Already at birth, children are all different also as regards sleep. Some immediately show good adjustment skills, they need help to fall asleep and their sleep will therefore be less disturbed
“What if the newborn doesn’t sleep?». Caterina, Luca’s mother, second son of 4 weeks, says that from the first days of the child’s life, the moments of waking and sleep have always been short and not very predictable. The baby is a lot sensitive to noise And to the changes of light in the room, often shows tremors and outlaws, the tears are sometimes insistent and difficult to console. The longer periods of sleep are four hours and rarely occur and during the day, while the night at most are two hours.
With her first daughter Maria was very different: it was enough for help her keep sleep And to re -sleep. Caterina then wonders if it is wrong with something with Luca and what it can do to help the newborn sleep better and for longer periods. Let’s try to understand then What to do when the newborn does not sleep.
Because the newborn does not sleep
THE sleep problems In the first four months of life they are mainly due to the fact that children have not yet fully matured the cerebral function To better regulate the states of wakefulness and sleep and the transition between them. After four months, however, falling asleep – and re -deducting – are experienced as separations Even on a mental level, so the difficulties in sleep will also depend on this.
To understand because the newborn does not sleep In the first weeks of life, we see below some aspects of sleep and development physiology, in order to understand also because it seems that babies sleep too much.
The states of vigil and sleep mature in the last quarter of pregnancy and usually the fetus sleeps for almost 90% of the time. What happensAt that time, After birth? Why does the newborn don’t sleep so much anymore? What makes the maintenance of sleep and moments of quiet wakefulness difficult with respect to the fetus? On the one hand we have changes concerning the outside: we pass from water to the air (with a greater effect of the force of gravity), from a environment Stitted, confined and that offers continuous containment (the uterus) to an environment in which the containment is not always continuous and takes place in different ways (the adult envelops the baby, contains it, rocks it, sings him, speaks to him, feeds him, washes him, changes it …). On the other we have gods inner changes concerning breathing, the functionality of the gastrointestinal system (and therefore the nutrition, digestion, the emission of urine and feces …).
Already at birth, children are all different also as regards sleep. Some have immediately Good adjustment skillsThey therefore need less help to fall asleep and their sleep will be less disturbed. Others, however, have Less mature adjustment systems And more fragile, and this can depend on both genetic factors – such as temperament – and pregnancy and childbirth. The latter are very sensitive infants, unstable and easily irritable (the so -called “infants with a high need“), Who will therefore need to be helped to be able to regulate their behavior.
A pregnancy and a physiological birth, and practices such as skin skin and Rooming-infavor the development of regulation capabilities. On the contrary, pathologies of pregnancy, as well as preterm birth or perinatal suffering, hinder it.
Hours of sleep of the newborn
As for the overall sleep time, children generally sleep in the first two months of life Between 14 and 18 hours a daywith a good degree of individual variability (from a minimum of nine to a maximum of 21 hours). Sleep is fragmented in periods ranging from a minimum of 20-30 minutes to a maximum of four to five hours. This is because with birth the maternal influences were lost that guaranteed the 24 -hour fetal rhythm, so the hours of sleep of the newborn In the first weeks of life they are not predictable and vary a lot from child to child. THE awakenings They are facilitated by the sensations of hunger or thirst, but also take place regardless of them, with great individual variability based on genetic characteristics.
Around 2-3 months of age mature the melatonin secretion mechanisms – the hormone that promotes the beginning and maintenance of sleep, which is stimulated by the dark – and begins to manifest the circadian rhythm linked to the luce-buio light alternation. Within 3 months the period of night sleep extends and is generally preceded by a three -hour phase of wakefulness. As well The night sleep cycles are stretchedwhich go from an average of two hours (5 weeks of age) at about three and a half hours (at 3 months of age), with a maximum period of five hours long sleep.
Also other factors they can affect the maturation of the adjustment of the states of vigil and sleep, including – in negative – those related to digestion (as in the case of a poor lactose tolerance), as well as some dermatitis which can give itching, or even gastroesophageal reflux (despite being an almost always physiological phenomenon).
Finally, it is important to consider that the regulation of sleep-wake rhythms is a process that develops within the relationship between the child and his parents. The achievement of a clear distinction between day and night – which physiologically takes place between the twelve and sixteen weeks of life – is also favored by Method of care On the part of the adult (for example, during the day, verbal communication with the baby will be favored, at night not). Furthermore, to treat the expressions of the face, the tone of the voice, the affectionate touch, the physical proximity and the game, are all actions that will help the baby a adjust its level of voltageto calm down and acquire stable sleep.
How to help the newborn sleep?
In light of what we have seen, what we can recommend to Caterina, worried why hers newborn sleeps little?
First of all, that Luca’s story is the same as many other children – with constitutional characteristics other than those of Mary, the firstborn – who, like him, face one normal maturation phase wakefulness and sleep skills, and that this It does not depend in no way from Method of care parents. Simply, babies like Luca need help more to be able to regulate their states of sleep and vigil, the more you need contactof containment.
In doing this, there is no risk of “spoiling” the child or making it more dependent on adult; Indeed, if anything, the opposite is true. In children like Luca it is often very helpful to be wrapped in a cover (swaddling) during sleep, in order to reduce the disorder of physiological outlaws, tremors and spontaneous movements. This until Luca does not show that he no longer needs it, or in any case as soon as he can turn alone to go from Supino to Prono.
But How to help the newborn sleep? It is important not to excessively solicit the baby, for example by moving it so much up and down when you are at home or bringing it too far in the car; are actions that not only do not give the possibility of download the voltage Accumulated, but which generate an overload, with the result that then the child could even need it more and more (“first they were enough a few minutes, now we have to continue for half an hour!”). It is more useful instead to try to keep the child close, cradling Lightly, so that he manages to eliminate the tension, sometimes even crying a little. This strategy will help him have a more stable behavior Subsequently, even in the vigil phases.
In the case of Luca, to help him adapt to the day-night rhythm before 2-4 months-age in which his body will be physiologically ready to do so-it is useful, as already mentioned, differentiate immediately daytime activities from the night onesby promoting verbal communication exchanges and more intense only during the day and dosing the lighting levels at home during the day and night (this also applies to sleep: at night, it is good that Luca sleeps in the dark, while during the day his room will not be obscured completely).
Finally, it is good to know the sleep safety measures In the first year of life, and knowing that, while sleeping, children can move, issue sounds, open and close their eyes, sometimes whining, without therefore being awake. This allows parents to understand When it is appropriate to intervene Without risking to disturb the rhythm and balance of their child’s sleep.
