Cold dousing
Earlier we considered the swimming of newborns and infants, combining physical activity and freedom of movement with the beneficial effect of water on the body. Now consider dousing with water as a hardening procedure.
Pouring is the most accessible and therefore the most common procedure with water. Pouring can be done from a container( pelvis, bucket) or from a shower. However, the pouring out of the container is different in that in a short period of time, contact with the water of the entire surface of the body is ensured, which is not achievable when dousing from the shower. When you use the shower, water pours alternately different parts of the body and, in addition, the procedure of douchement is always more durable.
When should you start pouring and what is the temperature you need to have water?
The usual recommendations in the pre-school period( from birth to 3 years), children poured water at a temperature of 36-34 ° C, bringing it gradually to 26-24 ° C at an air temperature of 20-22 ° C.Pouring "is made from a jug or watering can, keeping them no farther than 20-25 cm from the body to avoid strong mechanical impact of the
flow of water. .. It is not recommended to pour a head".By 2-3 years we have the following achievement: Children 2-3 years in summer it is useful to pour from the watering can for 20-30 seconds and after that vigorously wipe. The temperature of water from 34-36 ° C should be gradually increased to 25-27 ° C. .. It is not recommended to pour a head on it. "
The following incomprehensible things immediately strike the eye: Is it hardening by cold or something else? If dousing with comfortable waterit is recommended to begin with a temperature of 3 months, then what is different from bathing a baby in water at the same temperature that it is "allowed" to do much earlier? If you can wash your head, then why is it not recommended to pour it? And it is absolutely absurd to think that the flowwater from the watering can inflict injury on the child.that we read in the book of V. Zhuk "Mother and Child", leading observations of one zemsky doctor:
"I had to notice that children who were baptized in cold water develop and grow better than those baptized in a warm font. The villages are baptized more often on the 1 st, 2 nd day after birth. Peasant children usually baptize priests in cold water, straight from the well, both in summer and in winter. Some priests reported that in the winter in the church they baptized children in the water, from which the ice had just been taken out.
As a weak and strong child, baptized in winter in the water directly from the well, develops very quickly and takes on a special pleasant and cheerful appearance. A child, immersed in cold water, screams, but immediately calms down: it quickly heats up;and from the other pair it just falls, while it lies open. A quick immersion in cold water strengthens all the processes of metabolism, raises the fallen food and blood, corrects the still unstable movement of the juices;the skin turns red and pleasant to look at.
Baptism in warm water works quite differently. And the strong and weak child responds equally poorly to her. Before diving the child lies quietly, after immersing in warm water screams. Warm water, without giving any impetus to either the skin or the vascular system, evaporates, cools the body, the unhappy child freezes, trembles, turns pale. .. The temperature is not fixed for a long time. ..
All the priests declared the advantages of cold water. Of the 22 children baptized in warm water, 9.4% died;out of 42 children baptized in cold water, 1-2% died. "
This response of children to warm and cold water is confirmed by elementary observations, namely that the water of the recommended temperature cools the body upon evaporation, while" without giving a push to the skin, or the vascular system, "often results in the child becoming ill without being able to tolerate such cooling." Do not help, and the recommendation to immediately wipe dry. "
Such" hardening "procedures are exacerbated by unnatural conditions of children's detention,
It is important that when the child is doused with water and, therefore, when it is cooled, the body gets a boost, is activated to fight cooling, and only cold water can give such a push
However, "common sense" dictating the installation:"cold" means "bad," does not allow many parents to understand this simple truth. The fear of the possibility of supercooling a child wins. As a result, we have a paradoxical situation: caring for the health of your baby, parents begin to do what is good for their babyIt turns out to be dangerous - regularly pour it with warm or cool water.
When starting the tempering of a child, it is first of all necessary to understand well and check on yourself that dousing is as safe as possible with cold water, that only such douches give a hardening effect.
The fear of the child's hypothermia is the tribute we pay for a perverted medical approach to newborns and infants.
"Know," says B. Tolkachev, based on his rich experience, "that neither the low temperature of the water nor the duration of bathing contribute to a cold, for the organism of the child on the cold stimulus immediately responds to such a rapid exchange of substances that it is time to think about how,so that in diapers it does not overheat! ".
It is important only that "the closer the water is to its freezing point, the better for both the patient and the healthy person."
Before doucheing it is good to do intensive exercises with the baby. Then, in a basin or a bucket of cold water for a short time, first lower the legs of the child( this is necessary until it has developed a conditioned reaction, i.e., a reaction to cooling before direct exposure to cold, because it is not yet aware that it will be poured cold water), and then, after the appearance of the reaction in the form of a pronounced muscular tone, pour the entire body, trying to maximize the surface of the body for a short time to contact with water. Pour should be with the head, otherwise the effect will be significantly lower, since the stimulation of the skin receptors on the head and face plays a significant role in the formation of the response of the body.
Normal reaction of the child - increase of muscle tone and motor activity, redness of the skin. After dousing it quickly heats up, so do not immediately wipe it and wrap it. Let him stay a little naked. Then simply cover with a diaper and attach to the chest. After douche, the sucking reflex is activated and the children actively suck the breast.
For pouring the baby responds with a sharp cry. This is quite natural, since he does not yet have the mechanisms to contain the expression of his reactions. But the baby quickly calms down, especially if you attach it to your chest.
When do you start dousing? As we have seen, children were baptized in cold water on the 1st and 2nd day after birth. Today's practice confirms the usefulness of this procedure. Pouring a child on the 1-2 day after birth "triggers" its thermoregulation. Already from the very first days he perfectly begins to suffer temperature changes.
Some parents preferred to pour their baby for the first time immediately after birth, sometimes even when the umbilical cord is not cut. The mother pours cold water herself immediately after childbirth and pours the baby along with her. Purgation after childbirth facilitates the rapid restoration of strength, increases uterine contractions. As for the child, after blasting, the cyanotic skin tone disappears completely( cyanosis), it acquires a pleasant pink color, the child does not freeze naked at room temperature and actively sucks the breast. In short, it quickly adapts to the new conditions.
Immediately upon arrival from the maternity hospital, the child should be transferred to a natural way of life, give him more air and sun, wear it more in his arms, start exercising, and exercise in the water. And, of course, to start daily cold dousing.