Modern pharmacy kiosks offer consumers a wide variety of medicines. Some drugs are designed to fight viruses, others destroy bacteria. You can also choose a suitable composition for cough and runny nose. However, many patients still prefer old and proven methods of treatment - traditional ones - to all these innovations. Doctors are very ambivalent about this priority.
This article will tell you whether children can soak their feet with mustard. You will learn about how to carry out such a procedure. You will also be able to find out the conditions that must be met.
Medical point of view
Doctors unanimously say that before soaking a child’s feet with mustard, it is imperative to go to a medical facility. After all, many parents, while acting for the good, harm their child. Mustard is a substance that can become an allergen. Also, some children are completely contraindicated from soaring their feet.
During your visit, the doctor will get acquainted with the existing complaints and examine the baby. Only after this will the pediatrician be able to give you permission or prohibit you from performing warming procedures.
The benefits of manipulation
Soaking feet with mustard when a child has a runny nose is quite good. During the procedure, the baby's feet are heated. Manipulation helps to relax and improves blood circulation. When exposed to high temperatures, blood vessels dilate. At the same time, lymphocytes that fight infection are able to get into even the smallest corners and thin capillaries. In this way, you will create all the conditions for destroying the disease using your own immunity.
Before you steam your child’s feet with mustard, you must make sure that the procedure is safe. There are certain contraindications and situations in which manipulation is strictly prohibited. They will be described for you in the next paragraph. It is also necessary to create all the conditions so that the treatment is beneficial and does not harm the health of the baby.
Mechanism of action of local mustard bath
First you need to figure out whether it makes sense to hover your child’s legs. In some cases, this technique may be premature, and sometimes this step is too late and only worsens the symptoms, contributing to the development of the disease. When tissue is exposed to mustard in combination with warm water, blood vessels dilate and all signs and consequences of congestion are eliminated.
In the case of colds, this is useful for the following reasons:
- A runny nose, sore throat and other similar conditions are accompanied by swelling of the mucous membranes, as a result of which it becomes difficult for the child to breathe and swallow. Baths with mustard help accelerate blood flow and fluid outflow. As a result, the swelling subsides, and the inflammatory process gradually subsides.
- Inflammatory processes in the body activate the immune system, which leads to the release of leukocytes and lymphocytes into the blood, whose action is aimed at destroying bacteria and viruses. The active movement of blood through the vessels speeds up the process of delivering these substances to the affected areas and recovery occurs faster.
At the same time, you need to understand that it is useless to hover your legs without carrying out auxiliary measures. It is not at all necessary to use medications; for starters, you can limit yourself to drinking plenty of fluids, rubbing with natural products and inhalations. Some pediatricians are categorically against warming a baby at home. But this can only be explained by the high risks of complications if the procedure is performed incorrectly.
In what cases should a child not be allowed to soak their feet with mustard when coughing?
The folk remedy perfectly warms up, improves blood flow, and helps increase immune defense. Mustard vapors create a wonderful inhalation effect. However, there are situations when such treatment can greatly harm your child. In what cases should you not soak your feet with mustard when your child is coughing?
- Allergy. If your baby has skin rashes, then you should abandon the above procedure. Note that an allergic reaction includes banal diathesis and even a mosquito bite. That is why before using yellow burning powder, it is necessary to carefully examine the baby’s body.
- Fever. Before soaking your child’s feet with mustard, be sure to measure their body temperature. During illness, it increases in many children. The reason for this is the formation of interferons and the fight of the immune system against pathology. If you see a value on the thermometer that exceeds 37.5 degrees, then refuse the procedure. Your actions can provoke an even greater rise in temperature.
- Increased sensitivity. If your child has a high sensitivity to mustard, it is recommended not to use this product. You can replace the specified ingredient with any essential oils and additives. However, you need to be sure that the selected composition will not cause negative reactions.
In addition to the above conditions, it is necessary to take into account the nature of the disease. If it is a cough (bronchitis, pneumonia, tracheitis, laryngitis) or a runny nose (ARVI, flu, rhinitis, sinusitis), then manipulation may be effective. When it comes to fighting chickenpox, measles, rubella, stomatitis, poisoning and similar diseases, mustard will not have any positive effect.
Benefits of steaming feet when coughing
Hot baths have been popular for a long time due to their effectiveness. Among the beneficial effects are the following:
- There are many areas on the feet, especially the toes, that correspond to a specific human organ. For this reason, a warming bath can stop the development of colds and coughing attacks even before a noticeable deterioration in well-being begins.
- When steaming the legs, the body also begins to warm up, as the vessels carry heat throughout the body. This is why a person becomes hot during the procedure.
- Cough baths stimulate blood flow, which allows nutrients and oxygen to be distributed more intensively to the cells.
- Due to this, the immune system is strengthened and blood vessels dilate - and this is an excellent prevention of spasms.
- As a rule, the first symptoms of a cold include pain and redness in the throat, runny nose, cough and swelling of the mucous membranes. This occurs due to blood flow to these areas. Baths promote its outflow, easing unpleasant sensations.
- Thanks to the regeneration of capillaries, blood circulation in the brain improves, reducing the risk of strokes.
- With regular procedures, cells begin to recover faster, which has a positive effect on appearance: the skin becomes younger, wrinkles are smoothed out, and the general condition of the body improves.
In addition, warming procedures help fight mucus accumulating in the lungs. If you warm your feet when a cough appears, you can provoke the liquefaction of mucus and its rapid discharge. Moreover, baths are safe compared to medications, which usually have a whole list of contraindications.
If you have medicinal herbs on hand, you can prepare special decoctions to warm your feet. First you need to mix calendula, lavender, sage, St. John's wort and chamomile, then add water. As soon as the medicine comes to a boil, you need to reduce the heat and simmer the broth for 10 minutes. After this, you can pour it into the bath and begin the procedure.
Certain herbs help achieve additional effects:
- If your feet are tired after a long day, you can prepare a bath with linden, chamomile and honey in equal proportions and 1 liter of water. Calamus also helps to relax muscles and feel a surge of strength.
- To soften the skin, the procedure uses nettle or a mixture of calendula, wormwood and rowan.
- For coughs and colds, use a decoction of calendula and chamomile. It is useful not only to float their feet, but also to breathe, covered with a blanket.
Indications for the use of a folk recipe
Before you soak your child’s feet with mustard, assess his condition. Indications for the procedure will be the following situations:
- cough of various origins (except allergic);
- runny nose caused by viruses or bacteria (except allergic);
- hypothermia;
- frostbite (only after the body is completely warmed);
- sore throat and inflammation of the pharyngeal ring.
If you consult a doctor, the doctor will definitely explain whether the described folk remedy will be effective for your child or not. The specialist will also tell you about the duration of the manipulation and the proportions of the components.
When can you soak your feet with mustard?
Mustard baths are recommended at the first symptoms of a cold in adults and children. Such procedures will help eliminate a sore throat, cough, runny nose, nasal congestion and body aches.
For children and children with cold symptoms, it helps relieve swelling and inflammation of the mucous membranes, improve breathing, and have a mild anti-inflammatory effect. Many recommend carrying out such procedures not only for signs of a cold, but also for prevention purposes. Mustard baths stimulate the natural processes of the body, increase immunity, thereby allowing the child to resist illness.
The advantage of mustard foot baths is the ability to use them with medications and other procedures, which allows you to significantly enhance the therapeutic effect and prevent the disease from progressing.
Algorithm of actions
How to properly soar your child’s feet with mustard? First decide on the components. Mustard for the procedure must be in powder form. Otherwise, it simply will not dissolve in water.
After that, select the container. If you need to warm up only your feet (to treat a runny nose), then a shallow basin is suitable. When you need to use a large area and grab calves (when coughing) - take a bucket.
The temperature of the liquid should not exceed 38-40 degrees. Many parents think that such exposure will not have a positive effect. However, if you follow all the instructions and follow the algorithm, the effect of alternative treatment will not be long in coming.
- Pour the required amount of clean water into a container and lower your baby’s feet into it.
- Wait about 5 minutes until your feet begin to gradually warm up.
- Pour 2 tablespoons of mustard powder into a container and stir thoroughly. In this case, you can come up with a game where the child dangles his legs, thereby dissolving the yellow powder.
- Leave the child's feet for another three minutes, then add water at a temperature of 45-48 degrees.
- Wait another 5 minutes. Remove the baby's feet, rinse them thoroughly and dry them.
How long should a child soak his feet in mustard? The whole procedure will take you from 10 to 20 minutes. You should not keep your baby’s feet in the prepared liquid for up to one hour. You will not achieve a stronger effect with this. It is worth noting that it is rare to find children who can sit in one place for so long.
How to increase the effect of mustard baths?
In some cases, doctors recommend not limiting yourself to mustard powder, but adding decoctions of medicinal plants or essential oils to the bath, which will help enhance the healing effect.
You can prepare medicinal decoctions from chamomile, rose hips, string, and calendula . To prepare them, just take 1 tbsp. l of dry raw materials, pour 0.5 l. boiling water, leave for 30 minutes, strain and pour into a basin for foot baths.
When using essential oils, you can choose citrus fruits, pine oils, eucalyptus . For one procedure, 2 drops of essential oil per 1 liter of water is enough.
What about babies and newborns?
Doctors say that you can soak children’s feet with mustard only after they reach 12 months. Where do such restrictions come from? Why can’t manipulation be performed on newborns and infants? Everything is very simple.
Infants in the first year of life are very sensitive to temperature changes. Their temperature on the thermometer can easily rise just because they are hot. Any overheating or hypothermia negatively affects the well-being of infants. That is why doctors do not recommend performing such procedures on babies. The only exceptions are those cases when the manipulation is performed by a health worker within the walls of a hospital. However, modern hospitals have long moved away from using traditional methods in treating children.
After manipulation
Before soaking your child’s feet with mustard, be sure to prepare clean underwear for him. After the procedure, dry your feet and put cotton socks on your feet. If you want to enhance the effect and prolong the warming effect, you can use wool socks.
Lay the baby down and cover him with a blanket. Remember that after the manipulation you should not run (especially on a cold floor). It is also strictly forbidden to go outside. Make your child a cup of warm raspberry tea or hot milk. In this way you influence the disease not only from the outside, but also from the inside.
Procedure methods
To prepare a bath for cough treatment, you need:
- fill a basin with hot water (t 40°C);
- add 2-3 tablespoons of dry mustard and stir;
- lower your legs into the basin.
Bath for cough treatment
You should steam your feet for about 10-15 minutes. If the water cools down, you can add hot water, after removing your legs from the basin.
At the end of the procedure:
- wipe your feet;
- wear warm socks;
- put him to bed and cover him with a blanket.
After the procedure, you should wear warm socks.
For dry coughs, children have their feet steamed at least once a day. The last procedure is recommended to be taken before bedtime.
In addition to mustard, baths are practiced:
- with herbal decoctions (mint, sage, chamomile);
- essential oils;
- with potassium permanganate.
Advice: Before starting treatment for a dry cough, you should consult a pediatrician - this will help avoid possible complications.
Alternative way
If the child categorically refuses to sit still and keep his feet in the warming liquid, then an alternative option can be used. To do this, you will need two pairs of thick socks and the warming powder itself. How much mustard does it take to soothe a child's feet? For dilution in water, 20-30 grams is enough. If you put a warming agent in your socks, then 10-15 grams will be enough for you.
Put your baby's socks on. Pour mustard powder into the second pair of underwear. Place your feet in this compress and leave for an indefinite period of time. You need to remove the compress when the mustard begins to burn strongly. The child will definitely tell you about this. After this, rinse the baby's feet and put on clean clothes. The peculiarity of this method is that during warming up you can move (walk, run). This is very important for little fidgets. This method can also be used during sleep.
What are the healing properties of hot foot baths based on?
You should steam your feet at the first sign of a cold. This procedure can prevent further development of the disease. But how can such simple ingredients do it?
How does hot water work? The mechanism is quite simple. With tonsillitis and respiratory diseases, inflammation of the soft tissues begins. It is often accompanied by swelling, which makes swallowing and breathing difficult. Hot water improves blood circulation and this helps ensure fluid drainage. After the swelling subsides, the child’s well-being improves, and the inflammation goes away faster.
Why do they add mustard to the water? This spice is not called hot for nothing. The ingredients included in its composition are irritating to the skin, which enhances the effect of a hot foot bath. Drops of essential oils, if added to water, give the same result as inhalation, stimulating the removal of mucus from the walls of the respiratory tract and facilitating expectoration.
Each of the listed components has a very interesting composition. For example, mustard (even in powder form) retains many vitamins, as well as acids (in particular, linoleic, oleic, erucic).
In addition, mustard contains glycosides such as snigrin and sinalbin - their properties are used to treat bronchitis and coughs, because special plasters and some ointments are made from this spice. All products based on it have an irritating and warming effect - just remember traditional mustard plasters.
Eucalyptus essential oil, which is recommended to be added to foot baths, has strong phytoncidal properties, which are used in the manufacture of various pharmaceuticals. It also has an antiseptic and analgesic effect.
In aromatherapy, it is believed that it allows you to quickly restore strength after illness and reveals the internal reserves of the body. Eucalyptus essential oil also has a pleasant aroma. It can be combined with other oils. For example, when coughing, tea tree oil is often used, 2-3 drops of which can be added to the water for this procedure.
Some recipes suggest adding a decoction of chamomile to the water. It is believed that the substances contained in it help treat dry coughs by accelerating the liquefaction and removal of mucus.
Foot steaming is a procedure that is good because it can be combined with other therapeutic methods. It does not replace medications and physiotherapeutic procedures, but increases their effectiveness, also by improving blood circulation.
A little summary
You have learned about a popular and proven method - soaring your feet with mustard. Remember that there are many factors to consider before the procedure. Be sure to examine your baby. It is advisable to carry out the manipulation in the evenings, before going to bed. If the child adheres to the regime during the daytime and rests, then it is allowed to warm up before naptime. Be sure to monitor your baby’s reaction during treatment. If additional signs of illness appear, consult a doctor immediately. Be healthy!
What should a child do after a mustard bath?
It is also necessary to complete therapy correctly. First, rinse your feet with warm, clean water. Then wipe them dry and immediately put on warm socks. If you don't have wool ones, use 2 pairs of cotton ones.
Please note that it is best to soar children’s feet before bedtime, when the baby’s activity subsides. In a dream, a child can sweat well and warm up the whole body. Of course, this procedure can be carried out up to 3 times a day. But still, after its completion, the child must spend some time in bed under the covers.
Take your temperature constantly while you sleep. As soon as it begins to increase and the body stops sweating, the child must be opened. Give antipyretics and begin drug treatment.
Remember that this treatment method is best used for a runny nose, cough and no or low fever. If you notice more severe flu symptoms, then under no circumstances should you soak your children’s feet in mustard. Also, if you notice that the disease is developing very quickly, then you need to call a doctor and not engage in further self-medication.
Mustard seeds
