Why does a child cry in his sleep? Add your price to the Comment database. Why can a baby cry in his sleep without waking up, and what to do?

When children sleep, they grow. And it’s so nice to look at a calm child’s face, on which a smile may suddenly appear or, on the contrary, for a long time maintains a facial expression of serene calm. But sometimes it happens that a baby cries in his sleep. She starts crying suddenly, but very loudly, and often wakes up from this as a result.

The mother’s task is to immediately calm the baby so that the baby continues to sleep. After all, such interruption of sleep is not natural, and upon awakening the child will be sleep-deprived and capricious. To calm him down, you need to understand why the baby is crying. He himself won’t tell yet - he’s too young to share his troubles, so the mother has to guess what could have upset the baby.

It is known that infant may cry from pain, fear, despair and even boredom. In the first months of life, it is difficult for him to express his emotions other than by crying and - sometimes - smiling. But why does it happen that the baby cries a lot during sleep?

The reasons for crying can be different. The main thing is to remember: a child who is not disturbed by anything will not cry. Newborns do not yet have the skill of manipulation, so they will not cry just to attract their mother’s attention.

What can cause children's anxiety?

Living for 9 long months in mother's tummy, the baby gets used to the tightness and feeling of warmth. And once born, he may experience discomfort from excessive freedom. Many mothers notice that if the baby is tightly swaddled before bed, he sleeps better - precisely because he finds himself in familiar, comfortable conditions.

If the baby sleeps in a free position, he can sharply jerk his hand (babies often shudder in their sleep) - and thereby frighten himself. Or just suddenly feel lonely - and this will also frighten him. Even in adults natural reaction for fear - crying. What can we say about kids!

As soon as the mother takes her in her arms, the baby will smell her, hear her voice, feel “in a cocoon” - and fall asleep again sound sleep. And sometimes it’s enough just to lie next to the baby - and mother’s smell, mother’s presence will give him peace.

Hunger

How else can you tell the world what you want to eat or are thirsty? If you don’t yet know how to speak and explain with gestures, you can only rely on crying - it will force you to quickly come to you. Actually, it is precisely this consideration that the baby is subconsciously guided by when he wants to eat.

This is especially true for children whose parents feed on demand: in the first months it is difficult to calculate when the baby will want to eat next. But after 3 months he will begin to develop his own regime.

By the way, if a baby cries during feeding, it is no longer because of hunger, but because something is bothering him. For example, teething.

This is what will happen next reason which we will consider.

Teeth

It is known that teeth can begin to bother a baby long before they become visible: as they move through the gums, they sometimes cause very unpleasant sensations.

Sometimes you may notice that the baby sleeps soundly during the day, but constantly cries at night. It's a matter of human physiology: at night everything painful sensations much sharper, that's why toothache It also feels more acute just when a tired mother wants to rest.

To help your baby, you can:

take him in your arms;
give special remedy local action, which relieves pain (“Dentol-baby”, “Dentokind”, etc.);
give painkiller syrup general action(“Nurofen for children”).

If the baby constantly interrupts night sleep crying, it makes sense - but only after consulting with a pediatrician - to give him a course of painkillers before putting him to bed for the night. Thanks to this, your vacation will be relaxing and longer.

Diaper

“Toilet matters” can also be a reason for crying. Moreover, there are several specific reasons:

A full diaper is completely uncomfortable for the baby to lie in, and thus it notifies that it is time to change the diaper to a new, empty one.
Fear of urination - this process often frightens infants. Something wet is flowing down their legs, but they don’t understand what’s happening and are afraid of the unknown. As soon as the baby pees (you can tell by the fact that the diaper underneath becomes warm), he will continue to sleep peacefully.
Constipation - if the baby is bothered feces, he pushes, grunts, but cannot achieve desired result, he will cry. However, in this case, defecation will be accompanied by crying in the infant only during sleep, but also during wakefulness.

Colic

This, unfortunately, is a necessary stage in the development of every child. After the baby is born, microorganisms populate the gastrointestinal tract, and their establishment in the intestines is accompanied by colic. This - painful process, but it is important for the formation of certain microflora.

The gases suddenly begin to disturb the baby, which is why the crying happens sharply, loudly, and with tears. The baby will cry until the attack passes - and this can be up to several tens of minutes.

To make you feel better, you can give your baby anti-colic medications (Bebinos, Espumisan L, etc.), but only if the pediatrician has approved the choice of therapeutic medications.

Overexcitement

Sometimes the fact that the baby constantly cries in his sleep may also have psychological reason. If the baby is physically tired, but his nervous system remains in a state of excitement, he will sleep restlessly: the brain simply will not be able to rest. That is why it is recommended to take care of a quiet time two hours before bedtime - without active games, noisy cartoons, or new faces in the house.

And just before bedtime, you should bathe your baby, give him a relaxing massage, put him in a crib in a pre-ventilated room and sing a calm lullaby (or turn on classical music, sounds of nature or other “white noise”). This will calm the nervous system, and you won’t have to watch your baby cry through sleep.

Heat or, conversely, cold

Some children do not like being wrapped up tightly or, for example, being covered with a blanket. Others don't like to freeze. At the same time, it is also important that the process of heat exchange in a newborn differs from the same process in an adult body. And if the mother may think that the baby is quite comfortable, this does not mean at all that it is so. Perhaps the baby is cold or, conversely, he is too warm.

You can determine what your baby is feeling by simply touching his wrist: it is an excellent indicator. If the wrist is cold, it means that the child is cool, and it is better to wrap him warmly. But if it is hot or even damp (most likely from sweat), the baby can be safely opened - and then he can continue to sleep peacefully.

Discomfort in the crib

If the baby lies down on a hard toy, if hard folds have formed under him, if he lies across the crib and, accordingly, there is not enough space for him - of course, he will not keep everything to himself, but will voice his problem - by crying. In this case, it is enough to simply straighten the sheet under it, remove all objects from the crib and place the baby correctly.

Being a parent is not easy. It is necessary to understand the signals that a newborn gives, to understand why he cries in his sleep or cries during feeding. When the baby learns to explain, it will be easier. Well, for now all that remains is to guess and come to the answers through experience. But this time will pass- and it will pass quickly. And only pleasant memories will remain in your memory of how sweetly the baby smiled in his sleep, and sometimes even laughed, sucking the thumb of his little hand.

Every mother is familiar with baby crying at night, and often its cause is difficult to determine. We will try to tell you why a child cries in his sleep and what parents should do about it. different situations.

Newborn babies

Babies cry in their sleep when they feel the slightest discomfort: a wet diaper, cold or heat, tummy pain or hunger. So the crying of a baby cannot be ignored; you definitely need to approach the child.

Intestinal colic. Newborn babies often experience tummy pain. At the same time, they strain their legs, jerk them, and the babies pass gas. For such a case, you can purchase special drops or get by dill water and tea with the addition of fennel. And be sure to stroke the baby’s tummy clockwise - mother’s affection always helps ().
Lack of mother nearby. Usually newborn babies fall asleep either in their mother's arms or next to her. When a child stops feeling his mother's presence, he begins to cry in his sleep. In this situation, just take the baby into your arms until he falls asleep again. Or you can teach your baby to fall asleep on his own. To do this, be patient for 3 days (this is the period that allows you to retrain your baby). When your baby wakes up and starts crying, just be patient and let him fall asleep on his own. Although this method causes a lot of controversy. An article about
Teeth. At 4-5 months, any mother encounters the problem of teething. So, promptly purchase pain relief gel from the pharmacy and smear your baby’s gums before bed. Both your doctor and your pharmacist will help you choose the right gel. Article about the period
Hunger. Immediately after birth, babies should establish a feeding schedule. If you feed your baby according to his demand, then gradually he will get used to sleeping at night for about 5 hours and not waking up. But if you have made the decision to feed your baby on a “schedule,” then be prepared for nighttime crying and feeding demands.
Hot or cold room. Another reason why a child may cry in his sleep is a hot, stuffy or, conversely, cold room. Ventilate your baby’s room more often and maintain its temperature at 20-22 degrees.

A child cries in his sleep:

Note to moms!

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Children after one year

The question is why do children cry in their sleep? aged one year and older , deeper. Children after two years begin to have nightmares. The reason may be not only various experiences, but also banal overeating, disruption of the daily routine, or too active pastime before going to bed.

Nightmares can be caused by eating a heavy or heavy dinner. Let your baby's last meal be 2 hours before bedtime, but not later. Food should be light. A daily routine will help you avoid sleep problems. If baby is coming sleep at the same time, then his body does not have to experience stress and the likelihood of nightmares is minimal. With rare exceptions (trips, guests), the time when the baby goes to bed should not deviate by more than an hour.
To set your child up for rest, come up with a traditional bedtime activity. This could be reading a book or an evening walk. The main thing is that the activity is calm and the child associates it with getting ready for bed. Active games before bedtime leads to overexcitation. Not only does it become difficult for the child to fall asleep, but his psyche may react too aggressively to such fun.
One of the common reasons why children may cry in their sleep is playing computer games and watching TV. Nightmares can be caused not only by games and films with elements of violence, but also by harmless cartoons. Therefore, reduce your child's exposure to computers and TV, especially before bed.
Emotional turmoil may haunt your baby. This could be a conflict with peers, arguing in the family, anxiety before a test, fear during the day, resentment. If you notice that something is bothering your baby, then try to cheer him up before going to bed. Tell the baby sweet words, support him.
Nightmares can be caused by a fear of the dark. If your baby is afraid to sleep without light, then let him fall asleep with a night light. This will help the child feel protected and avoid unnecessary fears before bed.

Many children may cry in their sleep, and most often they will not. serious reasons for concern. Try to protect your child from negative emotions, support your baby, don’t be afraid to show your care and love. Be friends with your baby, watch him and sleep peacefully!

baby crying- the ability to convey information to parents about the lack of any need or the occurrence of discomfort.
A baby cries in his sleep for a number of different reasons. Every family goes through the test of crying. Let's look at the reasons for children's tears at night and how the whole family can live with them.

Newborn babies

Newborns need constant outside care. Tears are an alarm signal and should not be ignored.

An infant cries in his sleep.

. Internal organs babies get used to mother's milk or adapted milk formula. This process is often accompanied by colic in the intestinal area.
Pain. Symptoms such as: runny nose, (otitis media - inflammation in ear canal), cough. It is in a dream, when the body is in horizontal position, the exacerbation of diseases begins.
Mom isn't around. Children very quickly get used to their mother’s presence: body warmth, calm heartbeat and breathing, a quiet voice.
Teeth. Discomfort during teething accompanies every baby, starting from 5-6 months.
Hunger. A growing body needs regular feeding. The choice of each family remains with it, whether feeding will be on demand or by the hour.
Thirst. The body loses fluid and needs to be replenished.
The atmosphere in the room. Dry air in an unventilated room with high temperature create discomfort during sleep.

In children's tears there is positive sides. It is through sobbing that the lungs develop. There is nothing more effective than this method. 15 minutes of crying a day is preventative. The tears that we see on the cheeks also flow down the nasolacrimal duct. They contain lysozyme (an antibacterial enzyme), which contributes to a kind of antibacterial therapy.

Examples:

The baby pulls his legs towards his stomach, clenches his fists tightly, and shows activity. The crying is even and incessant. Taking the breast into his mouth, he falls asleep, but immediately wakes up with another cry. These are signs of colic in the intestines;
The baby was sweating, his clothes were wet, and the hair on the back of his head was matted. When you take him in your arms, the crying intensifies. These are signs of overheating. The temperature in the room where the child sleeps exceeds 18-20 degrees. In newborns, heat exchange is not yet developed, and it can regulate body temperature through breathing. It is easier to do this by inhaling cool air;
At first the baby cries quietly, then louder. Taking him in his arms, he shakes his head in search of a breast or a bottle. If he is not understood, the tears turn into a hysterical scream. It is also called hungry crying;
The baby begins to scream loudly and heart-rendingly and rub his hands on his face, eyes and ears. When pressing on the gums, the scream becomes stronger. This is teething, the baby cries in his sleep, because at night the pain always intensifies;
Intermittent sobbing (whines for 7 seconds, silence for 20, screams for 10 seconds, remains silent for another 20). This cry is a call. If you take a baby in your arms, he immediately calms down and becomes quiet;
. For such first-years, a cry can mean her loss. As soon as the pacifier is put in the mouth, the baby begins to suck on it and calms down.

Children over one year old

Children over one year of age are also susceptible to nighttime tears. They grow and there are more reasons to cry.

Reasons for crying at night in children over one year old

Binge eating. A child who overeats at night is subjected to heavy sleep with awakenings.
Failure to adhere to a routine during the day creates difficulties for child's body when falling asleep and throughout sleep.
Gadgets. and hobby computer games leads to the creation of frightening images during sleep.
Increased emotionality. Tears can be caused by an unhealthy atmosphere in the family, negative experiences during the day.
Nyctophobia (fear of the dark). There are children who various reasons afraid of the dark.
Overexcitement. Active games in the evening and fun lead to the same night.

Examples:

The child was offered to eat his favorite sandwich for dinner. He will be pleased, but fatty food may cause night screams;
Today the little one fell asleep at 21.00 (no nap), tomorrow at 23.00 (watching his favorite movie), the day after tomorrow at 01.00 (could not sleep). In this mode it is difficult to fall asleep, and even more difficult to sleep through the night;
The kid asked to play a little on the computer or watch a cartoon in the evening before going to bed. By allowing a little fun, you expose the child to memorizing unnecessary information that will haunt him in his sleep, causing terrible dreams;
Children over a year old become active even at night, and crying can mean inconvenience: an arm or leg gets stuck, gets tangled in a sheet, opens up, or covers itself with a blanket and pillow;
During the day, the little one witnessed a quarrel between his parents, lost his favorite toy, and did not learn a poem. These experiences can cause sleep disturbance;
Cheerful music or fun in the evening can overstimulate a child. It will be difficult to calm him down to sleep and throughout the night.

Anxieties and fears

Anxiety is a stable state of anxiety, characterized by frequent repetitions in different situations.
Fear is an emotional reaction to an external stimulus.

Children prone to fears and anxiety behave restlessly both during the day and at night. Such children don't sleep well, cry and scream a lot in their sleep. It is difficult to wake them up during an attack. They have increased heart rate, increased heart rate and breathing, increased sweating, increased blood pressure.

Types of fears:

Visual. The baby sees non-existent objects or images;
Impermanent images. The child dreams of simple pictures. Such fears arise in cases of serious illness;
Same. Such a dream always follows one scenario. Accompanied by movements, incoherent speech, urination;
Emotional. At the moment of emotional shock, the child experiences everything again in a dream. Accompanied by crying and screaming.

For children who show anxiety, a quiet, favorable environment should be created in the home. Parents should pay more attention, especially before bedtime. Read, talk, put you to bed, hold your hand. The main thing is that he feels your protection.

What to do if a child cries in his sleep

you need to pick him up and talk to him calmly. Crying? We try to feed, check the diaper, give a pacifier. We check the temperature, uncomfortable clothes, bed. Does the crying continue? The last option remains - pain. The cause may be bloating, ear inflammation, etc. Your pediatrician will help you with diagnosis and treatment.

Sometimes parents are surprised to note that their newborn baby can cry even in his sleep. Without waking up, babies whine and scream, shudder, wake up and fall asleep again. Fearing the worst, parents begin to look for an answer to the question of such behavior in medical reference books and ask for the opinion of children's doctors. However, there is no reason to worry. We will talk about why a child cries in his sleep in this article.

Causes of night crying

Spontaneous crying of babies during sleep is called physiological night crying. It rarely indicates illness. Typically, this behavior of a child is associated with an abundance of new impressions received during the day. Newborns and infants do not know how to express their emotions in any other way; they cannot tell, complain, or ask for help. The only means of communication available to them is loud crying.

Nervous system And motor functions The baby is not yet sufficiently developed. Any change in impulses passing through a complex system nerve plexuses, can cause crying. Night screaming in a dream most often has precisely these reasons - the peculiarities of the baby’s nervous organization. There is nothing dangerous, scary or alarming about this.

As the baby grows, his nervous system will become stronger and his perception will develop. He will learn to express his emotions - with a smile, facial expressions, gestures, and then words. The attacks of sudden night crying will stop. Another probable cause of physiological crying during sleep is transfer from fast phase sleep to slow. Even in adults, such a transition can be accompanied by the appearance of vivid dreams and involuntary awakening, let alone infants!

Yes, they also have dreams, and, according to children’s doctors, babies dream dreams while still in the mother’s womb. A baby’s sleep can become anxious and restless after the day’s experiences.

If there were a lot of guests in the house, if the child was given a lot of attention, if he was tired before bed, then with a high degree of probability his sleep will be very restless.

Psychologists point to another possible reason night roar in a dream - to the child’s psychological need for protection. Over the nine months spent in the mother’s womb, the baby got used to feeling protected and surrounded by his mother. After being born this feeling reliable protection things have shaken somewhat, because mom is no longer always around, and sometimes you have to call her loudly.

Short-term night crying and sobbing can be a kind of “check” of the parents to see if they are there or nearby. If the mother runs to hear the squeak, the baby can calmly continue to fall asleep. That is why it is most convenient to place the crib in the adult bedroom in the first months. Sometimes it is enough to stroke the baby’s back while he sleeps, and he calms down and calmly falls asleep again.

Normal physiological night crying is not long, heart-rending, loud, or persistent. It is more spontaneous in nature and does not repeat itself at the same time. In use sedatives and he does not need examination. If a child wakes up and begins to demand or cry sharply in his sleep, then it is worth considering other reasons for this behavior.

When does a child need help?

A baby can whine and scream in his sleep not only because age characteristics nervous system, but also for a number of others external and internal reasons who definitely need parental intervention.

Hunger

Newborns and infants up to about 6 months of age experience a physiological need for night feeding, or even more than one. Therefore, waking up and persistently demanding food is quite normal until a certain age. This kind of crying is persistent.

A child who wakes up hungry will not calm down and will not fall asleep again until he gets what he needs. The solution is simple - feed him and put him to bed again.

Discomfort

An uncomfortable bed, tight swaddling, irritating clothes - all these are reasons for waking up at night and demanding changes in circumstances. In this case, the awakening will be unsharp, gradual. First, the baby will begin to whine in his sleep, push, and “fidget.” Gradually the crying will become more persistent.

The baby will not calm down on its own. It is necessary to check whether the seams of his clothes are rubbing, whether his hands are numb in the diaper that was wrapped tightly, whether there are protrusions, holes, or uncomfortable folds on the mattress.

The issue of swaddling is a matter of family choice. But clothes must be seamless and made from natural fabrics that do not irritate the skin. Ideally, a child should sleep on a hard mattress without a pillow.

Unsuitable temperature and humidity

A gradual and smooth awakening with a transition from a sleepy whimper to a loud cry may indicate that the child is hot or cold. It’s easy to check - if the back of the baby’s head is sweaty, it means the parents have overdid it in heating the room; if the hands and nose are cold, it means the little one is cold.

In order for the baby to sleep comfortably, a certain temperature should be maintained - no higher than 20-21 degrees Celsius and a certain air humidity - 50-70%. 20 degrees on a room thermometer may seem too cool for adults. Children have different thermoregulation; they feel very comfortable at this temperature.

And too dry air leads to drying out of the mucous membranes of the respiratory organs, as a result of which it not only becomes more difficult for the baby to breathe, but also increases the risk of respiratory diseases.

Wet diaper

The key to a good night's sleep is a good, high-quality diaper that will “withstand” at least 8 hours. However, the excretory abilities of babies are different, and the baby can go to the toilet when absolutely necessary.

Waking up and crying with a wet or dirty diaper usually happens no more than once a night. Make sure that the diaper is not only dry, but also comfortable, does not pinch the sides and folds of the skin, does not hang loose and does not rub the baby’s skin.

Pain

Crying when feeling pain is difficult to confuse with anything else. Pain in children is associated with screaming at the reflex level. At acute pain The baby begins to scream heart-rendingly and sharply, immediately wakes up, and is difficult to calm him down. This happens, for example, with otitis media, with intestinal colic.

If the pain is aching or dull in nature, the child generally sleeps poorly, wakes up almost every hour, cries pitifully, protractedly, sometimes monotonously, sometimes without waking up completely. This happens when the first teeth erupt, with increased intracranial pressure which causes headaches.

How to improve your child's sleep?

Physiological night crying usually disappears on its own when the infant reaches 4 months of age. The nervous system of five-month-old babies is already more stable, although severe fatigue can cause sleep disturbances in them too.

To improve the sleep of a baby from 1 month and older, you should remember that The daily routine for a baby is very important. During the day, the baby should spend enough time on fresh air. All new impressions, games and acquaintances should be shifted to the first half of the day. In the evening, the child should not communicate with big amount strangers. Dimmed light, quiet voices, and a restorative massage before swimming will be beneficial.

If the baby does not sleep well, parents can try bathing in cool water according to the method of Dr. Evgeniy Komarovsky.

Don't overfeed your baby because this is also a common reason restless sleep at night. In the penultimate evening feeding it is better so that the child does not eat his fill, but in the last one, which completes all evening procedures, you need to feed the child enough, but not excessively. In a ventilated room with humidified air, a clean and fed child will sleep much more soundly.

Another reason why a baby may have trouble sleeping at night is excess nap. A newborn normally sleeps up to 20 hours a day. You need to create a regime in such a way that you need at least 12-13 hours of sleep at night. The rest of the time can be divided fractionally into daytime rest. If you cannot establish a routine, you should not let your child sleep during the day. Usually 2-3 days of such decisive and tough behavior from adults is enough for the regime to fall into place and the baby to start sleeping at night.

Other causes of night crying are also quite easily eliminated - a hungry baby needs to be fed, a damp baby needs to be changed. The most difficult thing to help a baby with is a painful cry at night, since it is difficult to understand what exactly is hurting him. A small cheat sheet will help parents with this:

The child screams and constantly pushes, draws in his legs, has a swollen and hard stomach - it's about colic. You can put a warm diaper ironed on your tummy and make light massage around the navel clockwise, give dill water or any drug based on simethicone - “Espumizan” or “Bobotik”. Typically, colic is a physiological “trouble” that goes away on its own when the child is 3-4 months old.

A child sobs in his sleep, and then wakes up and screams sharply, “gets upset” - the reason may lie in inflammation of the middle ear. Otitis media occurs quite often in infants. This is easy to check - by pressing on the tragus (the protruding cartilage at the very entrance to the auricle) the pain intensifies, and the child begins to cry even more. If there is no pus, blood or other fluid coming out of the ear, you can drip Otipax or Otinum, wait until morning and call a doctor.

If there is discharge, nothing should be dripped; you should not wait until the morning and call an ambulance.

The child whines in his sleep, worries, but does not wake up, and if he wakes up, he does not stop crying. Perhaps the reason for this behavior lies in teething. You should check the baby’s gums with a clean finger; if there are bumps that are painful to the touch, then you should use one of dental gels, approved by age - “Kalgel”, “Metrogil Denta”. They will alleviate the child’s condition somewhat, and he will be able to fall asleep.

Sluggish crying in a dream, similar to whining, which continues for a long time and is repeated several times a night, should alert parents. If at the same time the child’s “fontanelle” looks swollen and tense, it is quite possible that we are talking about about increased intracranial pressure. You definitely need to show your child to a doctor.

The child falls asleep well, but often starts in his sleep, cries in episodes 5-7 times a night, and wakes himself up. The reason for this behavior may lie in psychological discomfort. This is usually observed in families where there is a lot of rowing, quarreling, shouting, and conflict. Babies feel everything, they just can’t say anything yet, in addition, they receive cortisone from their mother’s milk - a stress hormone if the mother is very nervous and worried. Cortisone excites nervous activity. Certain nervous manifestations Parents will be able to notice the baby’s symptoms not only at night, but also after sleep. These are flinching, fearfulness, restlessness and moodiness. There is only one way out - stop making mom nervous.

And some more useful tips:

Night crying attacks always have a reason. But if a newborn usually cries only due to physiological needs - hunger, thirst, cold, then a two-month-old baby is already emotionally developed enough to cry in the middle of the night about bad dream, a frightening feeling of loneliness, defenselessness. Parents should approach each specific case taking into account the individuality and age of the child.
The true motives for whining and screaming in the dark will not immediately become clear to parents. During the first weeks, the baby gets used to the new environment, to the world around him, and his parents get used to the baby and get to know him. Gradually, by the nature of the crying, by the duration, intonation of the cry and other signals understandable only to mom and dad, they unmistakably guess what exactly the baby needs at one time or another. You just need to be patient.

Physiological night crying is a short-lived phenomenon. If it drags on for six months, it is worth showing the child to a pediatrician and neurologist. It is possible that there are other reasons that prevent your baby from sleeping well at night, and they may require medication.
Quite often, prolonged night crying and whims in babies are a consequence pedagogical mistakes of parents. If at first they taught the child to fall asleep in their arms, they rocked them, and then they began to try to make the baby fall asleep on his own. It is worth preparing for the fact that the baby will protest quite violently and behave badly and restlessly at night. But if parents show calm persistence, they will be able to overcome such difficulties.

A newborn child is, of course, a source of great joy for his parents and household members. If only it weren’t for one “but”... At times the baby screams and cries so heart-rendingly that parenting immediately turns into punishment... What’s happening? Is the baby hungry? Does he have any pain? Is he cold or tired? Or maybe he just likes to yell? In fact, recognizing the signs that your child sends you in the form of crying is not at all difficult...

It’s interesting that most parents, at the first sign of a child’s crying or anxiety, try to find salvation in... feeding. Although in reality, famine is far from the very first and obvious reason why does the baby start crying and yelling?

Main reasons why babies cry

Pediatricians around the world have long been researching and trying to systematize the reasons why infants plague their households with screams and roars. And in this area, specialists have already accumulated a fair amount of experience and knowledge. So, by and large, all the reasons for children’s crying and displeasure can be placed into three global groups:

Instinct
Physiological needs
Pain or discomfort

Let's take a closer look:

1 Instinct. Nature works this way that, up to the age of one or two years, human cubs are physically unable to cope without outside help. At first, they can’t even roll over on their own, let alone scratch their sore heel or shoo away an annoying fly from their face. Therefore, often, left alone (for example, the mother has gone to the kitchen or another room), the baby begins to express his dissatisfaction by whining or crying. Simply because instinctively he is afraid to be left alone with himself. But you just have to approach the child, smile at him, talk to him in a gentle voice, or take him in your arms - he immediately calms down.
2 Physiological needs. Everyone in the world, including babies, has a set of physiological needs that we satisfy every day. It includes: the need to eat and drink, the need to sleep and the need to relieve need. Failure to satisfy any of these needs naturally leads to the fact that the child begins to publicly declare this to the whole world - screaming and crying.
3 Pain or discomfort. If you took the baby in your arms and are absolutely sure that he cannot be hungry (physiologically baby cannot get hungry if less than 3 hours have passed since the last feeding), and he regularly fills his diaper, has a soft stomach, but it still does not subside - which means that the most likely reason for his crying is pain or discomfort: something somewhere It’s itchy or itchy, the baby is hot or sick.

Why does a child cry in his sleep or when he wakes up?

There are many reasons why a baby may cry in his sleep, or wake up and immediately cry. In fact, they are no different from those we have already listed above. At night, the baby may have dry mouth or nose (for example, due to the dry and warm climate in the room).

It is reasonable to act in this situation in the same way as usual. The easiest way to understand why exactly the baby cried and roared with “crocodile” tears is by experimenting and analyzing after what actions of yours he calmed down. You picked him up, kissed him, rocked him - and the baby fell asleep, which means the crying was instinctive. They fed him - and the baby began to sniffle contentedly, which means he woke up hungry. They changed a wet diaper or stroked a tense tummy, helping to “endure” intestinal colic - and the baby gradually calmed down, which means the reason for the crying was clearly pain and discomfort.

But it’s too early to blame any nightmares that make your little one wake up in the middle of the night and cry heart-rendingly. Night terrors can indeed be the cause of children's crying, but already at a much older age - about 4-6 years.

To understand why a child cries, analyze what calms him down

Any loving and observant parent, with the desire and some simple knowledge, sooner or later comprehends the science of recognizing children's crying. For example, instinctive crying always stops as soon as a loved one takes the baby in his arms. And if this does not happen, look for the reason in physiological needs or discomfort. In other words, check your baby's diaper, remember the last time you fed him, check if he's hot, etc.

By the way, if you took crying baby in your arms, and in your arms he began to yell more strongly than before, then most likely the reason for the “scandal” is that the child is hot.

Infants tolerate stuffiness and too warm a microclimate especially poorly, because at this tender age their sweating system has not yet been established, and the only way restore the thermal exchange available to the baby - this is his breathing. At the same time, the baby’s nasal mucosa very quickly dries out and becomes clogged, which causes severe discomfort. And when you take such a baby in your arms, your size makes him even warmer - that’s why he screams even louder. Just undress the baby, ventilate the nursery and clean the child's nose.

It often happens that an outwardly healthy, active, moderately cheerful and not whiny child begins to scream and cry. In this case, the most probable reasons dissatisfaction - too bright light from the lamp (which, naturally, hurts the kids’ eyes, because they are usually always bathed facing the ceiling), or uncomfortable water temperature during the dive. You can experiment with both so that the baby no longer makes trouble while bathing.

2 good reasons to let your child scream a little

In fact, in infant crying one can see not only negative sides, but also positive and useful. And these advantages of a baby’s cry are worth it to sometimes refrain from instantly reacting to an infant’s roar, but to stay away and let the child scream a little. These reasons are the following:

1 Screaming is the most favorable circumstance for the development of the lungs. Indeed, in no other situation do a baby’s lungs develop and strengthen as effectively as during crying and screaming.
2 Tear fluid, which is formed during crying, enters the nasal cavity through the nasolacrimal canal. Due to the presence of lysozyme protein in the tear fluid, which has a very powerful antibacterial property, all bacteria in the nasal cavity simply die. Thus, we can say that crying (with profuse lacrimation) is an excellent antimicrobial therapy.

In most cases, a child's crying is not a big deal. And in almost all cases, a logical explanation can be found for it, and therefore a child’s problem can be solved. To do this, you just need to take simple steps:

Take the baby in your arms (if he does not calm down and continues to yell, then the reason for the crying is not instinctive);
Satisfy needs - feed, create conditions for sleeping, change a diaper, give a pacifier, etc. (if even in this case it does not calm down, it means that pain and discomfort are probably the culprits of the child’s yelling);
Check to see if the baby is comfortable, if there is any irritation on his skin (which is usually very itchy and itchy), if he is not hot, etc. And only in the last option, when all other reasons have already been swept aside, can we assume that the baby is crying because of pain.
Most often, pain in infants is caused by a disease such as. Or intestinal colic. Just don't despair! In both cases, the baby can be helped. An experienced pediatrician will tell you how to do this as quickly as possible.