Melamine sleep windows for children. How to improve sleep quality without using the stressful sleep training method

When to put the baby to bed?

Did you know that there is a "window to sleep"? This window is truly magical: as soon as you find it, the child falls asleep quietly and calmly in a matter of minutes. Story? Not! A real reality that any parent can learn.

Why is it important not to overdo it?

From fatigue, many children begin to act up and cry. Falling asleep in this state is difficult, because in order to fall asleep, you just need to calm down and relax.

Even if the parents still somehow manage to put the baby to bed, the excitement will not allow him to sleep for a long time. And after too little sleep, the child will very quickly get tired again and begin to act up. By the evening, a real "snowball" can turn out - and a long tantrum before a night's sleep is guaranteed.

Why is it important to put your baby to bed early?

If you start to put the child to bed when he is not yet tired enough, two options are most likely:

1. The baby cannot fall asleep for a long time, gradually becomes irritated, begins to protest against laying down, act up, cry ... And as a result, all the same “walking” and bad sleep are obtained.

2. If the child's temperament is calm, docile, he can easily fall asleep, especially after the usual ritual of laying down. But the lack of fatigue will not allow him to sleep for long. After too little sleep, the child will soon be tired again. As a result, the same “snowball” will arise again.

"Window to Dream"

Learn to put your baby to bed just at the moment when he is already tired and ready to fall asleep, but not yet overtired. Your baby will fall asleep easily and surprisingly quickly! Calm by nature children often fall asleep in just a couple of minutes, easily excitable, temperamental, it may take 10-20 minutes.

This moment of readiness for sleep is called the "window to sleep."

How to see the "window to sleep"

When laying down, you need to focus on signs of fatigue in a child. It happens that a mother sees that the child is tired, but before going to bed you need to eat, wash, change clothes ... A little time passes - and that’s it, the “window to sleep” has closed, excitement has begun, now it will be difficult to fall asleep.

Knowledge of the approximate time that a child can be awake at a given age without overwork will come to your aid. By the end of the estimated time of wakefulness, you need to be already completely ready for sleep, so that after the appearance of signs of fatigue, immediately start laying down.

Table of wakefulness of children:

Important!

Wake time in the table is relevant for sleeping children. If a child has accumulated sleep deprivation, or if his previous sleep was too short, the time spent awake without overworking is reduced. Prepare for bedtime and expect signs of fatigue earlier than usual.

signs of fatigue

When we talk about successful going to bed, we mean that the child falls asleep calmly, without tears, tantrums, protests, and, which is also important, quickly.

Bedtime will be successful if it is done during the so-called "sleep window" - a short period of time when the need for sleep and the child's ability to fall asleep in a calm state coincide.

A missed window to sleep is a path to overexcitation, from which it is very difficult to put to sleep, and when it still succeeds, then, as a rule, the same scenario develops further. Waking up in 20-30 minutes, tears, crying, inconsolable hysteria, and then - a capricious and restless child, not having the strength to develop and explore the world, clinging to his mother, whimpering, in a bad mood rejecting any idea - from playing to soup, from walks to soap bubbles.

Learning to catch a window in a dream is the most important task and at the same time the key to success in establishing a baby’s sleep. For this, it is extremely important to introduce calm wakefulness before going to bed, which we have already talked about. After all, it is it that gives the child’s psyche the opportunity to slow down, the signs of fatigue to appear, and the mother to put the baby to sleep quickly and calmly.

Signs of fatigue, however, often become an elusive phantom, the "hunt" for which is inconclusive. Many children hide signs of fatigue. They are active and smiling and seem to be full of energy, but suddenly, like a relay, they switch to the mode of whims and tantrums, angry rejection and aggressive behavior. This means that there were signs of fatigue, but they went unnoticed because they were hidden by active actions and events, or because the mother overlooked or did not recognize the signals of the child as a call to put him to bed. And it happens that the mother considers the second, or even third, and sometimes even signs of overexcitation to be the first signs of fatigue. In this case, the window to sleep is missed, it is too late to start laying down.

How to distinguish the first signs of fatigue from the next? A sensitive mother's heart and an attentive look will help with this. For several days, focusing on the age norms of sleep and wakefulness, devote close observation of the baby. Write down everything you see an hour before bedtime, including your environment and previous activities or events. Yes, yes, write it down, no matter how stupid it may seem to you! As a result of the analysis of the collected information, you will find a fine line between quickly and calmly going to bed on a positive wave and long tears and tantrums before going to bed. Review your notes in a few days. (Perhaps the epiphany will catch up with you sooner.) Because if it were simple, you wouldn't have a problem with baby sleep, right? And you wouldn't be reading this article right now.

What signs can indicate that it is time for the baby to sleep and that he is ready for this?

Of course, their set depends on the age of the child. Infants, children of the so-called fourth trimester of pregnancy, that is, from birth to 3-4 months, show as such signs not only the search movements familiar to every mother (1). They may (2) clench their fists or (3) suck their fingers. Also, the readiness for sleep of children in the first months of life can be indicated by (4) displeased grimaces or (5) a poorly focused look. Often, parents notice (6) sharp movements with arms and legs, the child seems to throw them up, as if shaking off the remnants of the energy charge of his battery. This is a sure sign: it's time.

In older children, the set of signs is more diverse. When observing and analyzing, remember that each of these signs can be either the first, or the second, or the third. And only you can say exactly how things are in your case.

The kid looks tired. Without special difficulties and camouflage veils. So you look at him and see: he is sleepy. Perhaps his face becomes paler, his eyes dim, shadows appear around them.

The kid rubs his eyes. Simple and obvious.

The baby yawns a lot. Also not Newton's binomial.

The baby pulls his ear or rubs his ears.

A frozen look. A short or long unfocused look into nowhere is a sign of fatigue.

The baby is in a bad mood. Here he was cheerfully smiling at you five minutes ago, and now he is gloomy and not cheerful, as if a cloud covered your sun.

The baby becomes irritable. He is less tolerant of change, more emotionally responsive. Gets bored faster, keeps interest in the game more and more difficult. The kid whimpers and is naughty.

The baby is more nervous. Sudden noise, light, unexpected action of someone from the household causes an acute reaction, up to nervous twitches. The baby cries for nothing - this is rather a sign of accumulated fatigue.

The child becomes clumsy. He falls, sways from side to side, drops things, gets pushed around, or even gets hurt while playing.

The kid becomes indifferent, loses interest in the game, people. He turns away during the game, communication.

The baby sticks to you and does not get off your hands or, on the contrary, unlike the usual one, does not want to cuddle at all.

The baby becomes less mobile and active.

The kid, on the contrary, becomes too mobile, excited, “flirts”. Most often, this is how the already begun overexcitation manifests itself.

What to do if you miss the first signs of fatigue?

Assess the child's condition and signals. If he is overworked, but the wave of excitement has not yet crept far up, immediately proceed to laying down. You can neglect the ritual - perceive what is happening as an emergency evacuation. When you need to urgently escape from the house, unwashed dishes can be left.

If the child has gone into overexcitation, immediately switch to calm wakefulness, freeze activity and catch signs of fatigue again. If you do everything right, they will not keep you waiting. But be careful! Don't miss them this time!

Remember that a child under the age of three is physiologically incapable of calming himself. The development of his nervous system is such that now the processes of excitation in it prevail over the processes of inhibition. And this means that you must help him in this difficult matter. Forty minutes before daytime sleep and an hour before nighttime, reduce activity, stop exciting activities, turn off the TV, computer, tablet. Dim the light. Speak softly. Devote this time to quiet activities and getting ready for bed. If you follow these simple rules, then the signs of fatigue will not go unnoticed, and you will be able to put your baby to sleep easily and pleasantly.

Good nights and sweet dreams to you! See you in new articles and reviews!

Coach of the project "Healthy Children's Sleep System" Anna Ashmarina

www.aleksandrovaov.ru

What time to put the baby to bed?

Many mothers ask us the question “What time is it better to put the baby to bed?”. Let's find out!

The influence of biological rhythms on a person

Despite the fact that technological progress makes a person largely independent of the natural conditions in which he lives, like any creature on the planet, he is subject to the influence of biological rhythms. The most significant of them are circadian rhythms - the change of dark and light hours of the day, day and night. Depending on these rhythms, a person's physical and emotional state, intellectual capabilities change. Such changes are determined by the daily fluctuation in the synthesis of certain hormones. In particular, it is the hormonal background that tells us when it is best to sleep and when to stay awake.

How does melatonin, the “sleep hormone”, work?

The sleep hormone is called melatonin. It begins to be produced in the body in the early evening, reaches a peak concentration late at night and decreases sharply in the morning. One of the useful functions of this hormone is to regulate the duration and change of sleep phases. It is with the beginning of the synthesis of melatonin at about the third or fourth month of a child's life that the appearance in the structure of sleep of deep and very deep subphases of slow sleep, and the "start" of the biological clock is associated. Before that, the baby lives rather in the rhythm of feeding.

Melatonin causes drowsiness at night. Under its influence, all processes slow down, the body temperature decreases slightly, the level of glucose in the blood drops and all the muscles of the body relax a little. If you go to bed at this moment, then it will be very easy to fall asleep, and the dream will be as deep and calm as possible.

The moment when melatonin is present in the blood in sufficient concentration to fall asleep, we conditionally call the “sleep window”. The “Sleep Window” will tell you what time to put your child to bed so that he sleeps for a long time and with high quality. In the vast majority of children from the age of 3 months to about 5-6 years, this moment, favorable for falling asleep, is in the range of 18.30-20.30. The "window of sleep" can last several minutes, or half an hour - it all depends on the temperament of the child, the characteristics of the development of his nervous system and physical condition.

If we missed the "sleep window"?

If the baby does not go to bed at this time, the synthesis of melatonin stops, and the stress hormone cortisol enters the blood instead. Its main function is to maintain vigor. Cortisol increases blood pressure, causes a rush of blood to the muscles, exacerbates the reaction rate, and at the same time it is rather slowly excreted from the body. The excited state persists throughout the night. A child who goes to bed later than the time that is biologically convenient for his body falls asleep more difficult, with protests and tears, and subsequently sleeps shallowly and restlessly. If there is a tendency to night awakenings, then with late bedtime, the baby will wake up especially often. Our grandmothers and mothers often call the action of cortisol the home word "overdone". And indeed - a child who "overshot" his "sleep window" is very active and it is difficult to put him to bed.

What time to put the baby to bed?

So, from birth to about 3-4 months, until the synthesis of melatonin is established, the baby can be put to bed at night when the mother goes to bed - for example, at 22-23 hours.

But, starting from the age of 3-4 months, we highly recommend finding out the "sleep window" of your child and putting him to bed at this favorable moment, starting all preparation for sleep at least 30-40 minutes in advance.

How can you determine what time to put your child to bed?

To define a "sleep window":

1. Watch. At the same time in the evening (somewhere between 18.30 and 20.30), the baby will show signs of readiness for sleep: he will rub his eyes, kiss on a sofa or chair, yawn, slow down. Movement coordination may be impaired. The gaze stops for a second and becomes directed "to nowhere". It is this moment that will show mom what time to put the baby to bed. It is at this moment that the child should be already in bed, well-fed, washed, listening to a fairy tale.

This state can last for several minutes, then the baby will experience something like a "second wind". This can be expressed in unnaturally increased activity or in unusual excitability, capriciousness. In any case, such a burst of vivacity will mean that the "window of sleep" is missed.

Sometimes the signs of readiness for sleep are difficult to notice. They may be subtle, and bright lights and noisy environments only help the child hide them. In this case:

2. Calculate a convenient time. The normal duration of night sleep for children from 3 months to 5-6 years is 10-11.5 hours. At the same time, small children, as a rule, wake up early - no later than 7.30. If you subtract the age-recommended length of night's sleep from your usual wake-up time, you will just get an approximate moment for perfect falling asleep.

3. Finally, just find the exact right time by shifting the bedtime by 15-30 minutes every 2-3 days and remembering (or writing down) how long the child fell asleep and whether the night passed peacefully.

In any case, if the child falls asleep with tears, most likely, you put him to bed later than necessary. Analyze his regimen and perhaps put the child to bed earlier the next day, start the rituals 15 minutes earlier.

Changes in daily routine.

It is important not to forget that before the start of a night's sleep, the baby should be awake and tired enough for his age. Therefore, when the regime is shifted to the early side, it is also desirable to shift daytime sleep accordingly and gently wake the child if he sleeps in the last daytime dream for too long. At some point, it is better to completely abandon the extra daytime sleep, if it becomes difficult to put the child at the right time after it. As a rule, children are ready to completely give up the 4th sleep at the age of 4 months, from the 3rd - at 7-9 months, from the 2nd sleep after 15-18 months.

Sleep patterns need to be adjusted as you get older. As a rule, after giving up one of the daytime sleeps, it is advisable to shift the time for putting the child to bed at night 30-60 minutes earlier. But at the same time, if at the usual time for several days the child is cheerful, calm, and does not show readiness to sleep, and once in bed, he cannot fall asleep for a long time, it is quite possible that the time has come to put him to bed 30 minutes later.

EarlierBedtime Bedtime HormonesStress

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A magical way to lay down a child that every parent can do

When to put the baby to bed?

Why is it important not to overdo it?

From fatigue, many children begin to act up and cry. Falling asleep in this state is difficult, because in order to fall asleep, you just need to calm down and relax.

Why is it important to put your baby to bed early?

If you start to put the child to bed when he is not yet tired enough, two options are most likely:

"Window to Dream"

This moment of readiness for sleep is called the "window to sleep."

How to see the "window to sleep"

Table of wakefulness of children:

Is it necessary to give water to an infant?

citymoms.ru

Window to sleep: Why a running and tired child does not fall asleep

It is worth complaining about the fact that your baby cannot fall asleep for a long time in the evening - and someone will definitely advise you to put him to bed later and give him a proper run before bed. This advice is good for an adult, but not suitable for a child.

What to do if the child does not want to sleep on time

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Circadian rhythms

The functioning of our entire body is tuned to certain natural rhythms. All living things on Earth, including man, are subject to them.

These rhythms are called circadian and are based on a 24-hour cycle. The stability of circadian rhythms is promoted not only by light factors, but also by hormones produced in our body with a certain cyclicity.

The natural rhythms of young children are tuned to wake up early in the morning and, accordingly, go to bed early at night. By this time, the body produces all the hormones necessary for falling asleep, a kind of “natural sleeping pill”.

Emergency situation

And what happens if a person (in this case, it doesn’t matter whether a child or an adult) does not go to bed at the “appropriate” time?

Our brain, like hundreds of years ago, proceeds from the fact that "something happened." And he, in general, does not care what it is: a flood, an attack by wild animals or enemies - or just a tablet with toys.

It is important that the situation is regarded as "force majeure", and the brain begins to perform a new task - not to sleep. And don't want to sleep. And now new hormones are being produced to help with just that.

"Second wind"

Probably, you have experienced such a feeling: it seemed like you wanted to sleep, and even really wanted to. You drank tea, sat at the TV, did some housework... And found that you don't feel like sleeping at all!

Eco-friendly parenting: Do you notice a sharp burst of activity in your child in the evening? Does the child suddenly become very active, noisy, sometimes uncontrollable? Despite the late time, it seems that he will now start running along the walls and something, but he definitely doesn’t want to sleep?

What to do if the child does not want to sleep on time

Circadian rhythms

The functioning of our entire body is tuned to certain natural rhythms. All living things on Earth, including man, are subject to them.

These rhythms are called circadian and are based on a 24-hour cycle.. The stability of circadian rhythms is promoted not only by light factors, but also by hormones produced in our body with a certain cyclicity.

The natural rhythms of young children are tuned for early awakening in the morning and, accordingly, early laying down for a night's sleep. By this time, the body produces all the hormones necessary for falling asleep, a kind of “natural sleeping pill”.

Emergency situation

And what happens if a person (in this case, it doesn’t matter whether a child or an adult) does not go to bed at the “appropriate” time?

Our brain, like hundreds of years ago, comes from the fact that "something happened". And he, in general, no matter what it is: flood, attack by wild animals or enemies - or just a tablet with toys.

It is important that the situation is regarded as "force majeure", and the brain begins to perform a new task - not to sleep.. And don't want to sleep. And now new hormones are being produced to help with just that.

"Second wind"

You have probably experienced this feeling: like it would be desirable to sleep, and even very much it would be desirable. You drank tea, sat in front of the TV, did some housework... And they found that they did not want to sleep at all!

It was those hormones that came into play that help not want to sleep. And until their action ends, it will be very difficult to fall asleep.

The same thing happens in children. If you do not put the baby to bed on time, at a time when his body is ready to fall asleep (we call this a “window to sleep”), then the child “walks over” - and difficulties with falling asleep are guaranteed.

What does it look like

Do you notice a sharp burst of activity in your child in the evening? Does the child suddenly become very active, noisy, sometimes uncontrollable? Despite the late time, it seems that he will now start running along the walls and something, but he definitely doesn’t want to sleep? Most likely, the “window to sleep” was missed. Now, indeed, it will be difficult to put the child to bed until the child "falls from fatigue."

Such wakefulness occurs due to the reserves of the body as a whole and the nervous system in particular. There is no big trouble if this happens from time to time with a child who is generally getting enough sleep. But, happening constantly, this not only harms the child and his development, but also leads to the consolidation of a bad habit.

What to do?

If you recognize your situation and would like to change it, it is worth changing the time for putting the child to sleep. It is important that the preparation for sleep is completed before the onset of the period of evening activity. If by the time of laying down the child is calm and relaxed, and you learn how to accurately fall into the “window into sleep”, it will be much easier and faster for the baby to fall asleep.

To determine the time of the "window to sleep", remember(better write it down to be safe) the time at which you usually see your child become very aroused. Some time before this point, you can see signs of fatigue in the child, - start styling immediately!

It is best to organize the day so that by the time signs of fatigue appear, both you and your child are already completely ready for bedtime.

In anticipation of the firstborn, we collect a dowry for him, equip the nursery, learn to relax during contractions. And rarely does anyone think about the issues of children's sleep: how long it should be, how to avoid many hours of motion sickness, etc. The result - young mothers are like wet salt: they do not get enough sleep. And they perceive it as the norm, but in vain. After all, there are a number of tools that will help manage a child’s sleep.

Olga Semenyuk, operations director of the BabySleep Center for Children's Sleep and Development, consultant on children's sleep, spoke about them at the seminar "10 Rules for Healthy Children's Sleep" held at the Ba-Buu family center in the capital.

Olga Semenyuk. Children's sleep conductor

HELPS: HORMONE, NOISE, AND A SLEEPY FRIEND

The conductor of sleep in our body is the hormone melatonin. The guy is spoiled. So, he needs serotonin, which we get from the amino acid tryptophan. It is found, in particular, in dairy, fish, meat products. The second point: in order for the child to sleep well in the dark, he must be in the light for a sufficient time. But the most important condition is total darkness in the bedroom, because melatonin is destroyed under the influence of light. So let your night light sleep with you. Turn it on only when needed.

But often, even without lamps, it is light in the apartments at night: the lights and car headlights do their job. Blackout curtains will come to the rescue here: they will not allow a single ray of light to penetrate into your room until you yourself want it. They are needed not only for the production of melatonin, but also so that the whole family can get enough sleep on a summer morning when the sun rises early and wakes up the baby. By the way, so that during your vacation you do not wake up together at 5 in the morning in a hotel room that does not have thick curtains and blinds, take foil or large black bags with you and stick them on the windows. Such a homemade product will also help put the child to bed at 20:00-21:00, when the lights of the hotel disco will shine outside the window.

And if at the same time you still don’t work out with soundproofing, ... noise will come to the rescue. White or pink. The first is a smooth background noise, reminiscent of the sound of a mother's womb. This may be a record of rain, the flow of a mountain river, etc. Both white and pink noise contain frequencies that our ear can distinguish. But the signal strength is different. In white, it is the same at all frequencies. And for pink, as the frequency increases, the signal strength decreases. What does it mean? In pink noise, low sounds are more intense and louder than high sounds. An example would be the sound of a flying helicopter. You will immediately recognize pink noise by ear. It is lower, deeper than white. We only follow safety rules: the sound source should be no closer than a meter from the child's head and its volume should not exceed 50 decibels. A hair dryer can create, for example, white noise, but the program on the phone is more convenient. For example, you know that construction outside your window starts at 7:00. In order not to run to close it, give the command to the phone to start making noise at the right time.

From 6 months you can give your child a "sleepy friend". It is important that he does not play with him during the day. To do this, come up with some kind of story: let the baby know that when he hugs his "Snowflake", a dream will come to him.

TO DOWNLOAD OR NOT TO DOWNLOAD?

It opens your eyes to the process of going to bed knowing one simple fact. We all wake up during the night during the change of sleep cycles. As a rule, adults do not feel these mini-wake-ups. Babies are another matter: they need to recreate the situation in which they fell asleep. That is, if your baby doll fell asleep sweetly on your chest, then at night he will have to give it, and not because he is hungry, but because such is the nature of his sleep.

Accordingly, if you rocked him before going to bed, you will have to repeat this in the middle of the night. So "to download or not to download?" - obviously. But the question arises: what to do when midnight is approaching, but there is still no sleep. Babysleeper consultants answer: to catch a window into the sleepy kingdom.

MISSION POSSIBLE - CATCH A WINDOW TO DREAM

Experts have calculated how much a child of a certain age should sleep and how much to stay awake. To catch the window to sleep, that is, the time when it will be easiest to put him to sleep (it can be as little as 5-15 minutes), you need to know his wake time (WB).

The smaller the baby, the shorter it is, respectively. For example, in newborns, it can be as little as 40 minutes. This WB needs to be divided into two phases. The first is the time for all kinds of activities, gymnastics, going to the pool, etc. years), therefore, from the state of a fight in the sandbox, you will not be able to put a small child to bed for a very long time).

Translation of an article by Angela Braden.

How to live the first year of a baby's life calmly, without turning him into an experimental rat.

Improving the quality of sleep without using the stressful method of accustoming to independent sleep.

Numerous book authors and sleep consultants urge parents to teach their babies not to cry at night to get attention and fall asleep on their own. The essence of the training method is to ignore the requests of the child until he stops calling and disturbing his parents. But all mammals instinctively cry and call to themselves when they are upset or worried! And children should do this when they experience pain and fear, being away from their parents.

What does it really mean to teach a child to sleep on his own? “Sleep training”, based on the formation of certain behavior, “turns off” the child’s voice. The method excludes not the child's need itself, but the communication about it.

Mom or dad is trying to make the child more independent, ignoring the natural, normal for children dependence on adults. Don't you find it strange the very idea of ignoring the child's natural need for communication?

There is a better way!

Rather than weaning your child out of the “bad habit” (as some sleep education proponents claim) of needing to be around you (!), you can work with your child in a sensitive and respectful way, gently embodying the desired change (what you want TOGETHER with your child, not some abstract idea suggested by an outsider that your toddler “should” follow!).

Step 1: Work on security.

First, and foremost, keep your little one safe by giving him the opportunity to fully communicate his needs. This will make it easier for the child to gradually accept the desired changes that you encourage him to make (see Step 3). Because the parent-child bond is central to the development of the little human brain, your instincts are paramount in ensuring your baby's first year of life is healthy. Trust your inner voice.

Here I would like to introduce you to some important knowledge from the field of neuroscience that will help you trust your instincts. Your newborn baby's brain development is largely unfinished. During the first year of his life, connections between brain cells form at a rate of 1.8 million per second. These rapidly forming connections form critical cellular structures, especially in the right hemisphere of the brain, which is responsible for the future mental health of a person. The brain regions responsible for emotions and socialization are the first to form. These areas are responsible for some aspects of humanity - the ability to perceive the intentions and feelings of other people, to empathize and compassion, to be successful in an intimate life, etc. And this development happens directly in response to your loving interaction with your baby. With this continuous integration, you never want to silence your connection to your baby through behavioral training. the only way that will help you determine the basis of your child's psychological comfort.

Step 2: Mark the main criteria for the psychological comfort of your baby.

This is a state where your child at the current time feels comfortable and safe. This is not just some other desire of the baby (such as “a whim to do something in his own way”), but exactly what he really needs at the present time (basic needs). This may be prolonged breast sucking while laying to sleep; sleep next to you or another person with whom the baby is warm and comfortable; breastfeeding every time you wake up at night is completely normal. If you decide to start pushing the boundaries of your child's basic comfort, and you're sure the task is age appropriate (be sure to check it out!), make a plan of action. Take as a starting point the foundations of your child's psychological comfort noted earlier, move very slowly, in small (childish :)) steps. It is important to start moving towards your goal from this starting point, otherwise the safety of the baby may be compromised, and the child will experience stress that interferes with full adaptation.

Step 3: Encourage action and repeat.

Proceed with the first intended step from your baby's baseline comfort level and listen to his reaction, relying on your instincts. For example, if you are feeding to sleep, try to gently take your breast when the baby starts to drift off to sleep but is still awake, and quickly press his cheek against your chest (chest) so that he can hear your heartbeat. If the baby accepts this option, you can gradually move on to the next planned step. In this case, you can finish feeding when the baby is full but still awake, and continue hugging or rocking him to help him fall asleep. Over time, you can try to transfer the baby to his crib before he falls asleep, if such a goal is included in your plan.

Remember that at any stage the child may begin to experience psychological discomfort, which he will tell you about.

What to do if this happens? If the baby signals discomfort after your first attempt, give in - give him what he needs, and then try again after a while. Repetition, but not accustoming, will sooner or later lead you to the desired goal. It is your consistent, confident, benevolent actions that will help keep his safety intact throughout the entire period of your work together on falling asleep. The repetition of requests and urges can go on for weeks, but the baby will eventually take each step you outline. His basic comfort level is changing, he's fine!

If you carry out the planned action at night, and at the same time the baby is very upset, his behavior will become more alert. This condition throws a rift into the developing circadian rhythms in his body, and it is very likely that he will wake up at the same time on subsequent nights. This is why sleep consultants say that you should NEVER give in, because the only way to train a child is to let him know that he will NOT "get what he wants." (Training is the way scientists work with experimental rats.) But if your baby is calm and satisfied, nighttime awakenings and falling back to sleep become habitual for him.

This method, unlike accustoming, gives the child the opportunity to gradually get used to it. Of course, its implementation requires more time, but it gives real stable achievements. Staying in frustrated feelings is very exciting, which in turn interferes with falling asleep. Be patient and generous in dealing with your baby.

Before taking action:

Maintaining favorable conditions for a child to fall asleep, what we sleep experts call a “window to sleep”, can work wonders in itself. A window to sleep is that magical period of time when the baby is ready to easily fall into a peaceful deep sleep ( under the right conditions). You have probably seen more than once how your child’s window opens to sleep: a glazed look, yawns, or some restless movements (depending on age). But at that moment you were busy: finishing your lunch, changing a diaper, swaddling, and the window slammed shut in front of your nose! One missed window of sleep can set in motion a vicious circle of short, overworked daytime naps and make nighttime sleep more restless. However, following a strict schedule (regime) also has its drawbacks, because every night and every daytime sleep has its own nuances (especially in the first 6 months). When laying to sleep “according to the regime”, the mother is constantly faced with the fact that the baby is already overexcited or not yet ready to fall asleep.

So, is it necessary to watch for signs of a child's readiness for sleep or watch the clock so that going to bed coincides with "opening the window to sleep"? Answer: Both are important. But how exactly to use it? The point of consistently successful "window-to-sleep synchronization" is to select and maintain the optimal "wake period" (awake time between sleep periods, including the time required for the child to go to sleep).

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Also, keeping a diary will help you keep track of windows to sleep. With repeated successful repetition of these actions, you will not even have to encourage the child, because he himself will sleep more calmly with fewer awakenings (duration, of course, will be correlated with age norms).

In other words, the “wake period” is the single most significant aspect of when your baby will need to fall asleep again in order to achieve his best quality sleep. Knowing when to wake will help you anticipate fatigue without confusing it with anything else, because you'll be ready to respond to certain sleep ready signals (however, some babies' signals are hard to recognize!).