Learning to sleep

Many times you have heard the expression “my child has a changed dream.

He sleeps all the time and fidgets when we least expect it. This phase lasts up to three months, because, believe it or not, babies also have to learn to sleep.

His dream is marked by the most primitive instincts, such as hunger or thirst. Before nine months the child must already have his sleep organized: 70 percent of infants sleep at night at a stretch before three months; 13 percent will achieve it within six months. But… and the rest?

Pediatricians speak of "the anguish of the eighth month", since, when insomnia appears at these ages, it is usually related to emotional causes: the child already suffers when he is separated from his mother. But you have to be careful with that bond ... an overprotective and anxious mother, who is constantly manipulating the baby, can cause sleep disorders due to overexcitement. On the contrary, if the child suffers a lack of affective stimuli, it will also affect their sleep.

Let's go to bed, we have to rest

"Sleeping like a child" ... Who came up with this expression. Sometimes our children have a real battle when it comes to going to bed.

From the "por fa, a little more" to the baby who cries inconsolably at night ...

We review some tricks so that the little ones have sweet dreams.

The ghosts in the closet

From the age of two they can begin to suffer from fear when it comes to going to bed. Fear of the dark is simply fear of loneliness. Fearful children often have a background of insecurity in themselves or it may be that the insecure is their parent. Did you know that fear is contagious? If the father was or is fearful, his son will be too. In addition, the child takes all his daytime experiences to bed and at this age. Unfortunately for many parents, he is enormously active.

Should we "play along"?

Lights on, dolls, the lucky pillow ... Psychologists speak of "transitional objects" and "numbing rituals": all those routines that the child stubbornly repeats before going to bed. It is best to be permissive and not give importance to these small needs. However, we cannot fall into his tyranny and run to his side every time he calls us.

The organism of children works like a clockwork mechanism.

If we schedule it to go to sleep at the same time, it will feel sleepy as that time approaches. Let's put him to bed in the same way every day: a bath before dinner, dinner, putting on pajamas ... all as if it were a game. It is not advisable to threaten the child every time he misbehaves by sending him to bed, because in his unconscious he will associate it with a punishment.

Yeah it's more normal than you think

Enuresis, the involuntary and unconscious emission of urine in a child older than three years, is a very widespread sleep disorder: it is suffered by 30 percent of children aged 4 years. Even still at the age of 6, 10 percent of cases are registered. It is more common in men and can appear suddenly linked to emotional conflicts.

If your child suddenly screams at night, jerks up from bed, wide-eyed and totally out of control, not awake and not having a nightmare. You will have what is called night terror: they usually appear after two years to gradually disappear. Also common is "restless legs syndrome" - sleeping children who begin to kick and shake their bodies. More spectacular is somnambulism or nightlife.

According to pediatricians, it occurs more frequently in boys than in girls.

The 10 commandments to put a baby to sleep

• Respect their meal times.
• The last meal, before ten at night.
• Teach him to tell the difference between day and night.
• Do not cradle him in your arms.
• Find him a special toy to go with him to bed.
• If he cries, it takes longer and longer to go to his room.
• Establish a bedtime routine.
• Respect and enforce these rules.