A child at 2 years old does not sleep during the day: possible causes, the child's regimen, stages of development and the meaning of sleep

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

Many parents worry about the fact that a child at 2 years old does not sleep during the day. Some people think that this is not necessary at all - they don’t want to, well, they don’t need to, they will lie down early in the evening! And this approach is completely wrong, preschool children must have a rest during the day, and sleep is an obligatory stage of the regimen. During sleep, children do not just rest, but also grow, the work of the nervous system normalizes, the immune system rises, and without sleep, all this will fail, as nature has already done! In the article we will find out the reasons why a child at 2 years old does not sleep during the day, and we will teach you how to deal with them. You will also understand from the publication why a child needs to sleep during the day and how long it lasts according to the standards.

How much does a 2 year old sleep during the day?

Let's start with physiologicalnorms, and it is worth noting here that modern children from infancy have gone far from the usual norms - they sleep less! For today's two-year-olds, it has become the norm to go to bed only once a day, if 10 years ago, sleep was required every 6 hours of wakefulness!

Today, a modern two-year-old child sleeps 2 hours a day - this is the norm in medicine, but in practice, all children are individual. One can sleep for an hour and a half, another for 30 minutes, and the third is ready and 3 hours away from daily activities.

Should I be worried about not getting naps?

Some parents are very worried about the question of why the child does not sleep during the day at 2 years old. But is it really dangerous for he alth?

If a baby sleeps at night not for the 10-11 hours prescribed for his age, but all 12-13, and feels great during the day, nothing disturbs him, he is not naughty, then you should not worry at all. This is mainly due to genetics, and many parents of such children recall that they themselves began to abandon daytime rest in favor of games at an early age, but at night it took more time to sleep.

If a child at 2 years old does not sleep during the day, night sleep is 10-11 hours or less, and during the day he becomes lethargic, capricious, but still refuses to sleep (or simply cannot sleep), then it is worth considering about visiting specialists - a neurologist, psychotherapist and psychologist.

The importance of naps for children

Even without consulting a specialist, everyone knows that a well-rested child is active, cheerful, full of energy,he is attracted to learning new things, memory and reflexes work much better. A sleepy baby is lethargic, cannot occupy himself, constantly whimpers, apathetic. That is, sleep affects the psychological state of the child.

Daytime sleep is a simple and necessary prevention of nervous system overexcitation. By about two years of age, the mental and nervous processes in the brain begin to become more complex, and all this leads to overwork, overexcitation. And if the baby does not sleep during the day, then due to nervous overexcitation he will not be able to fall asleep normally, and in the morning he will get up badly, without sleep, without mood. Constant lack of sleep is a decrease in immunity, attention, mental abilities of the child.

During sleep, the brain and nervous system do not rest, but cease to receive all new information, and can easily "sort out" the information already received. Daytime sleep for a child is a kind of reboot, and without it, the baby will begin to "hang".

Next, we suggest moving on to an overview of the possible reasons why a child at 2 years old does not go to bed during the day.

No mode

This is the main reason for today, and mainly concerns the kids who do not attend kindergarten. According to Dr. Komarovsky, a child at 2 years old does not sleep during the day due to the fact that this is simply not in the regimen, parents have not taught it. And indeed, many people think that "training" in the form of a regimen is useless for a child, it's cruel to require the baby to perform mandatory actions.

Specialists hasten to assure that there is nothing cruel inthere is no mode, and this is a simple set of obligatory tasks that need to be completed in a day, and preferably at the same time - this gives a feeling of comfort and stability, a child from an early age learns to allocate his time, which will be useful to him in later life.

We will tell you how to make a daily routine at the end of the article, but for now let's move on to other reasons why a child at 2 years old refuses to sleep during the day.

Late rise

This, again, is due to the lack of a regimen. If the child wakes up late, sleeps more than 12 hours, and feels great during the day, then you should not worry, but you still need to think about the regimen.

If the baby sleeps normally, but wakes up by noon, then he goes to bed late, which is also bad. Start putting the child to sleep earlier, wake up no later than 9 am, and thus by three o'clock in the afternoon he will get tired, agree to lie down to rest.

Unspent energy

You follow the regime, but still a child of 2 years old does not sleep during the day? And look what he does. If a child sits in the morning with a gadget in his hands, draws, watches TV, flips through a book, then he simply does not have time to get tired, waste energy. Of course, by five o'clock in the evening he will want to sleep, but this will be impossible, since a late daytime sleep pushes the nighttime, and this knocks down the regime. What to do?

All things planned around the house for the first half of the day, transfer to the second Before lunch, take the child for a walk: to the playground, to the park, to the zoo, just shopping, to the pool, but at leastwhere, if only not to sit at home! The child will have time to spend all his energy before lunch, get tired in order, and then eat and go to bed. Here you can relax in peace, or do business that has been left since morning.

Emotional overdrive

If a child at 2 years old does not sleep during the day due to any events (guests arrived, took an animal home, moved, and so on), then this is an emotional outburst that simply does not allow one to perceive fatigue. What to do in this case?

If possible, do not allow emotional outbursts at this age at all. But if this happened, then you have to wait, it lasts no more than two days, and then everything will work out. If in this case it is not possible to put the baby on a day's rest, then do not force him, he will only start to act up. In the evening, try to put him to bed early so that the child sleeps through the time set for the day.

External stimuli

If a child does not sleep during the day at 2.5 years and at an earlier age, then pay attention to what may interfere with this:

1. Is the room too stuffy? If so, then open the window a little, or put a fan.
2. Could it be cool? Turn on the heater, but away from the bed so that the baby does not accidentally burn himself on it when he wakes up.
3. Too light in the room? Draw the curtains, hang extra thick fabric curtains.
4. If extraneous sounds interfere (neighbors are doing repairs, children are running around in the yard, and so on), then quietly playing, calmmusic or TV on (only not on the cartoon channel). Quiet sounds in the room will come to the fore, and the child will stop hearing loud sounds from outside.
5. Perhaps the baby stopped sleeping during the daytime after the change of scenery in his room? For example, rearranged or replaced furniture, painted walls or re-pasted wallpaper? Then he just adapts, it is unusual for him in his room, and he feels like a guest here. In this case, you will also have to wait.
6. Uncomfortable pajamas, poor quality material of pajamas or bedding. All this creates discomfort. The child is uncomfortable, uncomfortable, hot, perhaps something pricks, a seam is pressing somewhere. Thoroughly inspect bedding and sleepwear and change if necessary.

Fright

If a child at the age of 2 stopped sleeping during the day, and at night there are rises, tantrums, then most likely he has a fright. What could be the cause?

1. Parental quarrels, fights that consistently occur with a child. Perhaps the baby heard swearing at night, and from this he woke up, got scared.
2. At night, in a dream, a child could hear sounds coming from the TV, or catch a glimpse of a fragment of a horror movie, an action movie. All this greatly affects the psyche, and the child is simply frightened, refuses to sleep during the day, and at night he is simply "cut down" from fatigue.
3. Pets or animals outside. For example, a dog started barking abruptly.
4. Sharp noise, thunderstorm.

What to do? Eliminate everything that can scare a child, do not swear whenthe kid is at home, watch TV quietly when he sleeps, and do not watch horror / action movies while the child is awake.

The biggest mistake parents make

Many parents are sure that the regime is not needed, and the child will go to bed during the day if he gets tired. It's all wrong! A child is interested in everything from a very young age, and it would be better for him to stay awake, communicate with his mother, but not sleep, and if measures are not taken to ensure that the child falls asleep, he will simply overwork. Up to two years, and even later, from overwork, many really fall asleep right in toys, but this is no longer a he althy sleep. Firstly, the baby fell asleep later than necessary, which means that it will be more difficult to put him down in the evening. Secondly, the child really just "knocked out", and he fell asleep not in the most comfortable environment.

In this case, the mode will help, to which you will have to gradually accustom the baby. This is a must if you want your child to grow up he althy.

How to build a daily routine and get your baby to sleep?

We invite you to familiarize yourself with the approximate daily routine that any child and his parents must follow. If the baby does not go to the garden, where there is this same mode, then create all the conditions at home:

1. From 7 to 7.30 you need to wake up. Then half an hour for washing, sipping, changing from pajamas to home clothes.
2. From 8 to 8.30 you need to have breakfast. Then we go together to make the bed, tidy up toys, water the flowers. Anything but TV!
3. From 9 am to 11 pm - entertainment. itwalks in the park, playground for children, shopping, zoo and so on.
4. Next you can have a snack: fruits, tea with cookies. Until one in the afternoon you can read, watch TV, play quiet games.
5. From one in the afternoon until half past one - lunch, then we digest food for half an hour and go to bed for a day's rest.
6. From 14.00 to 15.30 or 16.00 you need to sleep. If the child does not want to, then draw the curtains, ask him to just lie down with his eyes closed while you read him a fairy tale. The voice should be calm, monotonous. In extreme cases, lie down next to yourself, the child will fall asleep faster.
7. At 16.00 or 16.30 - afternoon tea.
8. From 17.00 you can walk for an hour and a half.
9. Dinner at 7 p.m.
10. Up to 8 you can play, read. Next bathing.
11. At 21.00 the end.

This routine will help you get your baby used to naps!