Lyudmila Sergeevna Sokolova
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Article last updated: 03/31/2019
When a child is born, parents want to believe that their child will eat well, sleep well, develop quickly, and have little pain. Unfortunately, the reality is far from ideal. A parent’s heart breaks when a mom or dad hears their child’s heartbreaking cry. I immediately want to turn to the classics. Who is guilty? So what should I do? Why does the baby break?
For a 3-month-old baby, crying is the only way to notify the world that something is wrong with him.
What exactly is a child’s favorite thing before going to bed? For what reason does he cry while falling asleep or constantly wakes up crying? Let's try to figure it out.
Features of sleep of a 3-month-old baby
- superficiality;
- sensitivity;
- reverse alternation of sleep phases;
- lack of time of day recognition.
Dream infant more superficial than an adult and more sensitive - this is absolutely normal. Any person's sleep consists of 2 phases deep sleep at the beginning of the phase and restless (rapid eye movement) sleep at the end. For babies under six months, everything is exactly the opposite.
In a dream, a child can smile, laugh, cry (sob), and toss and turn intensely. At the same time, his eyes may be slightly open. There is no need to rock him to sleep, he is sleeping. And there is no need to worry about this either. This phase is necessary for adequate functioning nervous system. A baby does not know about the change of day and night, he eats when he is hungry and sleeps when he is tired, he needs to be accustomed to the regime accepted in human society. If for some reason it turns out that the baby slept for a long period of time several times during the day and walked around at night, he will continue to behave this way unless you try to retrain him. Therefore, if you are trying to lull a child who has slept well during the day, expect a roar.
Peculiarities of the psyche of a 3-month-old infant
The newborn's nervous system is not mature enough to short time to cope with the volume of data that has fallen upon her. His psyche is protected from overload by long sleep. If there is too much information and emotions, by the evening the nervous system is overloaded and “goes into overdrive.” The child would be glad to switch off and fall asleep, but he cannot. He tries to relieve excess tension by crying. One can especially clearly trace the dependence of crying before bed, while falling asleep, or during sleep on new impressions. For example, relatives came to visit, cuddled the baby, and lisped. The child liked everything, he behaved perfectly, and before going to bed he threw a tantrum for several hours, did not fall asleep after feeding, and calmed down after 24.00. This is a classic example of the nervous system reacting to too many new experiences.
In such a situation, there is an opinion that the child has been “jinxed.” Psychologically, this opinion is not entirely groundless. Not in the sense that someone has a “heavy” look, or some grandmother is running around the house with the head of a severed rooster. And the fact is that too much information that bombards a child with the arrival of people unfamiliar to him leads to overstimulation of his nervous system (new smells, new voices, different energy). The baby's psyche simply cannot cope. He needs to “discharge” somehow. And he reacts in the only way available to him - he cries.
Even when you are walking with your child, it is better to keep him “facing you” most of the time. The baby, of course, is interested in looking at everything around him, he may even “insist” that you carry him “facing away from you.” But this must be done very moderately, since for a baby such a large overview means unlimited access to external information, which arrives at all analyzers at too high a speed and without interruption. Some kids even switch off and fall asleep from an overdose of information, “hanging” from their mother’s arm.
When the mother holds the baby facing her, he can bury his face in her, thus reducing the flow of information when he gets tired. Probably many have noticed that when a child approaches stranger, he, as if embarrassed, hides his face in his mother’s chest. Thus, he isolates himself from information that he is not ready to process. Too much information is just as bad as too little information. It inhibits the adaptive functions of the body, the development of the psyche and nervous system.
If the child eats normally, defecates, urinates, no visible reasons no, but you often carry your baby “facing the world”; don’t be surprised that he often cries before bed even after feeding, while falling asleep and during sleep, sleeps restlessly and constantly wakes up. For 3 one month old baby information (at the level of emotions, impressions) needs to be dosed. And increase its volume gradually.
A child can be absolutely healthy, not overloaded with anything, his parents follow his routine, and yet he cries before going to bed. The baby eats normally, falls asleep after feeding, but then wakes up roaring and “boils water” for a long time. This is possible if the psychological climate of the family is in a state of storm. Children are very sensitive to the emotions of their parents, especially their mother. Her nervousness is transmitted to the baby and affects the quality of his sleep.
What makes an active baby whiny?
Many parents complain that their child often cries before bed even after feeding. Some babies cry for a long time. Why is this happening?
There may be many reasons, but if you asked a child and he could answer in a language that adults could understand, it would all come down to three simple things:
- hurts;
- eat;
- sleep (but I can’t sleep).
At the age of 3-3.5 to 5-5.5 months, parents often complain that the child cries before bed or while falling asleep. At 3 months he may still be bothered by colic. If the tummy hurts, the baby will not be able to sleep, and even after warming up on his mother’s chest, he will whine in his sleep. It is also not surprising that without carminatives, the baby sleeps poorly and constantly wakes up. Usually by this age observant mothers additional features understand whether the child’s stomach hurts or not. And the pediatrician is already provided with information about which remedy is best to give him.
It is believed that a baby's first teeth appear by the age of six months. If mom took multivitamins and specialized complexes with vitamin D, I can start teething at 4 months. In some cases, babies are born with teeth or they appear at 1-2 months, although this is not considered the norm. In any case, teething is not a one-day process. The gums may periodically swell and itch. This bothers the child, makes his nervous system more sensitive to external stimuli (more excitable) and disrupts sleep; the baby can constantly wake up and twist his head, as if trying to scratch his gums.In case of difficult birth, caesarean section or fetal hypoxia, the baby may have neurological problems. For example, increased intracranial pressure which is accompanied by headaches. If the child is maternity hospital or in the first month after discharge for some reason they did not do the mandatory neurosonography, it needs to be done. Perhaps, based on the results of the examination, the reason for the child’s prolonged crying before bed will become clear.
If your child cries all the time before going to bed and does not calm down long time, and it is difficult to rock him to sleep or he shudders a lot when falling asleep, constantly wakes up or wakes up crying, his chin sometimes trembles, show him to a neurologist.
Many parents are in no hurry to show their baby to specialists because they think he will “outgrow it.” If there was intrauterine infection, difficult childbirth, fetal hypoxia, the child may experience an accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain (sometimes its amount is insignificant, sometimes hydrocephalus develops) or the newborn may develop cysts in the brain for the same reasons. Such cysts resolve within 6-12 months, some without medical intervention. But it is up to a specialist to decide whether treatment is necessary. A child who has “outgrown” the problem by the age of six months may have problems in the future.
If a child is hungry, he will not be able to sleep. Children infancy are unable to fight the feeling of hunger. The child eats when he wants and cries when he is hungry. Even if you somehow manage to rock the baby to sleep, after 20-30 minutes he will wake up and cry with even greater ferocity.
If a child eats well, is not too overloaded with information, does not have respiratory diseases, but still often wakes up crying, sobs and twitches in his sleep, how can this be explained? Initial stage rickets. Rickets is another reason why a child may cry before bed, in his sleep, or wake up frequently. It manifests itself in the form of increased fearfulness, obvious signs anxiety without significant reasons, irritability and crying before bed. When falling asleep or during sleep, babies shudder violently.
The first thing that comes to mind when a baby cries is that he is hungry. But he doesn’t eat, or eats little and continues to cry after feeding. But these can be wet diapers or an overflowing disposable diaper; they can cause not just discomfort, but also pain when urinating, especially in boys. An overfilled diaper puts pressure on the penis when it rests against the thick layer.
A child’s restful sleep pleases parents, allowing them to fully relax and go about their business. However, sometimes going to bed in children is accompanied by prolonged falling asleep, painful screams and severe hysterics. The child screams before going to bed, seemingly without any reason, it is impossible to calm him down. Child hysteria is understood as a state of excessive emotional arousal of a child, manifested by loud screams, crying, aggressive and inappropriate behavior. Particularly severe cases of hysteria can result in convulsions. However, for the most part, children's tantrums are the norm and are easily explained. Why does a child scream before going to bed? Knowing the nature and causes, you can prevent and prevent hysteria, and also understand whether you should seek help from a specialist.
A child is born with not yet fully formed systems and organs. Thus, children develop the skill of distinguishing day from night only a month and a half after birth.
Infants have a different sleep structure from adults, with short and rapidly changing phases:
- An adult's sleep has 4 phases;
- In a child, the third phase is formed by the first year of life.
The baby's sleep begins with superficial or fast phase when the nervous system and brain are actively working, digesting information received in large quantities during the day. Also during this period, muscle activity is observed that can frighten and wake up the child. Transitioning from one phase to another can also cause your baby to scream and cry in the middle of the night.
In children under 4 years of age, the nervous system is designed in such a way that excitation processes dominate over inhibition processes. The exception is 10-15% of children who can feel overexcited and cope with it.
Here are examples:
- Only little phlegmatic people can fall asleep on their own without the help of their parents.
- Choleric children painfully fall asleep due to excessive excitement characteristic of this type of temperament.
- Sanguine people have a large supply of energy, which allows them not to get tired for a long time and interferes with the process of falling asleep.
The developmental characteristics of a child allow him to begin to independently cope with overexcitation only by 3.5 years, and in practice, six months later. Until this age, it is easy for a child to become overexcited and requires a lot of work to calm down. For this reason, children scream and cry, especially before bed, when they need to relax.
Our ancestors were not afraid of children's crying. In their arsenal in case a child is hysterical before bed, there were lullabies and fairy tales, as well as various nursery rhymes to distract and calm an overexcited child.
Overwork overtakes the baby quickly and imperceptibly: one minute he was playing, and the next minute he can no longer control himself, screaming and crying like a knife. Parents are perplexed by such sharp changes moods and cannot understand the reasons.
Being able to notice the signs of approaching fatigue in time is a complex behavioral skill that not all adults have, and in children it is formed only by the age of 4.
Increased excitability is far from the only cause of children's tantrums before bed.
Along with overexcitation, there are some psychological factors that prevent a child from falling asleep peacefully:
Children under 2 years of age cannot clearly articulate why they cannot sleep. Therefore, they often throw tantrums and cry before going to bed. This is the only way in their arsenal so far to show that something is bothering them.
Reasons for contacting a psychotherapist or psychologist may include: following cases:
- if a child over 10 years old is afraid to sleep alone without light, talking about fantastic creatures hiding in his room (schoolchildren already perfectly distinguish between the boundaries of fiction and truth);
- if a child throws tantrums before bed, afraid to fall asleep, screams loudly and cries bitterly in his sleep, talks about death;
- if the child shows signs panic attack: uneven breathing, loss of consciousness and more.
Even in the absence of these signs, parents should not ignore children's fears and worries. A common fear of the dark in a small family member without taking appropriate measures can lead to mental and nervous disorders. Children's fears, hidden deep in the subconscious, can be the cause of uncertainty and complexes in adulthood.
The child grows and develops, changes occur in the body, sometimes causing discomfort.
The following physiological factors are noted that make a child cry and scream before bed:
The screaming and crying of a small child can cause pain syndrome or the presence of a hidden disease. When a child regularly has difficulty falling asleep, sleeps restlessly, looks tired and loses appetite, it is necessary to seek help from a doctor as soon as possible.
Most The best way fighting children's hysteria is its warning.
Some simple tips will help you develop the skill of observing your child, promptly recognizing an impending hysteria and taking measures to prevent it:
It is not overwork, but good fatigue that allows you to fall asleep calmly and quickly. City children are often prone to night hysterics, especially in the autumn-winter period. They are unable to spend enough physical strength to get tired. The fatigue they get from watching TV, running around the house and playing with toys that bore them is not enough to proper development And good sleep. Children need muscle activity and a moderate amount of new experiences: morning exercises, walks at any time of the year, active games fresh air, communication with peers, classes in sports sections and studios.- One of the main tasks of parents is to control the level of arousal of the child. The baby should not be bored, but impressions (visual, auditory, motor, social) should be strictly dosed. Each child has his own measure of impressions that are beneficial to health. The problem is that a child under 4-5 years old cannot feel it on his own. This is where the parent comes in, who should intuitively feel and see this line. Attentive parents can silently identify changes in their child's behavior that indicate that he is close to overexcitement and fatigue. One begins to laugh loudly, another begins to whine, a third begins to move faster, falling and hitting objects, and for a fourth, the tempo of speech and the volume of their voice change. You need to know these “bells” well, notice them in a timely manner and take action without waiting for the child to become hysterical.
- To accustom your baby to the waking and sleeping patterns, you need to actively communicate with him during the day, not create the illusion of night with closed curtains, and not maintain complete silence during his daytime sleep. Parents can talk to each other, do something around the house, listen to music quietly or watch TV. However, you should avoid sharp and loud sounds that can wake up and frighten the baby. At night, on the contrary, it is necessary to exclude bright light, gradually teaching the baby to fall asleep in complete darkness. 2 hours before going to bed, you should set your child up for rest and relaxation, avoiding emotional stress, active games and loud laughter.
- Co-sleeping with a baby has two sides of its manifestation. On the one hand, the baby is comfortable and calm next to his mother, and the mother has the opportunity, without getting up, to quickly put the baby to bed in the middle of the night while breastfeeding. The other side is not so pleasant - the baby’s sleep is restless, with shudders and sobs, especially if it was preceded by hysteria, disturbs the mother during the night and does not allow her to fully rest. The longer the baby stays in his parents' bed, the more difficult it will be to wean him from this habit without hysterics. It is better to immediately accustom the child to his crib, and in the future, if possible, allocate him a room or a small corner in the apartment. Personal space creates good self-esteem, feeling self-esteem and importance for the child.
- It is important for a calm and timely fall asleep to follow certain rules, a kind of ritual that sets the child up for sleep. Children willingly perform traditional, familiar and familiar actions. First, you need to decide on a clear bedtime and prepare for it in advance together with your baby. You can collect the toys and wish them good night, then go into a warm bath with a relaxing infusion of herbs or essential oils and wish the toys in the bath sweet dreams. Reading a book, watching a program " Good night, kids!”, massage with a drop of aromatic oil, singing a lullaby while rocking in your arms, and much more that is dear to parents from childhood and finds a positive response from the child. It is useful to quietly talk with your baby before bed about how he spent the day, about his interests, impressions and friends. Warm hugs and conversations before bed, for at least 15 minutes, calm the child’s nervous system, improve falling asleep and normalize his sleep. However, in order to avoid emotional arousal and, as a result, prolonged falling asleep, these rituals must be clearly limited in time. After the ritual of going to bed, you should put the baby in his bed and wish him good night.
If a child resists and cries, this indicates that he has formed incorrect associations about sleep. In this case, you need to patiently and firmly follow the established rules, without giving in to the child’s resistance or requests. You should not follow the child’s lead, pick him up, endlessly rock him to sleep and sing lullabies. It is much better to calmly explain that it is time to sleep, sit next to the crib, and pet the baby. It is important to remember that the child needs to grow up, and the process of rocking oneself in one’s arms delays this moment.
Daytime sleep is necessary for a child to relax, restore strength and relieve stress. Many children resist and refuse to sleep during the day. If parents cannot resist the pressure of their child, Negative consequences in the form of overexcitement and nightly hysterics will not take long to appear, and it will be difficult to return to the previous daily routine.
Experts believe that children need daytime rest before starting school.
Particularly excitable and emotional first-graders under the influence new environment and loads, they still need daytime sleep for a long time. According to general standards According to the daily children's sleep recommended by pediatricians, a child from 6 to 12 months needs two daily sleep periods of 1 hour and 20 minutes. Children 1.5-3 years old need a daytime rest of at least 1.5 hours to feel comfortable.
Norms child development They say that by the age of two, a child should be able to fall asleep on his own. By this age, many send children to kindergartens, where the ability to fall asleep calmly and without the help of adults is an important point. Sleep habits and associations are difficult to change. However, there are moments at the child’s age when this is easiest to do: up to 6 months, at the time of weaning from breastfeeding, at the time the child begins to communicate in phrases. The task of parents is not to miss these moments and use them to normalize the right habits that will be relevant for a child up to 7-8 years old.
It is important to know if the baby has no deviations in physical and mental development, then the reasons for his hysterics lie in family relationships, difficulties of socialization and incorrect assessment of the baby’s behavior. It is important to understand the causes of children's tantrums, prevent them and help the child by guiding and correcting his behavior. This painstaking and lengthy work requires a lot of patience and consistency from parents.
Joint efforts, search for compromises, perseverance and love of parents will save the child from hysterics before bedtime and make his childhood happy and joyful.
When children sleep peacefully, parents are only happy; they have the opportunity to do something around the house or just relax. However, babies do not always rest for the 16-20 hours they are supposed to, sometimes going to bed is accompanied by real hysterics, the child begins to scream and it is simply impossible to calm him down. Moms and dads are shocked by this behavior, they panic and sound the alarm, because something is clearly wrong with the child. However, in most cases, screams are the absolute norm, their origin is easy to explain. Let's try to figure out what the cause of this condition may be, how to eliminate it yourself, and when you should seek help from a doctor.
Features of babies' sleep
When a baby is born, its nervous system and many other organs and systems are not yet fully formed. Children do not know how to distinguish day from night; they develop this skill only at the age of one and a half months. Babies also have their own special sleep “scenario”. Their rest begins with a fast phase, when the brain works and muscle activity may even occur, then a slow phase begins, during which the whole body shuts down. These phases change more often than in adults, and the transition from one to another, as well as the process of falling asleep itself, may be accompanied by screams or crying.
To help your child quickly adapt to the regime of wakefulness and rest, you need to entertain him with active communication during the daytime, do not close the curtains in the room, even when he is sleeping, and do not maintain silence. Parents can talk to each other, turn on the TV quietly or go about their business, but too loud sounds should still be avoided, they can scare the baby.
But at night you should close the curtains tightly, not talk to the baby or play with him, even if he wakes up. To help him calm down and not get scared, leave a dim nightlight on in his room. These activities will help children fall asleep faster and prevent tantrums before rest.
Psychological Factors in Crying
The organization of the baby’s nervous system is imperfect; he has not yet developed an inhibitory mechanism that quickly switches the brain from wakefulness to rest. The baby does not know how to cope with his emotions and express them correctly, which is why parents often encounter screams before bed.
Let's consider what psychological reasons can lead to this condition, and how to deal with them:
Physiological reasons
A child's crying and screaming before bedtime can be caused by physiological factors. Babies develop and grow, their bodies often undergo changes that are not always pleasant.
Also, concern can be caused by the natural needs of a toddler - it is through crying that he signals to his parents that he needs something.
Let's look at the most common problems that can cause babies to throw tantrums before a night's rest:
- Teething.
Experts say that if an adult’s baby teeth erupted, he would hardly be able to endure such severe pain. But babies cope with it, but still feel quite strong discomfort, especially if several cloves climb at once. Unpleasant sensations can occur in children 2-3 months before the start of teething, at which time they try to put their hands in their mouths, sleep restlessly and become irritable.
When teeth are approaching, the gums become red and swollen, the child may develop a fever, and often experience constipation or diarrhea. In this case, they will come to the rescue special gels, which have an analgesic effect and make the tissues more loose, helping the teeth to break through to the top. You can also use antipyretic drugs for children, or give the baby special silicone chewers.
- Colic in the stomach.
With the birth of digestive system baby appears new task- digestion of food. To cope with it, there must be a certain microflora in the gastrointestinal tract, but it is completely normalized only in the third month of a toddler’s life. Until this time, he may experience colic in the tummy, due to which night sleep often disrupted by crying and screaming. It is quite easy to recognize this problem: the child is passing gas, he constantly tightens his legs and jerks them.
The fight against this problem is to alleviate the baby’s condition. Mom can stroke his tummy clockwise, make a warm compress, for this you need to moisten the diaper in hot water, cool to a comfortable temperature and apply to the baby’s tummy.
It will also be useful to teach him to sleep on his stomach, so the gases will go away faster and cause minimal discomfort. In particular difficult cases Doctors may prescribe fennel tea, dill water, or special drops to improve microflora.
- Hunger and thirst.
Children are most often fed on demand rather than on a schedule. It is likely that evening cries are associated with the baby's hunger. Before going to bed, you definitely need to feed him, but not too much, since a hearty dinner can cause nightmares.
When the child is on breastfeeding, make sure he sucks everything completely from each breast. First comes the foremilk, which contains almost no nutrients, and only then - fat. If the baby drinks only fresh milk, it is likely that he will want to have another meal before going to bed.
- Cold and heat.
Temperature environment It can also prevent your baby from falling asleep normally. If the room is too stuffy, he will toss and turn, scream and be capricious; the same behavior is guaranteed when it is too cold. It is important to create an optimal microclimate that will promote proper rest for the little one.
In the cold season, you can additionally turn on the heater, but place the crib at a great distance from it and at the same time humidify the air. The temperature in the room should be between 20-21° C, and humidity - 50-70%.
On hot days, you can use the climate control system, which will purify and cool the air. Never turn on the air conditioner in the nursery; it can cause hypothermia.
- Uncomfortable sleeping place.
A child's whims may be due to the fact that he is simply uncomfortable sleeping. Pay attention to the crib, whether it is too small for a toddler, whether the mattress in it is of suitable rigidity, or whether the pillow is too high. Perhaps this is the reason for the constant screaming.
Uncomfortable clothing can also cause discomfort; it should be light, made of natural materials and not hinder movement.
Carefully inspect your toddler's bed; even a small wrinkle in the diaper or sheet can interfere with his peaceful rest.
Make sure that your baby's diaper is dry; even innovative absorbent systems cannot fully protect the baby from moisture.
Let's summarize When a child screams periodically before going to bed, you can find the problem of his anxiety and eliminate it on your own. However, if tantrums continue for several days in a row, this is a serious reason to contact a therapist. This condition may indicate various diseases
that need urgent treatment. If the baby does not get proper rest, there may be problems with his physical and psychological development
Your baby, your little happiness, before going to bed for the night, turns into a scandalous monster that simply drives parents crazy with its crying. And these are not empty whims! Most likely, your baby tells everyone around him about his problem.
Obvious problems include colic, teeth, colds and other diseases. In this case, you should pay attention to the health of the baby. But if the child is healthy, then the cause of the evening whims should be found in overwork. For babies aged 4 months and up to 6 years, the optimal time to start night sleep is from 18.00 to 20.00. Most parents adjust their child's daily routine to fit their own routine or established stereotypes, and as a result, they cannot understand why the child cries before bed. As a child, my parents always had a bedtime at 21.00, so they try to put their little one to bed at this time. But The biological clock Children work completely differently than we sometimes want. Early bedtime promotes quality sleep and prevents overwork, and therefore moodiness.
Often, problems with lying down occur in those children who previously suffered from colic. Such babies feel comfortable and sleep well only next to their mother, but now the mother goes to bed much later than the child needs! As a result, the baby cannot fall asleep without a guarantor of his peace of mind and becomes overtired.
Also, working parents who come home late at night often experience their child’s whims before bed. Mom and dad simply don’t have time to play with the baby and carry out all the necessary rituals before bed. As a result, he goes to bed late, gets overtired, and releases accumulated stress hormones by crying and screaming. In this case, it is better for parents to put the baby to bed early and postpone communication until the morning. This way, your baby’s sleep will not be disturbed, and you will get real pleasure from communicating with a well-rested baby.
It will be easy for you to notice the symptoms of fatigue in your toddler: rubbing eyes, hairs, yawning, less interest in games and the world around him. If you see such signals, and the time on the clock is already 18.00, then it’s time to get ready for bed. To help you fall asleep peacefully, create and perform a sleep ritual every evening that will put your baby in the right mood. A ritual means a certain sequence of simple actions that will calm the baby. This could be a massage, bathing, reading a book, a lullaby or something else. Be sure to create conditions for your baby to fall asleep: darken the room, create silence. If you pay attention to your baby's signs of fatigue and respond to them in a timely manner, he will fall asleep without tears or whims.
If your child cries a lot before going to bed, if the baby does not get enough sleep, sleeps insufficiently or poorly, then do not refuse professional help. Olga Snegovskaya is a well-known consultant on children's sleep, which will certainly help you cope with the problem that has arisen.
Contact details: phone +7 903 0117303, e-mail [email protected]
Cry small child no one thinks it’s something surprising or unusual. On the contrary, a baby who whines or roars loudly and bursts into tears is a common occurrence. The baby's parents strive to help him get rid of the cause of his crying, sometimes without knowing at all what actually caused it.
So, not all mothers understand why the baby suddenly began to cry, for example, before going to bed. The real reasons for shedding tears and crying loudly, as well as ways to calm a baby, are in this article.
Contact between the baby and his mother begins in the womb. This connection is inextricable; it runs like a thin thread through their relationship throughout their lives. How better conditions mother during pregnancy, the calmer the birth and the first months of the baby’s growth will be.
Many parents say that during the day the child is simply a miracle - he plays, sleeps, eats, without problems or whims, but before bed the child constantly cries out of the blue for no reason. As soon as mom takes him in her arms, he hides in her chest or shoulder and can bend. This behavior further confuses young parents.
Different nature of crying
The tearfulness of a child under one year of age is the only way to convey to adults information about the need for something. Healthy baby He won’t whine too much, he’ll calm down as soon as he’s in his mother’s arms. Tell me why infant cries before going to bed, maybe the volume and intonation of the voice.
- Hunger, cold, heat, a soiled diaper are accompanied by whimpering. Satisfying the baby's needs will return him to the kingdom of sleep.
- If there is arching, the baby clenches his fists or stomps his feet, it is likely that something hurts. Crying sounds inviting, like a request for help.
- The baby relieves nervous tension with tears: after whimpering quietly, after a while he will begin to sob loudly for a long time.
It is important to know! As the baby gets older, he understands that with the help of crying he can not only talk about the problem, but also manipulate his parents. In this case, tantrums show the toddler’s “acting skills,” and tears are just work for the public.
Types of causes of excessive tearfulness in the evening
Tired mothers and fathers do not always notice the factors that cause the child to cry. Many parents misinterpret sobbing: believing that the baby burst into tears due to hunger, they immediately stop the birth with a breast or a bottle. This often happens due to inexperience or carelessness. When the baby begins to cry, first of all you need to clarify what caused his tears.
Health problems and physical discomfort
Strong screaming and crying is the baby’s attempt to say that he doesn’t like something. Sobbing speaks either of unnoticed but noticeable unpleasant little things by the baby, or of the development of an illness - an independent analysis of the child’s behavior and well-being will help to understand what is bothering him.
Sometimes the baby starts crying immediately after bathing. This is due to the fact that it leaves its familiar environment and enters cool air. Crying baby will calm down as soon as it warms up.
Instability of emotional background
The baby is small, but a person. He is able to sense the negative atmosphere of the surrounding world. Negative impressions will have a bad effect on the child’s falling asleep and sleep itself: he will not be able to fall asleep due to thoughts and personal internal experiences. There is a high probability of bad dreams and nightmares.
Sometimes the reason for crying before bed is fear. In the dark, the child will not be able to see his parents or feel that they are nearby. The baby is also afraid of separation. For him, his mother is his only support, protector, and assistant.
Advice! The baby may cry because the parents came to his aid. There is an opinion that the baby feels tired and dissatisfied with his mother, and therefore begins to cry even more.
Baby crying before nap
Sometimes a baby cries when falling asleep during the day, although there is no apparent reason. One of the reasons is the lack of fatigue. The baby will not be able to sleep, he still has too much energy. You can spend it by taking a walk in the yard, preferably an active one. The baby will want to sleep on his own as soon as his strength runs out.
Another reason lies in anxiety: the mother leaves, and the child is left alone, defenseless and helpless. If nap is impossible without the main person nearby, it is likely that a stable habit has developed to constantly sleep together.
Advice! When the time comes to put your baby to bed, do it calmly, don’t stress and don’t think about the plans you want to complete while your baby is sleeping. Do not forget that the baby will feel everything, any tension will cause tears and hysterics.
Ways to stop constant crying
To ensure that your child falls asleep without tears and hysteria, it is necessary to determine the source of the problem. Take a close look at your baby’s behavior, diet and routine. Visit a pediatrician, neurologist, tell us about the symptoms and changes you notice.
An infant's sleep at night is sometimes disturbed by nightmares. If the baby dreams of something bad caused by the events that he experienced during the day, he will wake up every time after bad dream. This is especially true for excitable, impressionable and restless children. Protect your baby from factors that could cause shock. Sometimes a child may be frightened by the arrival of a relative, for example, a grandmother. All his life he had not seen anyone except his parents, and then suddenly a stranger appears and takes him in his arms. The baby will arch his body, trying to dodge and run away, naturally to the accompaniment of hysteria and tears.
It is important to know! It is important not to forget about the fear of separation - because of it, the little one can cry every evening, afraid of being left without his mother. If this problem is not solved now, in the future things that are commonplace for older children, such as going to kindergarten, will be accompanied by severe hysteria.
Pediatricians on the importance of routine moments
Sometimes the baby cries before falling asleep due to extreme fatigue. The reason for this may be the parents who disturb the internal rhythm of the baby: they say, let him fall asleep when he wants. Violation of the sleep-wake pattern is expressed in whims and hysterics, the baby rubs his eyes.
But sometimes the opposite happens: a child begins to cry when a clear schedule is imposed, if his parents force him to eat, write, walk, or sleep. Trying to do the best, they forget about individual characteristics. This is a very serious mistake, which in the future can affect the development and behavior of the baby. For the same reason, a child cries after sleep. Doctors call this condition “inertial drowsiness”: awakening has occurred, but it is very difficult to come to your senses.
It is useful to instill in your baby the concept of the need for sleep, but this must be done correctly and carefully. Give your baby the opportunity to burn off his energy reserves so that he gets really tired.
Medicines and herbal medicine
You can stop your baby's crying by using medicines(if the pediatrician prescribes them). They will help when a child cries in pain, or are taken as a sedative. "Espumizan", "Sub-Simplex" and other means have a positive effect on eliminating discomfort. If the child’s whim has no obvious reason, use valerian infusion: one drop will help calm the baby. It is important to know! Medicines should be given only according to the doctor’s recommendations.
If a child cries a lot before going to bed, use herbal decoctions with a sedative effect while bathing. Many experts recommend turning to them in case of mild excitability in children, so that the overly active baby calms down.
How to behave while crying: a guide for parents
First of all, in this case, you should calm down. It was mentioned above that the child will feel the mother’s irritation, which will make her cry even more. The baby also worries if mom doesn’t like something. The advice of Dr. Komarovsky, a famous pediatrician, will help relieve your baby from whining.
Advice! Unfortunately, until a child learns to speak coherently, crying will always communicate his needs. Parents need to endure this period steadfastly, but not indulge. Responding to every child’s “whine”, mothers and fathers will turn from caring loved ones into servants, and tears and whims will take on the appearance of a system.
Do not forget about maintaining a sleep schedule, eating regularly, but in moderation. Create a ritual after which the baby goes to bed. Be sure to prepare a bath for your baby before bed.
Conclusion
Taking care of a little person is a real art. The process of parenting requires parents to balance on a fine line between cold severity and all-encompassing care. The right approach to care for the baby will provide him normal conditions development and growth.
A child's crying before bed often has an age-related nature. Don't be afraid to try to fix the problem. You must be prepared for anything, endure hysterics and try to help the child in any way possible.
The responsibility of parents is to monitor their health and routine, maintain conditions for sleep and wakefulness, and visit a doctor. If only the baby was calm and healthy.
