Biorhythms, which make us active or, conversely, make us tired and want to sleep, return to normal after three to four months of the baby’s life, and are finally formed by the age of two years. When a baby is not yet a month old, his sleep and activity cycle lasts 90 minutes. That is, three hours. This is the basis for feeding every three hours. By three months, this cycle is increasingly stabilized. The child may no longer wake up after 00.00, falling asleep at 21.00 and waking up around 05.00 - 06.00. If the night passes calmly, the mother also gets enough sleep and can breastfeed the baby normally.

At two years old, the baby’s sleeping and waking habits become stable. But at the same time, this age can be a milestone when a turning point occurs in the child’s personality, and he wants more attention. Then it may be difficult to put the baby down.

Why does a child cry in his sleep?

• Newborns crying at night may be caused by tummy pain.
• The cause of a baby's crying at 3-4 months may be bloating, and at 4-5 months it may be due to teething. At this moment, the baby may have a fever, and he needs increased attention from his mother.
• Up to a year old, a child may cry at night when they discover that mom and dad are not around. Another reason for a child’s crying at night can be sudden noise or loud sounds. Between the ages of 2 and 3, children can be very sensitive to pain, especially sensitive to fear. Therefore, you must always be prepared to pay attention to the child and calm him down in time.
• You should know that an infant's sleep consists of half an active phase and half a passive phase. The child tends to wake up precisely in the active phase - the phase of superficial sleep. You need to be prepared for this situation, to react to how the child tosses and turns, maybe moans in his sleep or tries to say something.

How to ensure your baby has a restful sleep?

In order for your child to wake up less at night, his room needs to have:

1. Optimal air temperature (18-20 degrees)
2. No drafts
3. The baby's room should be well ventilated
4. If a child is afraid of the dark, a soft, dim lamp should be on at night.
5. There should be no sharp or loud sounds in the room or house at all.
6. The room should not have many carpets on the walls and floor to prevent dust from accumulating
7. A child can sleep with a favorite toy if it helps him feel calmer
8. Mom and dad should always be ready to get up and calm a crying baby. This way he will feel safe.

In such conditions, you will forget about this nightmare question; “Why does a child cry in his sleep?”, and the child’s crying will occur much less often because the parents have done everything possible for the comfort of their baby.

The baby, who cannot yet speak, expresses his anxiety by crying. After some time, parents independently begin to understand the peculiar language of their child. If all parents get used to standard situations over time, sometimes situations arise when the baby begins to cry in his sleep. In such situations, parents first begin to check whether the diaper is dry, monitor the temperature in the room and the child’s posture. But all these factors turn out to be in order. Therefore, parents begin to think: why does an infant cry in his sleep?

Physiological reason

This condition is physiological night crying, and it does not pose any danger to the health of the baby. The baby cries during sleep due to unstable function of the nervous and motor systems. This is due to the fact that an emotionally intense day can provoke the appearance of dreams at night. The child, experiencing anxiety in his sleep, begins to cry heavily and does not wake up.

Even visiting guests or meeting new people at home can contribute to the development of such experiences. After such a busy day, the child must throw out unnecessary worries, which is why crying at night is observed. Therefore, parents can be calm - the baby screams and cries not because of illness.

There are situations when a baby begins to cry in his sleep, and as soon as the mother approaches his crib, the crying stops. In this way, the infant simply checks if his mother is nearby, since during the 9 months of pregnancy a strong bond has been established between them.

The baby may also begin to cry or wince during the transition from REM to NREM sleep. The same effect often accompanies the sleep of adults, so it does not pose a danger to the baby. If the child is not disturbed by his whining and does not wake up, parents should not worry about the health of the baby. After some time, the baby’s nervous system will develop and become stable, which will allow the baby to experience sleep more smoothly.

Reason: discomfort

It happens that a newborn cries at night due to pain or discomfort. The baby may be hot or cold, or he may have a wet diaper or diaper. The baby may suffer from abdominal pain, increased gas formation, and teething. But if the baby does not wake up, but simply whines, then he is not experiencing any discomfort. He will wake up only when the sleep phase changes.

Other reasons

There are also other reasons why a baby screams or cries heavily in his sleep without waking up:

1. Feeling hungry.
2. Runny nose making breathing difficult.
3. Extreme fatigue.
4. Negative impressions after an active day.
5. Presence of illness.

Many parents overload their child with excessive exercise and walking, after which cortisol, a stress hormone, accumulates in the baby’s body. Usually the reason for the formation of its excess is increased loads and a large flow of information.

What to do

Sobbing at night may subside on its own, or may abruptly give way to screaming. All parents often check, approaching his crib, how their child feels during sleep. If they see that the baby is sleeping, they do not need to wake him up or calm him down, as this can only harm him. In such a situation, the child will wake up, and then it will be difficult for him to fall asleep.

If a baby screams to find out if his mother is nearby, then he needs to be carefully and gradually accustomed to sleeping independently. This will help gradually reduce crying to a minimum - both during sleep and before bed. If you show care to a child at his first call, he will get used to it, and each time the situation will worsen, and the volume of crying will increase.

It is worth considering that by 6 months, children should be able to calm down on their own without maternal care if their crying before bed is caused by loneliness. But such situations do not refer to the presence of pain or discomfort.

Help for the baby

To help your child become calmer during sleep and before bed, you should follow a few simple rules:

• You need to spend a lot of time with your baby outdoors. Such walks have a positive effect on the function of the nervous system. Don’t forget to regularly ventilate your child’s room before going to bed and use a humidifier.
• Before going to bed, you should not play active outdoor games with your baby or give him strong emotions. Such activities can overload the baby’s nervous system. Due to such intense activity, the baby will cry in his sleep and be capricious before bed.

• To calm the baby while bathing, you need to use herbal infusions. They can be used only after the navel has completely healed. Usually infusions of thyme, oregano, string, and thyme are added to the water. But before such a bath, you should check the baby’s reaction to such an infusion. To do this, you just need to wipe a small area of ​​skin with it and wait a little. If redness does not appear, you can proceed to water procedures.
• Also, before bedtime, the mother can place a bag of soothing herbs next to the baby. The baby will inhale their vapors while sleeping at night, which will calm his nervous system and relieve him of crying.

How to prevent night crying

To avoid crying during sleep, parents should be sensitive to their child and perform a certain ritual after an active day.

• It is necessary to strictly adhere to the schedule of actions before putting the baby into the crib. Gradually, the child will remember this algorithm and it will be easier for him to fall asleep.
• The day can end with a calm massage that will relax the baby. It is strictly forbidden to play active games before bedtime if the baby often screams or screams at night.

• It is necessary to ensure that the optimal temperature is maintained in the room where the baby sleeps. Bed linen should be pleasant and warm.
• All tense situations in the family should be excluded.
• You should not put your baby in the crib after feeding, as this can impair digestion and cause colic at night.
• There is no need to turn off the light in the room; it is better to leave it dim so that the baby is not afraid to fall asleep alone again if he often wakes up.

To understand why the baby cries out at night, you need to take a closer look at him. Basically, the causes of this condition do not harm children. But if the crying is caused by disturbances in the functioning of the body’s systems, they should be immediately eliminated by seeking help from a doctor.

After the birth of a baby, parents must be mentally prepared for sleepless nights. A baby's biorhythms are different from those of adults. The child sleeps often, but little by little. However, a baby's crying in his sleep can alert young parents and cause anxiety. There are many reasons for crying in your sleep. They can be not only physiological, but also psychological in nature. You can figure out the reasons for your baby’s behavior without the help of a specialist; the main thing is to monitor his behavior. Let's look at the most common reasons for a child crying at night at the age of three months, as well as ways to solve them.

Reasons for a baby crying in his sleep

A child aged three months is very sensitive to any discomfort. Therefore, a baby at this age cannot be left unattended, and if he starts crying, you need to approach him.

The main reasons for crying include:

1. Colic. The most common reason for a baby crying in his sleep. Children aged 3-4 months very often experience discomfort in the abdominal area. This is due to the immaturity of the nervous system, which regulates the gastrointestinal tract, lack of enzymes for digesting food, and flatulence. If the cause of night crying is colic, you need to contact a pediatrician who will prescribe special drops or herbal teas for the baby, but the best treatment is mother’s warmth. It is necessary to stroke the baby's tummy or press his tummy to you.
2. Hunger. Many parents prefer to feed their baby on a schedule. It can also cause nighttime crying. The fact is that when feeding a baby on demand during the first months of life, he establishes a comfortable eating regimen. In this case, the baby may not wake up for 4-5 hours at night. When feeding "by the clock" you must be prepared for nighttime crying and the need to feed every 2-3 hours.
3. Wet diaper. If you want your baby to sleep soundly and not cry in his sleep, we recommend using disposable diapers at night.
4. Lack of parents nearby. The baby is accustomed to falling asleep next to his mother during feeding. Waking up at night and not feeling his mother, he may start crying. To calm your baby down, just pick him up and rock him to sleep. You can also teach your child to fall asleep on his own. To do this, do not approach him if he wakes up and starts crying. Give yourself time to calm down and fall asleep on your own.
5. Uncomfortable air temperature. A small child is very sensitive to the temperature of the room in which he sleeps. Therefore, if the room is too cold or stuffy, he may cry in his sleep. Therefore, ventilate the room as often as possible and maintain its temperature at about 20°C.

If you do everything possible to create a comfortable environment for your baby to sleep at night, he will wake up and cry much less often. However, young parents need to be patient. In order for a child to feel safe, parents must be ready to calm a crying baby at any time.

Sometimes parents are surprised to note that their newborn baby can cry even in his sleep. Without waking up, babies whine and scream, shudder, wake up and fall asleep again. Fearing the worst, parents begin to look for an answer to the question about such behavior in medical reference books and inquire about the opinion of children's doctors. However, there is no reason to worry. We will talk about why a child cries in his sleep in this article.

Causes of night crying

Spontaneous crying of babies during sleep is called physiological night crying. It rarely indicates illness. Typically, this behavior of a child is associated with an abundance of new impressions received during the day. Newborns and infants do not know how to express their emotions in any other way; they cannot tell, complain, or ask for help. The only means of communication available to them is loud crying.

The baby's nervous system and motor functions are not yet sufficiently developed. Any change in impulses passing through a complex system of nerve plexuses can cause crying. Night screaming in a dream most often has precisely these reasons - the peculiarities of the baby’s nervous organization. There is nothing dangerous, scary or alarming about this.

As the baby grows, his nervous system will become stronger and his perception will develop. He will learn to express his emotions - with a smile, facial expressions, gestures, and then words. The attacks of sudden night crying will stop. Another probable cause of physiological crying during sleep is transition from rapid sleep to slow sleep. Even in adults, such a transition can be accompanied by the appearance of vivid dreams and involuntary awakening, let alone infants!

Yes, they also have dreams, and, according to children’s doctors, babies dream dreams while still in the mother’s womb. A baby’s sleep can become anxious and restless after the day’s experiences.

If there were a lot of guests in the house, if the child was given a lot of attention, if he was tired before bed, then with a high degree of probability his sleep will be very restless.

Psychologists point to another possible reason for night roaring in a dream - the child’s psychological need for protection. Over the nine months spent in the mother’s womb, the baby got used to feeling protected and surrounded by his mother. After being born, this feeling of reliable protection was somewhat shaken, because mom is no longer always around, and sometimes you have to call her loudly.

Short-term night crying and sobbing can be a kind of “check” of the parents to see if they are there or nearby. If the mother runs to hear the squeak, the baby can calmly continue to fall asleep. That is why it is most convenient to place the crib in the adult bedroom in the first months. Sometimes it is enough to stroke the baby’s back while he sleeps, and he calms down and calmly falls asleep again.

Normal physiological night crying is not long, heart-rending, loud, or persistent. It is more spontaneous in nature and does not repeat itself at the same time. He does not need sedatives or examination. If a child wakes up and begins to demand or cry sharply in his sleep, then it is worth considering other reasons for this behavior.

When does a child need help?

A baby can whine and scream in his sleep not only due to age-related characteristics of the nervous system, but also due to a number of other reasons. external and internal reasons that necessarily require parental intervention.

Hunger

Newborns and infants up to about 6 months of age experience a physiological need for night feeding, or even more than one. Therefore, waking up and persistently demanding food is quite normal until a certain age. This kind of crying is persistent.

A child who wakes up hungry will not calm down and will not fall asleep again until he gets what he needs. The solution is simple - feed him and put him to bed again.

Discomfort

An uncomfortable bed, tight swaddling, irritating clothes - all these are reasons for waking up at night and demanding changes in circumstances. In this case, the awakening will be unsharp, gradual. First, the baby will begin to whine in his sleep, push, and “fidget.” Gradually the crying will become more persistent.

The baby will not calm down on its own. It is necessary to check whether the seams of his clothes are rubbing, whether his hands are numb in the diaper that was wrapped tightly, whether there are protrusions, holes, or uncomfortable folds on the mattress.

The issue of swaddling is a matter of family choice. But clothes must be seamless and made from natural fabrics that do not irritate the skin. Ideally, a child should sleep on a hard mattress without a pillow.

Unsuitable temperature and humidity

A gradual and smooth awakening with a transition from a sleepy whimper to a loud cry may indicate that the child is hot or cold. It’s easy to check - if the back of the baby’s head is sweaty, it means the parents have overdid it in heating the room; if the hands and nose are cold, it means the little one is cold.

In order for the baby to sleep comfortably, a certain temperature should be maintained - no higher than 20-21 degrees Celsius and a certain air humidity - 50-70%. 20 degrees on a room thermometer may seem too cool for adults. Children have different thermoregulation; they feel very comfortable at this temperature.

And too dry air leads to drying out of the mucous membranes of the respiratory organs, as a result of which it not only becomes more difficult for the baby to breathe, but also increases the risk of respiratory diseases.

Wet diaper

The key to a good night's sleep is a good, high-quality diaper that will “withstand” at least 8 hours. However, the excretory abilities of babies are different, and the baby can go to the toilet when absolutely necessary.

Waking up and crying with a wet or dirty diaper usually happens no more than once a night. Make sure that the diaper is not only dry, but also comfortable, does not pinch the sides and folds of the skin, does not hang loose and does not rub the baby’s skin.

Pain

Crying when feeling pain is difficult to confuse with anything else. Pain in children is associated with screaming at the reflex level. In case of acute pain, the baby begins to scream heart-rendingly and sharply, wakes up immediately, and is difficult to calm him down. This happens, for example, with otitis media, with intestinal colic.

If the pain is aching or dull in nature, the child generally sleeps poorly, wakes up almost every hour, cries pitifully, protractedly, sometimes monotonously, sometimes without waking up completely. This happens when the first teeth erupt, with increased intracranial pressure, which causes headaches.

How to improve your child's sleep?

Physiological night crying usually disappears on its own when the infant reaches 4 months of age. The nervous system of five-month-old babies is already more stable, although severe fatigue can cause sleep disturbances in them too.

To improve the sleep of a baby from 1 month and older, you should remember that The daily routine for a baby is very important. During the day, the baby should spend enough time in the fresh air. All new impressions, games and acquaintances should be shifted to the first half of the day. In the evening, the child should not communicate with a large number of strangers. Dimmed light, quiet voices, and a restorative massage before swimming will be beneficial.

If the baby does not sleep well, parents can try bathing in cool water according to the method of Dr. Evgeniy Komarovsky.

Don't overfeed your baby, as this is also a common cause of restless sleep at night. In the penultimate evening feeding, it is better so that the child does not eat his fill, but in the last, which completes all evening procedures, you need to feed the child enough, but not excessively. In a ventilated room with humidified air, a clean and fed child will sleep much more soundly.

Another reason why your baby may not sleep well at night is excessive daytime sleep. A newborn normally sleeps up to 20 hours a day. You need to create a regime in such a way that you need at least 12-13 hours of sleep at night. The rest of the time can be divided fractionally into daytime rest. If you cannot establish a routine, you should not let your child sleep during the day. Usually 2-3 days of such decisive and tough behavior from adults is enough for the regime to fall into place and the baby to start sleeping at night.

Other causes of night crying are also quite easily eliminated - a hungry baby needs to be fed, a damp baby needs to be changed. The most difficult thing to help a baby with is a painful cry at night, since it is difficult to understand what exactly is hurting him. A small cheat sheet will help parents with this:

• The child screams and constantly pushes, draws in his legs, has a swollen and hard stomach - it's about colic. You can apply a warm diaper ironed on the tummy, do a light massage around the navel clockwise, give dill water or any drug based on simethicone - “Espumizan” or “Bobotik”. Typically, colic is a physiological “trouble” that goes away on its own when the child is 3-4 months old.

• A child sobs in his sleep, and then wakes up and screams sharply, “gets upset” - the reason may lie in inflammation of the middle ear. Otitis media occurs quite often in infants. This is easy to check - when you press on the tragus (the protruding cartilage at the very entrance to the auricle), the pain intensifies and the child begins to cry even more. If there is no pus, blood or other fluid coming out of the ear, you can drip Otipax or Otinum, wait until morning and call a doctor.

If there is discharge, nothing should be dripped; you should not wait until the morning and call an ambulance.

• The child whines in his sleep, worries, but does not wake up, and if he wakes up, he does not stop crying. Perhaps the reason for this behavior lies in teething. You should check the baby’s gums with a clean finger; if there are bumps that are painful to the touch, then you should use one of the dental gels approved by age - “Kalgel”, “Metrogil Denta”. They will alleviate the child’s condition somewhat, and he will be able to fall asleep.

• Sluggish crying in a dream, similar to whining, which continues for a long time and is repeated several times a night, should alert parents. If at the same time the child’s “fontanel” looks swollen and tense, it is quite possible that we are talking about about increased intracranial pressure. You definitely need to show your child to a doctor.

• The child falls asleep well, but often starts in his sleep, cries in episodes 5-7 times a night, and wakes himself up. The reason for this behavior may lie in psychological discomfort. This is usually observed in families where there is a lot of rowing, quarreling, shouting, and conflict. Babies feel everything, they just can’t say anything yet, in addition, they receive cortisone from their mother’s milk - a stress hormone if the mother is very nervous and worried. Cortisone stimulates nervous activity. Parents will be able to notice certain nervous manifestations in their baby not only at night, but also after sleep. These are flinching, fearfulness, restlessness and moodiness. There is only one way out - stop making mom nervous.

And some more useful tips:

• Night crying attacks always have a reason. But if a newborn usually cries only out of physiological necessity - hunger, thirst, cold, then a two-month-old baby is already emotionally developed enough to cry in the middle of the night about a bad dream, a frightening feeling of loneliness, defenselessness. Parents should approach each specific case taking into account the individuality and age of the child.
• The true motives for whining and screaming in the dark will not immediately become clear to parents. During the first weeks, the baby gets used to the new environment, to the world around him, and his parents get used to the baby and get to know him. Gradually, by the nature of the crying, by the duration, intonation of the cry and other signals understandable only to mom and dad, they unmistakably guess what exactly the baby needs at one time or another. You just need to be patient.

• Physiological night crying is a short-lived phenomenon. If it drags on for six months, it is worth showing the child to a pediatrician and neurologist. It is possible that there are other reasons that prevent your baby from sleeping well at night, and they may require medication.
• Quite often, prolonged night crying and whims in babies are a consequence pedagogical mistakes of parents. APGAR scale
• When he begins to hear and see

Sound children's sleep is a fundamental part of healthy child development. Often, young parents in the first year of a baby’s life face problems with night sleep. A baby can start crying and screaming for the most basic reasons, be it hunger, stomach cramps or a full diaper. But there are times when mothers and fathers notice that the child is crying in his sleep and does not wake up. What to do in such a situation, how to understand and eliminate the cause of the baby’s crying? Let's try to figure it out.

Crying during sleep: possible causes

If parents began to worry about such behavior of the child in a dream, then this was probably not an isolated case. But there is no need to sound the alarm in advance. If a baby cries in his sleep, there is a completely understandable reason for this.

Children under one year of age.

In infants, the reasons for crying can be caused by the most harmless factors. If parents carefully monitor the baby, the picture of the appearance of crying will become clear very quickly. So, why do children cry in their sleep:

• colic/gas in the tummy– babies 3-4 months old have digestive problems due to swallowing air during feeding. Abdominal bloating causes discomfort in the baby, which he will certainly announce by crying or moaning in his sleep;
• teething– Children aged 6, 7, 8 and 9 months may experience soreness in the mouth. It's all due to swollen and itchy gums. Not everyone finds teething easy; inflamed gums are very itchy. Because of these unpleasant symptoms, the baby cries in his sleep without waking up;
• separate sleep– some babies feel uncomfortable if their mother is not around 24 hours a day, including during sleep. Even if the mother taught the newborn to sleep separately from the first days, at the age of 10-11 months the child may cry and toss and turn due to the lack of maternal closeness in sleep.

Children 1-3 years old.

In older babies, the above reasons for restlessness and crying at night may appear, but with less frequency. However, at this age other factors appear that can provoke disturbing sleep:

• violation of the daily routine– the sleep of a 1-1.5 year old child may suddenly become restless if there is a disruption in the usual daily routine. Unexpected guests, an unplanned trip, or you are simply celebrating the New Year - the body of a child who is 2 or 3 years old will react with mini-stress;
• large portion of food before bed– an overfed baby’s stomach will be forced to work all night. When digesting food at night, unpleasant sensations may occur, and the child will cry in his sleep.

Children 4+ years old.

Even children beyond infancy may cry in their sleep. If you notice crying in your child who is already 4 or 5 years old, pay attention to the following reasons:

• fear of the dark– at this age, children develop their first fears, which can cause nightmares and bad dreams. At the age of 5, a child screams in his sleep after watching dark cartoons and films, so it is necessary to protect the child’s still fragile psyche from them;
• active evening games– before bedtime there is absolutely no need to excite the child’s nervous system. A very tired child cries in his sleep without waking up. There should be no throwing over your head, dancing or jumping after 19.00.

Crying in a dream. Doctor Komarovsky's opinion

According to E.O. Komarovsky, the most likely cause of crying in infants, if it occurs several times during the night, is the increased tone of the nervous system. At five to six month old babies, active growth of bones and baby teeth begins. Calcium supplied from food may be insufficient, and in this case increased nervous excitability occurs. The solution to the problem will be to take calcium gluconate to replenish the child’s body’s need for calcium.

A child screams in his sleep - what to do?

The sudden cry of a baby in a dream can seriously frighten parents. But, according to the observations of pediatricians, such cases are not at all uncommon. A child may cry at night for the following reasons:

– increased nervous excitability;

– after suffering stress or an event that excited him during the day;

– many hours of computer games or games with gadgets.

If a child periodically cries out at night, parents should seek advice from a neurologist to determine the cause of the night sleep disorder.

How to make your baby sleep more peacefully

When a child cries in his sleep at night, the concern of young parents is understandable. Something is bothering the baby, but he continues to sleep. In such situations, you can try the following options:

– don’t wake up a whimpering baby. See if there are visible reasons for crying: a dropped pacifier, a wet diaper, and if possible, eliminate them;

– sometimes the baby cries at night if it is uncovered. A blanket and plaid give small children a feeling of comfort and security. Try to cover a crying baby, and in case of constant opening, buy a sleeping bag and the baby’s sleep will become less disturbing;

– if everything is fine in terms of comfort for the child, but he cries a lot in his sleep, then stroke him gently on the back and comfort him in a whisper. A few minutes, and the child will further fall into a restful sleep.