Babies have a startle reflex when they are born, and babies’ sleep is different from that of adults. They are in a light sleep state for longer, and a sleep cycle lasts 45 minutes. Therefore, it is easy to wake up when sleeping, and patting him can make him feel that his mother is beside him.
Why do adults like to pat babies when they are coaxing them to sleep?
When the baby is still in the mother's belly, his body is surrounded. After he is born, he also likes the feeling of being hugged or cared for by his mother. If you reach out and pat him, it will make him feel safer.
In the first three months after the baby is born, he sleeps for a long time, sleeping 18 to 20 hours a day. But it won't be too restful even when asleep. Since the stomach is relatively small and underdeveloped, it may often need to wake up to feed. Sometimes he also suffers from colic, groans, and needs his mother to pat his back or pick him up to coax him. But if a few pats can solve the problem, don't pick him up frequently, as it will affect his sleep.
Patting the baby is also an act of mother expressing her love. It tells the baby that mother is by your side, don’t be afraid.
Why do children always wake up?
You may also find that your baby often wakes up, especially in the first few months after birth. Some of them are due to physiological reasons such as hunger, diarrhea, and urination; Fear, after all, he is still relatively new to this world; others may be uncomfortable, wearing too thick or too little clothes, feeling hot or cold.
In addition, it is also related to the baby's brain development. In the first week after birth, newborns' brain development will also change their sleep patterns. They may need to sleep for more than 16 non-consecutive hours, and in stages of about 2 hours, they will continue to sleep after waking up and feeding.
For newborns, within a week after birth, their brain development will also change their sleep patterns: they need to sleep for 16 non-consecutive hours a day, with intervals of several hours. .
Generally speaking, a baby may go through about seven "sleep-wake" stages in a day. These stages can be as short as half an hour and as long as five or six hours. In other words, newborns' sleep is not regular. Even after the full moon, the length of sleep is different and seems to change every day. I remember when my second baby was young, I would catch up on him every day when he fell asleep, because it was impossible to sleep all night long. I had to get up frequently to feed him and change his diapers.
How to make your baby fall asleep faster?
In fact, coaxing the baby to sleep and patting the back are good methods, but sometimes you may be in a hurry and feel that the baby just won't sleep no matter how hard you try. In fact, you should create favorable sleeping conditions for your baby.
1) Find the right time to sleep
When the baby starts to feel a little sleepy, immediately put him on the bed and stay with him. Usually he falls asleep quickly. But some babies sleep more during the day and may not be able to sleep at night. It is recommended to try to coax you to sleep 2 hours in advance before going to bed at night, and gradually adjust your sleep pattern.
2), gently pat to coax them to sleep
Babies who are younger than 1 month old often fall asleep right after feeding, but wake up immediately after putting them on the bed. Mothers can first turn the baby sideways, hold the baby's arms with one hand, pat his back gently (once every second), and hum a sleep song to let the baby feel the mother's company by his side.
Ps: Holding your arms down is similar to swaddling, but don’t use too much force, as it will hurt him.
3) Develop a sleep routine
Actually, babies are not born with good sleep habits. We should develop a certain routine for them. That is to say, he wakes up during the day to nurse first, then plays for a while before going to bed. This way he can sleep better at night and avoid developing the habit of sleeping on breast milk, which will fragment his sleep and reduce his sleep quality. of.