Air and sun
Our internal environment is separated from the external by a unique organ - the skin. The skin is not just a dividing wall, but an organ that also carries out the connection between the external and internal environment. Air and sun rays - this is the natural environment with which the skin is constantly in contact and thanks to which its normal state is maintained, and through this - the normal functioning of our body.
In the traditional practice of tempering children it is believed that these banal facts are not relevant to the first months of life. Children not only are deprived of air and sun, but the attitude to these factors borders on their pathological fear. Than else to explain, that "air baths should be spent cautiously, their duration in the beginning should not exceed 2-3 minutes".And "to take sun baths. .. to the kid of 1-st year of a life it is not recommended".
At the age of 1 year, the baby "is allowed" to enjoy his body in the air 40-50 minutes a day at a temperature of 18-20 ° C( with appropriate training), and a very small child - in a matter of minutes. All the rest of the time, fresh air to the skin of a child is hampered by diapers and clothes. It is easy to understand that such a short contact with the air is clearly not enough to ensure that the baby was healthy. The practice of such "hardening" leads not only to a weakening of the defenses of the body, the appearance of diaper rash, acne on the skin, but also to a delay in mental development due to a lack of nerve stimulation with a changing temperature of the ambient air.
In essence, the issue of air baths is superfluous. A child can be naked for a maximum time, if he does not show signs of freezing. At a temperature of 18-20 ° C, the baby can be naked all the time of wakefulness from the first day after birth. When the child is growing up, the waking time increases and, accordingly, the time spent in nude is increased. If the baby is cold, then, of course, he needs to be dressed.
Children aged about 1 year with this approach are able to long( sometimes hours) to be naked at a temperature of 15-17 ° C, without showing signs of freezing.
We emphasize that during the first weeks of life the awake baby is mainly in the hands of the mother, warming up with her warmth, so the danger of overcooling is extremely low. Physical exercises and swimming train the child's body to produce more internal heat.
The first sign that the child is not cold is his normal behavior. Loss of activity, lethargy or, on the contrary, capriciousness, agitation may indicate that the baby is frozen.
If from the very beginning you do not wear shoes at home, he will feel comfortable barefoot all the time. Even on the street in the warm season it should be suggested that he walk barefoot, that the children love. Do not be afraid of the "blue legs" - this is a normal vascular response, aimed at keeping the heat, and not a sign of freezing. If the child is cold, he will definitely let know about it.
If the child was born in the summer and the weather is warm, then from the very first days you can walk with him( in the park, in the forest, away from roads and gas contaminated streets).On the mattress of the stroller, an oilcloth is covered, on top of the diaper, the naked baby is put on the tummy and covered with another diaper or blanket, if cool. If it's very hot, then you can not hide it at all.(It is advisable to throw a piece of gauze from the bright sun, insects and strange eyes on the box of the stroller.)
It is also useful to take a naked child to the air for a short time, for example, on a balcony, pressing it first to your body( which must also be exposed).The duration of exposure in cold air should be such that there are no signs of freezing. With increasing time spent in frosty air, you should do physical exercises with the child. After throwing a blanket on him and breast-feeding.
For a short time you can put the baby's legs on the snow. In the future, if you show him an example, he will not have any psychological barriers preventing him from quietly going after you barefoot in the snow.
The sun's rays are also useful to babies from the very first days. Under the influence of sunlight, pathogenic bacteria perish, the quality composition of blood stabilizes, metabolism improves, resistance to diseases increases.
The smallest children, no less than others, need the sun. And the tenderness of their skin and the sensitivity of the body are not convincing reasons to deprive children of sunlight up to 3 months or even more. Does it make sense to give them artificially synthesized vitamin D( which doctors always insist on) if the body itself produces this vitamin under the influence of the sun? Does it make sense to use powders and ointments, if the sun in a short time will cause wrinkles on the skin in order?
The child can be born in the sun from the very first days after birth, but for a long time only in reflected or scattered sun rays. In the open sun, the baby should only be in a waking state.
No need to cover the child's head. Nature has provided mechanisms for protecting the brain from both cold and overheating. Constant advice to wear a bonnet or panama is the result of a quick detuning of these mechanisms.
You can "sunbathe" in winter through the window. Glass to some extent misses the ultraviolet rays.
In the first days of life, a newborn baby's exposure to the sun is very useful with developing physiological jaundice. The sun's rays activate the output of bilirubin, and sometimes jaundice passes right in front of your eyes, if you take out the baby in the sun periodically for several minutes during the day. Often the effect is visible after the first minutes of being in the sun.
You do not need to hide children from the sun. The sun is not only a factor that strengthens the body, but also a source of "solar" mood. Let it be from the very first days of life.