Beirut -

“Sleeping like a child” is the expression used to denote a calm sleep or sleep in peace and tranquility, but not every sleeping child is considered sound sleep.

Lina Kabalan says her 3-year-old, Adam, had a nightly party of running, jumping and screaming before Gavia fell into her arms with goodbye.

But he often gets up in the middle of the night to play.

She asks: Where does this energy come from?

Is sleeping in this way healthy?

Parents, especially mothers, are keen to secure the best quality of life for their children in terms of food and physical and psychological health.

The quality of sleep is closely related to ensuring balanced growth in children in particular.

baby sleep monitoring

Children cannot express their satisfaction or annoyance with words.

Therefore, parents should monitor the health of their sleep and ensure the best level for it.

Children who sleep healthy have a lower risk of depression, anxiety and other illnesses.

It is not necessary that the reason the child wakes up at night is hunger (pixels)

Tahani Karim tells that she organizes the sleep of her children, making them go to bed early and wake up early.

She considers that children need 3 days of routine to get used to something.

Her eldest son was struggling to sleep and was late to fall asleep, and did not like to sleep much.

As for the second, he sleeps very easily, as he voluntarily goes to bed.

And his third example, but he wakes up for any reason, "and the strange thing is that he slept excellently in the place where I used to spend the whole period of my pregnancy in it."

The mother provides a sleeping environment so that her children sleep in complete calm and darkness.

She chose rooms for them to enter the sun early.

perfect situation

Reem Ebeid is a pediatric sleep specialist who studied this specialty in the United States.

She is the first licensed and certified Arabic speaker in the Middle East and North Africa from the Kim West Institute.

It works with parents to achieve healthy sleep for children through a two-week program, in which it adjusts the feeding and bedtime regime according to each child and their family situation.

She tells Al Jazeera Net that the music - which can accompany children's sleep - should be white noise, that is, music with one rhythm, such as the flow of a river, or the sound of the ocean, rain and the sounds of the forest.

It is considered that it is better to get used to sleep without any stimuli.

The optimum temperature for bedrooms should be between 22-25 degrees Celsius.

It is better for mothers to wear them with a sleeping bag, which will provide them with a balance of warmth no matter how much they move.

It is best for children to dress like adults with one or more layers of clothing.

She points out that each period of sleep needs a quiet environment away from blue lighting and daylight, and light stimuli that many use to decorate children's rooms.

Naps are very important for children during the day (Pixels)

Common mistakes

A pediatric sleep specialist says that some mothers try to keep their children awake throughout the day so that they arrive tired and sleepy at night, but the reality is that as long as he is tired and stimulated, the child does not get a good sleep at night.

Some mothers consider that it is okay for the child to sleep with the light on. In fact, his sleep should be quiet with dim and cool lights.

Another common mistake that the specialist talks about is giving him milk to sleep, and it is true that the provision of milk must be organized according to his health and weight, and he must get what he needs for the whole day and according to age.

She also says that some mothers believe that offering formula milk satiates the child and makes him sleep better. In fact, waking up at night after the age of 6 months has nothing to do with hunger, and the reason may be the lack of organization of nap times.

The child must be accustomed to sleeping alone in order to start building his independence (pixels)

Reem considers that the child must be independent in his sleep, and that he should not be accustomed to sleeping with the parents.

The child should not be carried when he wakes up, but rather clapping and making a “brittle” sound quietly, because carrying him and sleeping with his parents leads him to become attached and not to control his emotions.

She adds: The age of 3 is a time to improve a child's behavior. If he does not comply with the parents' request and does not follow their routine, his sleep alone becomes difficult, and he cries and resists sleeping a lot.

Therefore, it should not be left unchecked during the day, nor can it be planted with controls during sleep.

Reem Obeid, pediatric sleep specialist: If iron stores are low, the child does not sleep, so we focus on educating parents (Al-Jazeera)

Some of the reasons for not sleeping

The specialist says that at a young age the child may be disturbed by colic and acid reflux.

After the age of 5 months, colic stops, acid reflux can persist and you may need to refer to a doctor.

Among the reasons preventing sleep are skin allergies and eczema, and the iron and iron stores that some doctors do not pay attention to. And red meat. And at the age of 9 months, he must also make sure that he takes 3 meals with 2 snacks and milk at least 500 ml. Formula milk is fortified with iron, while breastfeeding needs iron supplements.”

The nervous system of the child turns itself off due to noise (pixels)

sleeping like children

The pediatric sleep specialist says that when a child is born, we sometimes hear that his sleep is very good because he does not wake up despite the noise, and in fact his nervous system is incomplete and not ready for all these stimuli to receive and analyze them, so he defends himself by doing a “shut down” and falling asleep same.

This is not the quality of sleep required for children.

"This newborn who sleeps all day in this way wakes up at night, because he grows and develops his skills and experiences the world around him in the quiet time, so he wakes up at night."

children training

A pediatric sleep specialist begins training for children from 6 months of age.

She says a baby from 6 months to 1.5 years old needs about 11 hours of uninterrupted sleep at night.

The number of naps that decrease with age varies.

She considers that sleep is a skill that children must learn, so the child voluntarily goes to bed on his own.