Adequate sleep, balanced diet and proper exercise are three health standards recognized by the international community. Good sleep is one of the three pillars of health as well as a balanced diet and regular exercise. Good sleep is listed as the first of the three health standards, but unfortunately, many people do not pay enough attention to sleep health.
World Sleep Day is held on March 21 every year. The 2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine is awarded to three scientists who study circadian rhythm, which shows the importance of circadian rhythm in healthy sleep. The circadian rhythm refers to the periodic events in the body. The biological clock in the body produces the circadian rhythm, but environmental factors such as sunlight and temperature also affect the circadian rhythm.
The theme of 2018 World Sleep Day is "Regular work and rest, healthy sleep", reminding the whole society to pay attention to sleep habits and sleep health problems. For infants and young children, sleep helps to enhance their brain development and memory, and is conducive to the recovery of brain function. High quality sleep contributes to their physical growth and intellectual development. If they sleep well, infants will have better mood, concentration, memory and learning ability. Frequent lack of sleep will reduce immunity and resistance, affect vision and cause obesity. Therefore, we take this opportunity to call for "caring for baby health, starting from sleep: regular work and rest, healthy sleep, starting from infancy."
So, how to establish regular work and rest and develop good sleep habits for your baby?
As the saying goes, "No rules, no square". To help babies form good sleep habits in the future, they should start to help them establish a regular routine after birth. At 0-3 months, the baby's biological clock and sleep rhythm have not yet been fully formed, so it is not recommended to do any sleep training before 3 months of age. At this time, parents need to teach their babies to know the day and night. Some parents are afraid of affecting the baby's sleep during the day. It is totally unnecessary for the baby to pull the blackout curtain, speak softly, and even walk without making a sound. Some parents are afraid that the baby is too dark at night, so they keep the light on all night, which is easy to confuse the boundaries between day and night, leading to "black and white reversed", which is not conducive to the establishment of regular sleep. Some babies wake up in the middle of the night and cry because they are afraid of the dark environment. Parents can light a small night light to accompany them.
Give your baby a good sleeping environment
Temperature: When the baby sleeps, the indoor temperature should be moderate, the air should be well ventilated, and the clothes or sheets should be appropriate. Put your hand on the baby's head and back to test the temperature. If you feel warm but not sweaty, the baby will feel comfortable.
Appropriate bedroom settings: the color of the baby's mattress should not be too bright, nor should too many toys be arranged on the bed, which may cause the baby to be excited and difficult to sleep, and the toys are easy to fall down, causing the baby to suffocate, and the hair on the plush toys may also cause the baby to be allergic.
Bed: The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that babies aged 0~6 months should sleep in separate beds in the same room. It is recommended that the baby "sleeps together" with the parents (near the crib of the parents) instead of "sleeping together". This ensures the close contact between mother and baby, makes it convenient to breastfeed, comfort and observe the baby, and avoids all possible risks of mother and baby sharing the bed.
Sleeping position: It is recommended to sleep on your back when you are 0~6 months old. Other positions may block your baby's breathing, causing potential safety hazards. When the baby's movement ability is developed and he can turn over on his own, it doesn't matter how he sleeps at this time. The baby will find his favorite sleeping position.
Time to fall asleep: everyone has their own circadian rhythm. It is critical to correctly identify the child's sleep signals, detect the child's sleep time, and let the child fall asleep before he wants to sleep.
Although the baby can't speak, he will use his body language to tell the parents "I'm too tired, let me sleep quickly!" If the parents don't understand his meaning at this time, continue to tease him, and miss the best "sleep time" of the child, that is, the child's natural sleep time, the child will produce a hormone related to pressure, which can over stimulate the child and make him "excited" , easily upset, crying, difficult to appease. This is why some children who are overtired may wake up in the middle of the night even if they fall asleep, and it is difficult to fall asleep again or wake up early in the morning.
How to correctly identify children's sleep signals?
Sleep signal: the action of sucking is becoming less and less obvious and slower; Reduced activity and action; More quiet, more calm; Not interested in things around; Less discourse; The eyes become inattentive, the eyelids are slightly hunched, or the upper and lower eyelids fight, yawn, etc
Signs of excessive fatigue: If the mother ignores the sleep signals above, the baby will easily become too sleepy, which is manifested by waving the body, scratching the face, pulling the ears or pulling the hair; Keep rubbing your eyes, restless; Collapse and cry; Irritable.
Therefore, when taking care of your baby, you should pay attention to his every move. Once you find the signal that he wants to sleep, you should never tease him again. Parents can make a record at ordinary times, observe the baby's unique sleep signals, and grasp the best time for the baby to sleep.
With the correct guidance, most babies begin to form a regular routine in about 3 months. Parents can do some fixed sleep programs. Over time, the sleep program will make the baby form a conditioned reflex. When parents start doing these things, the baby will know it's time to sleep. I should go to bed. The younger I start training, the easier it is to form this conditioned reflex.
Establish a fixed sleep procedure - establish a fixed sleep process: a series of activities for parents to help babies relax and calm their emotions before going to sleep, reduce external stimulation 30 minutes before going to bed, arrange 3 to 5 quiet, happy, and fixed sequence activities, and keep the content of activities basically the same every day to avoid excessive intense activities and overexcitement. Including: bathing, cleaning, massage, parent-child activities, soothing, etc. Parents should introduce and fix the sleeping process for the baby as soon as possible, and establish a fixed sleeping procedure.
Try to sleep at the same time every night, so that the baby can think of sleeping at a fixed time every day. Then, in the place where the baby sleeps, choose a fixed bedtime program. In the long run, the baby will know that it is time to sleep when parents start to do so. When parents finish these things, the baby usually becomes calm, and finally it is necessary to put the baby on the bed and let the baby fall asleep on his own.
If you want to establish good sleep habits for your baby, you should help him learn to fall asleep on his own as soon as possible. Bad sleep habits are the most common reasons that prevent infants from falling asleep smoothly, such as milk sleep, hug sleep, shake sleep and other methods to coax them to sleep. Once these bad sleep patterns become a habit, the baby will rely too much on the attention and company of the parents to fall asleep.
How to pacify the baby and let him learn to sleep on his own?
(1) Wrap the baby in swaddling clothes, pick it up and shake it gently with a frequency of about 60 times per minute.
(2) Repeat soothing soft music, lullaby or mother whispering in baby's ear.
(3) Gently massage the baby.
(4) Holding the baby's little hand.
(5) Small pacifying objects: several soft dolls can be selected or used as a pacifying substitute for the baby. If the baby wakes up at night, it is easier for him to pacify himself and fall asleep, but he should not rely too much on a pacifying substitute.
Let the baby learn to fall asleep and wake up happily.
Parents can record sleep logs for their babies, easily master their babies' sleep patterns, and gradually make their babies sleep regularly.
Record the time when the baby was put on the bed, when the baby fell asleep, when the baby woke up, when the baby was picked up from the bed, and when the baby woke up at night. It can also record how babies fall asleep when they fall asleep and how they fall asleep when they wake up at night.
Children should keep the same time to go to bed and get up every day. Don't work and rest at weekends, school and holidays completely different, which will significantly affect the sleep of many children. Limit the behavior of children before they fall asleep.
Some children will constantly ask for various requirements when they fall asleep, so as to delay sleep time. At this time, parents should have a clear limit. For example, if you tell a story before going to bed, you must make an agreement with your child to tell several stories before going to bed, and you must abide by this agreement. Don't give up this prior limit because of the noise of the child, otherwise the child may have difficulty falling asleep and delay falling asleep. It is not recommended to tell children stories in bed, and do not do anything irrelevant to sleep in bed. Let children establish the connection between sleep and bed.
Let children know that bed is used for sleeping. Parents should not play mobile phones or listen to music in bed, which will make the baby excited. Once they get to bed, they expect exciting activities, and do not want to sleep. So parents must strengthen the connection between children's sleep and bed.
Establishing a fixed sleep program and developing a regular sleep schedule is the basis for solving all baby sleep problems and healthy sleep. To help your baby develop a regular sleep schedule, parents should not only start early, but also make up their minds and persevere. The understanding, support and cooperation of each caregiver in the family will certainly help parents achieve their goals.
Zhu Qingqing/attending physician of Shanghai First Maternal and Infant Health Hospital
