep in moderate noise, then neither the dog barking nor the doorbell will wake him.

Do not teach your child to sleep in the car

Many parents who often travel with children in a car or public transport, noticing that they fall asleep well on the road, prefer that the baby rest on the road - they say that his activity and opportunities to know the world around him are still limited because of the car seat. If you need to travel close, you do not need to practice such a dream on an ongoing basis - the child will quickly get used to it, and there is nothing good in it: the baby will easily fall asleep in motion, under the "motion sickness" of the car, and then it will be difficult for him to learn to do it on his own. Try to distract him with some games or go on the road when he recently got up. However, it’s okay if the child occasionally sleeps in the car, when he is really tired or if you have a really long, tiring journey ahead. But do not forget that at least 2/3 (or at least half) of the time allotted for his sleep, the child must spend in his bed.

If a child regularly falls asleep in a car or other form of transport, then his brain will begin to associate a feeling of movement with falling asleep. During a short trip, distract the child in every possible way, preventing him from falling asleep. If falling asleep in transport cannot be avoided, then do not be discouraged - just make sure that 50-75% of all the child’s sleep falls on the bed in the room.

Hands of loving parents - a pleasant, but not the right place to sleep

Young children often fall asleep when they are rocked in their arms. It’s bad when other options are not even considered. The kid should understand that the most suitable place to sleep is a bed. A spoiled child may not spend hours getting away from her mother’s hands, leaving her no opportunity to do household chores, and sometimes even eat. When they put him, he screams loudly, not wanting to part with her. Soul and body contact is very important, but the child needs to be made aware that mom also needs to rest. She will remain nearby, but the baby needs to form a habit of falling asleep in the crib. If the child refuses to do this, reaches into his arms (and he was already three months old at that time), this can easily be fixed as follows: take him, calm him down and put him back to bed before he falls asleep. This can be repeated several times until a positive habit is formed.

A joint dream, which many experts and mothers themselves consider useful for a child’s health, does not mean at all that you should replace your baby’s bed with yourself, ”says Judith Owens, head of the Center for Pediatrics and Sleep Disorders at Boston Children's Hospital, USA. - If you still made this mistake, then when the baby is three or four months old, try the following: put a sleepy but not yet sleeping baby in a cradle. If he cries, take him in his arms, calm him down, but do not let him fall asleep, and then repeat the procedure. Your task is to ensure that the baby's bed is associated with sleep.

We also read: We teach a child to sleep in his crib separately from his mother (video, real stories)

Do not take to heart the comments of people who raised their children differently and do not agree with your methods. If you see that this or that method really suits both you and the baby, ignore the objections of the advisers. They may be able to realize their ideas by raising their own children, but it will be better when you begin to take care of the comfort of your family members yourself. The child will respect you from an early age and know that you wish him only good.

We also read on the topic of sleep:

• Why does a child sleep poorly at night: how to establish a child’s sleep?
• Why does a newborn baby startle in a dream?
• When the baby starts to sleep all night
• How to put a child to sleep without tears and vagaries
• Can a newborn sleep on his stomach?
• The child is a month old and does not sleep well during the day (reasons)
• An ingenious trick - how to put a child to sleep in 1 minute
• 6 things to help the baby fall asleep

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