When the baby is born, it is generally asleep or half-asleep most of the time. Its eyes remain closed. Gradually it wakes up, and from the fourth or the fifth day onwards the proportion of its waking period’s increases, but not to any large extent. For a month or a month and a half, it should be allowed to sleep as much as it wants to, during the day as well as during the night. Of course, there is no harm if it wakes up at the time of feeding, bathing, changing clothes or nappies etc. and plays for a few minutes.
A healthy baby that is getting sufficient nutrition remains asleep for long periods and does not cry or trouble the mother swing. It does not even need to be rocked in a cradle or a mentally-that it needs to be rocked or swung. After about six weeks there is a gradual decrease in the periods it spends in baby sleeping.
Apart from individual variations and environment factors, the periods of sleep required by a sleeping baby at various ages. If the child is not in normal health, it may sleep for shorter periods. For instance a sleeping child that does not get enough nutrition will wake up frequently because of its hunger pangs and will start crying. This will naturally reduce the total period of time it spends in sleeping.
The sleep requirements of babies between the sixth and twelfth months vary widely. Many factors may be responsible for this: physical health, environment, beliefs of the parents regarding the requirements of sleep, etc. Children up to the age of eight or nine years should get ten to twelve hours of sleep at night. If the child does not get sufficient sleep, or if it does not get sufficiently sound sleep, its health may be impaired. In fact the child needs sleep even more than it needs food. Moreover it is not enough that the child sleeps for ten hours; its sleep must be peaceful, deep and uninterrupted. The environment should therefore be quiet, not too warm and not to cold, and sufficiently protected from interruption. During sleep, the rates of breathing and heart-beats are lower. As a result, the nerves and the brain are at rest. In the body of the sleeping child the work of restoring the tissues is going on. Thus sleep is beneficial for the health of the child.
If the child wakes up smiling, in a cheerful mood, it can be inferred that it has had sufficient sleep, and to that extent it has gained in physical and mental health. If it wakes up crying, it has not had sufficient sleep.
Never wake-up a child unless there is a reason for doing so. And exhibiting your child to guests, or such other trivial reasons do not justify disturbing its sleep. In fine, waking up a sleeping child is justified only when it is to be fed.
A healthy baby that is getting sufficient nutrition remains asleep for long periods and does not cry or trouble the mother swing. It does not even need to be rocked in a cradle or a mentally-that it needs to be rocked or swung. After about six weeks there is a gradual decrease in the periods it spends in baby sleeping.
Apart from individual variations and environment factors, the periods of sleep required by a sleeping baby at various ages. If the child is not in normal health, it may sleep for shorter periods. For instance a sleeping child that does not get enough nutrition will wake up frequently because of its hunger pangs and will start crying. This will naturally reduce the total period of time it spends in sleeping.
The sleep requirements of babies between the sixth and twelfth months vary widely. Many factors may be responsible for this: physical health, environment, beliefs of the parents regarding the requirements of sleep, etc. Children up to the age of eight or nine years should get ten to twelve hours of sleep at night. If the child does not get sufficient sleep, or if it does not get sufficiently sound sleep, its health may be impaired. In fact the child needs sleep even more than it needs food. Moreover it is not enough that the child sleeps for ten hours; its sleep must be peaceful, deep and uninterrupted. The environment should therefore be quiet, not too warm and not to cold, and sufficiently protected from interruption. During sleep, the rates of breathing and heart-beats are lower. As a result, the nerves and the brain are at rest. In the body of the sleeping child the work of restoring the tissues is going on. Thus sleep is beneficial for the health of the child.
If the child wakes up smiling, in a cheerful mood, it can be inferred that it has had sufficient sleep, and to that extent it has gained in physical and mental health. If it wakes up crying, it has not had sufficient sleep.
Never wake-up a child unless there is a reason for doing so. And exhibiting your child to guests, or such other trivial reasons do not justify disturbing its sleep. In fine, waking up a sleeping child is justified only when it is to be fed.
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