Baby rolling at night, is it due to lack of vitamin D?

This is an automatically translated article.

The article is professionally consulted by Master, Doctor Dang Huy Toan - Pediatrician - Neonatologist - Department of Pediatrics - Neonatology - Vinmec Nha Trang International General Hospital.

1. Reasons why babies don't sleep deeply and roll over

Newborns have fully formed body parts, especially the brain, but the function is not complete, it takes more time to perfect until the child is old enough. The brain and central nervous system are the places to perform many of the most complex functions, which need to continue to develop functionally, anatomically, psychologically... and complete at the age of 6.
In the stages The first stage, your baby's sleep is extremely important, it is the brain that receives the essential tasks related to the baby's sleep. The brain is the center that controls the baby's waking or sleeping state.
When the baby sleeps deeply, the cerebral cortex is responsible for inhibiting most of the conscious activities. While other brain regions that control unconscious movements (vegetative nervous system) still take place normally such as breathing rate, heart rate, bowel movements, urinary system peristalsis...
For preschoolers At birth, the brain is still not fully functional, so it is quite difficult to control sleep. Therefore, infants do not sleep deeply, or roll, or move their limbs or have emotional expressions such as laughing, crying erratically... because the brain can't completely inhibit the activities. conscious when the baby sleeps.

2. Some factors make babies not sleep well

Children are at the age of both physical and mental development, but they are not fully supplemented with micro-minerals or are not exposed to sunlight to supplement vitamin D, leading to a lack of calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus... As a result, the baby's nervous system becomes more sensitive due to the lack of these trace elements. The baby is at the stage of developing basic movements, so the baby will move more vigorously than before, more active during the day, causing similar residual manifestations in sleep. Children begin to know how to communicate with people around them, there are psychological and emotional effects such as happiness, sadness, anxiety, fear, etc. Some diseases cause babies to cry, fever, pain, discomfort... Some normal physiological activities also cause babies to not sleep well, such as urination, abdominal pain, bowel movements, hunger... Children's diets are changed when they learn to eat strange foods or they are forced to eat things they don't like... this affects their digestive system as well as their psychology.

3. Handling a sleeping or rolling infant

3.1 Create a comfortable sleeping space for your baby Your baby's bedroom should be cleaned, cleaned and sanitized. Items such as beds and blankets are washed and dried every week before being used by the baby.
One of the ways to deal with a sleeping or rolling baby is to maintain the bedroom temperature at a moderate level, not too hot or too cold compared to the baby's body temperature. The bedroom space for a newborn baby must be really quiet, airy, avoid direct outside light and keep the brightness moderate.

3.2 Let the baby be psychologically comfortable before going to bed Newborns don't sleep well partly because they are often naughty and disruptive, so their parents scold, scold and unintentionally have a heavy impact on the baby's psyche. . This contributes to making the baby's sleep not deep and easy to wake up. Therefore, parents need to have appropriate methods of educating their children, avoiding unreasonable scolding, which negatively affects the psychology of their children.
3.3 Limiting children's movement before sleeping Although letting children have fun, doing physical activities is a good job, helping children develop bones and joints, moving, but if children play too much, it is harmful and a factor. affect children's sleep at night. Therefore, it is best to limit the infant's lack of deep sleep, parents need to limit excessive exercise for the child, especially before sleeping.
3.4 Hygiene for children before sleeping A clean body is a factor that helps children sleep deeply, not crying and rolling while sleeping. Therefore, it is necessary to keep the child's body clean, so take a warm bath before going to bed so that the baby has a better, deeper sleep.

However, parents should bathe the baby quickly and limit soaking the baby in water for too long, which will cause some diseases such as flu, water infection... so dry yourself, wear airy, comfortable clothes for your baby. baby before sleep.
3.5 Comfortable sleeping position A correct, comfortable sleeping position helps baby sleep longer, baby does not roll around and cry anymore. Parents should gently change the position of the child so that it is most reasonable, not only to avoid waking the child but also to help the child sleep comfortably.
3.6 Nutritious diet Mothers should pay attention to the child's diet, supplementing with adequate nutrients for the baby. Especially substances such as calcium, zinc, iron, omega 3, vitamins of group B, protein .... to avoid the baby's lack of substances that affect sleep. In addition, children should be exposed to the sun for about 30 minutes every day to absorb vitamin D, helping to strengthen bones and joints.
In Vietnam today, 7 out of 10 children under 5 years old have zinc deficiency and 8 pregnant women have zinc deficiency. The prevalence of zinc deficiency in pregnant women is 80.3%, women of childbearing age 63.6% and children under 5 years old is 69.4%. The most common manifestations of zinc deficiency in children are growth retardation, mild and moderate malnutrition, delayed growth in height, and some observable symptoms such as anorexia or decreased appetite, decreased suckling, and no meat. fish, slow digestion, mild constipation, persistent nausea and vomiting in children. In addition to reasonable zinc supplementation, parents also need to provide their children with other important vitamins and minerals such as lysine, chromium, B vitamins,... resistance to minor illnesses and less digestive problems.
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