The phenomenon of infants and young children frequently startling awake and crying in the middle of the night can significantly affect their health and overall development. Sleep plays a crucial role, but many babies still struggle to maintain deep and continuous sleep. In this article, we will explore some simple yet highly effective folk remedies to help children sleep soundly, supporting babies to have more restful nights.
1. Why do children often startle awake in the middle of the night?
Infants and young children often struggle to sleep soundly and tend to startle awake at night due to various reasons, such as:
- Immature nervous system: In the first few months of life, a baby's nervous system is still developing, so they may occasionally have abnormal movements and easily startle while sleeping.
- Physiological sleep cycle: Infant sleep is divided into two cycles: REM (rapid eye movement) and non-REM (deep sleep). If the baby's sleep is in the initial cycle, they are easily awakened by external factors.
- External environmental factors: Due to their delicate organ systems, young children are often very sensitive to environmental impacts like noise and light. If the intensity is high or too strong, they may wake up or startle.
- Inappropriate daily habits: Newborns who stay up late and refuse to sleep and have difficulty sleeping soundly at night if parents let them sleep too much during the day or play too boisterously before bedtime.
- Medical conditions: Pneumonia, bronchitis, or a deficiency of essential micronutrients like zinc, iron, and magnesium can also cause babies to wake up easily during sleep.
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2. Folk remedies to help children sleep soundly
To help your child sleep better and more soundly at night, in addition to creating a quiet environment and maintaining healthy sleep habits, you can also consider some folk remedies that many mothers have effectively applied.
Effective folk remedies to help children sleep soundly: Perilla leaf pillow, placing a blunt knife under the mattress, placing mulberry branches or garlic near the bed, orange, tangerine, lemon peels, or fresh ginger in room corners, diffusing essential oils, turning off lights before bedtime.
Using a Perilla leaf pillow
One of the folk remedies to help newborns sleep better and sounder is using herbal pillows, especially Perilla leaf pillows. This type of pillow can be bought ready-made or made at home, often combined with herbs like cloves. The gentle scent from these leaves helps babies relax, reduces startling, and promotes more peaceful sleep.
Placing a blunt knife under the mattress
For babies who frequently startle, with the effect of warding off evil spirits, ancient people believed that placing a blunt knife near the sleeping area was an effective folk remedy because it would help children feel safer. This tip is meant to soothe the mind, helping babies fall into a deep sleep more easily. Mothers should place the knife under the mattress right at the head of the bed, out of the child's sight to ensure safety.
Placing mulberry branches at the head of the bed for newborns
Should you place mulberry branches at the head of the bed? One of the long-standing folk remedies to help children sleep soundly is to prepare mulberry branches for newborns. According to folk beliefs, mulberry trees are believed to have the ability to ward off evil. Parents often place a fresh mulberry branch in the baby's bedroom, especially near where the baby sleeps, to create a "shield" protecting against ill omens. This is believed to help children sleep more deeply and peacefully throughout the night.
Hanging garlic at the head of the bed
Hanging a clove of garlic at the head of the bed or placing garlic under a newborn's pillow is a folk remedy to help newborns sleep soundly at night and effectively reduce crying. According to traditional beliefs, garlic has the ability to protect and bring a peaceful atmosphere, helping babies feel safe and fall asleep more easily.
Using orange, tangerine, lemon peels
An effective folk remedy to help children sleep soundly is to subtly place orange, lemon, or tangerine peels in the bedroom, near the head of the bed or in the corners of the room. These peels will release natural essential oils that help improve blood circulation, calm the mind, and create a relaxing atmosphere. The gentle aroma from citrus peels contributes to a peaceful ambiance, helping children easily fall into a deep and tranquil sleep.
Soaking feet with fresh ginger
Fresh ginger with its natural medicinal compounds can help reduce startling during sleep in children. Parents can apply this simple folk remedy to help babies sleep better: gently crush a piece of fresh ginger, boil water with a little physiological saline, then add the ginger to the warm water. Soak the baby's feet for about 15 minutes, doing this about 30 minutes before the baby goes to bed to help them relax and sleep more deeply.
Wiping or bathing with warm water
Warm water helps children feel comfortable, relax, and easily fall asleep afterward. After wiping or bathing, mothers should dress their child in soft and comfortable clothes to help them feel as comfortable as possible. Be sure to check that the water temperature is just warm, avoiding it being too hot or too cold, which could easily cause children to cough during sleep due to temperature differences. Additionally, mothers can also gently wipe their child intermittently if newborns sweat a lot on their head and back during sleep, to prevent sweat from soaking back into their body and causing a chill.
Diffusing essential oils in the room
Diffusing the room with locust pods or essential oils not only helps cleanse and purify the air but also brings a sense of relaxation to children. This folk remedy to help children sleep soundly helps babies easily calm their minds, reducing crying and startling during nighttime sleep.
Telling folk tales to babies
Infants and young children are full of curiosity and a desire to explore the world. Parents can choose some short stories from a collection of bedtime stories for babies to help them fall asleep more easily. Additionally, these stories can also help babies sleep soundly through dreams formed from the characters in the tales.
Turning off the lights before bedtime
Keeping the lights on when a baby sleeps may seem convenient and safe, but in reality, this light can negatively affect the child's eyes and biological clock, making it difficult for them to fall into a deep and restorative sleep. Therefore, an effective folk remedy to help children sleep soundly is to turn off the lights before bedtime.
Lulling the baby with sweet melodies
Lulling babies to sleep is a beautiful tradition of Vietnamese women and an effective way to help children sleep. When listening to their mother's familiar, slow, and sweet voice, children will relax, feel safe, and fall asleep faster. Mothers can check out some mantras to help children sleep better to diversify their lullabies.
See also: Should babies wear socks to sleep in the summer?
3. Tips for children to sleep better and sounder
In addition to using the folk remedies to help children sleep soundly passed down through generations, mothers should also adjust their daily habits appropriately to help children sleep peacefully and soundly every night. Here are some tips and tricks to help babies sleep well effectively:
- Avoid excessive play: Letting your baby play too much before bedtime will raise their adrenaline levels, making them more excited than necessary. Instead, simply talking gently will help them relax and prepare for sleep.
- Limit daytime naps: If children sleep too much during the day, it will be difficult for them to feel sleepy at night. Establish a reasonable sleep schedule; children should only nap for about 2-3 hours and spend the rest of the time on other activities. This helps reduce insomnia or startling awake at night.
- Establish a biological clock: Set and help your child eat and sleep at fixed times during the day so they don't develop the habit of staying up late, going to bed, and waking up at regular times.
- Adjust diet: Do not overfeed your baby or give them caffeine-containing drinks before bedtime to avoid discomfort and sleep disruption. Increase foods that support sleep, such as turkey, fatty fish, or mung beans.
- Encourage independence: Teach your child to sleep in their own bed, intermittently refraining from over-comforting them when they wake up in the middle of the night, helping them learn to fall back asleep on their own. However, still keep the baby in the same room as the parents so they feel safe.
- Maintain stable room conditions: Keep the room temperature at an appropriate level, ensure the lighting is dim enough, and create the most comfortable sleeping conditions for the baby to easily fall into a deep sleep. Music or white noise should be played at a moderate volume, serving only as a gentle background.
- Use some aids: Give your child a pacifier to help them relax, be soothed, and fall asleep more easily. Place pillows around the baby to prevent startling when they roll over and ensure safety if the baby tends to roll while sleeping.
- Choose a suitable mattress: The mattress for the baby should have a soft texture but still provide body support, while maintaining a cool temperature to prevent the baby from feeling hot while sleeping. Mothers can refer to Ru9's Memory Foam mattresses and Topper mattress pads for babies.
These tips will help improve the quality of a child's sleep, contributing to healthy development and a more comfortable spirit.
Folk remedies to help children sleep soundly are always valuable secrets, supporting babies to have peaceful and quality sleep. Alongside this, maintaining a healthy diet and lifestyle is equally important to ensure the child's comprehensive development. Parents need to combine both of these factors to build a solid health foundation for their children.
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