Why do children sleep less?

Babies who sleep less, especially those under three months old, tend to be fussy and cause headaches for their parents. In fact, generally speaking, babies are reluctant to sleep because they are too excited, sleepy but can't fall asleep, or it may be too hot or they feel uncomfortable because of the heat. If all these are ruled out, it is very likely that the baby is feeling unwell, such as calcium deficiency or colic, or lack of some other trace elements.

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 child fall asleep on his own if you hold or rock him to sleep every time. Then whenever he wakes up at night, he needs to be held or rocked 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 your baby cries, don’t react immediately. Wait for a few minutes, because most children will fall asleep again naturally after a few minutes after waking up at night. 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 cycle. 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.