Is it really scary that babies are always startled when they sleep?

Many parents always find that when their babies are sleeping, their hands will suddenly open, as if they are frightened, and then they will hold their heads with their little hands. This symptom mostly appears between 3-4 months and will occur frequently. In fact, this is not a fright, it is still very normal. This startle reflex is a vigilant behavior, but parents should not deliberately create a quiet environment for fear that the baby will be frightened.

Babies often startle suddenly after falling asleep. The baby had just fallen asleep a few minutes ago, but his little hand suddenly raised up and then quickly retracted. What happened to the baby?

After the baby is born, he will go through three stages: stimulation, application and inhibition in the next 3 to 4 months.

Therefore, it is normal for babies aged 0 to 4 months to be frightened.

As the baby's nervous system gradually develops, this startle phenomenon will disappear after the baby is 5 months old. If there is insufficient sensory stimulation and exercise, the startle reflex will remain, which will not only affect sleep, but also make children easily frightened in different environments and afraid to try anything new.

Parents should be particularly alert if their newborn's "startle reflex" shows the following symptoms :

(1) If a baby over six months old still has a clear startle reflex, there may be a problem with the brain's nervous system.

(2) If the startle reflex is not symmetrical, for example, if one arm does not react, there may be something wrong with that arm. The most common cause of this in newborns is "brachial plexus injury" or clavicle fracture.

(3) The startle reflex should be temporary and disappear in about a few seconds. If there is a continuous whole-body tremor, it is not normal.

Some babies like to cry at night, which makes parents worried and exhausted. What should they do? There is no crying without reason. There must be a reason why the baby cries. Is he hungry? Are you scared? Or are you feeling unwell?

If the baby suddenly wakes up from sleep with a painful expression, or crawls up and sits there, breathing rapidly or even sweating, the baby will fall asleep again naturally after a few minutes. Babies usually don't remember these night terrors after they wake up. The occurrence of this phenomenon is related to the temporary disorder of the baby's physiological functions during the development stage.

If the baby has night terrors, the mother should not wake him up. Instead, she can wipe his face with a hot towel and hold him. Afterwards, you can let your baby go back to sleep. Usually, you should cultivate good sleeping habits for your baby and give him enough rest time.

If a baby suddenly cries while sleeping, struggles and rolls around, with legs curled up and a pale face, and does not calm down even when feeding or holding him, the crying may stop temporarily if you gently rub his abdomen. This is mostly due to indigestion, which causes abdominal pain caused by intestinal spasm.

To reduce intestinal gas accumulation, hold the baby upright after feeding and pat his back to help him burp. If your baby has colic, lay him or her on his or her back with a pillow under his or her abdomen.

There are many reasons why babies cry. If you find that your baby, in addition to crying, is also sweating and has bald spots on the back of his head, then it is very likely that your baby is a little calcium deficient. Generally, with the needs of growth and development, the small amount of vitamin D originally in breast milk can no longer meet his need for calcium absorption and utilization. Calcium deficiency can affect the stability of nerves, thus causing babies to cry at night.