A child sleeps with a half-open eyes. Features of a child's sleep

Many parents face such a phenomenon when their baby, falling asleep, does not close eyelids. Children can roll their eyes or leave them ajar, to the great horror and panic of their fathers and mothers. But why do our daughters and sons sleep with our eyes open, and is it worth it for relatives to worry so much about it? What kind of diseases can the half-open eyes of a child show during sleep? All this will be discussed below.

Features of child nap

Sleep of babies consists of two phases - fast and deep (or slow). During the second period, the sleeping baby completely relaxes, its breathing becomes smooth, the nervous system rests. To fall into a deep sleep, a boy or a girl needs to go through a phase of superficial drowsiness, when the brain is still awake. At this moment the child can say something, twitch, and often then the kids are slightly opened eyes.

The phases of sleep in babies of the first months of life alternate very often. After all, being in a state of deep slumber, a crumb can not cry, if it is frozen, wet the panties or it hurts the tummy.

Features of sleep in children up to one and a half years

Many parents are worried about this question: why their one-year-old child sleeps with a half-open eyes? As doctors say, this is a normal physiological phenomenon, which even has its name - "lagophthalmus". This condition is not a violation of sleep. And in it the crumb not only sleeps with half-open eyelids, and sometimes screams, twitching legs and pens. Usually in children after one and a half years it passes, so the slightly opened eyes during sleep are a phenomenon that soon ceases too.

After two years, this manifestation can be irregular, mainly it can be observed because of overexcitement of the baby. The cells of the brain of the crumb are overworked, as a result of which the incomplete closure of the eyelids is possible.

If the lagophthalmus does not pass after 2 years, then an oculist needs help, who will prescribe the appropriate treatment and, perhaps, will have to undergo an operation on the organs of vision.

Somnambulism

Another reason why our offspring sleep with our eyes open is so-called somnambulism. This disease, known in the people as sleepwalking - a condition in which a person during sleep can perform unconscious actions. The age limit of the onset of the development of a disease is the age of the child from six years of age. The state of somnambulism can last from several minutes to 1 hour, and in some cases even longer. Children suffering from this ailment, often go to sleep with their eyes open, perform incomprehensible actions (for example, hide or rearrange things). And in the morning, waking up, they do not remember anything.

The dangers of somnambulism

The main threat to this disease for children is the possibility of traumatizing oneself. As the child sleeps with a half-open eye, but unconsciously gets out of bed and begins to move, then soon it can fall or hit on any piece of furniture, cut or wound. There were even sad cases, when in this state the children fell from stairs, windows, beds. Therefore, parents should not let this problem on their own, because it depends not only on health, but also on the life of their offspring.

Treatment of somnambulism

If the parent turned to a specialist for help with the fact that his child sleeps with a half-open eye, walks unconsciously at night, then before diagnosing somnambulism and prescribing appropriate therapy, the doctor asks if there were any negative events in the life of the baby, was ill Whether he has any diseases and how often. If the mother really remembers some negative episodes that could affect such well-being of the crumbs, then the doctor prescribes treatment. Often, patients with this diagnosis, the physician recommends that an electroencephalogram and doplerography of the cerebral vessels be performed. In addition, a specialist necessarily gives a referral to an ophthalmologist who will examine the bottom of the eyeball of the child.

Treatment of somnabulism involves the following activities.

1. Before going to bed, parents need to do a light massage to their son or daughter with vegetable oil (olive, almond, etc.). You can also add essential oils that have a soothing effect (mint, lavender, etc.).
2. If the child is overstrained, then you need to give him a plant tax. Brew lemon balm, valerian, motherwort, mint and give a drink to his son or daughter throughout the day.
3. Above the bed of the offspring, there is a story of grass in a bag.
4. Parents should pay attention to how much the child sleeps. After all, if their child does not have enough rest, then this can also affect the development of somnambulism.
5. If necessary, the doctor can prescribe sedative and hypnotic drugs that control the facts of sleepwalking. For example, it can be preparations "Prosom", "Klonopin", "Trazodon".
6. If the case is severe, tranquilizers are prescribed to the boy or girl.

To what doctors to address?

If parents are worried about their sleeping baby or older child, they are worried that their offspring sleeps with half-open or open eyelids, then they should seek help from such doctors:

• pediatrician;
• Oculist;
• The neuropathologist;
• neuropsychiatrist.

Initially, of course, you should go to a consultation with a pediatrician and talk about your fears. If the pediatrician suspects that something is wrong in the baby's condition, he can give directions to a neurologist and oculist. These specialists should dispel all doubts and fears of parents and answer their main question: why do their children sleep with their eyes half-open. If a boy or girl has experienced some kind of fear, shock, then the doctor can also send mother and baby to a consultation and possible further treatment to the psychoneurologist.

Normal duration of night rest

On how much the child sleeps, its general condition depends. So, below we list the norms of children's daily rest by age categories:

• From 1 to 4 months - 18 hours;
• From 4 to 6 months - 16 hours;
• From six months to 9 months - 15 hours;
• From 10 months to 1 year - 13 hours;
• From 1 to 2 years - 12 hours at night and 2 times a day for 2 hours;
• From 2 to 3 years - 11 hours at night and 1-2 times during the day for 2-3 hours;
• From 3 to 7 years - 10 hours and in the afternoon about 2 hours.

After 7 years, the child does not need to doze off during the day, but at night the child should rest for 8-9 hours.

After reading this article, parents will certainly breathe a sigh of relief and will not worry about the fact that their child is sleeping with a half-open eyes. But if after 2 years such a state of crumbs does not pass, then this is cause for concern. In this case, mom and dad must show their child to the child's doctor and exclude diseases such as lagophthalmus or somnambulism. If the doctor has put any of these diagnoses, then the parents should do everything in their power to get their child to get rid of such a disease and continue to live a calm and happy life.