Hardening of children up to 1 year. How to start hardening a newborn baby: rules and methods of hardening. Accounting for the age and individual characteristics of the child

1 to 3 months

* The air temperature in the child's room is 23ºС. Airing - 4-5 times a day for 10-15 minutes.

* Mandatory sleep in the air at an air temperature of -5 to 30ºС. The duration of sleep is gradually increased from 10 minutes to 2.5 hours.

* Air baths during swaddling and massage from 2-3 to 5-6 minutes. Air temperature from 22 to 18ºС.

* Washing. The water temperature is gradually reduced from 28 to 20ºС.

* Shared bath (water temperature 36-37ºС) lasting 5-6 minutes, followed by dousing with water at a temperature of 34-36ºС daily.

* Wet wiping with a mitten moistened with water (33-35ºС). Wipe for 2 minutes the handles from the hand to the shoulder and the legs from the foot to the knee. Every 2-3 days, reduce the water temperature by 1ºС and bring it up to 28ºС. Wipe each part of the body dry until slight redness immediately after a wet wipe!

3 to 6 months

• The air temperature in the child's room is 20-22ºС. Ventilate 4-5 times a day for 10-15 minutes.
• Mandatory sleep in the air at a temperature of -10 to 30ºС. The duration of sleep is about three hours.
• Air baths during dressing, massage and gymnastics from 6-8 to 15 minutes.
• Washing. The water temperature is 23-20ºС.
• Wet wiping with a mitten moistened with water (33-30ºС). Wipe the whole arms and legs, then the chest and back. Every 2-3 days, reduce the water temperature by 1ºС and bring it up to 26ºС. Wipe each part of the body dry until slight redness immediately after a wet wipe.
• General bath (water temperature 35-37ºС) lasting 5-10 minutes, followed by dousing with water (33-35ºС) daily.
• In summer, stay under the scattered rays of the sun 2-3 times a day for 5-7 minutes.

6 months to 1 year

* The air temperature in the child's room is 18-20ºС. Ventilate 4-5 times a day for 10-15 minutes.

* Mandatory sleep (or walks) in the air at a temperature of -12 to 30ºС. Duration is about three to four hours.

* Air baths during dressing, massage, gymnastics and in separate periods of wakefulness up to 10-12 minutes.

* Washing. The water temperature is 22-20ºС.

* General douche. The child can stand or sit. First pour over the back, then the chest, stomach and, last but not least, the arms. The water temperature should initially be 35-37ºС. Then, every five days, reduce it by 1ºС and bring it up to 28ºС. After dousing the baby, rub dry until slight redness.

* Shared bath (water temperature 35-36ºС) for 5-10 minutes followed by dousing with water (32-34ºС) daily.

* In summer, stay under the scattered rays of the sun 2-3 times a day for 8-10 minutes.

If you regularly carry out at least some of the above procedures, this will already significantly improve the health of your baby. But do not expect miracles: all hardening programs are designed for a long time and you will not see the first results earlier than in six months. Your baby will be less prone to disease.

Good luck to you and, most importantly in this case, patience!

Shipulina E. V. infant swimming instructor, pediatrician

Procedures can be started at any age, almost from birth.

You can harden and often sick children. Treatments begin when the child is healthy.

All environmental factors (sun, air, water) are used for hardening.

Hardening can be started at any time of the year. Procedures should be carried out systematically, throughout the year, then they will have the maximum effect.

It is necessary to gradually increase the strength of the stimulus and the time of its effect on the child's body.

All tempering procedures will be effective only against the background of positive emotions!

Tempering a child up to 1 year

The first hardening procedure for a newborn child is air baths. They consist in the fact that while changing clothes, the child is kept without clothes for 1-2 minutes at an air temperature in the room of 22-24 C.

In the summer, a newborn can be taken out for a walk almost immediately after birth (if its weight is more than 2500 g), at first for 20-40 minutes a day, gradually increasing the time to 6-8 hours a day. Ultraviolet rays have a positive effect on the body's immune system, but it must be remembered that soft skin the baby burns easily, so the baby's stay under direct sunbeams Absolutely forbidden.

In winter, in central Russia, you can walk with a child from the age of seven at an air temperature of up to -10 C in calm weather, starting from 5-10 minutes a day, up to 1.5-2 hours a day in the fresh air.

A very important hardening procedure at this age is the daily bathing of the baby. Bathing gives children positive emotions and is a powerful tempering factor. General baths in the first half of the year are carried out daily, in the second - it is possible every other day. The water temperature should be 36-37 C. After bathing, the baby is poured with water 2-3 degrees lower than the one in which he bathed.

One to three years

At this age, children are quite resistant to many adverse factors, especially if hardening was carried out from birth. Therefore, more contrast methods can be used. You can carry out general rubdowns with a decrease in water temperature to 26-28 C, use a shower, which has a stronger effect, since in addition to the temperature factor, there is also a mechanical effect of the water flow on the skin of the child, which has a massaging effect.

From one and a half to two years old, a child can be allowed to swim in open water at a water temperature of +21 C and an air temperature of +25 C or more. The first bathing is 1-2 minutes, then a break of 10-15 minutes. It is very important not to scare the child - do not drag him into the water, let him go himself.

Children older than 1 year can gradually spend sunbathing. The air temperature should be from +20 C to +30 C (but no more!), Start sun exposure gradually for 5-10 minutes to 30-40 minutes.

Most best time for sunbathing - morning hours from 9 to 12 hours, in hot weather you can sunbathe from 16 to 18 hours. Do not forget to put on a panama hat on the child's head. Carefully observe the skin of the child - at the slightest redness, exposure to the sun should be stopped for 1-2 days.

Children up to three years it is undesirable to carry out contrast hardening procedures (cold shower, sauna, Russian bath), since the child is not yet able to assess his well-being, and later it will be difficult to determine the line between the beneficial effect of this method and the negative one.

Everyone knows that hardening is good for health. And such procedures can be carried out from the very first days of the baby's stay at home. This will not only reduce the risk of developing colds for a child, but also to please him and his mother.

Before proceeding to the process of hardening a baby, it should be noted that these activities must be included in life little man firmly and organically, otherwise you will never see the result, rather, on the contrary, you risk undermining the health of the newborn.

hardening rules

So that the hardening of the baby's body has positive result certain rules must be followed:

Regularity

If rubdowns are done every other day or even once a week, nothing good will come of it, just one fine (or not so) morning, the baby may wake up with a stuffy nose. Therefore, it is necessary to choose those procedures that you will be happy to perform with your child, introducing them into your daily routine.

Gradual and individual approach

Having decided one day to start hardening a baby, you don’t have to rush right off the bat. Choose one or two procedures for the first time. Start with what the baby is already used to. For example, if the temperature at home is usually 25°C, then air baths at 22°C would not be practical, no matter how comfortable such a temperature is considered. Start in an unventilated room and gradually lower the temperature for air baths.

If a child has some kind of disease, this is not a reason to refuse hardening procedures, rather the opposite. But in this case it is especially important individual approach. Talk to your pediatrician, he will help you choose exactly those procedures that are suitable for the child.

Even if there are no chronic diseases, monitor the condition of the child. For example, full douches excite the nervous system, so if the baby is hyperactive or excitable, the procedure should be started with extreme caution.

Tempering should start a healthy child

At the time of the first procedures, the baby must be absolutely healthy. At least two weeks must pass since the last illness, so that the body can fully recover. If a child has some kind of chronic disease, there should be no relapses.

You should not begin to harden the baby if teeth are being cut - this is already stress for the body. After vaccination, you should also wait at least a week.

Hardening procedures should be limited or completely stopped in case of illness

Since we are talking about a very crumb, in the case of an illness accompanied by fever and general weakness of the baby, it is better to stop the hardening procedures or significantly mitigate them. For example, instead of completely rubbing, wipe only the arms and legs, instead of washing with cold water, wipe your face with it.

You should also not do gymnastics with a baby if he does not like it or he is too weakened by the disease. It is better to start hardening measures from the beginning than to aggravate the condition of the child.

Hardening should be part of a healthy lifestyle

Along with tempering procedures, the child should receive physical exercise, sufficient and nutritious food, long and healthy sleep. Hardening involves the development of normal protective reactions of the body to a small, but stress. If the body is weakened, it simply has nowhere to get enough energy for an adequate response to stimuli.

The procedure for hardening a child up to a year

As already mentioned, one of the basic principles of hardening is gradualness. It is still difficult for a baby to adapt to a new environment for him and create stressful conditions for the body better consistently.

Air is the first means of hardening

Walks in the open air

In the topic about the first walks with the baby, I wrote that the child should get used to them gradually. In fact, outdoor walks are the first hardening procedure that no parent neglects. As you can see, hardening is not burdensome and can become part of a daily ritual.

Frequent airing

Another hardening procedure is closely related to maintaining the optimal microclimate in the nursery - this is ventilation. It must be carried out in the cold period 4-5 times a day. You can carry out normal ventilation by slightly opening the window while you are with the baby for a walk or through for 10-15 minutes while the child is in another room. In winter and autumn, after airing, the air temperature in the nursery drops by 1-2 ° C, which already produces a hardening effect.

In the summer, you can first leave the baby with an open window in the room. Later leave airing for the whole day, then for part of the night and finally for the night.

Air baths

The third pleasant procedure that helps strengthen the body of the baby is air baths. You can start taking them from a very early age - 7-10 days.

Start with a duration of 1-2 minutes. This is quite a bit, so such air baths can be carried out directly in the process of changing the child's clothes. Just do not rush to put on a blouse on him, let the skin "breathe" a little.

From 3 weeks, the duration of air baths can be increased to 4-5 minutes a day, after a month of age - gradually increase the time the baby is undressed to 10 minutes twice a day, from six months - up to 15 minutes.

The air temperature in the room during air baths should be comfortable for the baby - 20-22 ° C, gradually it can also be reduced to 18-20 ° C. The main thing is to prevent the baby from hypothermia. Monitor your skin temperature.

You can combine air baths with stroking massage and gymnastic exercises, gymnastics helps the baby to warm up.

You can also combine the air bath and feeding the baby, especially if you are worried that he will freeze. Sucking requires effort from the child, in addition, he warms up at the mother's breast.

Water procedures

The well-known method of hardening with water can be started from the 1st month of a child's life. Start with washing. At first, the temperature of the water for the morning toilet should be 28-26 ° C, then it gradually decreases to 20 ° C.

rubdowns

Another simple and useful procedure is wiping. In order for the baby to get used to the new sensations, the first wiping can be done with a dry soft cloth. As soon as the procedure becomes familiar, you can go directly to wiping with water. First, water is used at a temperature of 35-34 ° C, addiction passes gradually as follows:

• first wipe the arms and legs of the child for 3-4 days;
• only the upper part of the child’s body is wiped for a week;
• starting from the second week, they proceed to full rubdowns;
• after 3-5 days, you can begin to reduce the water temperature by 0.5-1° C per day to 26-23° C.

After rubbing, blot the baby's skin, but do not rub it, dress the baby in familiar clothes.

The game "speck" for babies

A contrast shower and dousing for a child under one year old cannot be used. But hardening can be carried out while swimming. From the age of 1-2 months, you can use the game "cold spot". This exercise is especially useful in combination with water gymnastics and swimming.

At the end of the bath, open cold water (but not ice), the temperature of the "speck" should first be 2-3 degrees lower than in the bath, later - 5-6 degrees. Place the child in the "speck", but not under running water. Turn your baby back and forth into the cold water for a few seconds, then move him to the warm part of the tub.

Similarly, you can use 5-6 degrees more water and place the baby in a warm "speck".

Stop hardening

From 2-3 months, you can begin to harden the baby's feet. To do this, use a terry towel moistened with salted water. Add a tablespoon of salt (preferably sea salt) to a liter of water and, holding the child, let him “stand” and “jump” on a towel for 1-2 seconds.

First, water is used at 25-26°C, then its temperature is gradually reduced by 1°C per day. After 2 months of training, the towel before the procedure can already be placed in the refrigerator until cool, and the exercise time can be increased to 5-6 seconds.

Pouring feet

From 9-12 months, you can start another procedure - dousing the legs. Start pouring lukewarm water at 30-28°C on the baby's feet first, lowering the temperature by 1°C per day to 20°C.

You can carry out contrast pouring of the legs. Start with 36°C for warm douches and 24-25°C for cold douches. Every day change the temperature of cold water by 1°C until you drop it to 18-20°C.

For the procedure, you can use two basins with warm and cold water, into which you will alternately lower the child's legs. When the baby gets used to it, increase the time the child spends in warm water up to 10 seconds, and in cold water up to 5.

The procedure of contrast pouring of the legs is especially useful for children prone to allergies and frequent colds.

Full douche

You can proceed to full pouring of the baby when he has already mastered the procedure for dousing the legs. In the first days, dousing should be carried out with water at a temperature of 35-36 ° C, gradually reducing the water temperature to 28 ° C for children under one year old, and to 25-23 ° C after a year.

In this case, it is not necessary to pour water on the head, use a jug or ladle, pour over the child’s legs first, then the buttocks, stomach and shoulders. This procedure is best done in the morning after gymnastics.

Important: any water procedures associated with cold water should be carried out only if the baby's legs are warm before class. Any contrast douche should be finished with warm water until the baby gets used to it, after 2-3 months you can finish the procedure with cold water.

Light-air baths

In the summer, hardening can be carried out not only with air, but also with light. For the procedure, it is better to choose a quiet place with a lacy shade, such as a park. Remember that up to a year the baby should not be in direct sunlight.

The optimal air temperature for hardening procedures is 22-24 ° C. The right time is before 10-11 am and after 16-17 pm. First, expose the baby’s legs for a walk for a few minutes, the next day - remove the blouse from the child, on the third day you can let the baby lie down completely undressed for several minutes. Gradually increase the time of solar-air baths up to 7-10 minutes, by the age of one and a half years, the time of such a procedure can already be 30-60 minutes.

After a year, if the baby tolerates being in the shade well, you can take a walk for half a minute in the sun. Gradually, the time spent in the sun can be increased to 5 minutes. The baby should always have a hat, and the mother should have water to drink the child in case of overheating.

The main thing to remember is that any procedures should bring pleasure to the child. If he is naughty and uncomfortable, he should reconsider his approach to hardening and choose other methods.

When a child is born, it enters a new environment. Nature endowed the baby with many different adaptive and protective mechanisms so that he could survive and begin to develop in this environment. So, for example, a child has thermoregulation mechanisms that prevent overheating and hypothermia. By wrapping up a child, creating greenhouse conditions for him, we "deprive" these mechanisms of work. Having become unnecessary, they can gradually atrophy, and then even a light breeze will pose a threat to the child - a defenseless baby can easily get sick.

The body's endurance and its resistance to changing environmental conditions increase under the influence of hardening - air, water, scattered sunlight: the child's immunity to various diseases, the mechanisms of thermoregulation are improved; hardening promotes proper metabolism, has a positive effect on physical development child, on the adaptation of his body to new conditions of life. Hardening is the leading method of increasing the resistance of the child's body.

However, to obtain a positive effect from hardening, a number of general rules must be observed:

1. The systematic use of hardening procedures in all seasons without interruption.

Breaks in hardening lead to a weakening of the adaptive mechanisms that are formed under the influence of hardening procedures. Even in adults, after 3-4 weeks after the termination of hardening procedures, the developed resistance to cold is sharply weakened. In children in the 1st year of life, the effect of adaptation disappears in an even shorter time - after 5-7 days. As the conditions associated with the seasons change, the procedures must be varied without completely abolishing them. For example, a summer shower in winter can be replaced by dousing your feet.

Ensure systematic hardening procedures during all year round it is possible only if they are firmly included in the child's daily routine and are combined with the usual activities held at different times of the day (washing, walking, sleeping, playing, hygienic bath, etc.).

2. Gradual increase in the strength of the irritating effect

Hardening is based on the ability of the body to gradually adapt to unusual conditions. Resistance to low temperatures must be brought up consistently, but continuously. The transition from weaker hardening procedures to stronger ones (by lowering the temperature of air, water and increasing the duration of the procedure) must be carried out gradually. This is especially important for young children and debilitated children (premature, malnourished, rickets, exudative diathesis or other allergic diseases).

3. Taking into account the age and individual characteristics of the child

With any hardening measures, it is necessary to take into account the age and state of health of the child and the individual characteristics of his body. With age, the load should be gradually increased. The weaker the child, the more carefully one should approach the hardening procedures, but it is necessary to harden it! If the child does get sick, consult a doctor if it is possible to continue at least some procedures with a reduced impact force; if this cannot be done, you will have to start all over again after recovery.

4. Carrying out hardening procedures against the background of a positive mood of the child

Any hardening event should be carried out after creating a child good mood. Crying, the appearance of a feeling of anxiety or fear of hardening procedures should not be allowed. If by the time the procedure is performed, the child is upset with something, crying, it is better to postpone the procedure for another time or completely cancel it: it will no longer be possible to obtain a positive effect from this procedure.

5. Compliance with the temperature regime of the skin

During hardening, be sure to check the condition of the child's skin: the procedure can be carried out only if his nose and limbs are warm. If the child is chilled and already has vasoconstriction, it will not be possible to develop a positive reaction to hardening, only the opposite effect can be obtained. Overheating is also harmful: it increases the moisture content of the skin, which changes its thermal conductivity, as a result of which even moderate exposure to cool water or air can lead to significant hypothermia of the child's body.

air hardening

I way- ventilation of the room. Air hardening begins with this. The best way ventilation - through, it can be arranged in the absence of a child. The hardening factor when airing the room is to lower the temperature by 1-20 C. In autumn and winter, it is necessary to ventilate the room 4-5 times a day for 10-15 minutes. In summer, the window should be open, the optimum air temperature in the room where infant, - +20-22 C. Studies have shown that at a higher temperature in the room, the growth and development of the child is delayed.

II way- a walk, including a dream in the air. It is advisable to spend as much time as possible outdoors. In the summer outside the city, it is advisable to take food, sleep, gymnastics, and games into the fresh air. It is useful to walk at any time of the year, just do not forget that you need to dress according to the weather. Don't wrap the baby! Children from 2-3 weeks of age in the cold season at an air temperature not lower than -5 ° C should be taken out into the street. The duration of the first procedure is 10 minutes, in the future, the walking time should be increased to 1.5-2 hours and walking twice a day. In the warm season, walks with a child should be daily, 2-3 times a day, between feedings for 2-2.5 hours.

In the first 1.5 years of a child's life, daytime sleep in the air is recommended. At the same time, fast falling asleep, restful sleep, even breathing, pink color faces, lack of sweat, warm extremities upon awakening indicate that the child is dressed correctly, that is, is in a state of thermal comfort. When cooling or overheating, the child sleeps restlessly. Blueness of the face, cold nose, cold extremities are indicators of sudden cooling. Sweaty forehead and damp skin indicate that the child is hot.

III way- air baths. Under the influence of air baths, oxygen absorption increases, heat exchange conditions change significantly, the state of the child's nervous system improves - he becomes calmer, eats and sleeps better.

For children of the 1st year of life, air baths begin with swaddling. It is useful to leave the child undressed for a while with each swaddling and changing clothes. It is necessary to undress and dress the child slowly. The air temperature during the air bath should gradually decrease to + 18-20 ° C. The time of air baths should be gradually increased, and from the age of one month, the air bath should be combined with massage and gymnastics.

During the second half of the year - 2 times a day for 15 minutes, daily increasing the duration of the bath by 2 minutes.

During and after the air bath, the child should look cheerful, he should be in a good mood. Make sure that the children do not cry at this time and have the opportunity to move. Watch for signs of hypothermia: when goosebumps appear, you need to dress the child, stop holding an air bath, and further reduce its duration. It is always necessary to pay attention to the sleep and appetite of the child: their violation may be a sign of the adverse effects of the air bath.

In summer, air baths can be combined with sun baths.

Hardening by sunlight

It must be remembered that the sun's rays are a potent remedy. Young children are not shown to be in direct sunlight, as well as sunbathing. Hardening should begin in diffused sunlight. The child is better off in the so-called "lace shadow". At first, he should be dressed in a light-colored shirt at an air temperature of + 22-24 ° C. In the middle of wakefulness, the child should be undressed and left naked for several minutes, gradually increasing the hardening time to 10 minutes. On the head of the baby you need to put on a panama. It is useful that at this time he moves freely in the arena, on the playground, playing with toys.

In a good general condition, if the child tolerates well being in the lacy shade of trees, you can also expose him to direct sunlight, first for half a minute, and then gradually increase the time spent in the sun to 5 minutes. It is necessary to perform this procedure in the morning (before 10-11 o'clock) or in the evening (after 17). It is necessary to ensure that the child does not overheat. With reddening of the face, the appearance of irritability, excitability, it is necessary to take him out of the lacy shade of trees or from under the direct rays of the sun into the shade and give him cool boiled water to drink. If the child is weakened by diseases, hardening by sunlight should be carried out very carefully, under the supervision of an adult who is constantly nearby, it is also necessary to periodically consult with the attending physician or exercise therapy doctor, who allow and dose the procedure.

water hardening

One of the most effective natural means of hardening is water. People who are not too familiar with hardening methods are often struck by the fact that washing and showering, which we have been accustomed to since childhood, can serve not only hygienic, but also healing purposes, but this is exactly the case. With the proper organization of water procedures, properly selected temperature conditions, a gradual increase in the time of exposure to cool water, the usual performance of uncomplicated actions of the morning and evening toilet can have an unexpectedly strong healing effect.

Tempering procedures are extremely useful for children of the first year of life, but with two reservations. Firstly, there can be no talk of any hardening until the end of the adaptive postpartum period (i.e. up to 1 month), when the child’s body, which has experienced significant stress during the transition from intrauterine existence to life in the outside world, adapts to new conditions. Secondly, before starting to carry out hardening procedures with your child, you must always consult a doctor.

For children of the first year of life, water hardening procedures can be local (washing, rubbing) and general (hygienic baths, wiping and dousing, and sometimes showering). At the same time, for hardening, you can use both daily hygiene procedures - washing hands before eating, washing feet before going to bed, regular bathing, and various games with water. The effect of water hardening is based on a gradual decrease in water temperature and an increase in the procedure time.

You can start hardening with the usual washing of the child. The initial temperature of the water should be close to the temperature of the skin of the exposed parts of the child's body - approximately + 28-26 ° C.

The next step in hardening with water should be rubbing. You can start with water at a temperature of + 34 ° C and gradually (by 0.5-1 ° per day) reduce the temperature to + 26-23 ° C within 10-15 days.

Wiping is performed as follows: with a terry cloth mitten moistened in water or a terry towel folded several times, the child is wiped with quick movements: the first week - only the upper half of the body, and after a week - the whole body. The directions of movement during wiping should be as follows: the child's hands should be wiped from the fingers to the shoulders, the chest in a circular motion clockwise, the back - from the middle of the spine to the sides, the legs - from the feet up to the pelvis, the stomach clockwise, the buttocks - without moving them. Each movement is repeated 2-4 times.

Along with wiping with plain cool water, wiping with sea salt solution (1 teaspoon per 1 cup of water) is helpful.

The hardening method proposed by Swedish doctors has proven itself well: a terry towel is moistened with “sea water” (1 tablespoon of sea salt per 1 liter of water, water temperature + 22 ° C) and the child (starting from 6 months) is lowered after sleep by 2-3 seconds on a towel; the child "jumps", "dances". Without wiping their feet, they move on to other elements of the toilet. After 2 weeks, if the child feels well, you can increase the load: the child is lowered for 2-3 seconds on a damp towel, which is first placed in a plastic bag and placed in the refrigerator.

After a wet wiping, it is necessary to rub the child's skin until it turns pink and dress him.

Attention: those areas of the skin that are subjected to rubbing and subsequent rubbing must be absolutely healthy - if the skin has diaper rash, any rashes, etc., this procedure should be postponed.

After 2-4 weeks of systematic rubdowns, you can proceed to dousing with water (it is better to discuss the temperature regime with your doctor). It is necessary to start pouring from the legs, then the buttocks are attached to them, then the chest and stomach, and end with pouring the left and right shoulder. This procedure can be started from 9-12 months (and even earlier in more hardened children).

Of the local douches, dousing the legs is recommended first of all. Such procedures have not only local, but also a general effect on the body, and this is due, in particular, to the fact that cooling the feet is one of possible ways stimulation of the activity of the adrenal glands, which play an important role in the adaptation of the body to adverse conditions and in the functioning of the human immune system. The hardening effect of this procedure can be due either to a gradual (by 1 ° per day) decrease in temperature, or to the use of contrast douche. In the latter case, the feet are first doused with warm water (+36°C), then cold (+24-20°C), and finally warm again (+36°C). This method is recommended for children who are often ill or suffering from allergic reactions, since they have a tendency to spasm of capillaries (small vessels).

Foot baths (“trampling” in water) are very useful. You can start them from a temperature of + 35 ° C. This procedure is carried out as follows: water is poured into the bath slightly above the level of the ankles. The child must walk through the water (with or without your help) 5-6 times. Then water is poured 2-3°C colder. After the bath, wipe the child's feet and put him to bed (feet can not be wiped).

Attention: do not pour cold water on the feet or “trampling” in water if the child has cold feet! The temperature of the skin of the feet should be several degrees higher than the temperature of the water.

This hardening option is also possible: general dousing with cool (+ 28-22 ° C) water after a hygienic bath.

A potent hardening agent is a shower, as a rule, they resort to it when the child is already one and a half years old, however, the exercise therapy doctor may prescribe it earlier for any reason (often a shower is prescribed for lethargic children, especially with poor appetite).

And in conclusion - water hardening does not cancel other types of hardening (air, sun) - airing, walking, sleeping in the air should be carried out regardless of water hardening procedures.

Hardening of newborns is an effective, most effective, as well as time-tested and many parents method that allows you to strengthen the immune system and improve the health of babies. Babies are very adaptable. Doctors recommend hardening from the first days of life.

Main effects:

• muscles, bones develop;
• the nervous system is strengthened;
• the functioning of internal organs improves;
• immunity to the effects of pathogenic factors;
• activation of metabolic processes in the body.

It should be noted that all means of hardening are distinguished by their availability and simplicity. It is important to discard some of the standard prejudices of some parents and grandmothers not to wrap up small children, and also not to be afraid of long walks in the fresh air.

Why is it necessary to temper a child from birth?

Hardening a baby is a great idea, since the adaptation mechanisms in such babies are quite developed. In other words, newborns are born hardened. At the same time, the creation of greenhouse conditions (sterile food, ambient temperature stability, lack of air mass movement around the room) negatively affects innate adaptation, since it remains unclaimed. In a month, the baby will catch a cold. To avoid this trouble, it is only necessary to maintain the natural abilities of the newborn while creating the optimal temperature contrast and having exceptionally positive contact with the surrounding reality. You can start hardening immediately. Thus, it is recommended to walk with a baby under 1 year old outside, regardless of weather conditions, and harden from birth. It is better to start walking from a few weeks of a baby's life.

Basics of hardening an infant

Hardening newborns in the shortest possible time will help strengthen their immunity, allow them to painlessly adapt to fluctuations in air temperature and wind exposure, and improve physical and mental development. Hygiene procedures at home are carried out with the help of special gymnastics and massage. They will enable the hardened baby to grow up strong and healthy.

How to harden a baby? The apartment must be equipped with a special corner for the baby. The bed should be in a cozy place where there are no drafts. The room where the baby lives must be aired daily at any time of the year. In summer, leave the window open throughout the day, but at night, be sure to cover the baby with a summer blanket made of baize or wool.

hardening rules

To increase immunity, in order to adapt an infant to environmental conditions, it is necessary to correctly begin to carry out daily water procedures, air and sun baths. After bathing the baby in the bath, pour water over him with a temperature of 1-2 degrees lower. For bathing, the recommended water temperature is 37-36 degrees, for dousing - 35-34 degrees. Gradually, from birth, pour cooler water over the child - one degree lower than the one in which they bathed. Such hardening of infants and other pediatricians.

As for clothes, overalls for newborns and children from two months to 1 year, as well as other things, should be made exclusively from natural materials. Clothing for walks and trips to visit has its own characteristics: preference should be given to products made from high-quality knitwear.

Contraindications for hardening procedures

The hardening of any infant is carried out solely taking into account his age, state of health, individual tolerance of various tempering procedures for the baby. The main contraindications for doctors include:

• colds;
• hyperthermia;
• anemia
• acute intestinal disorders;
• exhaustion;
• sleep disturbances;
• nervous excitability;
• heart defects (decompensated);
• negative attitude towards procedures;
• diseases of the endocrine system, in particular thyrotoxicosis, diabetes mellitus;
• negative reaction of the baby's body to exposure to cold;
• damage skin due to burns.

Make a decision regarding hardening only if there is good health at the baby. This will help complexes of gymnastics exercises,. The procedures should not be returned until the moment until complete recovery occurs. Preparation for hardening of children, when the duration/influence of exposure to various factors for deliberate cooling of the body is reduced from the standard level for the body, should be repeated.

When hardening children, they adhere to some important principles:

• it is important to take into account the mood of the child - if he does not want to splash in cool water, do not force him to do it;
• procedures are performed systematically with an increase in the time of exposure to the hardening factor;
• hardening is carried out in the form of a game;
• if the baby is frozen, procedures are not needed.

If you doubt the child’s health and don’t know if hardening is needed, contact a pediatrician who will examine the baby and get acquainted with the medical history. Only the doctor will tell you whether modern hardening techniques are needed now or is it better to wait with them until the condition of the crumbs returns to normal.