Pay attention to factors that disrupt children’s sleep patterns

Specialist psychologist Tuğçe Yılmaz gave important information on the subject.

assisted sleep

Supported sleeping is one of the main reasons that reduce baby’s sleep quality. Children who sleep with support such as sucking, rocking, lap support. They need this support to fall asleep and move on. For example, a child who sleeps by suckling still waits for breast support even if he does not need feeding to go back to sleep during the sleep period or when he wakes up. These props cause frequent awakenings and difficulty falling asleep. The transition to unsupported sleep brings us uninterrupted sleep and a quality sleep pattern.

Not following sleep intervals

One of the most common mistakes mothers make is not following their babies’ sleep-wake process according to their months. Children who are not put to bed at the correct interval according to the month have trouble falling asleep, sleep short or wake up often. The idea that ‘the baby gets tired, sleeps easier’ is a wrong thought. Tired baby sleeps badly. For this reason, it is very important to track the sleep intervals according to the months of the babies and the sleep signals along with the sleep intervals. Every baby’s wake up time is different. Even the intervals between two children in the same setting can be different. Therefore, the mother should determine the average waking time by focusing on the sleep signals that her baby gives.

Lack of sleep routines

Sleeping routine is one of the most important elements that ease the baby’s transition to sleep. A hot shower, massage, activity, skin contact… In short, a quiet moment before going to sleep is a very important rule that facilitates the transition to sleep. Babies expect their emotional needs to be met as well as their physical needs. Bedtime routines are special times to spend one-on-one time with them. For a healthy sleep pattern, well-planned and repeated routines in every sleep are very important.

stimuli before going to sleep

Their children want to calm down before going to sleep. Your baby, which you take out of a noisy environment and put straight to bed, will never fall asleep easily. Sound, light, sound, crowd, screen can be stimulating and alarming for babies. Therefore, do not expose your babies to this before bedtime.

Power supply

Nutrition is closely related to sleep. A baby who does not drink enough during the day and does not have a full stomach before going to sleep will become restless. This is also reflected in sleep. Make sure your baby is full before going to sleep. In infants receiving complementary foods, frequent feedings should be completed 1 hour before bedtime. The more hunger affects the transition to sleep, the harder a full stomach makes it difficult to fall asleep.

Gas and allergies

Babies can have gas problems in the early months. Especially in the first 4 months, this gas problem can be at a high level. It decreases after 6 months. If you face such a problem, your baby’s sleep will be affected. At this time, advice from your doctor, monitoring your baby, adjusting your diet accordingly, making relaxing practices positively influences the baby’s transition to sleep and night rest. Allergy also greatly affects the sleep, just like a gas problem. Likewise, babies with allergies have trouble sleeping. At this point, you should work with your doctor on allergies and comfort your baby.

physical conditions

Physical conditions can be summarized as the temperature of the room, the condition of the bed, the humidity level in the room, the amount of light. Adjusting the humidity balance of the baby’s room is very important for sleep quality. A dark environment is healthy for the secretion of sleep hormones. For newborns, 22-24 degrees is considered suitable for the temperature of the baby’s room. After a month, the room temperature can drop to 20-22 degrees. Keeping covers and blankets in your baby’s bed is dangerous in terms of the risk of SIDS. You need to put your baby on his back. The mattress should not be too soft. Pillow use is not recommended for babies in the first 2 years.

traumatic experiences

The brain processes what it experiences during the day at night. Therefore, tensions, fears and worries during the day affect sleep. A child growing up in a troubled home with a nervous parent is likely to have trouble sleeping. Therefore, if the sleep problem still persists when you remove all these reasons, it may be necessary to focus on psychological processes.