Why is my five and a half month old baby not sleeping well?

We all know that as the baby grows day by day, life will become more and more regular. Especially for babies over five months old, they have begun to add some auxiliary materials appropriately, and their sleep has become more and more regular. The daytime sleep time will gradually decrease. However, many parents will find that their baby is already 5 and a half months old and still does not sleep well. Such symptoms often make parents particularly worried, fearing that it will delay the baby's growth. Let's take a look at why babies of five and a half months old do not sleep well.

Why is my five and a half month old baby not sleeping well?

1. Lack of trace elements and low blood calcium levels will cause increased excitability of the brain and autonomic nerves, resulting in the baby's restless sleep at night. Calcium and vitamin D supplementation is needed. If calcium is deficient, the baby's fontanelle will not close well; if zinc is deficient, the corners of the mouth will generally ulcerate.

2. Too hot or too cold

3. Too dry, with mucus in the nose

4. Don’t play too excitedly before going to bed, go to bed on time: 0.5 to 1 hour before the baby goes to sleep, the baby should be calmed down. Don’t play too excitedly before going to bed, and don’t tease the baby too much. This prevents your baby from having difficulty falling asleep due to being too excited or nervous. No stimulating TV shows, no tense or scary stories, and no new toys. Create a good sleeping environment for your baby. The room temperature is suitable, quiet and the light is dim. The covering should be light, soft and dry. Let your baby urinate before going to bed.

5. Pay attention to whether there are pinworms outside the anus.

6. Many mothers think their babies are hungry when they see them wake up crying at night, and then they feed them. In fact, this is a very bad habit. Doing so will instead cause the child to develop the habit of wanting to breastfeed when he wakes up at night.

7. Indigestion, indigestion, getting angry or eating too much at night can also cause restless sleep. It is recommended to feed solid foods such as porridge and noodles at least two or three hours before going to bed, and then drink a little milk before going to bed.

8. Breastfed babies are addicted to milk. (This is a common situation for many breastfeeding babies)

9. If you must breastfeed at night, please pay attention to:

Try to maintain a quiet environment. When feeding or changing diapers at night, do not let your child wake up completely (it is best to be semi-asleep). In this way, it will be easier to fall asleep after feeding and changing diapers.

Gradually reduce the number of feedings and do not let your child develop the habit of feeding at night.

10. If your baby wakes up at night because he wants to pee, I think he should be given a diaper so that his sleep will not be affected by holding him to pee. If you use diapers, they must be too tight.

11. When you find your child is sleepy, put him in the crib immediately. It is better to let your baby fall asleep on his own if you hold or rock him to sleep every time. Then whenever he wakes up at night, he will need you to hold him or rock him to fall asleep.

12. Do not let your baby fall asleep with a pacifier in his mouth. Pacifiers are for babies to suck milk, not for sleeping. If some children fall asleep with a pacifier in their mouth, please gently remove the pacifier before putting them to bed.

13. When a baby aged 4 to 6 months old cries, do not react immediately. Wait for a few minutes, because most children will fall asleep again naturally after waking up at night for a few minutes. If the child keeps crying, parents should go over to comfort him, but do not turn on the lights, play with him, pick him up or shake him. If the baby's crying gets worse, wait two minutes and check again, and consider whether he is hungry, has urinated, has a fever, or has any other signs of illness.

If the baby has no other reasons for discomfort, a large part of the reason for waking up frequently at night is habit. If you hold him or feed him immediately every time he wakes up, it will form a vicious circle. It is recommended that when the baby wakes up at night (he should be groggy), do not hug him immediately, let alone tease him. Instead, pat him immediately, comfort him and try to make him fall asleep. Generally, if a baby is in a drowsy state, he will slowly fall asleep.

When he grew up, he would sometimes wake up at night and hum. At first I had to hold him all the time, and then he would wake up completely, and it would take him a long time to fall asleep again. Later I thought maybe he was dreaming, so I just watched him from the side without disturbing him. Sure enough, after a while, there was no sound and he continued to sleep.

14. The quilt or sleeping posture is uncomfortable

15. Separation anxiety (commonly known as "shyness", called separation anxiety in English). This is most serious when the baby is 9-18 months old. In addition to being attached to/unwilling to be separated from parents and very familiar people, he is afraid of strangers and has a strong sense of self-protection in unfamiliar environments. I just made some suggestions and hope it helps: 1. Don’t coax or pat your baby for too long before going to bed. Leave before your baby falls asleep and let him/her fall asleep on his/her own. Don't let an adult hold your baby while he or she is sleeping. 2. Spend a certain amount of time playing intimately with your baby during the day, so that he/she can realize that mom and dad love him/her very much and will give him/her plenty of care. 3. Play hide-and-seek with your baby to make him realize that even if he can't see mom and dad, they are actually around him. 4. Take your child outside often and don’t keep him/her at home all day, only familiar with the home environment.

The above is an introduction to why a five-and-a-half-month-old baby has poor sleep. After understanding it, we know that there are many reasons for this phenomenon, such as the baby is not full or has some illness, so parents must pay special attention when taking care of the baby. In addition, do not let the baby be too tired during the day, because this will also affect the quality of sleep. If necessary, you can take the baby to the hospital for examination to see if the body lacks trace elements.