The child shudders in a dream: causes and recommendations of pediatricians

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

Every young mother always has a lot of worries. And the best reward for many is rest when the baby sleeps. But what if the child shudders in a dream? The reasons and solutions to such a problem will be considered in the article.

Sleep physiology

Adequate sleep is essential for a growing body. Therefore, it is very important to observe the correct mode of rest and wakefulness.

All newborn babies in the first months of life go through a period of adaptation and try to adapt to the environment after being in the womb. It is important to understand that when the baby is sleeping, vital processes are taking place in his body:

1. Produces hormones responsible for cell growth. Good sleep is especially important for children under the age of one year.
2. The brain processes all the information received during the day. While awake, the baby gains experience, develops and improves his skills, and during sleep, the acquired knowledge is “sorted”.
3. Recovery of strength. Work is suspended during restdigestive system, blood flow slows down, and the work of the senses becomes dull.

Children often wake up at night. The fact is that babies cannot sleep soundly like adults. Newborns have several cycles to rest, in which superficial rather than deep sleep prevails. As you get older, your sleep cycles will change and become much the same as in adults. Therefore, up to a year it is considered the norm when a newborn baby shudders in a dream.

Reasons

Komarovsky believes that there are quite a few reasons that cause a baby to shudder in a dream. Most often, such a reaction of the baby during sleep is due to harmless phenomena:

• Baby has a dream. You probably noticed that in a dream we can fall, jump over obstacles, and so on. In such cases, the muscles involuntarily contract, and this leads to a startle.
• Change of cycles. When moving from light sleep to deep sleep, the muscles may contract before fully moving into a state of relaxation.
• A lot of impressions and emotions. After a busy day, babies can find it very difficult to calm down, so they may experience jerks during sleep.

• Teething. For most babies, this process is quite painful, so during sleep, shudders are typical for babies in case of sudden pain in the gum area.
• The natural work of the body. During urination or defecation in a dream, childrenit is common to flinch from discomfort.
• Colic. As you know, in babies under the age of 6 months, the digestive system has not yet been fully formed, respectively, gaziki can cause pain. Moreover, colic disturbs babies most often at night. The baby can press the legs as close to the tummy as possible, trying to find the most comfortable body position.

External stimuli. It is perfectly normal when the baby flinches from extraneous sounds or loud conversations of family members. The baby's sleep is quite sensitive, so it tends to react very actively to everything that happens around it

The above reasons are normal and should not cause concern to parents.

When should I see a doctor?

If a child shudders in a dream and wakes up more than 8-9 times a night, then parents should contact the pediatrician to find out the reasons for this condition of the newborn. In addition, loud crying, loss of appetite, and poor he alth of the baby are considered alarming symptoms.

See a specialist urgently if your child:

1. Cries for a long time after waking up. Neither mother's breasts nor motion sickness in her arms can calm him down.
2. The baby shudders periodically in complete silence, in the absence of sounds and light irritants.
3. If the shivering of a newborn resembles shivering from the cold, then, most likely, the crumbsconvulsions. Such a phenomenon can be caused not only by a high temperature, but also by other serious reasons that require medical attention.

Recommendations from pediatricians

Child is a year old, shudders in his sleep quite often? You can try to avoid such phenomena by following these tips:

Try to eliminate stress and emotional overload for the child during the day. This is especially true in the evening, when the baby is preparing for a night's sleep

• Lightly stroke your baby. This will help him relax, feel your care and closeness, and also prepare the baby's body for a night's rest.
• The atmosphere of calmness should reign in the children's room. Moderate night light and white noise can create the perfect sleep environment.
• If the child is very restless, then in the evening you should bathe him in a bath with the addition of pharmaceutical herbs. It is better to choose the composition after consulting a pediatrician in order to exclude the possible occurrence of allergic reactions.
• Try not to overfeed the baby before bed, but he should not remain hungry. Give preference to yogurt, kefir or baby cottage cheese for a late dinner.
• Newborn pajamas should be made from natural fabrics that allow the baby's skin to "breathe".

If your child shudders 2-3 times a night, then try not to wake him up, otherwise he will not get enough sleep and lose proper rest. It is better to just go to the crib and gently stroke the baby, he will feel warmof your hands and will soon calm down.

White Noise

If a child shudders strongly in a dream, then, most likely, he is frightened by extraneous noise that may come from neighbors through the wall. Therefore, it is believed that resting in complete silence does not have a very positive effect on the full sleep of the baby.

"White noise" is a background sound with an evenly distributed volume. You can choose music with birds singing, the surf, the murmur of a river or waterfall, and so on. The choice is up to adults, but remember that such noise should have a positive effect on parents as well.

How does white noise work?

1. If a one-month-old baby shudders in a dream, then this method will help him calm down. Moreover, "white noise" has a positive effect not only on falling asleep in children, but also on the sleep of adults.
2. Helps "mask" external sound sources that serve as an irritant for a good rest of the baby.
3. Can be used for daytime and nighttime sleep.

Rituals

As mentioned above, if a child starts in a dream, then the reasons for this phenomenon can be varied. Most of them do not require the help of a specialist and are easily corrected at home.

Rituals help to easily move from active wakefulness to sleep. The use of such techniques is advisable when the baby is 6 weeks old.

You need to choose a ritual yourself. Consider a few popular options:

1. Reading a fairy tale.
2. Massage or relaxation exercises for newborns.
3. Lullaby.
4. Choose a toy with which the baby will sleep.
5. Choosing sleepwear together.

How does it work?

Proper sleep preparation is essential in order to avoid the problems associated with the fact that the child starts in his sleep. The reasons for this phenomenon are often associated with fear of the unknown. A baby in a dream may feel insecure. Therefore, it is so important to accustom the baby to consistent and repetitive procedures. Falling asleep and waking up, the baby will be aware of what is happening, and not be in a state of constant stress from new and unpredictable events and actions taking place around him.

Moreover, such a routine makes life much easier for parents and replaces the "battle for sleep" with a calm and harmonious process of preparing for rest.

Advice from pediatricians and psychologists

1. Eliminate all active games before bed. You can take a walk before going to bed or read a book.
2. Follow the sequence of daily actions when putting your baby to bed. For example: first bath, then light massage, feeding and lullaby.
3. Ventilate the room where the baby sleeps before going to bed.
4. Babies up to 4-5 months old can be swaddled if you are a supporter of this technique. It helps with waking up during sleep due to shaking arms or legs.
5. If a newborn is suffering from colic, then you can put a warm diaper on his tummy (heat with an iron).

So we figured out the topic related to what to do when a child shudders in a dream, and considered the causes of the problem.

Remember that the nervous system of the baby is still imperfect, so it is common for him to shudder in his sleep. But if you notice alarming symptoms, then immediately seek the advice of a pediatric specialist.