Paraphrasing folk wisdom, we can say that food is the food of the body, and sleep is the food of vivacity. Mom's firsthand knows that a well-rested baby is cheerful and cheerful, he plays with pleasure, thus pleasing his parents. But if a child does not sleep well during the day, then it starts to seem to us that this is wrong and can be associated with some kind of health disorders. Let's see why the child does not sleep during the day, and whether this is the norm.
Sleep is a natural need of the body for rest. According to most pediatricians, it is a calm, prolonged sleep at night - an indicator of the normal functioning of the child's body. As for daytime sleep, it is influenced by several important factors: emotional and physical stress, general health, the surrounding situation (air temperature).
How much should a child sleep in the afternoon?
The norm of daytime sleep of a child up to a year is difficult to calculate by some formulas, because the periods of wakefulness in infants are from half an hour to 2 hours, and the rest of the time it takes a dream. Sleep can be as long (1-2 hours), and short - 10-15 minutes, mainly during meals. In total, a child from 1 to 2 months sleeps about 18 hours, from 5-6 months - about 16 hours, from 10 to 12 months - about 13 hours.
The child's day sleep after a year acquires more distinct boundaries: the child sleeps longer, but also remains awake for several hours in a row. Usually children from 1 to 1.5 years go to a two-day daytime sleep lasting from 1 to 2 hours. Children from 1.5 to 2 years sleep once a day for 2-2.5 hours. Children after 2 years sleep 1 time a day, but they can not sleep at all, and this can be considered normal if night sleep is at least 11-12 hours.
How to teach a child to sleep during the day?
Thanks to unconditioned reflexes, a child who has just been born already knows how to eat and sleep, but he still has a lot to learn. For example, the ability to quietly fall asleep children learn throughout the first year of life, and often parents need to make some efforts to ensure that the child was able to fall asleep independently.
- Begin to lay the baby a little earlier than he will have time to overtire. Do not wait until it wears off. Some excitable children, overwrought, begin to cry and be capricious, and this prevents them from falling asleep. Do not wait for the baby to rub eyes or yawn, start the "lulling" process 10 minutes earlier. A child of up to a year will help fall asleep at the right time applying to the chest, a child from one year to two - a lullaby song or a slight wiggle in his arms, the child after two years will calm down from reading books or a fairy tale before going to bed.
- Do not teach your baby to sleep on the move (in a car, stroller or on their hands), because that's how the child does not fall asleep deeply. You can use the movement only to calm the baby, but when he falls asleep, you need to shift it into a comfortable crib, where he will calmly and firmly sleep.
- Accustom the baby to the "rituals" of going to sleep. During the day's sleep, the ritual can be dressing pajamas, reading your favorite book or singing a lullaby, and before bedtime, add bathing and feeding. Such light, at first glance, rituals can help a child of any age fall asleep at the same time.
- Establish clear rules where the child should sleep. To teach a baby to sleep in his crib is not easy, but if for some reason you are uncomfortable sleeping next to the child, you need to have patience. According to statistics, children sleep better in the parent
beds and with pleasure in it fall asleep. Therefore, if you are ready to give him your place for a quiet sleep, then there is nothing wrong with that.
The result of any sleep (day or night) should be active wakefulness. If a child cries after a day's sleep, then some of the rules written above, was not met. For example, a child anxiously slept because of a bad and long sleep, or after a dream found himself not in the parental, but in his bed.
In any case, a child who sleeps a little during the day but is active and cheerful should cause less fear than a child who sleeps all day.