During well-child checkups, parents often come to me to consult about their children’s sleep problems. Over time, I have found that many infants and toddlers have poor sleep habits that affect the quality of their own sleep and that of their parents, while causing parents headaches. Here are some of my solutions for parents. 1.Establish a good bedtime habit The first three months of a child’s life is a transitional period to adapt to the new environment outside the mother’s womb. He is not yet capable of following to eat and sleep at a fixed time. Also, it does not know what is day and night. Therefore, the best way to take care of your child is to feed him when he needs it and to put him to sleep when he is sleepy. However, when a child is 3 months old, parents can help him establish a good bedtime routine. At this age, 90% of children are able to sleep for 6-8 hours straight at night. And, when the child is 4-6 months old, there is no need to feed him at night. Here are a few points to help your child establish good sleep habits: (1) Watch for early signs that your baby is sleepy, such as rubbing his eyes, becoming irritable, easily irritated, or becoming quiet. Certainly yawning is a sure sign that he is sleepy. (2) When your baby is sleepy, you can: sing a lullaby, give him a bath, do some sleep-promoting massage, etc. The key is to do it at the same time, in the same place and in the same order each time. Your child will eventually associate lullabies, evening baths and massages with sleep. When you prepare your baby at the same time and place each night, your baby will automatically prepare his body and mind for sleep. (3) When your baby shows sleepiness: you should put him in the crib before he falls asleep and let him fall asleep slowly in the crib by himself. This is a good key to develop your baby’s ability to fall asleep independently. When he wakes up in the night, it will be easy for him to fall back to sleep on his own without the help of parents. (4) Help your baby establish a healthy circadian rhythm: During the day, take your child outdoors more often. If it is raining or cloudy, you can turn on the indoor lights to make the room brighter. At night, let your baby sleep in a quiet, dark room. The pineal gland of the brain releases melatonin during the quiet, dark nights and suppresses it during the bright days. This helps your baby regulate and establish a healthy flying circadian rhythm. Babies and toddlers need 12-14 hours of sleep a day, which means they should be ready for bed by 6-7 pm. Many people believe that if children go to bed late, they will get up late and sleep solidly. This belief is actually incorrect. If children play late and are overtired, they will have more and more trouble falling asleep and waking up to sleep. Eventually, they will not be able to get the amount of sleep that their bodies need. 2. Common sleep problems and their solutions (1) My child is 9 months old and she has always slept regularly, but recently she has changed and started crying every time I am ready to put her to bed. Problems like this are very common in children of this age. They have just reached a very important growth milestone – object permanence. They realize that an object is still there even if it disappears from their sight. When they are put to bed (separated from their parents), they know that their parents are still nearby. They want their parents and start crying. In addition to consistently establishing a consistent sleep routine for children, parents can also use the “crying it out” method. When your child wakes up at night and starts to cry, let him cry for a few minutes before walking into his room, patting him down, giving him a kiss and then quickly leaving. Try to avoid: turning on the lights, picking up your child, rocking him or breastfeeding him. Most importantly: Minimize interaction with each other. You also need to prepare your mind for the possibility that your child will cry or even scream again when you walk out of the room. Repeat the above process, each time trying to let your child cry for a few more minutes before going to his sleeping room. Research has shown that crying in this situation does not have any long-term negative effects on the child. If the child receives adequate love, care and attention from the parents during the day, the crying caused by the parents helping the baby to develop good sleep habits at night will not be psychologically traumatic for the baby. (2) My child is 12 months old and still needs to drink milk several times at night, what should I do? Children older than 6 months do not need to breastfeed at night. If your child still needs to drink milk at night, there are two reasons: ① He doesn’t want to change his habits from the first few months and still wants to have his parents’ attention at night like before. ② Sometimes it may be because he is playing actively and focusing during the day, which affects his appetite and the amount of food he eats. A 12-month-old child is just starting to walk and is very excited as he discovers a world that is new and unbelievable. During the day, if parents do not strictly adhere to the established eating times and routines, the baby is likely to be too playful and not eating enough. If you feed your child enough food during the day, you can reduce it little by little over a few days until you stop the nighttime feeding. “crying it out” is still an effective and practical way to solve these children’s sleep problems. For children over one year old, place a bear, a blanket, etc., that the child is attached to by his bedside. When the child wakes up in the night, he can use these items to soothe himself and help him fall asleep again. Other children wake up at night crying not for milk but to find their parents, and are handled the same way. Regardless of age, we all wake up several times during the night and then fall back to sleep quickly. Therefore, learning to fall asleep on your own is an important skill that your child must master. (3) My child is used to sleeping in the crook of my arm. Every time I put her in her crib, she would immediately wake up and cry. When your baby is 2-3 months old, parents should watch for early signs of sleepiness and then begin to train her in regular sleep habits. To repeat the previous point: always put your baby in her crib when she is sleepy but not yet asleep, so that she can develop the ability to fall asleep independently on her own. When she wakes up from sleep, it will be easier for her to put herself back to sleep quietly again. On the contrary, if a parent holds the child, rocks the child to sleep, or sings the child to sleep, the child will naturally wake up crying for the parent to hold, rock or sing to fall asleep again. (4) My child is 2 years old and sweats a lot at bedtime, do I need to worry? Children are more likely to sweat at night when they sleep than adults. This is because: night sweats generally occur during deep sleep, and children sleep longer than adults in deep sleep; children’s thermoregulatory centers are not yet developed; and children are small and have relatively more dense sweat glands. Some medical conditions can also cause excessive sweating, such as: heart disease and obstructive sleep apnea syndrome. However, these medical problems can be accompanied by other symptoms such as feeding difficulties, slow weight gain, and loud snoring. If your child appears to be healthy and has no other symptoms, then night sweats are generally not a concern. Of course, proper room temperature and appropriate clothing and bedding are also important factors in whether your child sweats.