Many families with small children are tormented by sleepless nights, nights where both parents and child doesn’t get enough sleep or sleeps very poorly. Having good sleeping routines and a safe place to sleep is very important for the child, and if this is the case sleeping quality and quantity will improve immensely.

For both adults and children, sleep is very important. Being unable to get the rest you need, or being woken several times when you need to sleep, can be devastating for both nights and days. Sleep reinforces both body and soul.

During sleep a lot happens in both the brain and the body. You can compare some of what happens in the brain, with how to keep tidy in a computer. For example, the files are placed in the right places, the hard disk is cleansed of noise (fragments of files), and that things are placed appropriately. Dreams can be compared with a kind of cleanup program where the consciousness is purified, old scraps are thrown out, and topics are put together in new and constructive ways.

For the body rest and sleep allows the muscles to relax and the cells regenerate. During sleep various substances are produces, which are secreted in greater quantities than when you are awake. This applies, for example, for various hormones, including growth hormones and hormones that promote the formation of milk in lactating women.

Most people will, if they are depraved sleep over a period, develop different psychiatric disorders, become depressed or psychotic. Deprivation of sleep is a well know way of torture for this exact reason, and this should remind us just how important it is that parents prioritize sleep, bot the their child, but also for themselves.

There are no lack of good arguments to prioritize good sleeping habits, but falling asleep and sleeping is not necessarily something that comes easy to all children. First of all, the child needs a good and safe place to sleep.

How to fall asleep

The child sleeps much dream sleep, called REM sleep. The type of sleep is shallow, and the baby is breathing irregularly, the eyes have quick, small movements behind closed eyelids (Rapid Eye Movements), and many babies wake up easily when they are in this stage. Most also easily falls back asleep. So wait a little, and don’t do anything until you have seen, if the child falls asleep again. Perhaps a slight humming is enough, or a gentle touch on the forehead or over the muzzle. For many children, the first superficial sleep well last 20 minutes to hour.

When a child is tired, it must be allowed to sleep. The child sleeps better if it has a clean diaper, is full and the temperature is pleasant. If it can be avoided, don’t accustom your baby to sleep with a breast or a pacifier in his or hers mouth. It is also unwise to accustom the child to hold the father’s or mother’s hand when it is about to sleep. Then the pacifier, the breast or the hands will be the signal to that now is the time to sleep for the child. Crying can also work the same way if the child gets used to cry before sleeping. The trick is to make the child falls asleep without any specific stimuli.

It is not good for any children for them to cry themselves to sleep. A child that cries must be comforted. If something is wrong, you must help the child. Food, clean diaper, less light or less noise or more security. Is the child sick, then you must consider what is wrong. Is it hot (signs of fever)? Is it cold? Is it a stomach ache? Is this constipation? Consider wether a health visitor or doctor should be contacted and asked for advice.

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