Start hardening a 5 year old child. Gradual decrease in temperature when bathing the baby. Who is contraindicated for serious hardening?

Most children immediately begin to get sick immediately after starting kindergarten. It is then that parents ask themselves the question of how to properly temper their child?

Doctors recommend starting hardening almost from the first days of life. Even in winter, babies can take air and sun baths, as well as walk. Mothers believe that walking alone is enough to strengthen the immune system, but this is not true. There are several methods and methods of recovery.

According to doctors and parents, hardening children is a procedure that strengthens the immune system, while natural factors influence the child’s body: sunlight, water and air. Immunostimulating exercises are based on temperature contrast, which increases the body's resistance.

Dr. Komarovsky believes that systematic exercises can improve the functioning of all major systems of the body. With their help:

• metabolism accelerates;
• sleep improves;
• appetite increases;
• the nervous system becomes more stable.

The purpose of hardening is to adapt the body to external stress factors. Children who have undergone strengthening procedures do not get sick from wet feet or sudden changes in weather. A hardened baby is able to resist viruses and most bacteria, since his immune cells are constantly ready to repel the attack of harmful agents.

Doctors have proven that when carrying out strengthening measures, the cellular structure improves.

General rules

Before you begin to harden your child, you need to familiarize yourself with the rules for conducting these events:

1. Get your doctor's help. Without his recommendations, you cannot prescribe procedures yourself.
2. Health must be taken care of from birth. Therefore, consult a pediatrician as early as possible.
3. Carry out all procedures regularly, otherwise the body will wean itself off them and the immune system will return to its original position. If you are trying not to wrap up your baby, then you don’t need to change your decision. Komarovsky recommends applying this rule to all healing methods.
4. Follow the sequence of classes. Do not use ice water to bathe your baby. Reduce the degree of liquid gradually, starting with comfortable temperatures.
5. Consider the baby’s health condition and his wishes. If he does not want to dry himself with a wet towel, then psychosomatic symptoms may appear. The body will react inadequately: a cough or nasal congestion will appear.
6. The process must bring joy, otherwise it cannot become daily ritual. Choose the right time. Strengthen your immune system when your baby is healthy, cheerful, and cheerful.
7. You cannot start activities during illness or exacerbation of chronic pathologies.

By following these rules, you will be able to properly organize hardening. If your child gets sick in the midst of general strengthening measures, consult a doctor. For minor cold symptoms, hardening procedures are usually allowed, but in gentle ways.

Hardening methods

There are three methods that help increase the body's resistance to external influences.

You can call on natural forces to help:

1. Water: wiping, dousing, washing, general bath. Methods related to the water element are the most effective. Recommended even for adults cold and hot shower, and for children it is mandatory.
2. Air. From the first days after being discharged from the hospital, doctors recommend undressing the baby every day and placing him on the changing table for a while. Pre-ventilate the room until slightly cool (18-10 degrees). Additionally, it is recommended to walk barefoot on the ground or on special rugs, and dress appropriately for the weather. Dress a healthy, active child a little lighter than you dress yourself.
3. Sun. Under its rays, vitamin D is synthesized, which is important for the absorption of calcium and strengthening the immune system. Try to avoid burns and overheating.

Doctors think the best way, which allows you to quickly harden a child by swimming in an open body of water. It combines all types of effects on the body. You need to start swimming with your baby when the water is heated to a temperature of at least 23 degrees. Send your baby to splash around in several sessions, each lasting no more than 10 minutes.

If parents have the opportunity, then in the summer it is worth visiting the sea coast - salty air and water have a beneficial effect on the nervous system, immune cells, and metabolism.

Doctors prohibit hardening babies if they have health problems:

• heart defects of varying degrees;
• anemia (lack of hemoglobin in the blood);
• acute stage of respiratory diseases, accompanied by an increase in body temperature;
• severe neurological pathologies;
• exhaustion.

Before you start hardening premature babies, conduct full examination, get recommendations from a neurologist or pediatrician. For such children, you need to create your own health program, including physiotherapy, a visit to the salt room, sensory development. Komarovsky claims that hardening a child will not save him from diseases, it is only a procedure that strengthens the immune system.

Healing with the help of the sun

Light-air exposure consists of regular summer walks. With kids you need to start walking in the shade of trees. Choose a time when the sun is not too active - from 9 to 11 am. The air temperature should be at least 19 degrees, and dress your child lightly. Choose cotton clothes. When using this method of strengthening the body, it is important to know the signs of overheating:

• sweating;
• facial redness;
• lethargy.

When they appear, you need to give the baby something to drink and take him home. Signs of overheating may appear in the shade if it is stuffy outside. In the heat, you should refrain from walking, but focus on water treatments.

After the first tan appears, you can expose the baby’s arms and legs so that vitamin D synthesis begins. After 1-2 weeks, you can take sunbathing with the baby, undressed to swimming trunks, and the temperature should be from 22 to 29 degrees. You need to stay in the sun for no more than 5 minutes, and then it is best to hide in the shade.

When sunbathing, the child should wear a light-colored scarf or Panama hat on his head.

Strengthening the immune system with water

Water procedures are more accessible than other methods. They are combined with daily hygiene procedures. Wiping is first carried out with a dry towel, then you can use a damp one. Rubdowns should be added to the list of daily activities in the summer, so that after a few months the baby’s body can resist diseases. Wiping begins with the child’s hands and feet.

Washing your face in the morning can also strengthen your growing body. Reducing the water temperature from 28-29 degrees to 20 will help transform the procedure from hygienic to therapeutic. After walks, you can wash your face with cool water if the child’s hands are warm. During the day, give your baby a bowl of cool water so that the child can splash around to his heart's content.

A contrast shower always begins with a warm douche and ends with a cold one. At first the temperature difference is small, but each week the range increases. The jets should be directed at the legs, arms and back. Do not water your stomach or face.

After an evening bath, shower your baby with cool water. You will need to pour more than two liters of cool water over your baby at once. Carry out the first douche with liquid heated to 36 degrees, gradually reduce the temperature by 1-2 degrees. First, pour only the legs. This procedure gives an excellent immunostimulating effect.

Open water or pool swimming fresh air helps make the baby’s body as strong as possible. Start swimming with your child when the water warms up to 22 degrees; set the time spent in the water individually. It is enough for the smallest to spend up to 5 minutes there, gradually increase the time.

The appearance of goosebumps on the skin, trembling, and blue lips are a sign that swimming in a pond should be stopped. With such symptoms, the body becomes hypothermic and becomes vulnerable to disease.

Air baths

You can air harden in different ways:

• daily walks;
• ventilation of the room at any time of the year;
• optimal choice of clothing;
• walking barefoot;
• air baths.

Every mother knows about the benefits of walks. You need to walk from 1 to 6 hours a day, but remember that being in the fresh air should not be at the expense of other activities. Infants can be taken outside during the daytime nap. It is ideal if the mother can leave the baby in the stroller on the veranda of a private house or balcony in the summer. This will allow you to combine household chores and a walk. In winter, you should not be outside for long because of the risk of frostbite on your face or hypothermia.

The optimal temperature in the apartment is 22 degrees. It is necessary to ventilate the room at any time of the year. Modern plastic windows allow access to fresh air all year round thanks to folding doors. In winter they can be kept minimally open, and in summer they can be folded back to maximum. Instead of constant ventilation, open the doors for 10-15 minutes 2-3 times a day.

Be sure to ventilate in the evening before going to bed. At night, the air temperature in the child’s room can be 4 degrees lower than during the day, this will make sleep sounder.

Give preference to clothes made from natural fabrics and do not wrap your baby up, take into account his mobility. In the summer, find a platform where your baby can walk barefoot. This is an excellent foot massage that strengthens the arch of the foot.

Try to combine all types of hardening to develop your child’s immunity organically. Combine your time in the air with sunbathing, as well as with water treatments, if possible.

Tanning, wind, and walking on pebbles by the sea have a hardening effect. One way or another, any physical impact is part of hardening. However, skeptics say that hardening is nonsense: “We hardened the child for a whole month, but there was zero effect!” The problem is that parents often do not quite correctly grasp the essence of the procedures, so there really is no positive effect from hardening...

Why do our children get sick?

Of course, viruses and microbes are to blame, because they are the basis of ARVI. But do not forget that “greenhouse” children raised in conditions warm hats, overalls and heaters, heated floors and Persian carpets, hot water in the bath and shower, driving in their own cars to kindergarten and vice versa - they get sick more often and longer. Their immunity is a real lazy person! Therefore, the body cannot protect itself from any draft - as a result, colds occur.

And children who grow up in the village and run barefoot and half-naked almost until frost, always chewing on the go - unlike city sissies, get sick a little. This is because their body is accustomed to changes in temperature, precipitation, and wind and knows how to respond adequately to it.

The goal is to start tempering!

The most difficult thing is to fit the procedures into your daily schedule and follow it exactly, without skipping them or postponing them for later. Hardening is a regular training of the body; if you stop it, the effect quickly disappears. Children are ready for hardening from birth; it is only important to choose gradual methods.

A temporary contraindication for starting hardening is acute infection or exacerbation of chronic. But this is only until the child recovers.

You can start hardening your baby right today, but one more important principle for any hardening – gradualism. First you can bathe the baby in warm water, as you get used to it, the temperature can be lowered lower and lower until your little one begins to be quite active swim in cold water.

Run across the floor!

One great way to harden yourself is to walk barefoot on the floor. "How! - the grandmothers will exclaim in horror. “The draft will make the baby catch a cold!” However, it has been scientifically proven that children who walk barefoot at home at any time of the year get sick less often.

This is explained by the fact that there are reflex points on the feet associated with the nasal mucosa. If the baby is not hardened, when the legs become hypothermic, the mucous membrane becomes very sensitive to viruses, and the child gets sick. In trained children it is very resistant to colds.

How to start hardening a child

Let the child walk barefoot on the heated floor. Take off your little one's slippers and socks more often, let their feet rest and harden at home. It's simple and useful.

In panties!

At any time of the year, it is useful to accustom your baby to coolness, and, if possible, not to put a lot of clothes on him.

In the summer, many parents allow their kids to run around in shorts, but for some reason during the rest of the year they wrap their little ones in several layers of clothing. This big mistake! Remember: the child’s metabolism is increased and he produces more heat - therefore, where you are warm, he is hot. A baby bundled up and sweating will get sick faster than a lightly dressed baby who is giving off heat to the environment.

Make it a rule to let your little one run or lie naked for 10-15 minutes every day when the room temperature is above 18 degrees. If you are afraid that he will freeze, play with him catch-up is a great game and training. Every day, increase the duration of the “pin games” session.

Water procedures

How to start hardening a child

Water procedures are excellent hardening. You can start with a bath and dousing your feet and hands, playing with water, and later add dousing from the shower.

Excellent games in the warm season are sprinklers: stock up on water pistols, machine guns, or make them yourself. Children are ready to splash and play with them for hours. In winter, you can invite your baby to fish toys out of a bowl of cool water.

Wipe babies with a mitten made of soft fabric soaked in warm water - this is useful for skin tone and vascular training. This usually brings a lot of joy to kids. As you master the method, you can gradually reduce the temperature until you reach room temperature, and then cold water.

It is in such a situation that parents remember about hardening and begin to pour on the baby cold water. But the method does not bring the expected effect and disappoints desperate mothers and fathers. Doctors say that hardening child's body is an integral part of a child’s health, but it must be carried out correctly.

There are many myths about methods and methods of hardening children. Parents should understand the characteristics of the child’s body and choose suitable for baby procedures. We must not forget about the rules of hardening, without which all efforts will be in vain, and the baby’s health condition may even worsen.

What is hardening

Hardening is an increase in the body's resistance to unfavorable environmental conditions through targeted, dosed exposure to these conditions.

When the word “hardening” is mentioned, dousing with cold water immediately comes to mind, but water procedures are not the only method of strengthening a child’s immunity.

Where to start hardening a child

You need to start hardening by changing the lifestyle of the whole family. After all, the strengthening of the protective functions of the immune system will not occur when dousing with cold water. To effectively strengthen a child’s health, hardening procedures should include other simple activities.

To do this, it is enough to bring the baby’s lifestyle closer to the natural.

• Regular walks

The child should be outside every day and play actively in the fresh air. This significantly strengthens the baby's immunity. When choosing between a walk and watching TV, parents should give preference to spending time together outside.

• Don't mess around!

Pay attention to how many layers of clothing your child is wearing. Dr. Komarovsky says that at temperatures above 23 degrees, one thin layer of clothing, a dress or a sleeveless T-shirt is sufficient.

The child is constantly on the move and freezes much less often than the parents. Dressed warmly, in several layers, babies sweat quickly, which causes the development of diseases.

• Weather in the house

One of the reasons for frequent colds The indoor air is considered too dry. Overdried mucous membranes lose their protective properties and cease to resist viruses and bacteria. This is especially true for rooms with additional heaters and heated floors.

In houses where heated floors are constantly running, air humidity drops to 20%, with normal indicators at 40-60%.

If the air in your apartment is too dry, you should think about methods of additional humidification.

The temperature in the room should be 20-22 degrees. Maintaining sufficient humidity and temperature conditions in the house will protect the baby from many problems.

The correct balance of exercise, walks in the fresh air and rest forms the basis of the baby’s health. It is important to prevent the baby from being overloaded with too many sections and increased psycho-emotional stress.

• Proper nutrition

A healthy diet consists of sufficient intake of nutrients from food that are involved in the formation of the body’s defense against infections. It is undesirable to eat heavy food, overeat and force-feed the child. You need to follow a feeding schedule and eat simple and healthy food.

• Hardening procedures

The rational use of hardening procedures has a positive effect on the baby’s body, improving blood circulation, metabolism, and the functioning of the nervous system. The child gradually adapts to the effects of hardening factors, and the ability to resist infections increases.

Hardening procedures are divided depending on the factor environment which affects the body. The most common and effective systems for hardening children are water and air procedures, and sun hardening.

Hardening rules

Under no circumstances should hardening be given to the baby discomfort. The child should not cry, scream, or perceive hardening as a test. If your child does not like the method you have chosen, choose another option that will bring benefits and positive emotions to the child.

• Tempering up gradually

There is no need to rush to harden your baby; let the baby’s body adapt gradually. Gradually increase the procedure time, gradually reduce the temperature.

• We carry out procedures systematically

Hardening procedures will have excellent results if carried out regularly. It is best to choose the right moment when the baby is full and in a good mood. Procedures should be carried out at the same time every day.

• Combining hardening factors

It is necessary to periodically change and combine hardening factors. The most useful and accessible of them are sun, air and water. The combination of hardening procedures and gymnastics is very effective.

• Preventing hypothermia and overheating of a child

Monitor the condition and mood of the baby during hardening. Too intense activities can negatively affect the child’s health.

• Do not harden while sick

Before starting hardening, you should consult your doctor. If a hardened child feels unwell, has a fever, or has been vaccinated, hardening should be skipped.

• Harden up together

If traditions healthy image The whole family adheres to life and hardening, the child quickly adapts and supports the parents.

• Start at any age

Although the effectiveness of hardening is higher when proper organization everyday life of a baby from the cradle, you can start hardening at any age.

Types of hardening procedures

Air hardening

Air hardening is one of the easiest and safe methods improving baby's health. This is where you should start hardening newborns and babies up to one year old.

Ventilation

From the first days of a baby’s life, you need to create the right conditions environment. For newborns comfortable temperature The air in the room is considered to be 22 degrees. Ventilate the room in winter time need at least 4-5 times a day, and the air temperature after ventilation should decrease by 1 degree.

During the procedure, you should take it to another room. Older children can be gradually accustomed to open a short time window. In the warm season, oxygen supply should be constant; you can leave the window open even in the presence of the baby. But if the apartment has cross-ventilation, the child should be taken to another room.

Walks

The first can be done within a few days after discharge from the hospital, provided the baby’s condition is satisfactory. The duration of the walk depends on the time of year and temperature conditions of the region. On average, the first trip outside should last about 20 minutes, and the duration of the walk gradually increases to 1-2 hours.

You should avoid walking with your baby if the temperature outside the window drops below 15 degrees or rises above 30 degrees. This will prevent possible hypothermia and overheating of the child.

To determine the minimum temperature for walking a baby, Dr. Komarovsky suggests a rule: for each month of the child we add -5 degrees, but in the end the temperature outside should not be lower than 15 degrees.

Air baths

The easiest way to harden babies in the first month of life is air baths during swaddling. This does not take much time; the baby is left undressed on the changing table for a few minutes.

When the baby turns six months old, the duration of the procedure increases to 15 minutes, and by the age of one year – up to 30 minutes. Good results bring air baths to summer time on the street. To do this, you need to place the stroller with the baby in the shade of trees.

If the child has not been hardened before, start air baths should be done gradually. To begin with, it is enough to expose the arms and legs, then to the waist, and then leave the child completely undressed. The duration of the first air baths should not exceed 5 minutes. This is how the child learns to adapt to changing environmental conditions.

Hardening children with water

There are various methods for hardening children with water, you can choose suitable procedures for any age.

Hardening in the bath

Even newborn healthy children, after consulting a pediatrician, can begin to be hardened with water. To do this, the usual bath at a temperature of 37 degrees should be finished with a cool douse of pre-prepared water from a jug. It is important that the water from the jug is 1-2 degrees cooler than in the bathroom.

Then the temperature of the water in the jug should be gradually lowered by 1 degree every 3-5 days. But you should not pour cold water on the baby below 20-26 degrees.

You need to water the baby with your back up in your palm, starting from the feet and heels and ending with the back along the spine and the back of the head. After the procedure, dry your child with a towel and warm up.

You can harden the baby without removing it from the bath. To do this, move the baby to the side and open the tap with cold water. When the temperature of the water in one part of the bath becomes one degree lower than in the second, move the baby from side to side. Thus, swimming in cool water alternates with dipping in warm water. After the procedure, dry and warm the baby.

Rubdown

After the child reaches two months of age, the following hardening method can be introduced - wet wiping. Rubbing is carried out after the baby wakes up, taking into account that 60-90 minutes should pass after eating. The room temperature should be kept between 20-22 degrees. In the summer, wiping is good to do outside.

A hardening procedure is carried out using a terry mitten or towel moistened with cool water 33-35 degrees. If the child accepts the procedure with pleasure, you can make the water colder by 1 degree.

The procedure itself consists of rubbing the baby's skin with massage movements. It is better to follow this sequence: first they wipe the baby’s arms and legs, then they take on the baby’s belly, chest and back. It is better to finish the procedure by wiping the child’s skin with a dry towel.

For one and a half year old children, the ideal temperature for wiping is considered to be 28-30 degrees. At the age of over 2 years, it is permissible to cool the water to 24-26 degrees. For an older child over 4 years of age, with regular hardening water cooled to 22-23 degrees is suitable. Hardening of older children and teenagers is carried out with water below 20 degrees.

Pouring

After the child adapts to wet wiping, you can begin hardening by dousing with cool water. The procedure is carried out both while bathing in the bathroom and taking hygiene procedures, and separately.

Pouring baby's hands and feet

If the child has not received hardening procedures before, dousing should be done 2-3 weeks after the baby adapts to wiping. First, start pouring water on your baby’s hands and feet at 30-32 degrees. After the procedure, rub the baby’s skin until slightly red. The water temperature decreases by a degree every week until it reaches 20 degrees.

Important. When dousing with water, the child must be warm. If the baby's hands and feet are cold, hardening with cool water does not make sense, the body does not perceive changes in environmental factors.

Contrast dousing

You can use a contrast douche on the baby’s legs and feet. To do this, the baby’s feet are alternately watered with warm and cold water. Please note that the temperature of warm water should be 30-32 degrees, and the temperature of cold water should fluctuate between 24-25 degrees and gradually decrease.

One of the types of contrasting procedures is the use of foot basins with warm and cold water. Immersion of feet in water is carried out 3-6 times.

Weak children should finish the procedure by dipping their feet into a basin with warm water, and hardened ones - in cold water.

Dousing the whole child

After the baby has adapted to partial dousing, you can begin dousing the baby entirely. To do this, use a container of water or a shower. If the child has been hardening well and for a long time, then it is possible to use a contrast shower.

Do not forget that hardening should take place in game form and not cause negative emotions in the baby. In hot summer weather, it is good to carry out any dousing methods outdoors.

Sun hardening

The sun's rays greatly affect the activity of the baby's immune system. In small dosages, ultraviolet light stimulates the protective properties of the child’s body. But increased insolation, especially in children under 3 years of age, can be dangerous.

It is unacceptable to stay on open sun and especially the sunbathing of children under 1 year old. The baby's skin is not able to produce a sufficient amount of the protective pigment - melanin.

Infants can be hardened by the sun only in the shade of trees. In this case Sun rays dissipate and have no effect harmful effects on the baby's skin. Make sure that during hardening the child can move, play with toys, and do not forget to put a Panama hat on the baby’s head.

When the air temperature is 25-26 degrees and there is no wind, you can leave the baby in panties and a T-shirt from thin fabric. After half an hour of being outside with feeling good the child is exposed for a few minutes. Every day, the time the baby spends without clothes is increased by a minute until it reaches 10 minutes.

Starting from 3 years old, you can gradually take your baby out into the sun. For hardening by sunbathing would be better suited before noon and after 4 pm. It is important that during this time the child plays calm games and does not overwork. The duration of the first sun hardening procedure should not exceed 5 minutes. Maximum duration of sunbathing in childhood should not exceed 50 minutes.

Sun hardening is unacceptable if the air temperature has risen above 30 degrees.

Very effective way hardening - swimming in ponds under open air. In this case, all hardening factors are combined - sun, air and water. This hardening method is suitable for children over 3 years old.

To begin the procedures, preference should be given to the morning and evening periods. The air temperature should be at least 25 degrees, and the water temperature should be at least 23. Be sure to make sure you have a beach umbrella and shade where the baby can rest. You need to start hardening with 15 minutes in water.

Hardening and the age of the child

Every mother is interested in the question of what needs to be done to ensure that the baby grows healthy and active, whether the method will harm early hardening baby. In fact, many parents’ fears are unfounded; proper hardening will strengthen the immune system and help avoid frequent illnesses.

For children under one year old, air hardening is ideal, which can be carried out while changing the child's clothes. Then include dousing with cool water or using wet wipes in your daily bathing. Don’t forget about walks, you should choose the right clothes for your baby.

For children over 3 years of age, in addition to the above, you can use contrast procedures and begin using sun hardening. Good results at this age are achieved by combining and changing hardening methods. Hardening of children and adolescents can include a full range of immune-strengthening activities.

Conclusion

• Hardening a child's body - simple and effective method train the child's defenses.
• It is best to start teaching your child to harden from the first year of life. But if you missed this period, do not despair - it is never too late to start hardening. Guided by simple rules, you can easily and safely increase the body's resistance.
• For each period of a child’s life, exposure to a certain environmental factor is suitable.
• Strengthening the baby’s immunity should include not only exposure physical factors, but also correction of the lifestyle of the whole family. This will bring good and long-lasting results.

Child's health status quite often his parents are completely unhappy. No, it’s not that he’s sick all the time, but he gets sick too often. The local doctor comes to Once again diagnoses another acute respiratory infection and prescribes treatment. We are treating. Helps. A couple of weeks later he sniffles again.
The conditions are almost ideal - their own children's room, toys, well-fed, dressed, shod, the house is warm and no drafts, a wonderful kindergarten... He still gets sick. Negative parental emotions gradually accumulate. A mother is in conflict with her boss about receiving another sick leave to care for her child. Dad is tired of all this too; what has it come to - they already know him by sight in the pharmacy next door to the house! Need to do something!
So what to do? The answer seems obvious - harden. But as? Where to begin? What kind of thing is this anyway? hardening?
Let's start with the definition of the term.
So, HARDENING - increasing the body's resistance to the adverse effects of a number of physical environmental factors (for example, reduced or elevated temperature, water, etc.) through systematic dosed exposure to these factors.
Parents who are internally prepared for the fact that, they say, “enough babysitting, it’s time harden", they sincerely hope to get a clear program of action in this article - what temperature to bathe in and for how long, how to douse it afterwards, how many seconds to walk barefoot and how many squats to do before breakfast. Fans of programs and planning will immediately be disappointed: the author offers such information cannot. Our tasks are completely different. First, to explain the essence hardening, its goals and ways to achieve them. Secondly, to ensure that, by conducting experiments on children, which bear the conventional name " hardening procedures", the adults were aware of their actions.
It is quite obvious that many external factors capable of causing diseases that are called “colds”. To the most common reasons“colds” include, first of all, hypothermia, both general (poorly dressed, cold in the apartment) and local (for example, wet feet). On the one hand, the cold-disease relationship is completely obvious, on the other hand, it is completely incomprehensible.
Looking around, watching animals - dogs that run through November puddles, crows that sit on wires in the bitter January frost - you involuntarily begin to feel a certain human inferiority, a certain isolation from nature. Is it really possible to pay for more developed brains with an absolute inability to live according to the laws of nature? No, it is quite possible to explain the connection between a cold and extreme physical influences - falling into an ice hole, for example. But why does a disease arise only because it blew from open window, just because snow got into your boots, just because you lost your hat at school and walked the five-minute walk home with your head uncovered? Why?
The answers to the questions posed should be sought in the early childhood. After all, a newborn human baby has the innate ability adapt to environmental conditions. The stability of these conditions, for example, constant and not at all low air temperature, warm water, sterile food, careful elimination of contact with moving air (wind) leads to the fact that congenital adaptation mechanisms are turned off as unnecessary. To our great, great regret, it is the stability of external physical factors that is almost the main manifestation parental love. What does this lead to? Moreover, physical factors that are not at all extreme for a person - moving air, called the terrible word “draft”, or a room temperature of +17 ° C become a source of increased danger.
Thus, a very important conclusion should be made: a newborn baby does not need hardening. He hardened nature itself, thousands of years of natural selection. You just need to organize the care of the baby in such a way that they don’t fade away. natural adaptation mechanisms. Not only do not avoid, but consciously create temperature contrasts of both air and water, use all opportunities for maximum duration of contact with natural factors nature, in other words, walk more and in any weather. No need for extremism! There is no need to plunge children into an ice hole, there is no need to keep them in the sun for hours, and there is absolutely no need to run barefoot in the snow.
However, natural education based on maintaining natural abilities, comes into deep contradiction with both domestic pediatrics and the domestic mentality. The situation is close to a dead end, if only because 99% of moms and dads get sick after sitting in a draft or getting their feet wet. It is not surprising that these factors are clearly regarded as dangerous, and the child will be protected from such threats in every possible way.
The problem itself hardening As a rule, it occurs precisely in those families where children are desired and loved, where parents are ready to make all sorts of sacrifices and personal restrictions, just so that the child feels good. Hardening should always be seen as an attempt to regain what was lost, an attempt to jump on a departing train, an attempt to reconsider traditional parental ideas about what is bad and what is good for a child.
The above should be considered as a kind of theoretical basis to understand that the main task Parents' job is not to toughen up their child. The main thing is to make sure that the child does not need hardening. But this is all theory. We have a fact: constant colds. Let's admit, we were wrong. Ready to improve. Where to begin?
To begin with, understand: any person - no matter an adult or a child - is constantly influenced by a very specific set of external influences. These impacts can be conditionally divided into two groups. The first is natural factors - the famous sun, air and water, sung in songs and fairy tales. The second is the factors of civilization - place of residence, household chemicals, schooling, TV, clothing, transport, etc., etc.
Resulting from inadequate upbringing, the suppression of innate resistance to completely normal human body natural influences, may well be eliminated. To do this, you don’t need much at all - fundamentally change your lifestyle, make it natural.
The natural way of life provides for priority contact with the above-mentioned natural factors and maximum limitation of contacts with the “harmful things of civilization.” It is precisely this way of existence that awakens the inherent adaptation mechanisms. The logical consequence is multiple increasing the body's resistance, reducing both the frequency and severity of diseases.
Lifestyle in the vast majority of cases, it is not natural for our children, especially those living in cities. Inactivity. Almost constant stay indoors - school, homework, hour-long vigils in front of the TV, a children's room with a bunch of toys. Feeding that is not comparable to real energy costs, excess household chemicals.
Readers, of course, may well object - they say, not every child has his own room with a bunch of toys, and not every parent can afford an excess of food, and not all children spend hours doing their homework. That's how it is. But the whole paradox lies precisely in the fact that those who do not have excess weight poor students from low-income families V hardening, as a rule, do not need!
Let us now consider the main components of natural lifestyle, very desirable for adults and absolutely mandatory for children, especially in those everyday situations when family council the question is being considered that the child it's time to harden.

Physical activity. Walk to school or maybe take the bus one stop? Watch a movie or play football? What is generally healthier - chess or tennis? On Sunday the whole family does general cleaning, developing work skills, or do we go out into nature with the whole family on Sunday, and do general cleaning in two evenings on weekdays? Do we need to answer these questions? Do I need to explain that it is better to exercise physical activity in the open air, and not between the floor and the ceiling?

Cloth. Doesn't interfere with movement. The amount is moderate, since sweating causes colds more often than hypothermia.

Nutrition. Appetite like main criterion the expediency of food intake in general and as an equivalent of energy consumption in particular. If he doesn’t want to eat, it means he hasn’t spent the proper amount of energy (on maintaining body temperature, on the motor activity we have already mentioned).

A completely special issue is visiting children's groups (school, kindergarten). It is clear that it is easier for a kindergarten teacher to refer to “bad weather” and not leave the room than, firstly, to dress and undress everyone and, secondly, to then listen to complaints from Seryozha’s mother - the boy got sick because it was damp.
School is a completely separate issue. We all unanimously accepted the fact that school is a source of knowledge. What about your health? After all, the well-being of our people is not so great that everyone has exercise equipment, swimming pools and tennis courts at home. We can only hope for school. But it was not there...
Why is math 4 times a week and physical education 2? Poor gyms with crumbling ceilings, what kind of exercise equipment, we could at least have a couple of new volleyballs! 90 minutes a week for physical activity and 20 minutes of these 90 are roll call, “be equal”, “at attention”, “pay off for the first or second”. Botany, natural history and geography without leaving the classroom. Additional classes. The amount of homework is such that a conscientious attitude to study can undermine even the best health.
Wait a minute, the impatient reader will exclaim, we have a topic " hardening"! A hardening what does it have to do with it?
Very much to do with it, because exactly People often try to make hardening a substitute for a natural way of life.
Classic situation: nice girl Lenochka is an excellent student. She reads a lot and loves cartoons, helps her mother wash the dishes, and does extra work English language, and on Sundays a music teacher comes to the house (last year, grandfather bought a piano with his saved two-year pension). Lenochka has a lot of toys and books, chronic tonsillitis, adenoids, low hemoglobin, allergies to oranges and chocolate. During the winter she suffered from acute respiratory infections 5 times and bronchitis 1 time. Lenochka's dad was the first to conclude that the child needed harden and was supported at the family council (five votes in favor, the mother-in-law abstained). There was even a mass-printed brochure “Hardening” in the house. They decided to start with dousing. The booklet had a table showing what temperature to start with and how to reduce the temperature. Every day (before going to bed) Lenochka was doused - they started at 34 ° C, every week the water temperature was lowered by 1 degree, they reached 30 ° C, but in the class everyone had the flu, and the book says - in case of illness, increase the temperature, again returned to 34 °C... Basically, harden It turned out to be very simple - spend some 10 minutes a day on additional water procedures.
The described course of action is very typical and, most importantly, on the one hand, it is absolutely harmless for the child, and on the other hand, it is very convenient for parents. Without changing anything in general and spending a maximum of 15-20 minutes a day on hardening procedures, adults and, at first glance, quite reasonable people, are deeply convinced that they the child is being tempered.
Let's go back to theoretical basis hardening. Some physical factor, such as a draft, causes colds. If this factor is constant, first short-term (dosed), and then longer, then the body will get used to it (draft) and will not react painfully. From theory - practical hardening method- today we’ll sit for 20 seconds near an open window, tomorrow for a minute, the day after tomorrow for 2 minutes, ideally in 3 months we’ll sleep with the window open. Wet feet are a disease. Pour some warm water into the bath and jump for 2-3 minutes before going to bed. The next day we’ll make the water a little colder and jump a little longer. Ideally, in six months we will be running through puddles in slippers.
The child does not go out for walks for weeks, does not take off his hats and wool socks, eats with persuasion, sits for hours in front of the TV, but before going to bed they pour water over him (wipe him down) and go to bed with a feeling of deep satisfaction.
Exactly such a theory and precisely such practical actions being implemented hardening into our daily life.
In the overwhelming majority of cases, “hardening procedures” do not bring any benefit or harm to the child, but have enormous benefits nervous system parents. Hardening is a big fat cross on the conscience of mom and dad - they say, we did everything we could.
So no temper? Temper, but correct and Hardening should not be understood as short-term dosed exposure to the sun, air and water, but as a fundamental correction of lifestyle. Don’t start with rubbing and dousing, or opening the window for 20 seconds. Start with solving global issues: daily routine, intensity of training, food, sleep, children's room, clothing, sports.
Once and for all, define certain rules that must be followed - walk in any weather and encourage physical activity in every possible way, never force anyone to eat, minimize contact with household chemicals, provide the opportunity to dress yourself (determine the number of things yourself). If the child does not recover from illness, decide on additional academic loads (music, foreign languages). Excessive knowledge and poor health do not make a person happy. Tidy up the children's room, throw out dust accumulators, wet cleaning every day. Do not dose fresh air, but dose TV, dose lessons, dose checkers, chess and tic-tac-toe. Give not toys and chocolates, give fresh air - not from a window, but in the forest, flowers - not in a vase, but in a field, water - in a river, and not from a water supply.
Only like this Lifestyle can make a child happy. And the practical implementation of such actions requires from parents not only desire, but also time. This is much more difficult and troublesome than wiping it with warm water for five minutes a day.
The direct connection between the child’s health and the parents’ ability to find time to strengthen this same health seems obvious. But we have what we have - a sad environment, low level material well-being, constant search for a means of subsistence, poor health among the parents themselves. It's easy to say "that's it" free time- go for a walk." You must have free time. It’s easy to say “a cool shower in the morning.” You must have hot water - without hot water it is difficult to make cool water, only cold water turns out. The hand does not rise to ventilate a room in which, even without ventilation, + 15 ° WITH.
List of reasons that interfere hardening I can continue, but I no longer have the strength to put up with childhood illnesses, and the desire to do at least something is intensifying every day. An important argument in favor of the need for action is that a child’s illness, in itself, requires time and considerable resources (medicines, diet, financial losses due to the inability to go to work). So, specific recommendations, long-awaited answers to the eternal question “what to do?”
Understand that there are two options. The first option is relatively passive - lifestyle correction. We have already determined what, how and in what direction to adjust. Let us note right away that such changes are absolutely sufficient for the gradual return of lost health. The second option is active. Lifestyle changes plus some additional activities (those hardening procedures) allow you to regain what you have lost much faster.
The recommended scheme for the active course of action is something like this.
Start with physical activity. Wake up an hour earlier than usual and go for a run in any weather. Don't run on the spot in the room, but in the fresh air! We ran for 5-10 minutes (we’re not in a hurry, calmly, no records for speed or distance), stopped, another 5-10 minutes - a set of elementary gymnastic exercises (waved our arms, twisted our pelvis, jumped, squatted) and ran home. Total - maximum 30 minutes. At home - water treatments, shower or pour warm water from a ladle (while dad was running, mom heated the water), brushed teeth. We had breakfast. Let's go to school (kindergarten). We gradually increase the distance and time of jogging, complicate gymnastic exercises, and reduce the amount of clothing.
The described option Only laziness can get in the way. There are simply no other justifiable motives. It can be assumed (although I don’t really want to) that parents cannot afford a day off in nature and walks with the child after work. But you can and should carve out an hour a day in the morning. During this hour the child will receive a harmonious complex of influences - own physical activity + water and fresh air. The author guarantees that by finding the willpower to wake up an hour earlier every day, within a month you will feel changes for the better - not only in relation to your child’s health, but also in relation to your own health!
When implementing any hardening activities must be strictly observed three main principles:

systematicity - once you’ve started, don’t back down, don’t look for a reason to miss today;

gradualism - smooth increase in intensity and duration of impacts;

taking into account individual characteristics - age, psychological mood of the child himself, concomitant diseases, household factors.

Hardening procedures should give the child pleasure. It always makes sense to focus on those options of action that the child himself strives for. For example, he likes to walk barefoot. Very a good option hardening- Parents just have to remember to be gradual and systematic.
Paying attention: hardening helps prevent only those diseases that are associated with the adverse effects of physical environmental factors. Hardening cannot in any way reduce the incidence of infectious diseases - if in kindergarten chickenpox or a flu epidemic has begun - you will definitely get sick. But exactly hardening allows you to significantly reduce the severity and duration of diseases, the frequency and likelihood of complications.
Once again I emphasize the main thing. The child does not need hardening, the child needs natural, harmonious image life. Maximum physical activity, the maximum possible stay in the fresh air, a sufficient minimum of clothing, a clean, cool children's room are tens of times more important and expedient than any gymnastics, douches and rubdowns. The justice of this particular state of affairs is often realized by parents too late, when supposed love, supposed care and supposed care bear fruit in the form of a whole bunch of illnesses.

Hardening newborns is an effective, efficient, time-tested way to strengthen the health and immunity of a little person. The high adaptability of infants allows the hardening process to begin from the first days.

Adaptation mechanisms in newborns are very developed; in other words, the baby is born hardened. The creation of greenhouse conditions - constant ambient temperature, sterile food, lack of air movement - disables the innate adaptation as unnecessary and after a month the baby begins to sneeze from the slightest draft. One only has to support the baby’s natural abilities by creating a temperature contrast and positive contact with nature, that is, carrying out hardening procedures and walking with the child in any weather.

The essence of hardening and expected results

The hardening process consists of a constant dosed change in environmental conditions. Natural factors best helpers in hardening. The process can be carried out everywhere during dressing, bathing, sleeping, and gymnastics. It is not necessary to set aside a special time for hardening. All procedures should fit naturally into your daily routine.

Hardening together with physical exercise, which is carried out regularly, leads to amazing results. The body’s work is activated, and the following improves:

• disease resistance;
• adaptive mechanisms;
• circulation;
• metabolism;
• psycho-emotional state;
• appetite.

Regular hardening will be an excellent prevention against colds. A seasoned baby develops faster. He begins to sit up, crawl, walk and talk earlier than his peers.

Important hardening rules

Before starting hardening, you should contact your treating pediatrician for advice. He must examine the baby to make sure there are no contraindications.

Hardening cannot be started if the child has:

• respiratory disease;
• decompensated heart disease;
• decreased hemoglobin ();
• increased temperature;
• increased nervous excitability;
• severe exhaustion;
• there is a disturbance in the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract;
• sleep is disturbed.

To achieve the effectiveness of hardening, the following rules must be strictly observed:

1. Regularity. The procedures are carried out systematically, without breaks for a single day.
2. Graduality. The temperature of the hardening medium (air or water) should change gradually, in small steps. Sharp drop will lead to heat or cold psychological stress child, or even illness.
3. Individuality. The baby's reaction to the procedures must be carefully observed. At strong signs dissatisfaction, inadequate reaction, hardening must be stopped. To avoid crying and dissatisfaction, you need to distract the child with toys, songs, your smile and affection.
4. Cohesion. Hardening procedures should be carried out by the whole family. By pouring yourself with your baby, you can not only serve him good example, but also strengthen your body. Joint actions also lead to strengthening family ties.

Note to moms!

Hello girls) I didn’t think that the problem of stretch marks would affect me too, and I’ll also write about it))) But there’s nowhere to go, so I’m writing here: How did I get rid of stretch marks after childbirth? I will be very glad if my method helps you too...

Hardening methods

Hardening methods differ in the type of environment, the temperature of which varies.

Air hardening

1. Walks. They begin if the temperature outside is at least 10 C. The first walk outside should last 15 minutes. Then the time spent on the street doubles each time. As a result, the child walks for about 2 hours a day.
2. Air baths. The baby is left naked room temperature(22 C). Start with 30-40 seconds and gradually increase by 30 seconds per week. A child can receive air baths during gymnastics, feeding, massage, changing clothes, before and after bathing.
3. Sleeping in nature is stronger and healthier. The child should be dressed in such a way that he does not feel discomfort. (Related article:)

Water hardening

1. The process of hardening with water begins with washing. For babies up to three months, the water temperature is 28 C, from three months to six months - 25-26 C, from six to twelve months - 20-24 C. The water temperature is reduced every two to three days by one degree.
2. Rubdowns are the next step. They begin after six months with dry rubbing with a soft flannel mitten. Wipe in the following order: arms, legs, back, chest and stomach until slightly reddened. After 7-10 days, wet rubbing with water at a temperature of 35 C begins. The temperature is brought to 30 C, lowering it gradually.
3. First douches the baby is given a bath from birth, and cool water should be poured on warm skin. Take water at a temperature of 26 C. Having taken it out of the bath, hold the baby in your arm with the back up. The dousing begins from the heels, moving along the spine to the back of the head. The water temperature is reduced by one degree every five days. The lower limit is 18 C, although for some it may be lower.
4. Swimming for a newborn“habitual method of movement” - for nine months he was constantly in the aquatic environment. Up to three months, the baby’s swimming reflexes have not yet faded, and teaching him to swim is quite simple. When bathing, simply support the child under his head to allow him to move freely. After six months, you can continue learning to swim in the pool.

Sun hardening

Sunbathing is necessary for newborns. After all, only in the light does the body produce vitamin D, which is necessary for bone growth. The duration of sunbathing and its temperature are the same as air baths. One “BUT” - you should not take your baby out into direct sunlight.

Contrasting and intensive hardening methods

Intensive hardening methods should be used with caution and only when the child’s adaptive reflexes have already been strengthened. These methods are based on a short-term sharp change in temperature: dousing with ice water, dipping into an ice hole, walking in the snow. You should not engage in intensive hardening if your baby has chronic diseases.

Contrasting hardening methods are based on rapid and sudden change temperatures These include contrasting ones:

• rubbing;
• foot baths;
• bath and sauna.

The temperature difference during the first contrast procedure should be 4 C (40 and 36 C, respectively). After five days, the lower limit is lowered by one unit and the amplitude is increased to 23-26 C. It is necessary to alternate water 5-6 times per procedure with an interval of 20 seconds. The last one should be hot water.

Hardening infants is not just air baths and dousing with water. This natural look life, which should be the norm. Motor activity, correct and healthy eating, daily routine, sports and walks, hardening procedures. Everything to ensure that the newborn grows up healthy and happy.