Problematic sleep at night in 8-month-old babies

A small child needs good sleep, which stimulates his growth and development. Almost all parents have experienced sleep deprivation at night associated with intestinal colic of a newborn child. Babies are debilitated by pain, which makes it difficult for them to sleep. Frequent awakenings during this period exhaust not only children, but also their parents. But by approximately 3–4 months, the functioning of the digestive system gradually returns to normal, and accordingly, sleep improves.

It would seem that parents can finally relax and breathe a sigh of relief due to the end of nightly lack of sleep, but another problem appears - an 8-month-old child sleeps very poorly at night. He may cry, wake up, fidget in search of a comfortable position. This seriously affects the psychological state of the baby and parents. Exhausted from nightly concerts, dad and mom are trying to figure out why their 8-month-old baby doesn't sleep well at night, which is why he cries and is capricious.

Child development level at 8 months

At 8 months, the baby shows his individual characteristics, which are the first signs of independence. He observes the world around him with interest; everything seems mysterious to him. During this period, the child increasingly uses movements, facial expressions, gestures and thus expresses his feelings. He can tinker with toys for a long time, look at them and taste them.

Despite the fact that children are different, there are still certain general criteria in their development that are considered normal. The following indicators are typical for a baby at 8 months:

• In terms of physical development, an 8-month-old child can stand up, sit down, and point his finger at objects that interest him. He rolls over from his back to his tummy without any problems.
• Emotional development at this age also does not stand still. The baby actively shows his emotions, can show his attitude towards loved ones, delight or rejection of any situation. Every minute his mood changes.
• Sensory development is expressed in throwing toys on the floor and watching how parents pick them up.
• Psychological development can be judged by the child’s facial expressions, which convey the entire gamut of his mood. At this age, he distinguishes his loved ones from strangers. He tends to understand music and clap his hands after listening to it.

What to do if your 8 month old baby doesn’t sleep well

The rules for healthy sleep for an eight-month-old baby are clear and easy to follow. Komarovsky asks those parents who notice that their child often wakes up and sleeps poorly to rely on such recommendations.

1. An 8 month old baby needs to be well fed before going to bed. Then he won't want to eat at night.
2. At 8 months, it is even better to put the baby in the same room with the parents. He will most likely sleep poorly in a separate room.
3. Before going to bed, you should ventilate the room to avoid stuffiness. The optimal air humidity in this case according to Komarovsky is 60%.
4. Since those children who are not tired during the day often wake up, parents need to provide the baby with daily exercise.
5. It is also not recommended to put an 8-month-old baby to sleep during the day if he clearly does not want to. Otherwise, he will wake up frequently at night.
6. By the age of 8 months, a child must be accustomed to alternating periods of sleep and rest. Gradually he will get used to the fact that he needs to sleep at night, and the problem will disappear.

There is nothing difficult about following such rules. When a child does not sleep well at night and often wakes up, Komarovsky recommends first of all paying attention to the presented aspects. This will allow you to survive the age of 8 years without any special nerves. Over time, the child's sleep returns to normal. After a year of life, he will begin to sleep much more soundly, and mom and dad won’t have to put him to bed several times at night. The correct approach to such an issue will allow us to raise a full-fledged and developed person. According to Komarovsky, this is not so difficult to do.

Post published: 08/08/2016

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An eight-month-old baby gives parents sleepless nights: what to do?

An 8-month-old child does not sleep well at night and often wakes up for various reasons. Parents are not always able to figure this out on their own. It happens that it is difficult to cope with a task without the help of specialists. Each person is individual. What is typical in one child’s behavior is categorically unacceptable for another child. But there are certain points that are almost the same among children. For example, all 8-month-old children have approximately the same time for rest and sleep.

Attention! Small deviations from the norm are unnoticeable, but if the child is 8 months old. He constantly sleeps poorly at night, and there are no apparent reasons to explain his behavior; you can’t turn a blind eye to it. It is necessary to find out what is wrong and try to normalize the sleep-wake pattern.

Hours of sleep at 8 months: standard ideas

The average amount of time allocated for sleep at 8 months ranges from 13 to 15 hours per day, of which 10–12 occur at night. Children at this age should sleep at least 3 hours during the day. A baby at eight months is awake for about 3–4 hours a day.

It is known that the reasons for the awakening of children under 6 months are hunger, thirst, wet diapers, fear, and nervous tension during daytime play.

After the second half of the year, little changes. But children wake up less often at night in order to eat, and are gradually becoming accustomed to a certain daily routine.

Baby’s “strike” and its manifestations

A baby's sleep at 7–8 months can be disrupted for various reasons. An infant sleeps restlessly if something is bothering him. For example, your stomach hurts or you are teething. The baby may toss and turn in the crib all night trying to fall asleep. If this happens often, parents should pay attention to the general condition of the baby and his health.

The child’s “strike” manifests itself in the following behavior:

• It is difficult for a child to fall asleep at a certain time; his sleep cannot be called sound and calm.
• He may doze and wake up frequently.
• During night sleep, the baby may constantly whine and toss and turn, be capricious and spin.
• A child may scream hysterically at night for no apparent reason.

The concept of sleep regression in children

At the beginning of their lives, babies experience several stages of sleep regression, which is a completely normal phenomenon associated with the physiological and mental development of the baby.

Children's mobility is most evident at 7–10 months. Crawling, standing up, sitting, and the first attempts at walking occur precisely at this age. All these actions require increased work of the child’s brain. The environment is a subject for research.

The baby is interested in everything, in the full sense of the word. This situation leads to the fact that sleep becomes the last priority for the baby. Preoccupation with new tasks, continuous training of one’s skills, and analysis of new impressions captivate the little person so much that he is simply not interested in sleeping.

There are signs by which you can determine that a child has a sleep regression:

• The baby categorically refuses to sleep at his usual time.
• If he falls asleep, his sleep lasts 30-40 minutes.
• While going to bed, the child gets distracted, starts looking for a bottle, reaches for toys, and does everything possible to stay awake.
• During night sleep, the number of times the child wakes up significantly increases. Sometimes he wakes up to 10 times.
• The baby's sleep is characterized as poor. The child tosses and turns, cries, moans, screams or sobs in his sleep.
• It happens that he wakes up in hysterics.

Important! Such moments cannot be called “special strikes” of the baby. He, just like his parents, has a very difficult time during periods of sleep regression. It is difficult for a small body to cope with new loads. Therefore, parents should not be angry with him in the first place. It is important to understand him at these moments and try to help.

Other prerequisites for problems: dangerous and not so

By eight months, the baby's sleep gradually improves. But it cannot be called completely stable. Sometimes signs of poor sleep appear, which cause concern for caring parents. It is worth noting the following reasons for these problems:

• Excitation of the nervous system. There is not always a direct connection between the problem and tense nerves. Sometimes a child may have poor sleep after increased physical activity before bed, which is accompanied by active games, loud sounds, TV noise, lighting, and even conversations of household members.
• Physical and mental fatigue associated with new emotions and learning everything new often causes rapid falling asleep, but frequent awakenings.
• Unbalanced and insufficiently good nutrition, which leads to a deficiency of nutrients in the baby’s body. In particular, if there is not enough calcium, the construction of nerve cells is disrupted, which can lead to mental disorder in the baby. Suspicions of a lack of this microelement can be confirmed using a blood test.
• Heat and cold negatively affect the quality of a baby's sleep. His sleep cannot be complete and restful when his body is freezing and overheating.
• In connection with the new stage in mental and physical development, rapid progress occurs in psychomotor terms. The child grows, learns to walk, sit up, and stand in a crib, which also affects the hours and quality of his rest.
• Painful teething, due to which every baby sleeps little and restlessly.
• Hunger can wake up a baby in the middle of the night. This can be avoided if, when introducing solid food to the child, the evening diet is a little denser.
• Rickets, prickly heat, colds, and problems with the digestive tract have a negative effect on the quality of sleep.
• Insufficient time spent outdoors. Lack of oxygen has a bad effect on your overall well-being.

The effect of lack of sleep on the child's condition

During their development, babies need healthy nutrition, fresh air and good sleep. Not getting enough rest leads to improper production of cortisol, which is the wake-up hormone, and melatonin, which is the sleep hormone.

With a disruption in sleep patterns, not only the child’s immunity begins to suffer, but also his organs and systems.

Interesting to know! Thanks to research, it has become clear that those children who slept poorly before they were one year old have worse brain activity at five years old than those who had good sleep in infancy.

Poor sleep is a weakened nervous system, disorders of which are fraught with nervousness and hysteria. In addition to all this, poor sleep quality affects the functioning of the baby’s digestive tract.

Why does a child sleep poorly at night and often wake up?

It is possible to name many situations in which a child’s sleep at night becomes sensitive. According to Komarovsky, many of them can be eliminated fairly quickly and without significant effort. But parents must determine exactly what the problem is. If the described situation arises, Komarovsky advises paying attention to these most fundamental points.

1. Lack of proper sleep and rest patterns. By the age of 8 months, such a regime should be fully developed.
2. Wrong place to sleep at night. The absence of parents near the baby can cause her to have difficulty sleeping.
3. Excess sleep during the day. Some children by 8 months do not sleep well at night due to lack of sleep during the day.
4. Poor timing of feeding. Komarovsky says that by 8 months the baby does not necessarily need to be fed at night. If he often wakes up to latch on to his mother's breast, it is necessary to reconsider his diet.
5. Lack of sufficient physical activity. Those children who lack activity during the day sleep poorly at night.
6. Uncomfortable conditions. According to Komarovsky, a child of 8 months may have difficulty sleeping at night due to the fact that the humidity or temperature in the room is incorrectly selected. The quality of the mattress or diapers used is also of great importance.

These are the main cases when a child may wake up at night and have trouble sleeping. But what does Komarovsky advise parents to do? His recommendations will help you teach your baby to sleep well and not wake up. Komarovsky even specially compiled a number of rules, compliance with which will definitely help.

Reasonable actions of parents

There are many methods by which caring parents can ensure and normalize their child’s sleep. One method or another is suitable for each case. In order for your baby to fall asleep quickly and not toss and turn in his sleep, you must follow these recommendations:

• Find the cause of his overexcitation and try to eliminate it.
• It is necessary to spend enough time with your baby in the fresh air.
• When bathing your child in the evening, use herbs that soothe. Chamomile and valerian have proven themselves well in this regard.
• A child should not be allowed to go hungry. Only a well-fed baby can sleep peacefully.
• As the child grows up, it is necessary to reconsider his sleep schedule. If previously a baby fell asleep at 21 o'clock, then with age he may need more time to stay awake. In such cases, it is better to move the night's sleep to half an hour to an hour.
• It is important to maintain a normal microclimate in the room.
• If you have hives that wake your baby up with itching, it is necessary to eliminate this skin problem.
• During teething, it is advisable to use special means to numb the baby’s gums.
• The mother should try to be less nervous; her mood is transmitted to the child.
• The baby's falling asleep and waking up should be accompanied by a smile and gentle words. Such an environment is conducive, the child does not experience the fear of loneliness.

Experts to the rescue: important recommendations

There are cases when the baby's night awakenings do not cause problems and do not cause a serious illness. It all depends on how often it happens. If very often, then it is better to immediately show the baby to the doctors.

Advice! Experts recommend that parents adhere to the correct daily routine from the first minute of their baby’s life. It has been proven that the development of children who live according to a schedule from birth is much better; they get sick less often. Parents with their care and attention should protect their children from fears and worries.

There are times when a baby confuses day with night. You can correct the situation if you let him sleep less during the day. Thus, it is gradually possible to normalize the child’s biological clock.