What is the window to sleep in infants? How to put your baby to sleep quickly and easily? Changes in daily routine

“Sleeping children are not only cute, but also “finally”. If you are ready to subscribe to every word of this quote, then most likely problems with putting your child to bed have not passed you by, like most parents.

How to put a child to sleep? Several factors are important for healthy falling asleep in children: environment, physical activity, daily routine, food, games before bed, the presence of bedtime rituals, the ability to catch the “window to sleep.” But the most main factor letting the child fall asleep peacefully is the mother’s attitude.
Many mothers (including me) make this mistake: They strive to put the child to bed as soon as possible so that they can rest and go about their business.“When he falls asleep, I’ll go pour myself some hot tea, there’s still a bun left, then I’ll send a letter, finish cooking the borscht, finish reading the book...” I rocked the child to sleep with such plans. Remember the last time you couldn’t put your baby to bed for a long time, what were your thoughts?

The trick is that the child perfectly senses the mother’s mood and easily reads emotions. At such moments, he feels that his mother wants to leave and leave him alone. The baby does not yet understand that he is safe, his instincts tell him that a significant adult (mother) should be nearby, he needs to stay together with all his might. The body is mobilized to stress, there is no time for sleep. It turns out vicious circle: the baby does not fall asleep, the mother begins to get irritated, the child worries even more in response, the mother loses patience...

How calm down and stay positive? I will share my recipes:

1) Get as many things done before your child goes to bed. I recommend doing household chores while the child is awake, so that only pleasant chores remain during his sleep. In my case, there was a period when I sat down to dinner after Pasha fell asleep, so that I could eat calmly and leisurely. I think my mothers will understand my then desire to eat food alone :) Therefore, at the time of going to bed for the day, I was hungry, and thoughts constantly popped up in my head. beautiful pictures with food, I really wanted the baby to fall asleep and I could finally have lunch. And this one obsessive thought I couldn’t get over the plate of steaming aromatic soup, I was angry... As a result, I now have lunch before my son’s nap, at first it wasn’t very comfortable to eat, but being full and content makes it easier to put the baby to bed.

2) Drive away thoughts about what you will do when the baby falls asleep. Personally, it’s difficult for me to stop the flow of consciousness, which calculates what else can and should be done, so I forward it to another direction. I plan not what I will do when my son falls asleep, but what we will do together when he wakes up. You can even dream, like “wouldn’t it be great to go to a petting zoo, pet the rabbits, feed the hedgehogs” or “we’ve been wanting to make boats for a long time, it’s just raining. We need to find foam plastic, I think we have toothpicks and paper, together we’ll make boats and let’s go sailing through the puddles...” And even if these plans do not come true, it is important that your thoughts will be about the child and about the time together.

3) Shift the emphasis not on falling asleep, but on the moment of intimacy. My son practically doesn’t go into arms or hugs anymore (except when he doesn’t feel well), so for me, falling asleep in a hug is a rare moment when I can hold my son close to me and just be close. Try to concentrate on the pleasure of closeness, on tactile sensations: favorite cheeks, warm palms, a deliciously smelling crown... Oddly enough, when I mentally broadcast to him: “You don’t have to fall asleep, just lie with me,” the child falls asleep much easier.

4) Visualize a sleeping child. Surely many have heard about the usefulness of visualizing our desires. The same mechanism works here: I have a special album in my phone with photographs of my sleeping son. I lie down next to him and remember the most “cute” moments, how he fell asleep in my arms on a swing on the street, how he fell asleep when he was little: his eyes close, then open for a few seconds, and close again. I think every mother smiled now, remembering her sleepy baby. An added bonus of this technique: it’s impossible to get angry when you imagine a sleeping baby :)

5) Fall asleep earlier than the child. It happens that I fall asleep first, wake up half an hour later with my son already asleep, quietly get up and leave. It seems to me that I like naps more than Pasha. I get up early, so after a walk and lunch, finding myself in a darkened room on a cozy bed, I can fall asleep very quickly. There are also disadvantages - this approach does not always work. Recently I dozed off, woke up and heard a joyful voice nearby: “Mom is awake!”

I have learned from my own experience that a mother’s mood at the moment of going to bed is perhaps the most important condition for comfortable positioning of the baby. Tell me, how do you put your child to bed? What are your thoughts at such moments?

You may be interested in other articles about children's sleep:

Photo source - pixabay.com

When we talk about successful bedtime, we mean that the child falls asleep calmly, without tears, hysterics, protest and, what is also important, quickly.

Putting to bed will be successful if it is carried out during the so-called “sleep window” - a short period of time when the child’s need to sleep and the child’s ability to fall asleep in a calm state coincide.

Missing the window to sleep is a path to overexcitation, from which it is very difficult to get to sleep, and when this is still possible, then, as a rule, the same scenario develops further. Waking up after 20–30 minutes, tears, crying, inconsolable hysteria, and then - capricious and restless child, not having the strength to develop and understand the world, clinging to his mother, whining, in a bad mood, rejecting any idea - from a game to soup, from a walk to soap bubbles.

Learning to catch the window of sleep is the most important task and at the same time the key to success in improving your baby’s sleep. To do this, it is extremely important to introduce quiet wakefulness before bed, which we have already discussed. After all, it is this that gives the child’s psyche the opportunity to slow down, the signs of fatigue to appear, and the mother to put the baby to sleep quickly and calmly.

Signs of fatigue, however, often become an elusive phantom, the “hunt” for which is fruitless. Many children hide signs of fatigue. They are active and smiling and seem to be full of strength, but suddenly, like a relay, they switch to the mode of whims and hysterics, angry rejection and aggressive behavior. This means that there were signs of fatigue, but they went unnoticed because they were hidden active actions and events, or because the mother overlooked or did not recognize the child’s signals as a call to put him to bed. And it happens that the first signs of fatigue are considered by the mother to be the second, or even the third, and sometimes even signs of the onset of overexcitation. In this case, the window for sleep has been missed, and it’s too late to start going to bed.

How to distinguish the first signs of fatigue from subsequent ones? Mom’s sensitive heart and attentive gaze will help with this. Focusing on age-specific sleep and wakefulness norms, devote several days to closely monitoring your baby. Write down everything you see in the hour before bed, including your surroundings and previous activities or events. Yes, yes, write it down, no matter how stupid it may seem to you! As a result of analyzing the information collected, you will find a fine line between quickly and calmly going to bed on a positive wave and long tears and hysterics before bed. Review your notes after a few days. (Perhaps the epiphany will overtake you sooner.) After all, if everything was simple, you wouldn’t have problems with your baby’s sleep, right? And you wouldn't be reading this article now. 🙂

What signs can indicate that it is time for the baby to sleep and that he is ready for this?

Of course, their set depends on the age of the child. Babies, children of the so-called fourth trimester of pregnancy, that is, from birth to 3–4 months, exhibit as such signs not only the search movements familiar to every mother (1). They may (2) clench their fists or (3) suck their fingers. Also, the readiness of children in the first months of life can be indicated by (4) dissatisfied grimaces or (5) poorly focused gaze. Parents often note (6) sudden movements of the arms and legs; the child seems to throw them up, as if shaking off the remnants of the energy charge of his battery. This is a sure sign: it's time.

Older children have a more diverse set of signs. While observing and analyzing, remember that each of these signs can be either the first, second or third. 🙂 And only you can say exactly how things are in your case.

The baby simply looks tired. Without any special complications or camouflage veils. So you look at him and see: he is sleepy. Perhaps his face becomes paler, his eyes dim, and shadows appear around them.

The baby rubs his eyes. Simple and obvious.

The baby yawns a lot. Also not a Newton binomial. 🙂

The baby pulls his ear or rubs his ears.

Frozen look. A short or long unfocused look into nowhere is a sign of fatigue.

The baby's mood is spoiled. Here he was smiling cheerfully at you five minutes ago, but now he is gloomy and not cheerful, as if a cloud covered your sun.

The baby becomes irritable. He is less tolerant of changes and reacts more emotionally. You start to get bored faster and it becomes more and more difficult to maintain interest in the game. The baby whines and is capricious.

The baby is more nervous. A sudden noise, light, or unexpected action of someone in the household causes severe reaction up to nervous twitching. A baby cries over trifles - this is already rather a sign accumulated fatigue.

The child becomes clumsy. He falls, sways from side to side, drops things, gets pushed, or even gets hurt during play.

The baby becomes indifferent, loses interest in the game and people. He turns away during play and communication.

The baby sticks to you and does not leave your arms or, on the contrary, unlike usual, does not want to hug at all.

The baby becomes less mobile and active.

The baby, on the contrary, becomes too active, excited, and “plays.” Most often, this is how overexcitation that has already begun manifests itself.

What to do if you missed the first signs of fatigue?

Assess the child's condition and his signals. If he is overtired, but the wave of excitement has not yet crawled far upward, immediately proceed to putting him to bed. You can neglect the ritual - perceive what is happening as an emergency evacuation. When you urgently need to escape from home, you can leave unwashed dishes. 🙂

If the child becomes overexcited, immediately switch to calm wakefulness, freeze activity and watch for signs of fatigue again. If you do everything right, they won't keep you waiting. But be careful! Don't miss them this time!

Remember that a child under the age of three years physiologically unable to calm himself down. The development of his nervous system is such that now the processes of excitation in it prevail over the processes of inhibition. And this means that you must help him in this difficult matter. Forty minutes before daytime sleep and an hour before nighttime sleep, reduce activity, stop stimulating activities, turn off the TV, computer, tablet. Dim the lights. Speak quietly. Dedicate this time to quiet activities and getting ready for bed. If you follow these simple rules, then the signs of fatigue will not go unnoticed, and you will be able to put your baby to sleep easily and pleasantly.

Good night and sweet dreams! See you in new articles and reviews!

Coach of the project “Healthy Children's Sleep System” Anna Ashmarina

How do biological rhythms affect humans?

• Like any creature on the planet, man is subject to influence biological rhythms. The most significant of them are circadian rhythms - the change of dark and light times of day, day and night. Depending on these rhythms, a person’s physical and emotional condition, intellectual capabilities. Such changes are determined by daily fluctuations in the synthesis of certain hormones. In particular hormonal background tells us when it is best to sleep and when to stay awake.

How does melatonin, the “sleep hormone,” work?

• The sleep hormone is called the night hormone melatonin. It begins to be produced in the body in the early evening, reaches peak concentrations late at night and decreases sharply in the morning. One of useful functions This hormone regulates the duration and change of phases of sleep. It is with the onset of melatonin synthesis, approximately in the third or fourth month of a child’s life, that the appearance of deep and very deep subphases of slow-wave sleep in the sleep structure, and the “launch” biological clock. Before this, the baby lives rather in the rhythm of feedings.
• Melatonin causes sleepiness in dark time days. Under its influence, all processes slow down, body temperature drops slightly, blood glucose levels drop and all the muscles of the body relax a little. If you go to bed at this moment, it will be very easy to fall asleep, and your sleep will be as deep and restful as possible.
• The moment when melatonin is present in the blood in a concentration sufficient to fall asleep is what we conventionally call the “sleep window.”
• The “sleep window” will tell you what time to put your child to bed so that he gets a long and quality sleep.

For the vast majority of children from the age of 3 months to approximately 5-6 years, this favorable moment for falling asleep is in the range of 18.30-20.30.

The “sleep window” can last several minutes or half an hour - it all depends on the child’s temperament, the development of his nervous system and physical condition.

What if we missed the sleep window?

• If the baby does not go to bed at this time, the synthesis of melatonin is suspended, and instead of it, the stress hormone cortisol enters the blood. Its main function is to maintain vigor.
• Cortisol increases blood pressure, causes a rush of blood to the muscles, aggravates the reaction rate, and at the same time it is quite slowly eliminated from the body. The excited state persists throughout the night. A child who goes to bed later than the time that is convenient for his body from a biological point of view, falls asleep more difficult, with protests and tears, and subsequently sleeps superficially and restlessly. If you have a tendency to wake up at night, then if you go to bed late, your baby will wake up especially often. Our grandmothers and mothers often call the effect of cortisol with the household word “overnight.” And indeed, a child who has “exceeded” his “sleep window” is very active and difficult to put to sleep.

What time do you put your child to bed?

• So, from birth until about 3-4 months, until the synthesis of melatonin is established, the baby can be put to bed at night when the mother goes to bed - for example, at 22-23 hours.
• But, starting from the age of 3-4 months, we highly recommend finding out your baby’s “sleep window” and putting him to bed at this favorable moment, starting all the preparation for bed at least 30-40 minutes in advance.

How can you determine what time to put your child to bed?

To determine the "sleep window":

1. Observe. At the same time in the evening (somewhere between 18.30 and 20.30), the baby will show signs of being ready to sleep: he will rub his eyes, lie down on the sofa or chair, yawn, and slow down his movements. Coordination of movements may be impaired. The gaze stops for seconds and becomes directed “to nowhere.” It is this moment that will show the mother what time to put the baby to bed. It is at this moment that the child should already be in bed, well-fed, washed, and having listened to a fairy tale.

This state can last for several minutes, then the baby will experience something like a “second wind.” This may result in unnatural increased activity or unusual excitability, moodiness. In any case, such a surge of vigor will mean that the “sleep window” has been missed.

It can be difficult to notice the signs of readiness for sleep. They may be subtle, and bright light and noisy environments only help the child hide them. In this case:

2. Calculate a convenient time. Normal duration night sleep for children from 3 months to 5-6 years 10-11.5 hours. At the same time, young children, as a rule, wake up early - no later than 7.30. If you subtract the age-recommended length of sleep at night from the usual time of awakening, you will get exactly the approximate moment for ideal falling asleep.

3. Finally, just find an exact good time, shifting bedtime by 15-30 minutes every 2-3 days and remembering (or writing down) how long it took the child to fall asleep and whether the night passed peacefully.

• In any case, if your child falls asleep crying, most likely you are putting him to bed later than necessary. Analyze his routine and perhaps the next day put the child to bed earlier, start rituals 15 minutes earlier.
• Changes in daily routine. It is important not to forget that before the start of night sleep, the baby must be awake and tired enough for his age. Therefore, when shifting the schedule to the earlier side, it is advisable to shift daytime naps accordingly and carefully wake up the child if he sleeps too long on the last daytime nap. At some point, it is better to completely abandon extra daytime sleep if you put your child to bed right time after that it becomes difficult. As a rule, children are ready to completely give up the 4th sleep at the age of 4 months, the 3rd at 7-9 months, and the 2nd sleep after 15-18 months.
• Sleep patterns need to be adjusted as you get older. As a rule, after refusing one of day dreams, it is advisable to shift the child’s bedtime at night 30-60 minutes earlier. But at the same time, if at normal times for several days the child is cheerful, calm, and does not demonstrate readiness to sleep, and once in bed he cannot fall asleep for a long time, it is quite possible that the time has come to put him to bed 30 minutes later. Good dreams !

The article was written jointly with the spimalysh.ru team

For the full development of the baby, the correct formation of the baby’s daily routine and the competent alternation of wakefulness and rest cycles, it is important for parents to know what phases of sleep the child has. infant.

The main “work” of a newborn baby in the first days of life is feeding and sleeping. And if the issue of nutrition is clear (there is nothing better than breastfeeding), then the topic of sleep often confuses parents. There is no clear understanding of how long a child should sleep, why one baby sleeps peacefully all night, while another wakes up from the slightest noise. Of course, they play an important role individual characteristics infant, but still the structure and physiology of the baby’s sleep are subject to a certain model.

Sleeping for a newborn is almost the same as breathing

For a little person who has just been born, it is difficult to achieve strict adherence to the daily routine, because he does not have the function of an internal clock, and he is not able to distinguish day from night. The baby’s body adapts to the conditions of existence outside the mother’s womb, and this is a considerable burden for it.

But to adapt to external conditions Wednesday, the child’s rest should last 16-20 hours a day. Approximately every 2-3 hours, the baby wakes up to eat, then, having had enough, falls back into slumber. It takes less than an hour for a baby to digest food, which is why the break is so short.

Sleep, especially in the first weeks after birth, is a continuation of behavioral responses in the embryonic state.

Does the baby sleep in the womb?

Ultrasound scanning was able to prove that, while in the mother’s womb, the child spends a significant amount of time in a state of rest.

1. The first signs of rest, which can be described as real sleep, appear by the 28th week. At this stage, there are restless movements of the limbs, twitching of the eyelids and changing facial expressions.
2. Around the eighth month of pregnancy, the baby's sleep becomes calm, during this period he long time remains motionless, facial features smoothed.
3. Immediately before childbirth, the cyclicity of the calm and restless state of this physiological process appears.

By the way, many mothers are worried that their baby in the tummy behaves “invisibly” during the day, but at night it starts real battles, kicking and tossing and turning. The fear is associated with possible confusion about the time of day after childbirth. But this is understandable: a pregnant woman, gently swaying while walking, simultaneously lulls and rocks the baby. At night, without feeling rhythmic movements, the child begins to become active. It’s not for nothing that almost all children fall asleep instantly when rocked in a stroller or in their arms.

Sleep after birth

The first weeks and even months after birth are a kind of continuation of intrauterine life, and being in the arms of Morpheus continues to be the baby’s main activity. Rest can last up to 5-6 hours during this period, and many parents wonder whether it is worth interrupting such a long pause between feedings; will the baby lose weight?

No matter how imperfect the baby’s body may seem, it obeys its natural biorhythms, and you should not interfere with them. The child himself feels when it is time for him to eat or sleep. For the first 2-3 months, if nothing bothers the child, long rest is normal.

The alarm should be sounded if long periods of sleep without waking up to feed become the norm. This regimen contributes to dehydration and exhaustion of the body and may indicate pathology. A pediatrician will help identify the cause.

Closer to 4-5 months, the little man begins to show interest in the world around him, and periods of revitalization become longer and longer.

Characteristics of daytime and nighttime sleep of infants

Ideally, a newborn's daytime rest should last 9 hours, and at night the child sleeps for at least 10-11 hours with breaks for feeding (3-4 times). Of course, these are average norms; it also happens that a child is awake a lot during the day, but then sleeps soundly at night.

For a baby, the days merge together, without division into light (day) and dark (night) segments. The task of parents is to teach the child to separate these concepts and realize that the day is intended for active activities, and the night is a time for rest. Waking up frequently baby after sunset is associated with a number of factors:

• child on breastfeeding, wakes up more often, as mother’s milk is absorbed faster than adapted formulas;
• the hot and dry climate in the room makes the baby thirsty;
• giving up diapers in favor of diapers will force parents to get up more often to change wet sheets;
• A baby sleeping separately from its mother feels discomfort from losing contact with a loved one.

A child's daytime sleep is divided into segments, the number of which decreases as the baby grows older. By four months there are 3-4 stages of rest; by 6 months there remain morning, afternoon and evening sleep, and by the age of 1.5 years, children usually sleep once during the day.

To develop healthy skills, it is important to strictly follow the sequence of rituals. So, awakening, accompanied by hygiene procedures(washing, washing, cleaning the nose, ears) will be associated in the child with the morning period. Walks, as a rule, take place during the day, but going to bed is associated in the baby’s memory with evening bathing, feeding and quiet rocking.

Physiology of children's sleep: biological cycle and internal clock

Any human life activity, including a child, is subject to the cyclical processes occurring in the body, the name of which is biorhythms. Thanks to biological cycles, a person is able to adapt to the changes of day and night, seasons, and time zones.

Even before birth, a child’s biorhythms are established, and by observing how the system of cycles manifests itself, you can painlessly build the baby’s daily routine. You just need to correctly set your internal clock in accordance with the natural biological course. Here are some recommendations:

• The process of internal time can and should be controlled. Adults should strive to ensure that the child's wake-up, bedtime, and meal times remain constant from day to day.
• Sunlight is the main coordinator of biorhythms, so on a dark winter morning you can help your baby wake up on time with the help of electric light, and, on the contrary, on a bright summer evening you can darken the room with thick curtains.
• The human body responds to its internal clock by adjusting body temperature: during the period of falling asleep it decreases, and as it approaches getting up, it increases. A child will fall asleep easier in a well-ventilated, cool room.

According to Pavlov’s teachings, “sleep has a protective and life-saving significance for the brain,” and if it is complete, then the child is healthy, gains weight well and does not lag behind in physical development.

Based on the value of rest periods, a sleep chart for young children has been developed.

It should be taken into account that the given time is average and may vary depending on physical, psychological factors and the child's temperament.

Traits and distinctive features of the resting stages

Small children sleep differently than adults; the sleep phases of an infant differ in their order and duration. The functioning systems of an infant’s body, first of all, the brain, are imperfect, therefore the pattern of action of two important states of rest - fast and slow sleep - is specific.

Paradoxical phase

The REM sleep phase is dominant in the life of a newborn. Another name for it is the REM period (translated as “active eye movement”) or REM – “rapid eye movements”. The stage acquired a similar name for the trembling eyelashes and the rapidly moving pupils under them. Based on these signs, the paradoxical phase can mislead parents - they may consider the child to be awake.

At the stage of fast-wave sleep, processes that are very important for the baby take place:

• training and stimulation of brain development through vivid dreams;
• relaxation and relief of nervous tension;
• rethinking and consolidating new information;

Paradoxical sleep is a shallow state of rest; the child plunges into this phase immediately from a state of wakefulness.

The brain at this stage is active and seems to be drifting on the edge of consciousness. As the baby grows, the proportion of the fast phase decreases.

Orthodox or deep sleep

The stage of non-rapid (slow) sleep, or non-REM (translated as “without active eye movement") is formed at the stage of more mature development of the cerebral cortex. She is the one responsible for a good night's rest. There are 4 degrees of the orthodox phase:

• Napping is a superficial rest; the baby reacts to all sounds.
• Falling asleep - transition state Between napping and rest, the baby may wake up due to extraneous noise.
• Deep sleep - the body is relaxed, the arms and legs become heavier, there is no reaction to weak interference.
• Very deep dream– complete disconnection from the external environment, noises have no effect on the child, artificial removal from this state completely disorients the baby.

This rest phase is important for the full formation and normal development of the child. The baby's strength is restored, spent energy is renewed, and the body is rebooted. The slow stage is short-lived, no more than half an hour, but over time its duration increases as the baby becomes more active and gets more tired.

REM or what are you dreaming, baby?

The paradoxical phase of sleep in newborns, as noted, is colored with images of dreams. What visions and sights make the baby smile, wrinkle his nose, frown, twitch his arms and legs? After all, his knowledge of the surrounding reality is negligible.

There is no consensus on dreams in infants either among scientists or among neurosurgeons. But there is an idea that at the stage of formation of interneuron connections, a person sees spots of color, or the very first and warmest thing he constantly encounters is his mother’s breast.

In addition to visual images, components of dreams can include sensations: after all, the baby already distinguishes between cold and warm, wet or dry. And over time, as information is replenished, the child will already see familiar faces and familiar objects in his dreams.

Sleep phases in the first year of a baby's life

From about the 3rd month of life, the baby’s sleep is similar to the rest of the older ones, with the exception of the duration of the cycles. Full circle consists of four stages of non-REM sleep and one REM sleep. IN infancy a single cycle is 45-50 minutes, after 5 years it approaches an hour and only after 10-12 years it is equal to an adult.

Below is a table showing the change in the ratio of the paradoxical sleep phase in infants in the first year of life by month.

Most often, children wake up at the paradoxical stage, the quantitative component of which prevails over the supra-orthodox one. That is why the rest of infants is intermittent and short-lived.

Sleep is an indispensable condition for the physical and psycho-emotional development of a baby.

Undoubtedly, sleep, along with feeding, plays a primary role in the life of a baby. In a state of rest, the child’s body is restored, removing traces of fatigue and overwork. The brain “digests” the flow of information received during wakefulness and prepares for a new portion of knowledge and emotions. During the rest period, the baby gains height and weight, good rest promotes good appetite, equal mood and intellectual development.

Lack of sleep is extremely detrimental to nervous system child and can lead to chronic disorders, including neuroses. Professor N. Krasnogorsky found that even a two-hour sleep deficit leads to negative weight fluctuations. In the future, such children may have impaired behavioral reactions, for example, “disobedience syndrome.”

Sleep takes a direct part in the complex process of developing the functions of memory, attention, and systematization. In addition, it has been proven that growth hormone, so important for the baby, is activated in the first two hours of night rest. The task of parents is to create all conditions for full and healthy sleep their children.

We all want our children to fall asleep quickly and easily, to “put them down and go to sleep!” But sometimes bedtimes last for long hours, during which the child cries, resists, and becomes hysterical. He seems to want to sleep, but he just won’t fall asleep. How to put your baby to bed quickly, easily, without hysterics?

There is such a concept: "Window to Dream". You need to catch it when it opens. And definitely before it closes. What is a “window to sleep”? This is such a good time when the baby is already tired, but not yet overexcited, and can fall asleep peacefully. At this time, putting the baby to bed is as easy as possible.

What happens if you miss the “window to sleep”? Usually it “opens” when the “baby’s battery” is almost completely empty. The baby wants to sleep, his strength is running out. Imagine what will happen if you don’t put him down at this moment? The baby’s brain will understand that he needs to continue to stay awake, he needs to get the strength for this somewhere. If such a request is received, the body injects stress hormones (adrenaline and cortisol) into the blood, and then the baby can technically continue to be awake. However, his fatigue has not gone away. The processes of “overexcitation” are activated. After this, putting the child to sleep is much more difficult, because an exciting chemical reaction has already started in the blood. And if he does fall asleep, then the sleep will most likely be intermittent, restless, with awakenings every 30 minutes, with tears, possibly hysterics. And what’s most unpleasant is that after such a dream the baby will get tired, capricious, will not regain his strength, will not be able to behave adequately, or enjoy new discoveries and games.

How to learn to catch the “window to sleep”? In fact, this skill is the key to successfully improving a child’s sleep, so it’s worth understanding this issue. There are 2 main points to pay attention to: the end of wakefulness (according to the table of wakefulness norms for the child’s age) and signs of fatigue. When you realize that it will soon be time for sleep, you need to switch to a calm wakefulness mode: dim the lights, sounds, talk to the child more slowly, calmly, do not express strong emotions, do not run, do not jump, but move on to calming activities. During such quiet wakefulness, you need to closely monitor the baby and his manifestations, because it is during this period that it is easiest to notice primary signs baby's fatigue. They will tell you that the “window to sleep” has opened!

Some mothers say that their babies do not show any signs of fatigue, but immediately begin to be capricious and cry. However, this does not mean that there were no signs of fatigue. They were simply missed, not noticed, because the baby hid them behind active actions and games, or the mother did not study the baby’s behavior, facial expressions and other signals so carefully. This is why it is so important to have a quiet wakefulness! During vigorous activity, the baby simply will not show those same primary signs of fatigue, and only the second or even third signals will become noticeable, which are usually already signs of the onset of overexcitation, and not fatigue. In this case, the “window to sleep” is already closing, and it is much more difficult to put an overexcited child to sleep with stress hormones in the blood.

Therefore, the task arises of learning to recognize the primary signs of fatigue! How can you tell them apart? As I said above, it is important to closely monitor the baby at the end of waking hours. Keep track of everything you see about an hour before your expected sleep: what you and your baby did, how he reacted, etc. You can even keep a diary or notes for a few days so you don't miss anything.

What signals can be attributed to those that indicate that the baby is already tired and ready to go to bed? In children, they may vary depending on age.

In the youngest (from birth to 4 months), this may include finger sucking, a dissatisfied expression on the face, a poorly focused gaze, as well as a sharp throwing up of arms and legs.

Older children have more options. This can be a “glassy look” or so-called “freezes”. Or the baby may simply start rubbing his eyes, yawning, or pulling his ears or hair. The child’s coordination of movements may deteriorate, he may begin to fall, drop things, etc. Fatigue can also be signaled by a child’s sharply deteriorated mood, tears over trifles, rejection of what usually brings joy, an indifferent attitude towards games or communication with you, and others.

It is important to learn to recognize which signs indicate fatigue and readiness to go to bed, and which ones indicate overexcitation.

What to do if it was not possible to distinguish the primary signs of fatigue? First of all, try to put your child to sleep. If it doesn’t work out, and the child actively resists, protests, cries, there is no need to force him to lay him down, rock him to sleep, etc. You shouldn’t be angry with him and think that he doesn’t fall asleep “to spite you.” You need to be understanding and take pity on the baby. After all, the process of excitement has started inside him, the hormones have spun the “carousel”, and now it is very difficult to calm down. The baby wants to sleep and cannot relax. It's very difficult for him! What to do? Switch to a calm wakefulness mode, try to completely stop any activity, help your baby relax. And keep watching closely. At some point, the baby will definitely show signs of fatigue again and the “window to sleep” will open again.

If you learn to catch the “window to sleep” and recognize the signs of fatigue in your baby, the process of putting him to sleep will become simple, fast and enjoyable for both of you!