Why does a child cry in his sleep? A small child cries in his sleep: reasons

Frequent nightly baby crying is familiar to many mothers. There can be a great many reasons for this, and parents should know what to do in such situations. There are significant differences between babies' crying before and after one year of age.

Why do newborn babies cry?

Newborns may cry because they are hungry or have a full diaper, because the room temperature is high or low, because intestinal colic or gas workers. In any case, the baby’s crying cannot be ignored, despite various reasons.

Gas and stomach pain

To save your child from this problem, you need to stroke his tummy warm hand clockwise or take the baby in your arms and hold him vertically with his tummy facing you. In this position, the throttle will go away painlessly, and the baby will be calmer next to his mother.

To prevent crying for this reason in the future, you need to purchase dill water or fennel tea for children. You can buy special drops at the pharmacy.

Mom's presence is needed

Most mothers, in the first weeks of their baby’s life, rock them in their arms or let them fall asleep next to them, and then transfer them to separate crib. Feeling the warmth of the mother, the child sleeps peacefully, but as soon as he stops feeling it, he begins to cry. This problem can be solved in two ways: take the baby in your arms every time he cries or teach him to sleep alone. The child will relearn very quickly, it will take only three days for the baby to sleep peacefully even in his mother’s absence.

Cause: Teething

For this reason, crying begins at about four months, when the first teeth erupt. You can help your baby by lubricating his swollen gums with an anesthetic gel before bed. Which drug to purchase should be consulted with a pediatrician or pharmacist.

The child is hungry

Mode breastfeeding in newborns it is established very quickly. Feeding the baby on demand helps the baby to calm down and gradually get used to sleeping for several hours at a time at night (from five to six hours). But the child may not like feeding strictly according to a schedule. Perhaps the baby cannot stand the time between feedings and really wants to eat. Then he will “give signals” to his mother by crying.

Air temperature in the children's room

Children may wake up at night because they are hot or cold. It is recommended to ventilate the room before evening sleep. IN stuffy room the child will feel uncomfortable. The average room temperature should be from nineteen to twenty-two degrees.

At one year of age, a child's crying during sleep may be more deep reasons- too much active behavior during the daytime, heavy feeding before bedtime. In the third year of life, children may have nightmares due to emotions, feeling unwell, grievances and other negative emotions.

Rich and too high-calorie dinner

Do not feed your baby in the evening less than two hours before going to bed. A full stomach will not allow the baby to fall asleep on time according to the usual daily routine. Dinner should consist of light foods. Maintaining a daily routine will also help prevent nightmares during sleep. In rare cases, a child may go to bed an hour later if this is due to a trip or a holiday and guests.

Increased activity and overstimulation during the day

It is recommended to set active children up for sleep and prepare for it. Do not allow playing shortly before bedtime active games. Make it a daily tradition to read a bedtime story or take a walk around the fresh air. This type of exercise will not only help you calm down, but will also set you up for positivity, which is very important for good sleep. Do not try to put your child to sleep by screaming or using other forms of aggression. This will negatively affect not only the baby’s sleep, but also his child’s psyche.

Computer and TV

Even ordinary children's cartoons, and computer games Moreover, they can disturb the baby’s sleep. Children are not recommended to be near a monitor or TV screen shortly before bedtime.

Negative emotions

Nightmares in children often arise because of a tense family situation between parents, because of an insult or fear received, because of fear for someone or anxiety before some event. The child needs moral support and understanding from adults. Only close people can cheer up and calm the baby.

Fear of the dark

The easiest way to overcome this fear is to turn on the night lamp. Calm child will have good dreams.

Communicate more with your child, constantly take an interest in his problems and help him solve them. When there is complete trust in the family, then everyone will sleep peacefully.

Children's hysteria in a dream (video)

You are wrong to believe that newborns and infants cannot speak. How can they! Every time the baby starts to cry, he tries to convey to those around him, and mainly to his mother, that he needs something from her. There are many reasons why a baby may cry, but mothers find it especially alarming at night. Why does a baby cry in its sleep?

The reasons for a baby's tears during sleep can be divided into two groups:

• Baby is uncomfortable
• The child is sick

But there can be many internal sub-items here. Let's figure it out in order.

From this article you will learn:

I am hungry!

Most main reason The baby's worry was always the notorious feeling of hunger. From birth, a baby knows exactly the main formula of his life: hungry - screamed - fed. It may seem too frequent for a mother to demand a crumb of a late dinner, but each baby has its own needs, its own routine, and in the first months of life it simply may not be there yet.

The main task of the mother is to answer the baby’s call and feed him on demand. If the baby immediately calms down, it means it’s clear why your baby cries in his sleep - he just loves his mother’s milk too much!

I'm wet!

There are such capricious and gentle creatures that from the first days of their lives cannot stand discomfort. Just think, he peed himself, you say, this is the norm for a baby. But for your baby this may be just a dissonance - if he feels moisture on his skin, he will scream furiously until you change his diapers. In a relationship little need Nowadays, this behavior of a baby is rare, since modern diapers almost completely keep the baby’s skin dry.

But few kids are ready to put up with more serious toilet matters. And it doesn’t matter to him whether you, mommy, want to sleep at this moment. So, before you wonder why your baby cries in his sleep, first check his diaper.

I feel uncomfortable lying like this!

Do not forget that a newborn baby cannot roll over on his own or change the position of his legs or arms. And then remember yourself: how many times do you turn over during the night? If your baby cries in his sleep, change his position in the crib, but be prepared for the fact that he will not fall asleep right away. After all, the little creature was already nervous and upset. He now needs to be lulled and calmed down. Gently pat his butt or shoulder, stroke his eyebrows, forehead, and crown.

If the reason was the inconvenience of the position, then he will quickly calm down. The main rule here is to be patient and not to get nervous. It is very difficult to wake up endlessly at night, but this is your test. If the mother is nervous, the baby will definitely not fall asleep!

I've had enough sleep and I'm bored!

Are you wondering why your baby cries in his sleep every night? Analyze his sleep and wakefulness patterns. Try to give him less sleep during the day, play with him more, so that at night he recovers the amount of sleep he lost during the day.

I'm overexcited and can't calm down.

This is a more serious problem, since it cannot be easily solved. The mother has two main solutions: during the day it is necessary to very clearly control the baby’s routine, uniform alternation of sleep and wakefulness, bathing before bed, temperature and humidity conditions in the room. The entire microclimate at home should work for the child’s comfort, and not vice versa. Otherwise, the baby will still be tense and unstable. nervous system.

The second way (if the first one did not work) is to contact the pediatrician and ask to be prescribed sedatives. This could be a banal infusion of valerian herb or pharmaceutical analogues. Here, under no circumstances can you give any advice, since only an experienced doctor will determine what exactly your baby needs.

I feel hot/cold/dry/humid/unpleasant (underline as appropriate).

Monitor the microclimate of the room less vigilantly than monitoring your child's stool. The world around a newborn baby should be a cradle for him. For a child under one year old, even an overly heated room is already stressful. Use thermometers and humidifiers. Under no circumstances should you dry diapers in your baby’s room, do not place oilcloths under the sheets, which will make him sweat, and be sure to ventilate the room during the day.

I miss you! This is probably the most common reason babies cry in their sleep. They insistently demand to sleep next to their mother, and sooner or later they win this battle with the mother who is trying to discipline the baby. There are some babies with whom it is impossible to argue - they will scream until their mother takes them to her bed.

Baby cries in his sleep due to illness

I'm itching.

Allergic reactions at such a tender age are a common phenomenon. Moreover, the rash can be not only on the baby’s cheeks or buttocks, but also on internal organs. This makes the baby very uncomfortable, he really suffers, and this is especially acute at night, since all diseases worsen in sleep.

It is important not only to help the baby get rid of itching, but also to completely eliminate the allergen. The mother should reconsider her diet, think about what surrounding objects may interfere with the baby, and may have to feed antihistamines, which are prescribed by the pediatrician.

My tummy hurts.

If your baby asks for the breast too often at night, but does not calm down at all, then there is a high probability that he is suffering from colic. Babies have an unconscious reflex to discomfort in the abdominal area - they perceive any troubles as a need to satisfy hunger. That’s why they are so greedily looking for a breast or a bottle.

But the problem is not solved, and the child cries in his sleep again and again. Then you need to help the baby get rid of the pain. Espumisan, dill water, Plantex and other analogs - only with the permission of the pediatrician. Warm diapers or warmers on the tummy sometimes solve the problem. A gas tube is also one of the options, but only after consultation with at least a visiting nurse who will show the mother how to use the tube.

One of the flawless effective methods to combat night colic is to place the baby with his tummy on the mother’s chest or stomach. Mother's warmth and smell, a feeling of closeness, like before childbirth, when he was so comfortable inside, mother's soothing voice and gentle hands - these simple manipulations often solve the problem of a baby crying in his sleep.

I got sick!

Temperature, discomfort, muscle pain, stuffy nose, sore throat and many other symptoms of an incipient disease can cause a baby to cry in his sleep. What do you recommend here? Just call a doctor at home! Give your baby more affection, attention, don’t let him go, if he is very restless, try to distract him by feeding, rocking him to sleep, rocking the crib or carrying him in your arms. When a child is sick, he needs maternal attention no less than drug treatment!

Most parents perceive a child’s crying as absolutely normal, because it is just a way to convey information about some of the baby’s needs to adults. Although in most cases the reason for crying is on the surface, there are also situations when it is problematic to guess the child’s wishes expressed in this way. If a child cries in his sleep, and does this regularly, some parents are capable of truly panicking - what if the little one is faced with a serious problem and needs the help of doctors?

For this reason, the question of possible reasons for crying in a dream is of great interest to young families, but we will try to answer whether it is worth worrying about in this situation.

Baby sleep specifics

Most often, it is children under one year old who cry in their sleep, and if a similar problem is observed in older children, then they can often express in words the reason for what is happening. This is why we will not consider children preschool age, let's concentrate on the babies.

Here you need to immediately clarify that if a child under one year old shudders in his sleep, groans, jerks his legs, arches, or even sobs, then there is actually nothing strange or bad about it.

The fact is that kids spend most of their rest in the so-called “ REM sleep”, which is also typical for adults, but only at the moment of falling asleep and immediately before gradual awakening.

Similar difference from adult norm caused by the rapid development of the child’s brain, as a result of which the nervous system virtually never rests. It is in this phase of sleep that a person sees dreams, so it is not surprising that parents can observe a visible reaction to what is happening in the form of:

• “Running” pupils with eyes closed;
• Active movements of the limbs;
• triggered sucking reflex;
• Grimacing;
• Various sounds, including crying.

Such phenomena are called “physiological night crying,” and according to doctors, they do not indicate the presence of any irritant.

In some cases, such an irritant may actually be a dream, in which the baby may find himself in uncomfortable or even frightening conditions - in such a situation, even a much older child talks in his sleep, screams and cries. In general, crying is a common way to release emotional stress, so the baby’s tears in his sleep, if he does not wake up and quickly calms down, should not cause concern.

Psychologists also believe that with the help of physiological crying, children instinctively check the situation around them - is the mother ready to come to the rescue if something happens? That is why, by rocking a baby who has not yet woken up in time, you can make sure that he continues to sleep.

Experts do not advise calming the baby too actively, because he himself is not going to wake up yet, and zealous rocking can easily interrupt his sleep; in this case, it will be enough to rock him lightly or even just quietly hum something - the little one will subconsciously understand that everything is in order and will fall asleep again.

If the child does not observe any reaction, his brain signals insecurity, and then the baby wakes up and begins to scream much louder in order to attract the attention of adults.

Approximately by the end of the first year of life, this reflex of “scanning” space should disappear.

Too many emotions

In the first months of life, the baby does not have a sufficiently developed psyche for what is happening around to evoke any strong emotions - in fact, he reacts only to discomfort. However, at the age of 3-4 months, a strong emotional shift occurs, which is the first serious step towards the psychological maturation of the individual.

This may not seem obvious to adults, but at this stage The child is already beginning to actively perceive the world and try to remember or understand it. The emotions accumulated during the day, even positive ones, do not allow the child to fall asleep quickly, excite him and excite him, which leads to poor quality sleep, including crying.

At this stage, parents should move away from strictly following the schedule, and to a greater extent focus on the current needs of children. So, if the child slept poorly the previous time, the next period of wakefulness must be shortened. If this is not done, the child's stress will build up again due to lack of sleep, which will lead to further sleep deprivation, resulting in a vicious cycle.

To emotional reasons do not interfere with the child’s sleep and do not provoke him to cry in his sleep, adhere to a few simple rules:

• It is unacceptable to take away part of the baby’s time allotted for sleep to lull him to sleep. To ensure he falls asleep on time, start putting him to bed early. Do not wait for the moment when the child begins to clearly demonstrate signs of fatigue - this is already an indicator of excessive fatigue.
• Vivid emotions, even positive ones, are not recommended at all for babies under one year old. This statement is especially true in the afternoon, otherwise you can lose too much time on lulling.
• TV is very harmful for young children precisely because a large number emotions. Even calm cartoons give a lot of different information and invigorate big amount bright colors, and in general, do not seem as simple and accessible to a child as to an adult, and therefore can cause bad sleep and crying at night.

As for nightmares, their existence has not been proven before the age of one year. Older children may cry because of them, but this is usually a one-time occurrence rather than a recurring one. If a child complains of regularly having terrible dreams with a repeating plot, it makes sense to contact a psychologist.

Unsuitable microclimate

Since babies, as we have already said, sleep much more lightly than adults, it is not surprising that in general they are much more demanding of indoor conditions. What makes the situation even worse is that a child under one year of age has little influence on the situation - after all, he cannot cover himself when it’s cold, or open up when it’s hot. The child may not wake up, but feel discomfort and cry in his sleep, which will worsen the quality of rest and can lead to complete awakening.

To avoid similar situations parents should pay great attention to creating a truly comfortable conditions in children's and their constant support. Ideal comfort as understood by a baby looks like this:

• Temperature is about 18-22 degrees. It all depends on the individual qualities of the baby, as well as on the number and thickness of the diapers in which he is wrapped. The argument “a couple of bones don’t break” doesn’t work here at all! If your baby is uncomfortable falling asleep, he will cry in his sleep regularly.
• Humidity – within 40-60%. Too dry air causes the mucous membranes of the upper respiratory tract to dry out and evaporates too much fluid from the baby’s body; we want him to sleep soundly, especially since he cannot drink on his own and will cry. In our latitudes, the air is usually dry, and this problem can be solved with the help of a humidifier. Too humid air is not typical for our country.
• No dust. When dust gets into the baby's nose, it clogs Airways and interferes with the normal enrichment of the body with oxygen, although the child’s brain, actively developing even in sleep, urgently needs it. Since the onset occurs gradually, dust is one of the most common causes of crying in sleep without waking up. To eliminate dust, ventilate the room and carry out regular wet cleaning, and also minimize the number of books, carpets, upholstered furniture and toys in the nursery.
• Fresh air. A growing organism needs oxygen critically, so ventilation is practically prerequisite before bedtime. If climate conditions or pollen allergies make this unacceptable, pay attention to complex modern systems air conditioning that can solve this problem.

How to solve the problem of hunger and thirst?

Babies want to eat much more often than adults, so the desire to eat in the middle of the night, even to the point of crying, is quite normal for them, but a person of any age can want to drink at night. However, after such awakenings, the child will have to be put to sleep again each time, which does not allow either the mother or the child to get enough sleep, so we have to come up with ways to reduce the number of such awakenings.

In the first months of life, it will not be possible to completely avoid night feedings - you will still have to wake up, but you can reduce the number of nighttime worries if you feed your baby more intensively during the day. If it is not recommended for an adult to eat before bed, then for an infant such a procedure is not only possible, but also useful, since it will ensure stable sleep.

We have already mentioned how poor quality rest can cause constant crying at night, so in the evening you should eat a hearty meal, after all, a child of this age still does not eat anything that is difficult to digest.

At the same time, experts recommend intensifying the infant’s nutrition not so much with quantity (whether the actual weight of food at one meal or the number of meals per day), but with quality. For those children who are fed baby food, the situation is clear - you just need to pay attention to higher-calorie foods.

As for babies fed on mother's milk, there are very important point, which not everyone knows about: the fact is that when a baby is applied to the breast, the so-called foremilk. It has a relatively low nutritional value, but in terms of volume the baby doesn’t need much - he feels that his tummy is full and refuses to drink any more, that’s just nutrients, obtained with foremilk, does not last long. As a result, the baby, who seemed full, very quickly wants to eat again, and therefore cries in his sleep.

If the baby obviously consumes little milk at a time, it should be expressed first so that he receives only the most high-calorie product.

During night feedings, infants should be offered water only in hot weather, but if the baby is artificially fed, then water must accompany each feeding session.

Teeth

Very often, the cause of night crying is a phenomenon characteristic of all babies without exception - teething. These children have a very difficult time, since they constantly feel itching and pain in their mouth.

Of course, even in such a situation, the child still needs to sleep, so it is possible to lull him to sleep, but at moments when the pain intensifies, he may scream, begins to cry sharply and wakes up. The problem is especially aggravated if the baby has this moment Not just one tooth is cut, but several at once.

There is no need to panic if a child cries while sleeping, this does not mean that he is sick or that it is to blame mental disorders. But it is, of course, necessary to find out why this happens.

Let's list the most common reasons for children crying in their sleep.

Nervous overexcitement

And such phenomena can be observed often. For example, during the day you took your child to the circus, in the evening guests came to you (it was noisy and crowded), and before going to bed he watched more than one episode of his favorite cartoon. And if such a chain of events is normal for an adult, then The child’s psyche is simply not ready for this.

Just imagine: your baby perceives everything that is familiar to you completely differently. Dozens of discoveries in a day, a sea of ​​impressions, a quick change in the external picture - what should a child’s brain be like in order not to react in any way to such events?

Not only can the baby be capricious in his sleep, the child can also cry before going to bed, even become hysterical. So why does a child cry a lot before and during bedtime?

Analyze if something similar is happening in your life? Do your guests stay up late, and does your “little tail” get a lot of impressions during the day?

And the most important– isn’t the usual one knocked down?

Remember, for a child a certain routine is the key to healthy development

Feeling lonely

Why does a child cry at night? Absolutely not rare reason, especially for children under three years of age. And if the mother is accustomed to sleeping with the baby from infancy, it will not be easy for him to get out of the habit.

Even sleeping in the same room is best completed before the child is one year old. Otherwise, as the child grows up, he will be extremely sensitive to the fact that he sleeps alone in his room.

AND you can't blame the child for that: This is not his whim, but your omission. How can I improve the situation? Only by reasonable, gradual actions:

• Give your child more attention during the day so that he doesn't need it as much at night.
• Alternate between “evening mom” and “evening dad” so that the baby is not sensitive to the change in his usual face (otherwise, you won’t even be able to think about spending the night with your grandparents until he’s 4-5 years old)
• Assign a toy that will be “for the elder”, right in front of the child, ask the bear to sleep with Mashenka today
• Don't solve the problem in one day, they say, that’s it, from now on you sleep alone
• Light toys, children's sconces, colorful bright stickers on the wall will slightly distract the baby from sad thoughts in the dark
• from a lullaby or bedtime story you can't refuse, but try not to lie down next to the baby, but sit by the bed, stroking the child’s head

I had a terrible dream

Did you think children don’t dream yet? Of course they see, and how. And not a single child is immune from this, just get scared bad dream he is more than an adult.

Yes, and he won’t be able to immediately understand that it was all an illusion. Only the calm face of mom and dad, gentle stroking, quiet kind voice will return the child to his usual state of comfort and security.

Again, make sure that the baby does not become emotionally overstrained during the day. After all, such overexcitation will happen main reason nightmares. By the way.

No need to wake up your baby if he whines in his sleep! See if the pacifier has fallen out, if the baby has opened up, just pet the baby. He can immediately fall asleep peacefully.

A 1-3 year old child cries in his sleep

Older children may also cry in their sleep.

A healthy child begins to cry in his sleep when hyperexcitability. Often this is a consequence of parental mistakes, when all active games and watching cartoons occur before bedtime.

On the contrary, an hour before bedtime you need to do something calm: modeling, drawing, reading books. Let all this be accompanied by musical accompaniment: quiet, calm melodies will be a good background.

If, with the proper daily routine, the child still cries a lot in his sleep, and he is not sick, there is a reason contact a neurologist. Childhood fears and fright can haunt the baby even at night.

It may be impossible to do without special medications.

Preschooler crying in his sleep

A preschool child may already complain of fever and pain in the throat (ear, nose, etc.), so recognizing the disease in this case is easy. Why then can a child cry in his sleep? This may be a consequence:

• high loads (kindergarten, clubs, big circle communication)
• worries (family quarrels)
• terrible dreams (he does not talk about some of his fears and anxieties, but endures them in silence, which results in nightmares)
• stress experienced (parents punished, offended in the garden, scared by a dog)

Consultation child psychologist is quite appropriate in such cases: it will help parents find out real reasons child crying in a dream, determine the further path to solving the problem.

Of course, it’s impossible to hope that it will “outgrow” and “scream and calm down.” Remember that many fears are complexes comes from childhood. Help your child, who does not yet know how to cope with difficult situations on his own.

More often similar problem happens to children who have already passed the milestone first year life.

If one year old child cries in a dream, there may be several reasons, and each of them must be dealt with.

The problem may arise because the child is sick, is in pain during sleep, severe discomfort that is difficult to cope with.

The baby may cry because of, because nightmares visit not only adults, but also children.

Another reason could be an elementary child. This usually happens if the baby has played too much or visited an unfamiliar place for the first time.

The most serious reason of all, it is a disease.

If, upon self-examination, the mother realizes that the baby has a fever or fever, she should immediately contact a specialist.

If signs of the disease could not be identified, then the cause lies in emotional and psychological problems.

If a mother notices that an infant is crying in his sleep, then the reasons for his condition will be completely different. Most often, a baby's crying during rest is associated with colic in the abdomen, from which most newborns suffer.

Besides, common reason a problem arises - the absence of a mother nearby.

Many children, even during sleep, feel a lack of communication with adults and therefore begin to be capricious.

If your newborn baby cries in his sleep, you should tell your therapist. When examining the baby, he will find out whether the problem is related to physiological reasons or it’s a matter of psychological nuances of development.

What to do if the baby cries in his sleep for physiological reasons?

When a child cries a lot in his sleep, his loving mother begins to build a wide variety of hypotheses about this, driving herself into fears about the condition of the baby.

The most important thing in such a situation is try to calm down and try to soberly analyze the situation.

First, the mother needs to check whether the child’s diaper is dry and whether he has a fever. Children may cry in their sleep because of what is happening right now. too cold or hot in room.

Since the child does not know how to express his feelings in any other way, he begins to get very nervous and cry.

If the mother is sure that there is a normal temperature, and the baby's diaper is dry, you need look further for the reason.

If a small child cries in his sleep, the reason may be due to the fact that he has. This procedure is quite painful, so the baby should purchase teethers that can help in the process of the appearance of the first teeth.

If the doctor detects other illnesses in the baby, he will be able to prescribe medications, mixtures, advise and traditional methods getting rid of the problem.

The main thing is that the mother does not ignore the cries of her baby, because he cries in his sleep for a reason.

Psychological causes of poor sleep

If a child begins to cry in his sleep, and the therapist concludes that the baby is absolutely healthy, then the problem lies in psychological reasons.

It is quite possible that the baby just lacks attention adults, and in this way he tries to attract him.

Another relevant and common reason is elementary fear of the dark. Very often children in early age They are afraid of the dark and start screaming as soon as they find themselves alone in an unlit room.

If the baby is already over a year old, then parents need try to explain the baby that there is nothing scary in dark rooms.

If the child is still very young, you should keep the night light on until the baby is fast asleep.

One of the most common reasons for children crying in their sleep is emotional overload. Perhaps the child has had several busy days, and therefore emotional overload finds a similar embodiment.

Very often, children prone to hyperactivity begin to cry during the night's rest, so parents should carefully monitor the baby's daily schedule. It is important that children do not behave too actively now, otherwise such psychological stress will affect their development in the future.

Often a child cries while sleeping because he simply does not have enough attention from his parents. When a child is weaned from the breast, taught to sleep separately, and the mother also regularly disappears at work, the baby begins to experience severe stress.

Such excitement may well result in crying during sleep. If a child cries loudly in his sleep, the mother should try to take him in her arms, lull him to sleep, and then the baby may well calm down. If such attacks recur regularly, you should seek advice from a therapist.

The most important thing a mother should remember is can't be ignored baby crying during the night's rest.

With the help of sobs, the baby tries to express your emotions, asks for help, and the parents’ task is to understand the cause of the problem and eliminate it.

Now that the psychological and physiological health the child may be at risk, the task of the parents is to show their love for the child to the maximum, taking care of his speedy recovery.

Restless sleep of a child: video

Pediatrician explains possible reasons bad sleep: