Why does a baby twitch in his sleep? Why does a newborn baby startle in his sleep? Action of external factors

Young mothers after childbirth are faced with many strange phenomena in their baby. The most common of these is starting in sleep. When a calmly sleeping child suddenly shakes with tremors, it can be quite frightening. What reasons lead to shudders, and should we be wary of them?

Causes of uncontrollable shuddering during sleep

According to pediatricians, shuddering in babies during sleep in most cases does not mean the presence of abnormalities. On the contrary, for children under six months of age they are even the norm. What are the most common causes of this phenomenon?

Adaptation. During childbirth, the child experiences enormous stress. And then he finds himself defenseless in an unfamiliar world. Under such conditions, it is natural that a small organism must adapt. The startle reflex or Moro reflex is one of the defensive reactions during this period.
Colic. Digestive system infant does not immediately begin to function as expected. Up to three, and often up to four months, the baby may suffer from colic, from which he shudders and cries in his sleep.
Teething. At an older age, starting from four months, the baby begins to worry about teething. They irritate the delicate mucous tissue of the gums with sharp edges and interfere with restful sleep.
Active phase of sleep. Newborns, unlike adults, have only two phases of sleep - calm and active. Moreover, the latter predominates in duration. It is not surprising that infant sleep is so sensitive that the baby wakes up from any noise. During the shallow phase, shudders are possible, which means that the child has received too many emotions and is overexcited. Therefore, in the evening it is not advisable to load it with large amounts of information, but rather play calm games.

Signs that should alert you

The above reasons lead to single, sharp startles that do not interrupt the baby's sleep. But if the child’s limbs tremble rhythmically and finely, then this serious reason suspect seizures.

In this case, a visit to a neurologist is inevitable, because convulsive tremors are one of the first signs of epilepsy or other neurological pathology.

Frequent awakenings, more than 10 times per night, after which the child is overly excited and restless, should also alert you. This behavior is permissible only against the background of an illness accompanied by elevated temperature.

What can convulsive, incessant shuddering indicate?

Metabolic disorder. Metabolic disorders are common in newborns. This is due to unstable work central nervous system, as well as with an imbalance between its activity and the amount of food consumed. As a result, the body may have an excess or deficiency of any substances, which leads to the fact that it shudders convulsively in its sleep.
Rickets. The disease may appear against the background unbalanced diet and vitamin D deficiency in the newborn. This is especially true for children born in winter, since they receive less sunlight in an amount sufficient for the vitamin to begin to be produced. With rickets, the bones of the skeleton are bent, and the central nervous system can also be affected, as indicated by convulsions during sleep.
Increased intracranial pressure. One of the causes of sleep disturbances in newborns is intracranial hypertension. It can be the result of trauma at birth, as well as a brain tumor.
Central nervous system disorders. Sometimes infants are diagnosed with a syndrome of increased neuro-reflex excitability, which occurs after birth trauma. At untimely treatment the disease leads to constant overexcitability of the child and even memory loss.

How to help your baby stop shaking

Calm, deep sleep is the key wellness and development of the newborn. Therefore, parents are obliged to do everything possible to ensure that the baby sleeps all night without waking up. How to do this?

In order for the child to go through the adaptation stage as quickly and painlessly as possible, you need to provide him with comfortable conditions for life. Surround him with care, talk to him more often, avoiding raised voices, and don’t forget to hug him. But you should not teach your child to sleep in complete silence, because then he will flinch at the slightest rustle.

If your baby is bothered by colic, you should place him on his tummy between feedings. After eating, turn it over in a “column” to allow gas to escape. It is also necessary to carry out the feeding process correctly, no matter whether the child is on breastfeeding or artificial.
In case of painful teething, special tools will help relieve itching and irritation from the gums. pharmaceutical drugs. It is also good to let your baby chew on teethers chilled in the refrigerator, which will ease the pain. But bagels and other food products should not be used for this purpose, since small particles that break off can harm the child.
IN evening time It’s better not to start active games. Water treatments must be carried out in hot water with chamomile or other decoctions of sedative plants. Then stroke the baby’s back and tummy, making light massage. And read or sing to him before bed in a calm voice.
It is necessary to introduce a rule to ventilate the room and ensure that the temperature is not excessively high (more than 21 ° C). Daily wet cleaning of the nursery is important.

If, after eliminating all distractions, your child still starts in his sleep and wakes up, you need to contact your pediatrician for help. Tightening often leads to unpleasant consequences which can be avoided with timely treatment.

With the birth of a child, new parents have many questions, and one of them is why the baby flinches in its sleep.

In the first months, the baby adapts to new conditions. A restructuring of all functional systems of the body occurs. This is one of the factors associated with flinching. After all, a child at birth finds himself in completely different conditions, significantly different from those in the womb.

From a physiological point of view, the sleep of an infant is the same as that of an adult. The only difference is the amount of sleep per day. In a newborn it takes up to 18-20 hours.

Sleep includes REM and slow phases, repeatedly replacing each other. This phase change occurs approximately every hour and a half.

During fast phase superficial sleep. It is influenced by external irritating factors:

sounds;
lighting;
temperature.

However, an infant who flinches from stimuli may continue to sleep. It is during the fast phase that the child dreams.

After the fast phase, the slow phase begins: the body is completely relaxed, everything develops and grows. internal organs And functional systems.

Why can the baby twitch when changing phases and when falling asleep? This phenomenon is due to fluctuations brain activity. You can track them by doing an encephalogram of a sleeping baby.

Every child sometimes winces when falling asleep or during sleep. This should not cause much concern to parents, as it is the norm. However, if flinching occurs frequently, it may be due to a number of reasons.

Among them:

You should contact a specialist if you notice that a child wakes up from a start and begins to cry or scream. Moreover, this does not happen once, but about 10 times a night.

Why is this happening? The child can feel sharp pain, even when sleeping. The doctor will prescribe an appropriate examination to identify the causes of the baby’s anxiety.

Parents, observing how their child twitches when falling asleep and during sleep, do not need to immediately worry too much.

Calm your baby if he wakes up. Pick him up, rock him and talk to him. Place on another side, cover with a blanket.

Newborns are often frightened of their hands because they do not yet know how to control them well. You can easily swaddle your baby so that he cannot twitch and does not wake himself up with his hands.

before going to bed it is necessary to ventilate the room;
stick to a daily routine for your baby;
the baby needs tactile contact with the mother to feel safe, even when he is sleeping;
when putting your baby to bed, be calm, even if he is capricious, because your emotions are transmitted to the child;
swaddle the baby loosely;
do not overfeed the baby before the night and hold him in a column, giving him the opportunity to burp excess air;
Change the diaper as it fills so that moisture does not interfere with your baby's sleep.

Periodic shudders during sleep are not scary. A little time will pass, and such cases will recur less and less often or disappear altogether.

All parents are concerned about the health of their baby. They look especially closely at the child in the first weeks and months after his birth: is everything okay? If the child is the first, then mothers and fathers may not know about some of the features of its development, and sometimes they are surprised or even frightened by the most ordinary phenomena. What most often worries parents of a newborn?

The child's arms and legs are tense all the time. Maybe it’s hypertension and we need to start some kind of treatment?

Yes, this is hypertonicity - increased tone flexor muscles, but this is completely normal phenomenon, which is up to of a certain age All babies have it.

If you look at a newborn, you can see that his arms are bent at all joints, brought to the body and pressed to chest, hands clenched into fists, thumbs the hands lie under the other four. The baby's legs are also bent at the joints and abducted at the hips; dorsiflexion predominates in the feet. Muscle tone in the arms is usually higher than in the legs.

Attentive parents will see that muscle tone may change, for example, when turning the head to the side, it is higher on the side opposite to the turn of the head. Changing tone in the same muscle group is called muscular dystonia- this is the name of mom and dad often heard at a neurologist’s appointment, but you shouldn’t be afraid of this, this is also a completely common occurrence in babies.

By 3.5-4 months, physiological hypertonicity in children weakens, movements become more coordinated, the hand opens, so-called locomotion develops - body movements in which almost all muscle groups are involved. There is no need to treat physiological hypertension, but you can do a restorative massage, it will promote the development of the muscular system and coordination of movements.

The baby is constantly making some movements, they are very chaotic. Why is this happening?

A newborn baby's nervous system is still immature, which is why he cannot make coordinated movements. Nerve fibers the baby is just beginning to be covered with a special myelin sheath, which is responsible for the speed of transmission nerve impulse to the muscles. The faster the transfer occurs, the smoother the baby’s movements become. In the meantime, the nervous system has not matured, small child may be in constant motion, which sometimes persists even in sleep.

As a rule, chaotic twitching disappears in the second month of life. Then the movements of the arms and legs gradually become more even and orderly.

The child’s arms, legs, and chin are trembling—maybe he’s cold or has some kind of neurological disease?

Trembling, or tremor, is physiological phenomenon, which occurs in most children in the first 3 months of life.

Tremor appears again due to the immaturity of the nervous system. Trembling usually occurs while crying or after some kind of exertion (for example, after swimming), but sometimes it begins quite suddenly, perhaps even at rest. When a child has tremors, the chin usually trembles and lower lip, arms and legs may still tremble.

Tremor can be symmetrical (both arms tremble) and asymmetrical, when different parts of the body tremble separately (for example, the chin and arms or one arm and one leg tremble at the same time).

As soon as parents notice that the baby has a tremor (and it may not appear immediately after birth, but even a month later), they are very worried. However, as we have already said, this is normal in young children. Nevertheless, you need to pay attention to the following points: physiological tremor does not last long - only a few seconds; if the tremor intensifies, the episodes become more frequent and longer, you need to show the baby to a neurologist.

The baby often shudders and throws his arms to the sides. Is this normal or should I take my child to the doctor?

This is a manifestation of one of the innate reflexes - the so-called Moro reflex (spreading the arms followed by bringing them together). It lasts up to 4-5 months and usually occurs in response to sharp sounds or when changing body position. Parents call this reflex a startle.

Moms and dads notice that if you change the baby’s position in space (for example, lift him out of bed and then put him back down), the baby will throw his arms slightly bent at the elbows up. The same can happen with any sharp sound (clapping hands, knocking on a door). Sometimes the Moro reflex occurs spontaneously, that is, the baby throws up his arms without any stimuli. All of these phenomena are completely normal for young children and do not require any treatment.. The only thing you need to watch out for is that the Moro reflex should not become more pronounced; after 4-5 months it should disappear.

The child constantly wants to suck (pacifier, breast, finger). Maybe he's hungry and doesn't have enough milk?

In children under 1 year of age, the sucking reflex is pronounced: in response to any irritation of the lips or tongue, the child makes sucking movements. This is the very first and most important unconditioned reflex: it is the ability to suck (and therefore satisfy hunger) that ensures the baby’s survival. The sucking reflex completely disappears only by 3-4 years.

Even in infants, you can notice a search reflex (it lasts up to 2-4 months): when the corner of the mouth is irritated, the baby turns its head in the direction of irritation; proboscis reflex (this can be observed up to 2-3 months): when tapping on the lips, the child extends his lips with a tube. Before eating, these reflexes appear brighter and are easier to evoke, but in themselves they are not an indicator that the baby is hungry.

The baby spits up a lot, I heard that this could be due to neurological disorders. Is this true?

Medical issues. Child from birth to one year. Care and education of a child up to one year: nutrition, illness, development. This has nothing to do with going to the toilet. Her whole body tenses, as if she is very angry. She stretches out her arms and legs and sometimes actually growls when she does.

Shaking legs - is this normal or pathological? The baby often shudders and throws his arms to the sides. Is this normal or should I take my child to the doctor? When he sees me, he starts twitching his legs with such frenzy that it feels like they will come off...

Discussion

Relaxing muscular system. Involuntary contractions. It will pass soon.

how to give?
The doctor said to drop it directly into your mouth, but according to the instructions, I look at what you should give in a spoonful of water...
which is correct?
I'm afraid that she won't drink the water in the spoon and will spit out all the water :(

A 2.5 month old child shudders. Medical issues. Child from birth to one year. Care and education of a child up to one year: nutrition Hello, we are new here, please accept and tell me: For a 2.5 month old child, for about a week I began to notice that the child was shuddering - arms to the sides...

Discussion

It's been 3 months for us

My son shuddered and was diagnosed with encephalopathy. Fortunately, everything worked out well, we took the medicine and had a massage. You should go see a neurologist again just in case. When they flinch from fear, as NAT_ALLka wrote below, this is completely different.

Trembling in an infant.. Medical issues. Child from birth to one year. Care and education of a child up to one year: nutrition, illness, development. A three-week-old boy sometimes experiences tremors when dressing his arms or legs. Tell me what this could be connected with?

On the fourth day, Kolka began to often shudder, get scared and cry. This evening I shuddered about five times, and now I put him in the crib, I immediately fell asleep, while I was fussing next to him, I heard his groan, which was prolonged, like a prolonged fright, and a loud cry after.

Discussion

Let them throw slippers at me, but I personally am at the same age at similar symptoms started.... swaddling. That is, she simply wrapped him in a medium-thick blanket like in a cocoon, he warmed up there and slept. If I laid her down “according to Komarovsky” - in a bodysuit and on a mattress under a thin blanket - it was like yours. It turned out experimentally that complete relaxation muscle pain in the child occurred when he was completely warmed in dry heat (wool booties) and when space was limited - that is, swaddled in a blanket. Now we are over three, but when we get very tired and overexcited, we fall asleep wrapped in a blanket, and no flinching.

Maybe our experience will help someone.

With the birth of a baby, most mothers have questions about why the baby starts to flinch during sleep. Especially in the first months of birth, almost all babies shudder. Most likely, this is due to the restructuring of the body. After all, at birth a child finds himself in a completely different world.

Previously, he felt calm, his mother’s heart beat evenly, but now everything is different. When he sleeps, he feels insecure, lacking loved one and the conditions to which he is accustomed. He also senses the presence of many unusual and unfamiliar sounds and smells.

The importance of your baby's restful sleep

IN infancy Babies sleep for a long time, especially up to 3 months. Their sleep can last up to 18 hours a day. This is considered normal; at this time, the formation of the nervous system occurs. In sleep, a child develops and grows better. After waking up, he behaves more calmly and is not capricious.

An infant has polyphasic sleep. At fast sleep babies dream, but in deep dreams they don’t. The baby should sleep calmly and soundly, always during the day, only then will he be able to develop correctly and normally.

To do this you need:

be in the fresh air;
feed properly;
keep the room temperature no higher than 22 °C;
be active during the daytime;
limit emotional stress;
bathe the baby before bed in water with decoctions medicinal herbs sedative effect.

Reasons

Many reasons have been identified why a baby shudders when he sleeps. Some of them should not particularly worry parents, since they are observed in all infants.

Flatulence

A recently born child is faced with the fact that the muscles of his intestines are underdeveloped, and therefore do not push through incoming food well. During feeding, the baby swallows air along with milk. It begins to put pressure on the intestinal walls and cause pain. The baby pulls up his legs, stretches out, twitches.

Over time, everything should return to normal. The body will adapt to new conditions. The shaking and colic when the baby sleeps will stop.

State of fatigue

Many parents wonder how a child can get tired if he most often lies or sleeps? But we must not forget that with birth the baby learns everything new that surrounds him. He examines everyone, listens to the sound of voices and various sounds. And his relatives come up, try to talk to him, rattle him with a rattle.

At increased activity the child gets excited, so he doesn’t fall asleep well and will startle more often in his sleep. To eliminate this, you need to talk calmly to the baby, and find quieter places on the street where there are no sharp sounds that frighten the baby.

Dreams I had

A child who receives many different impressions during the day, when he sleeps, dreams. Deep sleep very short. Therefore, alternation and transition from one phase of sleep to another can cause the child’s body to flinch.

And such dreams, when the baby feels some kind of failure, cause hypnagogic fear. At this time, you may notice that the baby is twitching.

Teething

At about 6 months, the baby's first teeth begin to erupt. Babies may experience anxiety, pain, and may startle in their sleep.

Defecation and urination

While children are still very small, they go to the toilet directly in the diaper. At this time, they have to push, jerk their legs, and parents notice movements and shuddering.

Noises

Many children react to the presence of sharp and sudden sounds by flinching. This could be a noise coming from the street or something falling in the apartment. They get used to ordinary sounds, but not to sharp and new ones.

Hand movements

Newborns are especially afraid of moving their own hands. This happens because they begin to twitch during sleep. Pens better first time to swaddle.

What to do to protect your baby from flinching

When parents observe that their child shudders in his sleep, there is no need to immediately worry or worry about why this is happening. It is enough to gently stroke him, pick him up when he cries, rock him and talk to him in a gentle voice. You can change the child's position. Sometimes it is enough to put him on his tummy, then he will be less afraid of his hands.

At first, it is better to swaddle a newborn; he feels more protected and is not afraid of hands.

Some parents purchase the Vitafon device. It phonates the intestines and gradually strengthens its muscles. There is less gas, and the child sleeps more peacefully.

Reasons to contact a pediatrician

Most often, flinching is safe for the child. It grows and they gradually stop. But there are still reasons that it is advisable to inform your pediatrician about.

Parents should be alert if:

prolonged shuddering occurs, accompanied by trembling;
the child often wakes up and cries at night;
regurgitation occurs like a fountain;
convulsions are observed.

All this needs to be told to the doctor, since such manifestations may be symptoms various diseases. In the first year of a child’s life, you need to be especially attentive to him, react to his movements, including winces, and report everything to your pediatrician.

The baby's restless sleep worries parents. They wonder why the child starts in his sleep. The reasons can be different, natural, when a baby, shuddering in his sleep, woke up, tossed and turned, moaned and immediately fell asleep again. But the baby's anxiety, turning into a persistent whimper, and then into causeless crying, may be an indicator of the disease. Reasons for not good sleep cannot be ignored and, once established, cannot be eliminated.

Dr. Evgeny Komarovsky believes that there are many reasons why a newborn waking up often shudders, their nature is different. It is impossible to determine the cause using virtual methods. You can compare, analyze the condition and daily events of the baby, but this will not give you an exact answer. The doctor reassures young parents that this is not a cause for serious concern: there is nothing dangerous. There is no symptom of the disease “startling in the first minutes of sleep.” The flinching can be explained by the following reasons:

Something scared me.
Itchy skin bothers me.
The baby's nervous system is overexcited.
There is an overdose of vitamin B in the baby’s body.
Not enough calcium.
Other reasons.

The causes of anxiety outlined in the list are not dangerous for him, they are treatable. If parents continue to worry, they should seek help from a pediatrician.

Why does a newborn startle in his sleep?

There are many reasons why a newborn baby starts in his sleep. They depend on age. IN infancy such phenomena are considered normal, since muscle and nervous system The baby develops and adapts to new living conditions. The body is not yet able to independently control such manifestations. Therefore, the baby cannot immediately fall asleep on his own.

There are others typical reasons shaking of a newborn in his sleep.

Painful condition of the child

If the baby consistently does not calm down during night sleep, often shudders, moans, moves restlessly for several nights, and cries, then he is sick. The baby may worry, cry, moan, and shudder due to rhinitis, since his nose is stuffy and it’s hard for him to breathe through his mouth. You will have restless sleep for several nights if your baby is sick. Regarding nighttime restlessness, you should consult a pediatrician, examine him and treat him.

The baby may be disturbed intestinal colic. He wakes up, twists his legs, pulls them towards his stomach. But flinching does not always appear for this reason. This may be a symptom of severe neurological disease. It is important to identify such a situation in time, determine the diagnosis, and cope with the disease.

Emotional stress

Often, it is difficult for adults to determine the cause of anxiety, because the baby associates the violation of the daily routine with some of his own, purely personal emotions. He experiences them too actively, but adults do not know how to guess about them, since it is difficult for a baby who cannot speak to convey anything at this age.

The baby's behavior remains restless not only because negative emotions, but also the causes of anxiety lie in very strong positive emotions that cause joy and laughter. He may shudder and moan frequently if he has received only strong positive emotions. Therefore, it is not advisable to entertain your child with active and energetic games and activities at night.

Children sleep restlessly and get nervous after meeting new people or visiting unfamiliar places. They sob, move and tremble their arms, moan, and move restlessly. Such a dream after strong impressions only happens for one night. Then the fatigue goes away and he returns to normal.

Violation of the daily routine

A violation of the baby’s daily routine is untimely daytime and evening rest. If the baby does not go to bed on time, then all night long she will worry, toss and turn, be capricious, sob, shudder, and moan. Parents need to strictly follow a routine so that babies do not stay awake at night.

The baby may be bothered by intestinal colic. He will twist his legs and pull them towards his stomach. But the reasons for flinching do not always appear in this case. This may be a symptom of a serious neurological disease. It is important to diagnose it in time and cope with the disease.

Whatever the reasons for the child’s anxiety, they need to be identified and eliminated. You cannot conduct experiments on a child using various methods without consulting a doctor, but on the advice of friends, relatives, neighbors. All children tolerate the same diseases differently and react to different stimuli during sleep. Therefore, the final decision on restless sleep and the child's flinching, the appointment will only make pediatrician. The task of parents is to carefully follow his instructions.

What parents need to pay attention to if the child shudders or sleeps poorly

You cannot leave the baby helpless, shuddering, sobbing. If it is within the power of the parents, you need to eliminate the cause or seek help from a doctor. If it is rhinitis, help cope with a runny nose and clean your nose. In case of intestinal problems (diarrhea or constipation), the baby should be shown to a doctor. The same measure should be taken if the child is suspected of neurological disorder: show it to a neurologist.

If the baby shudders, having found out the reason, the mother should coordinate her diet so that the problems of colic and other abnormalities in the functioning of the ventricle and intestines do not bother the baby at night.

Startling in a dream, throwing up the arms reminds the mother that the baby needs to be swaddled well and correctly at night. On a particularly restless day for your baby, filled with emotional stress, calm your baby down before bed so that nothing prevents him from resting after a busy day.

If a child gets scared, shudders and cries in his sleep, it is advisable to examine him with a psychologist who can help young parents identify the causes of stress.

If the child’s nature is impressionable, he shudders and moans all the time, you can practice bathing him in the evening healing herb(lavender) and drink soothing tea made from valerian and lemon balm.

You cannot feed a newborn before bedtime; you need to adhere to the infant’s hourly feeding schedule, feeding him at least two hours before bedtime. You also need to go to bed at the same time.

If the baby shuddered in his sleep and woke up, you need to quietly tell him: “Shhh” or “Chi.chi.chi” or “Shhh.” The child will understand that adults are protecting him and will fall asleep.

You need to put your baby to bed after the evening hygiene procedures, repeated day after day, which will set the baby up for sleep.

Startling in a dream can be caused by any of the reasons, but you need to monitor the baby so as not to miss the moment when it turns into a symptom of the disease, recognize it, consult a doctor and carry out timely treatment. May your child be healthy!