How to Help a Newborn Sleep Better After Being Scared?

For newborns, parents need to spend a lot of effort taking care of them. If a newborn is frightened, it can easily affect their sleep. If a newborn is frightened and easily wakes up at night, parents need to pay attention at all times and comfort them in time when they cry, or try to soothe their emotions by feeding them. If parents persist for a while, the situation will improve.

1. Exclude pathological reasons

If a baby wakes up easily during sleep, first exclude pathological reasons. If the baby shows signs of baldness on the pillow or night sweats while being startled, it is suspected that they may be calcium deficient. Parents should take them to the hospital for relevant examinations.

2. Lack of a sense of security

Babies, especially newborns, have just arrived in an unfamiliar environment and may have varying degrees of fear towards everything around them. A lack of a sense of security is one of the main reasons why babies wake up easily. For such babies, parents can let them sleep in a smaller space, such as a cradle or pram, and can also decorate the surroundings of the crib with bed rails, curtains, cushions, etc. Parents should also pay attention to the sleep environment, such as letting the baby sleep in a fixed bed, using fixed bedding, and listening to fixed music.

3. Being startled during the day

A baby's nervous system is relatively fragile, and being startled or scolded by parents during the day can lead to unrestful sleep at night. In minor cases, parents only need to hold and comfort the baby gently when they wake up, and it usually resolves within 1-2 days. In severe cases, parents can take the baby to the hospital for a check-up and prescribe some traditional Chinese medicine to soothe the baby's nerves.

4. Playing too vigorously

If a baby watches intense movies or plays too vigorously before going to bed, they may wake up easily and wet the bed at night.

5. Being held too much

After finally managing to put the baby to sleep, they start crying when placed in bed. The fundamental reason is that the baby has become overly dependent on being held by adults due to being held too much for a long time. Over time, it becomes increasingly difficult to put them down to sleep peacefully. Parents can try to gradually reduce the amount of time they hold the baby for a few days and "break the habit" of constant holding, or persevere until the baby naturally corrects their behavior.

1. Encourage regular sleep habits for babies

Parents should train babies to form a biological clock when they are young and make it a habit to sleep through the night. Babies need to establish regular sleep patterns and supplement their sleep with naps during the day. Waking the baby up at the same time every morning will help regulate their nap times.

2. Develop good napping habits

Babies should have regular and scheduled naps, typically during the midday or early afternoon, such as sleeping for half an hour to an hour starting from 1 pm.

3. Control light and sound in the bedroom

Use light and sound to promote the formation of a baby's biological clock. By contrasting brightness and darkness, babies can learn the difference between day and night, as well as being awake and asleep.