In the first 3 months, babies sleep intermittently for an average of 17-18 hours a day, this sleep is generally in the form of a continuous sleep of 10-20 minutes and a maximum of 3-5 hours of continuous sleep, and the sleep time decreases to 15 hours after 3 months. Waking up of babies, especially at night, is one of the most difficult issues for mothers.
Because mothers sleep at that time, they want to sleep, and the baby does not sleep even though it should. Sometimes, when our mothers wake up at night, they rock their children due to the stress of wanting to put their babies back to sleep. Sometimes this shaking exceeds the acceptable limit, and children may experience some kind of shaking-related concussion in the brain, which is harmful for the child. In fact, our children have been raised by rocking for a long time, and in our culture, they are made to sleep in cradles.
How do babies sleep by being rocked?
The inner ear consists of two parts, including the hearing and balance organs. The second part, which plays no role in hearing, is only related to balance. This section, which consists of three liquid-filled semicircular canals, is called the 'vestibular Labyrinth'. The cells here are stimulated by the flutters of the inner ear fluid that shakes with the slightest movement of the head, and they instantly transmit the angular movement of the head to the brain. They help maintain balance with the help of the sense of vision. When we turn around very quickly and stop suddenly, a condition called dizziness occurs because the fluid in the inner ear canals is still rotating. When the eyes look at a fixed point while the body is shaking, a signal goes from them to the brain that there is no movement. The difference between these two signals creates a kind of dizziness, like car sickness, and induces sleep. Sleepiness occurs entirely in the brain, not as a body need. It is difficult to rock a baby to sleep when he is constantly on the move and busy with other things. When the baby looks at a point with fixed eyes while in the cradle, in addition to the mechanism above, a state of sleep occurs, as in hypnosis (in hypnosis, the head is fixed, there is a moving object, the head shakes in the cradle, the objects are fixed).
Some studies have shown that children who grow up rocking show rapid development. Even if it is, due to excessive secretion of growth hormone during sleep, development depends on sleep rather than shaking. It is thought that it could. Some disorders have been found in the vestibular systems of children called hyperactive, who are overactive, constantly daydreaming and unable to develop their abilities. Although there are some studies showing that Mongoloid or spastic children can develop better with vestibular stimulation (rocking babies to sleep), nowadays, if we are sure that when the baby cries, his stomach is full, his diaper is dry and he is not in pain, we should close the door of the room where he sleeps and move away from him decisively. The view that his voice will stop and he will fall asleep is more widely accepted. However, when the baby cries, there is no harm in gently shaking it, as long as it is not too violent.
Hope all children are healthy...
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