Holidays at sea with a child. How to prepare so as not to get sick.

When can you take a walk with your newborn if he was born in the summer?

Summer is the most favorable time for walking. It's warm and sunny outside, so I really want to introduce the baby to the world. When can a newborn finally go for a walk after the maternity hospital, if the weather outside is wonderful? Take your time, wait at least 7 days before going outside for the first time.

Good to know

Drive away annoying flies and mosquitoes from the body and especially from the baby’s open face. If insects are very annoying, use a mosquito net. Some strollers already have it included, while for others you can buy it separately.

Remember that the bright summer sun, which makes the baby’s parents so happy, can be dangerous for him. Do not go out for a walk in the daytime, when the air gets very hot and the walls of the stroller instantly become hot. Go for your first walk with your newborn in the morning or evening, when it is not so hot outside. In the meantime, make sure that your baby’s skin is not exposed to direct sunlight.

When you can't go for a walk

In some cases it is better to stay home. You should not take your child outside if:

• Body temperature is too high. The permissible temperature at which you can walk with your child, as we wrote above, is 37.5 degrees. When body temperature rises due to cold air, a spasm of skin capillaries occurs, heat loss is reduced and the temperature of internal organs increases, which is not desirable. Secondly, physical activity and maintaining body temperature require a lot of energy, which is currently necessary to fight the disease.
• In the midst of an infectious disease, when the child feels especially bad: he has severe weakness, high body temperature, pain and discomfort.
• For certain diseases, when strict bed rest is required.

When should you start walking your newborn if he was born in winter?

The answer to the question of what day to take a walk with a newborn in winter greatly depends on the weather. Firstly, you should not go outside if the thermometer drops below -10 °C. It is advisable to take into account both humidity and wind, i.e. pay attention not only to the actual temperature, but also to the “feels like” point in the weather forecast. Secondly, do not go for a walk if there is heavy snow outside, especially with a stroller: pushing it along unclean paths is even more fun. Thirdly, wait out the ice at home: you shouldn’t tempt fate when there is a risk of falling and dropping your child.

Good to know

Often on winter walks, mothers cover their babies’ faces with a scarf. This is the wrong decision: the moisture in the baby's exhalations condenses on the fabric, making it cold and wet, and the skin can freeze faster. Don't worry, your baby's respiratory system can cope with the frosty air.

If the weather is favorable to you, you can go outside with your baby a couple of weeks after arriving from the maternity hospital. But if it gets bad in the next few days, stay home. Walking with newborns is not a training course that cannot be interrupted.

When can you walk without a hat?

Our expert pediatrician Ekaterina Novosad gave comments to the Internet portal “Healthy Children” about temperature indicators, materials for children’s hats and when they can be removed.

At what temperature can you walk without a hat?

Temperature is an individual indicator, and the main guideline will be the child’s comfort. In the absence of wind and high humidity, even at a temperature of +5 degrees, a child can walk without a thick hat. But if there is a strong wind or rain outside, then even at +15 it is better to put the child on a hat that covers his ears.

What temperature indicators should we focus on with babies?

The younger the child, the more imperfect his thermoregulation center is. Therefore, infants are more susceptible to both hypothermia and overheating. Babies definitely need a hat, since most of the heat goes through the head. Therefore, at a temperature of 16-20 degrees, I recommend putting two caps on a newborn’s head, and after 6 months at the same air temperature, a light cap is sufficient. In hot weather, a thin cap will also protect the newborn's head from overheating.

Is it true that if your head freezes you will get meningitis?

Not true. Meningitis is an infectious disease. There is primary meningitis, when the pathogen (virus or bacteria) directly affects the meninges. And there are forms of complications of the underlying disease - these are otitis media or sinusitis.

When hypothermia occurs, the body's defenses weaken, which contributes to the activation of a sluggish infection, microbes begin to actively multiply, and this leads to illness.

What diseases can happen if your head freezes?

If the child is healthy, then diseases should not develop. Hypothermia can contribute to the exacerbation of chronic pathology. Or the child may simply catch a cold because he will freeze without a hat.

Is it true that a hat must cover your ears?

Yes, this is necessary because in cold or windy weather the ears are the first to get frostbite. You also need to protect your ears from wind and cold after suffering from otitis media.

What materials to choose hats from?

Materials and structure. A hat for a child should be made of natural materials - cotton, wool. Terry or knitted hats are suitable for autumn and spring. In windy weather, you need a hat with “ears”; for a windless day, a woolen, coarse knitted one.

Spring, autumn. A demi-season hat is worn in the spring at temperatures below +15°C and above 0°C, and in the fall a demi-season hat is worn by a child at temperatures below +15°C and above −2°C. In windy weather, in late spring and early autumn, children wear light fabric hats that cover their ears, or double caps. A child should wear a light hat at temperatures from +14°C to +18°C. In such weather, a newborn is put on a thin and dense cap with a fleece (a thick cap can be replaced with a light cotton cap).

Babies. For newborns, hats are placed on a cap. A demi-season hat (in spring and autumn) is put on a thin cap, and a winter hat for a newborn is put on an insulated cap. A baby over eight months old wears a hat without a cap.

Lining. The lining material used is soft and breathable. And the top of the hat is made of waterproof material to protect it from rain and wind. Recently, manufacturers have been using membrane fabric to sew children's hats. Its advantage is optimal thermoregulation.

The child hates hats and takes them off all the time when he walks. What to do?

If a child has been running around, sweating, if he gets hot, and he takes off his hat, there is a possibility of hypothermia. If the child is active, moves a lot outside, and the head under the hat is constantly wet, it is necessary to change the hat to a lighter one (for example, a cotton one, since this material allows the skin to breathe and perfectly absorbs moisture). At a temperature of + 15 degrees and calm weather, you can walk without a hat.

Also pay attention to whether the hat is the right size - it should not squeeze your head and should not slide down over your eyes. The child should be comfortable.

If a child does not like a hat with ties or a helmet, having a hood and a high collar in the outerwear can help - in this case, you can use hats without ties. You can negotiate with older children - choose a hat together with your child.

Source: healthy-kids.ru

When can you go for the first walk with your newborn if he was born in spring or autumn?

The weather in the off-season is deceiving, and this is its main danger: when you left the entrance, it was warm and sunny, by the time you reached the park the sky was overcast and the wind rose. Walking with newborns at this time requires special preparation. Dress your child in such a way that you can quickly remove one layer of clothing if it gets warmer. Bring a blanket with you in case it gets unexpectedly cold. You can plan your first trip outside a week or a week and a half after the baby is born.

Good to know

There are special rain covers for strollers, and this is a very useful invention for walks in the off-season. But remember: a raincoat is only an emergency measure against unexpected bad weather that will allow you to reach the entrance. You can’t walk for a long time under a raincoat - it creates a greenhouse effect in the stroller, increasing temperature, humidity and limiting the flow of fresh air.

Assess the weather soberly! Don’t go for a walk if it’s nasty autumn rain outside. Stay home if there are spring streams flowing along your favorite walking paths right now. Remember that you need to take care not only of the baby’s well-being, but also of the health of his mother. If you miss a few trips outside, nothing bad will happen. But if you go for a walk in spite of all the elements, and then get sick, many things may be at risk, in particular breastfeeding.

How to organize a walk

Being outside in itself is not everything. It is important to approach this issue correctly if you plan to walk with a baby who has a fever.

How to walk correctly:

• No active games. Excessive mobility, so useful for the physical development of a child in a healthy state, at the time of illness will lead to drying of the mucous membranes instead of the expected hydration, accelerate the blood and further increase the temperature. In addition, the lion's share of the energy that the body needs in the fight against the disease will be spent on physical activity. It would be ideal to simply walk with your baby by the hand, sit on a bench, push the baby in a stroller, etc.
• Duration. Sick children's time outside should be limited (15–40 minutes), depending on the weather and the baby's condition. During a short walk it is impossible to get tired, hypothermic or overheated. And since each trip outside should be short-term, you can take a walk several times a day.
• Cloth. Children should be dressed for the street solely according to the weather, contrary to the notorious parental reinsurance, when children are wrapped in a hundred clothes to avoid hypothermia. The fabric of clothing should be breathable and not create a greenhouse effect, so that the child does not sweat outside.
• Communication with children. If the temperature has risen due to teething or after vaccination, there is nothing to worry about if the baby comes into contact with other children. But if you have an infectious disease, you need to go for a walk with a complete exclusion of communication.

Parents must understand: fever in children is not a contraindication to fresh air. And for the sake of your own peace of mind, you shouldn’t imprison your child within four walls, depriving him of both the pleasure of a walk and an additional therapeutic event.

How long can you walk with a newborn?

You shouldn't go outside for a long time right away. The first walk with a newborn should last no more than 15 minutes in the summer or in good weather in spring and autumn. In winter it is better to start with 5 minutes. Gradually increase the duration of your walks by 10–15 minutes.

Good to know

At first, your trips outside will be very short. You can spend more time rolling out and preparing the stroller, putting your baby in it, and then putting it back “in the parking lot” than on the walk itself. To solve this problem, temporarily abandon the stroller and take your baby outside in a sling.

Do not listen to advice that there is a minimum duration of walks that must be maintained. Walk as much as you feel comfortable! some mothers go out with their baby for only an hour, others take a couple of exercises a day for a total duration of three hours or more. Choose a mode that is convenient for you and your child.

In bad weather, walks with newborns can be moved from the street to the balcony. During the first few “walks”, do not leave your baby; later you can start leaving him alone on the balcony under the supervision of a baby monitor. When the child learns to roll over, walks on the balcony should be stopped - he may fall out of the stroller.

Doctor Komarovsky's opinion

For parents, the opinion of the famous TV doctor Komarovsky has long become authoritative. It is to him that moms and dads ask questions related to their children’s health and always receive professional answers.

And when the doctor asks whether it is possible to walk outside with a child during a fever, he is sincerely perplexed as to where the ban on fresh air when unwell came from. Komarovsky once again confirms that you should not go outside only if the weather is bad, the baby is contagious or the temperature is too high.

In other cases, according to the doctor, a walk is one of the treatment options necessary for a speedy recovery.

What are the dangers of walking with newborns?

Thinking about the benefits of walking, many mothers forget that they carry a number of dangers:

• Hypothermia or overheating. Due to the wrong choice of clothing, sudden changes in weather and other factors, the baby may freeze or overheat. Be sure to check how your baby is feeling every 10 minutes.
• Sleep disturbances. Children often sleep during walks. Very little babies fall into “anabiosis” due to the unusual temperature and increased oxygen concentration, but later the baby may develop a conditioned reflex: the street and gentle rocking are necessary for sleep. This situation is potentially dangerous because it will be difficult to put the child to sleep at home, and he will begin to give you sleepless nights. Make sure this doesn't happen. When walking with your older toddler, communicate more with him, and at home strictly follow his sleep schedule.
• Difficulties with feeding. Newborns often want to eat, but doing this outside can be problematic, especially in winter. Plan walks between feedings, and if you feed your baby right before going out, don't forget to give him a chance to burp.
• Difficulty changing a diaper. Changing a diaper on the street today is not a problem. Simply rip the side seam, remove and close the used diaper, wipe baby's skin with huggies, then put on a new diaper. But this scheme only works in good weather in the summer. You can't change your baby's clothes when it's cold outside!

If during a walk you see that the child is capricious, crying, or feeling unwell, do not torture the baby and return home. Even if you didn’t make it until the allotted time.

When can you walk with your child after a fever?

If the temperature has been reduced during ARVI, but minor catarrhal symptoms remain in the form of nasal congestion and cough, it is recommended to resume walking in the fresh air at least on the 3-4th day of satisfactory condition.

Remember

After an illness, the child’s body is weakened, so he needs to be given time to recover, otherwise there is a high risk of relapse.

The first walks should not be long, the optimal time is 15-20 minutes, subject to good weather.

During the recovery period, the child’s motor mode should be somewhat limited, that is, long running, jumping and intense riding on slides and bicycles are prohibited.

Short walks in a park or square, reading fairy tales on a bench in the shade will be useful.

At a temperature after vaccination, you can resume walking the very next day when the baby is in normal condition, when he has ceased to be capricious and restless.

If the child has suffered pneumonia or a severe intestinal infection, then the recovery period will be longer than with a regular acute respiratory infection.

In this case, it is better to start walking in the fresh air at least three days after discharge from the hospital under the mandatory supervision of parents.

At first, active games and prolonged contact with other children are also not recommended.

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How to dress your baby for a walk?

For the previous nine months, the baby lived in a warm and, most importantly, constant climate. He had no place to practice thermoregulation, and now it is difficult to cope with temperature changes from room to room. So you have to help him with this. When going for a walk with your newborn, follow these rules:

• Dress your baby in layers, and instead of one thick one, it is always better to choose two thin ones. If your child overheats, simply remove the outermost clothing. And in case your baby gets cold, take a blanket with you - it will become a spare layer.
• Don't wrap your baby up too much. To ensure the necessary comfort while walking, follow a simple formula: the child should wear one layer more clothes than his mother. Don't forget that the envelope and stroller cover also count.
• When going for a walk with a newborn, some mothers carefully dress the baby, and then begin to get ready themselves. Don’t do this: when a baby lies in street clothes in a warm apartment, he quickly overheats.

Fresh air - good or bad at high temperatures?

A walk in the fresh air is necessary in any case, even if the patient’s temperature rises to 37 degrees or higher. This helps to strengthen the immune system, speed up recovery and alleviate the general condition of the patient. Therefore, you can walk, regardless of the time of year and weather.

The only thing is that you need to adhere to the temperature regime, monitor the time you spend outside and dress according to the weather.

Even if there is a slight temperature of 37 degrees, you cannot insulate yourself too much, otherwise the person’s body will overheat, the skin will sweat and become extremely cold. This condition can lead to the progression of the disease and the development of complications in the form of a prolonged illness.

Thus, you can be outside at a temperature of 37-37.5 degrees, but it is important not to overcool or overheat the body.

At home, you should also regularly ventilate the room. The main thing is to avoid drafts and monitor the patient’s condition. If absolutely necessary, it is recommended to simply go out onto the balcony and sit in the fresh air for a while without making any active physical movements.

The temperature in the room should be no more than 20-22 degrees, humidity - 50-60 percent. At night, temperatures are allowed to drop to 18 degrees. To maintain the desired temperature, you can use an oil heater, which absorbs oxygen less actively.

Too dry indoor air can be improved with a humidifier or a damp towel hung on the radiator.

How to make sure that your baby is comfortable on a walk?

Many mothers and, it seems to us, all grandmothers without exception, are very afraid that the baby will freeze. At the same time, they usually have no fear that the baby will be hot. But in vain: overheating is more dangerous for a child’s body than hypothermia.

On your first and subsequent walks with your newborn, periodically check how he is feeling. Touching a baby's nose or forehead is completely pointless - the temperature of exposed areas of the body greatly depends on weather conditions. There is a more reliable way: put your hand under your baby’s clothes (if it’s cold outside, warm your hand first) and touch the back of his neck:

1. Cabbage Rule

   Dress your baby in layers, and instead of one thick one, it is always better to choose two thin ones. If your child overheats, simply remove the outermost clothing. And in case your baby gets cold, take a blanket with you - it will become a spare layer.

2. Rule "+1 layer"

   Don't wrap your baby up too much. To ensure the necessary comfort while walking, follow a simple formula: the child should wear one layer more clothes than his mother. Don't forget that the envelope and stroller cover also count.

3. The “Mom gets dressed first” rule

   When going for a walk with a newborn, some mothers carefully dress the baby, and then begin to get ready themselves. Don’t do this: when a baby lies in street clothes in a warm apartment, he quickly overheats.

Walking as a method of treatment in the fresh air

Treatment of any ailment should begin with determining the temperature and movement regime, which will allow a faster recovery and prevent the development of complications.

When answering the question whether a child with a fever can walk outside, one should take into account the indicators of the hyperthermic curve, the child’s general well-being and the severity of his illness.

Attention

Dosed walks in the fresh air for mild to moderate acute respiratory viral infections are included in mandatory treatment recommendations, especially in the summer, when the home temperature significantly exceeds permissible norms.

For example, access to fresh air is the first stage of emergency care for stenosing laryngotracheitis and a coughing attack with whooping cough, because in addition to being a distraction, it moisturizes the mucous membranes of the respiratory tract.

In addition, if a child of preschool and school age is sick with a low temperature, then regular and short visits to the street will allow him to achieve an optimal motor mode, which also promotes recovery.

Walking is most beneficial after suffering viral or bacterial infections of the respiratory system (tracheitis, laryngitis, bronchitis, etc.).

Inhaling cool and humidified air increases blood flow in the mucous membrane of the tracheobronchial tree and activates the glands. Subsequently, the sputum thins and residual effects such as cough and rhinitis regress faster.

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Are walks allowed during the recovery period?

When a person is recovering, being in the fresh air is a prerequisite in order to completely recover from a cold. Slightly cool air is considered a kind of therapy during the period of recovery of the body after illness.

Fresh air helps normalize breathing, deepens it, due to which the mucus accumulated in the respiratory tract is liquefied and released out.

It is especially useful to take light walks for tracheitis, bronchitis, laryngitis and even pneumonia. If suddenly a person starts actively coughing on the street, there is nothing to worry about.

When a person inhales cool air, the blood supply to the mucous membranes of the bronchi increases, the secretory glands are activated, causing mucous accumulations and sputum to liquefy and come out through a cough. Thus. This speeds up the healing process.

In any case, walks should be taken only if the patient feels well and the disease begins to recede. First of all, you need to take care of your own body before going outside.