Coniferous baths for infants: preparation methods, effect, reviews

Since ancient times, the key to cleanliness and health has been taking a bath. Therefore, every family observes a simple but very correct ritual - bathing the baby every day. As a rule, decoctions of oak bark, chamomile, string, fennel and other herbs are added to the bath. Coniferous baths for infants require special attention in preparation, because children of this age have very delicate skin. Such a bath should benefit them, but not cause negative feelings. Why do you need pine baths for babies, how to prepare them, the positive and negative aspects - you can learn about everything from this article.

Briefly about such baths

To prepare such a bath, concentrates from cones, pine needles and bark of coniferous trees are used. Usually in pharmacies you can buy extracts from pine, spruce, fir, cedar and juniper.

There is a wide range of types of pine extracts - powder or tablets, liquid solution, sea salt soaked in concentrate, dry briquettes. In addition, you can prepare a healthy decoction yourself.

The needles contain many useful elements - carotene, phytoncides, microelements, essential oils, vitamins K, E, P, PP, B, C, tannins, antioxidants.

Despite the fact that pine baths for infants are very useful, they should only be prescribed to the baby by a pediatrician who is well aware of the baby’s condition. The baby should not take these baths for the first six months. Although in cases where the baby is born weak or premature, the doctor may prescribe similar baths earlier, as soon as the little one gets a little stronger.

Coniferous pearl baths

Coniferous pearl baths contain pine extract or decoction, but they are called pearl baths for the abundance of bubbles. They are pumped with a special apparatus. That is why pine pearl baths are usually carried out in sanatoriums and special medical institutions. If you have a device at home for saturating water with air bubbles, then you need to know about these baths in more detail.

The healing effect of this procedure lies in the simultaneous effects of aromatherapy, saturation of the skin with beneficial substances, oxygen and simultaneous massage.

The composition of these baths will help:

• In the fight against allergies
• Strengthens the immune system
• Helps normalize sleep
• Calms the nervous system

Despite all the undoubted benefits, pine pearl baths must be taken in a strict temperature range - from 35 to 36 degrees. You need to immerse yourself in water up to the décolleté area so that the water does not cover the heart. Take the procedure for 10-15 minutes. Lying down longer is not recommended. Typically, the course of baths ranges from 12 to 20 procedures every other day. You can take these healing baths once a week for a long time, if there are no contraindications for them, which are typical for all baths with pine needles.

What are they needed for?

The pediatrician prescribes baths with the aroma of pine needles as a therapeutic and immunostimulating agent. After all, pine needles are the best prevention of lung diseases. Its positive effect on the functioning of the cardiovascular system is also known. After infants take warm baths, their bodies are cleansed of toxins that are excreted through sweat. To the beneficial effects we must add the prevention of rickets, normalization of metabolic processes, and a calming effect.

There is no need to bathe a small child in a pine bath during the daytime. The calming effect can be so strong that the baby’s sleep during the day will be very deep, but at night, on the contrary, he may not fall asleep for a long time.

Essential oils will very actively penetrate through the skin into the baby’s body. And since the baby is very sensitive until he reaches the age of six months, the pediatrician should prescribe him baths with pine needles from 6 months, or even a year. In any case, a doctor's advice and an allergy test answer are required first.

Coniferous water physiotherapy

Pine baths are a method of physiotherapy in which baths with pine fillers are used for healing and treatment. Baths can be pine, pine-salt. Coniferous water physiotherapy procedures involve the addition of pine extracts. Coniferous-salt procedures are the use of pine and salt filler. Adding salts to the pine filler enhances the therapeutic effect of the physiotherapy procedure.

Indications and restrictions for physiotherapy

Babies can use pine baths only after 6 months of life. Coniferous water procedures help reduce inflammation. The patient's skin becomes healthier, rashes and inflammation go away. In children, dermatological diseases worsen much less frequently. If an exacerbation occurs, the disease progresses more easily. Pine baths are often used when a child has dermatitis.

The active components of the pine filler have a sedative effect on the patient’s body. Baths are indicated for sleep disturbances and post-hypoxia conditions. The child begins to sleep better and the time it takes to fall asleep is reduced. At night he wakes up less often and is less capricious while awake. After physiotherapy, appetite improves. Coniferous concentrate helps slow down the heartbeat.

Carrying out pine baths in a child with brain hypoxia contributes to the normal development of the baby. The active components of needles help accelerate metabolic processes in tissues. This helps accelerate the breakdown of adipose tissue and direct the released energy to the synthesis of protein molecules. In overweight children, physical therapy helps to reduce weight.

Very often, pine baths are prescribed for rickets. Physiotherapy helps the absorption and synthesis of vitamin D and calcium. Therapy is carried out jointly with the use of vitamin preparations containing vitamin D. During treatment, signs of rickets disappear, and normal development of the baby is noted.

Coniferous water procedures are used for paresis and paralysis, especially in children with cerebral palsy. Such patients are advised to take a warm bath with pine ingredients. Heat and pine needles relieve strong contraction of skeletal muscles. After a course of therapy, the child’s passive movements in the affected limbs improve.

Young patients with cerebral palsy experience severe pain due to muscle spasms. Hydrotherapy with pine needles helps reduce pain. Low intensity of pain allows you to get positive dynamics after physical exercise and massage in children under 1 year old.

Pine-salt baths are useful for babies with constipation. The treatment is very effective for spasmodic colon. Spasms do not allow feces to move through the intestinal lumen. Heat and pine essential oils reduce spasm of the intestinal wall, which promotes its emptying.

Treatment must be carried out in conjunction with laxatives. Baths can reduce abdominal cramps and increase the baby’s appetite. The baby's bowel movements become more regular.

Baths with pine extract are relatively safe for children. But therapy can also have side effects. After therapy, an allergy to the components of pine needles may occur. Therefore, infants need to use pine additives for baths very carefully.

If a rash appears after therapy, then treatment should be discontinued and Suprastin should be given. After an allergy incident, you should contact your pediatrician. The doctor will adjust the treatment and suggest a different type of physiotherapy.

In young children, hot baths (over 39°C) and cold baths (below 20°C) should not be used. The baby's condition may worsen. If the water is heated too much, burns may occur. The liquid temperature should be within 37°C.

What do we use to prepare a bath?

We already know how beneficial pine baths are for infants. What to do if you have different products on hand?

Infusion of dry pine needles. You can cook it yourself. There are many recipes, but the result is the same - such an infusion is an environmentally friendly product. It is often prepared like this: crushed dry pine needles are brewed with boiling water in a kettle or thermos. It will be ready in twenty to thirty minutes.

Coniferous tablets. This is an evaporated extract that is obtained from pine foot and a small amount of oil is added to it. To make a liquid product, you just need to dissolve the tablet in water.

Plant pine extract. It is also called a concentrate or elixir. Produced by water extraction from natural raw materials, which include branches of coniferous trees. Sold as a concentrated liquid solution. This extract can be used to treat and carry out preventive measures for asthma, cough, and other bronchopulmonary diseases, because it contains folic acid, vitamin C, B vitamins, plant hormones, carbohydrates, micro- and macroelements.

Pine powder. It is a dried extract obtained by extracting a plant concentrate from the branches of trees of the pine family. Trees must be one year old. The resulting dry powder is very convenient to store and use. And it can be found less and less often in pharmacies.

Balm. Its production is based on natural pine extract. It contains oils, phytoncides, bischofite, fir oil, dyes, gum turpentine, a lot of balsamic minerals, starch, flavorings, and natural salts.

Pine baths - indications and contraindications depending on the type of procedure

And there are currently many varieties of mixtures of pine needles with other beneficial substances. The most common and best known to me are:

1. Coniferous-pearl;
2. Coniferous-marine or coniferous-salt;
3. Coniferous-oxygen;
4. Coniferous-valerian;
5. Coniferous-salicylic.

Of course, it is best to take such mixed baths within the walls of a sanatorium, but if you really want to, they can be arranged at home. In the following sections I will tell you my thoughts on this matter, but now let’s look at the pros and cons of each of these types.

This interesting procedure was born from the union of a classic pearl bath and granular extract of coniferous plants. It is called pearl because of the air bubbles swirling in the water, which look very much like pearls. And the bubbling is achieved by pumping air using a compressor and passing it through a special stand with small holes.

Such a therapeutic bath is available in many sanatoriums and resorts. It is prescribed to both people with various diseases and simply lovers of water treatments. Here is a list of what is included in the list of indications:

• Hypertension 1st and 2nd degree;
• Many skin diseases, especially at an early stage;
• Diseases of the lungs, bronchi and upper respiratory tract;
• Chronic fatigue and general fatigue;
• Impaired blood supply and nerve conduction in capillaries and peripheral nerve fibers;
• Just a desire to take a break from physical activity and psychological problems, to improve your mood and appearance.

Under the beneficial effects of a pine-pearl bath, the body is enriched with oxygen and antioxidants through the skin and inhalation of healing esters. The skin becomes clean, healthy and elastic. The vessels dilate, and blood begins to flow better through them, which leads to an improvement in overall well-being. However, here, like other medical procedures, there are contraindications, namely:

• Individual intolerance and allergy to bath components;
• Serious disorders of the cardiovascular system, for example, grade 3 and 4 hypertension, various arrhythmias and vascular insufficiency in an advanced stage;
• Kidney pathologies;
• Women's diseases other than menopause;
• Chronic diseases of the stomach and small intestine.

It is better to take this procedure in the evening, closer to bedtime, because it has a general calming effect, helps solve the problem of insomnia and relieves physical and emotional fatigue accumulated during the day.

To use this type of pine baths, it is enough to dilute sea or table salt and liquid extract of spruce, pine, or fir in warm water. The ease of preparation allows you to take this procedure without leaving the walls of your own bathroom. It is indicated primarily for such ailments as:

• Various dermatitis, dermatoses, neurodermatitis, eczema and other skin scourges;
• Pain in muscles and joints;
• Osteochondrosis, scoliosis, radiculitis, arthritis and arthrosis;
• All kinds of neuropsychic and emotional overload
• Atonic and asthenic syndrome;
• Obesity and other metabolic disorders.

But you should not take this bath only if you have individual intolerance and high blood pressure. By the way, by following the link, you will learn how to lower blood pressure at home, so that the healing pine-sea bath will also become available to you.

You can get such an interesting procedure by adding pure oxygen to an ordinary pine bath. The easiest way to do this procedure is while relaxing in a sanatorium, but you can also do it at home if you tweak it a little. This procedure is indicated primarily for heart and pulmonary patients, but in principle it will be useful to everyone without exception.

Imagine, there are others like that. They were born from a symbiosis of an ordinary pine bath and a decoction of valerian root. It is not difficult to prepare this mixture, so to take this beneficial water procedure, all you need is a little free time, personal desire and an ordinary home bathroom.

This procedure is recommended for anyone who has lost their nerves, is overcome by constant physical fatigue and emotional tension, has suffered from stress, headaches or migraines. This bath is also recommended for everyone who suffers from heart, lung and skin diseases, because the beneficial properties of pine or spruce needles have not disappeared anywhere and work to their fullest.

There can be no harm here, except perhaps in case of individual intolerance to the components. By the way, such a pine-herbal bath can be arranged with chamomile, calendula, nettle, and many other medicinal plants. Just look at their main properties and contraindications and create combinations that suit you.

And this combination of pine decoction and salicylic acid is an amazing medicine for sore muscles, joints and spine. It is also better to receive them within the walls of a sanatorium or day hospital, but if desired, they can also be arranged at home. For this, there are ready-made liquid extracts and dry ready-made mixtures, which just need to be diluted in warm water according to the instructions indicated on the package. Such benefits are sold both in pharmacies and natural cosmetics stores, and baths with this composition are indicated, first of all, for:

• Arthritis and arthrosis;
• Scoliosis and osteochondrosis;
• Rheumatism and gouty joint pain;
• Myositis and myalgia;
• And many other joint and ligament diseases.

Salicylic acid also has a beneficial effect on the skin and effectively helps in the treatment of various skin ailments. Also, under its influence, the permeability of pores improves, sweating decreases and the activity of the secretion of the sebaceous glands decreases, which helps get rid of oily skin and hair, acne and seborrhea. However, this bath, like all other procedures, has its contraindications, namely:

• Individual intolerance to components or allergy to one of them;
• All of the above contraindications to the classic pine bath;
• Pregnancy and lactation;
• Children's age is up to at least 12 months, or better yet.

With children, in terms of coniferous procedures, there is a special song, let’s figure it out too.

Preparing a pine bath

Making a bath like this is very easy. Coniferous baths for babies do this. If an adult bath is being prepared for a baby, it should be filled two-thirds full. If it’s a baby bath, fill it halfway so that the water level is below the border of the baby’s heart. The water temperature should be between 35-37 degrees. The baby should not take a bath for more than a quarter of an hour.

The baby should be in a good mood and calm state, and be completely healthy. You should not put your child in the water immediately after eating; it is best when at least an hour and a half has passed after dinner.

Such baths should be taken in the evening, about an hour before the baby goes to bed. The baby should already be in a relaxed state; you should not start active games in the bath while bathing. After the bath is taken, the baby should be rinsed in the shower.

Let's figure out the dosage for the baby depending on the type of pine extract.

If used dry, then twenty grams will be enough.

If essential oil, then six to eight drops (best used for babies older than one year).

Thirty to fifty ml of liquid concentrate will be enough.

If you take a briquette, half of it is enough.

When using tablets, take one piece per bath.

Contraindications

Children should not take soothing baths:

• Suffering from allergies to herbs and plants.
• With severe disorders of the nervous system (if this is officially established by a neurologist).
• With elevated body temperature due to illness.

• Before deciding to begin procedures, consult your pediatrician.
  If he finds no contraindications, then you can go to the pharmacy.

• When the decoction of medicinal herbs is ready, it must be tested for sensitivity by a child.
  Apply a few drops of the decoction to a small area of ​​the baby's skin. If there is no redness, itching, rash, or swelling within half an hour, you can take a bath.

• Remember that the optimal water temperature in a baby bath should be within + 37 degrees Celsius.
  In hotter water, healing substances and essential oils will begin to disintegrate quickly; in colder water, they will not be able to reveal all their potential.

• Relaxing and soothing herbal baths are not suitable for everyday bathing.
  To splash around every day, you can use children's bath foams with a soothing effect “Affectionate Mom” or “Eared Nanny”. The first version contains lavender, the second contains chamomile.

• Adult products for taking relaxing baths (they are also sold in pharmacies) are not suitable for children!
  They may contain both natural and non-natural components, which will negatively affect the condition of the child’s skin and can cause complications in the respiratory system.

• You will not immediately notice the positive effect of taking soothing baby baths.
  It’s not for nothing that they are prescribed a course appointment. The fact is that some plant substances have a cumulative effect, so it is important to endure the full course of procedures.

Despite the active distribution of children's cosmetics, many parents today continue to use a herbal decoction or plant extract to bathe their babies. Particular attention should be paid to pine baths for children. Some unfairly classify them as strong allergens, thinking that such flavored additives can provoke a negative reaction in infants. In practice, if you do everything correctly, there will be only obvious benefits from regular manipulations. Several types of physiotherapeutic manipulations have been developed specifically for children, which are highly effective and absolutely safe.

Another recipe

If you have collected cones and needles in the house, pine infusion can be prepared according to the following recipe. It should be noted that such a natural extract will be more beneficial. True, production will take a certain amount of time.

So, half a kilogram of raw material is poured with three or four liters of water and the whole thing is boiled over low heat for thirty minutes. Then the mixture is covered with a lid and infused for ten to twelve hours. After time, strain the infusion. It can be stored in a cool, dark place for no more than three days.

When a medicinal bath is prepared for a baby for the first time, it is better to use half the dose and reduce the taking time to five minutes. This must be done to check the baby’s reaction.

Baths with pine needles for babies

If there is no doctor’s recommendation, then pine baths for bathing infants begin no earlier than six months. Since pine needles are an allergen for some people, you need to start using medical procedures very carefully. At the slightest redness, restlessness, sneezing, coughing, or the appearance of a rash, the child should be immediately washed with clean water and no longer use such baths.

For hypertension, rickets and for cough in children, doctors recommend that children take 15-20 pine baths every other day for 7-10 minutes. Before you start using pine needles, be sure to check your child’s reaction to it and carefully monitor his condition during the treatment procedure. Important: after a bath, it is better to rinse your child with clean water.

Pine baths are strictly contraindicated for children

1. For individual intolerance and allergies
2. With heart and vascular diseases
3. For other serious problems
4. For skin lesions

In any case, before starting such procedures, it is better to consult a doctor. Sometimes, instead of a calming effect, you can get the opposite effect - the child becomes overexcited and becomes capricious. In this case, it is better to cancel the bath.

Pine-salt baths. What is their secret?

Pine-salt baths for infants provide them with significant benefits. These are ordinary pine baths, to which sea salt is added. They are prescribed to children who are suspected of rickets, if there are skin or neurological diseases (stress, disorders, overwork), metabolic disorders, muscle spasms.

Taking such baths for a child may well replace swimming in the sea and salt rooms (halotherapy), which have become widespread in recent years. Adding pine extract will enhance the benefits of salt baths.

Thanks to salt, excess moisture is removed from the body, metabolism is restored, bones are strengthened, the functioning of the excretory system improves, tone increases, and digestive activity is activated.

Benefit

The needles contain many vitamins and microelements, tannins, biologically active substances, and are rich in essential oils and phytoncides. Baths with pine extract:

• Have a beneficial effect on the functioning of the nervous system;
• Helps relax and relieve muscle spasms;
• Calms and promotes sound sleep;
• Help prevent upper respiratory tract diseases;
• Improve appetite and normalize metabolic processes in the body;
• Relieves itching and skin irritation;
• The needles have good antibacterial properties and help prevent parasitic infections: ascariasis, helminthiasis.

A doctor may recommend a course of pine baths as part of general therapy in the following cases:

• Hyperactivity combined with increased excitability, restless sleep;
• Nervous disorders, anxiety;
• Frequent colds due to decreased immunity;
• Weight gain below normal;
• Injuries received during childbirth;
• Diseases of the musculoskeletal system, joints;
• Lack of minerals for bone formation.

The procedure helps improve the baby’s mood, relieve fatigue, and has a positive effect on the functioning of the heart and blood vessels. In the autumn-winter period, it is recommended to take pine baths to strengthen the immune system.

Preparing a pine-salt bath

These are all examples of the positive effect that pine-salt baths for infants have on the functioning of the body and its systems. How to cook them?

Take two tablespoons of pine concentrate and sea salt. The extract can be completely replaced with essential oils of coniferous trees in the amount of six to eight drops per baby bath. You can also take salt, which is soaked in pine concentrate.

Quite often, parents alternate pine and salt baths: today - one, tomorrow - another. This way the course of treatment will be longer and have a significant effect.

Turpentine baths

Turpentine causes stimulation of nerve endings and also activates chemical processes that produce carbon dioxide and the hormone histamine. Histamine stimulates the opening of blood vessels, carbon dioxide improves the functioning of the respiratory system. These processes activate the work of all life support systems of the body, strengthen the immune system, and accelerate metabolism.

Turpentine baths are recommended for patients with the following indications:

• cardiovascular diseases (IHD, VSD, myocardial dystrophy and others);
• diseases of the gastrointestinal tract;
• respiratory diseases;
• diseases of the circulatory and endocrine systems;
• diseases of the nervous system;
• laryngitis, sinusitis, rhinitis, adenoids and other ENT diseases;
• skin and venereal diseases;
• gynecological and genitourinary diseases in men.

Turpentine baths should be taken under the supervision of a specialist.

Benefits of baths and existing contraindications?

Baths to which pine concentrate is added not only have a pleasant smell, but also have a very good effect on the body.

A pediatrician can prescribe such baths when the baby shows anxiety, is often “overtaken” by respiratory diseases, and does not sleep well. As a rule, the course is from ten to twenty baths - either daily or every other day. Usually, after the first two or three procedures, the mother notices that the baby becomes calmer and falls asleep better. And when the full course of healing baths has been completed, the baby gets fewer colds. The interval between courses is at least two months and each time the baby should be shown to a doctor.

So, coniferous baths for infants have the following indications for use: normalization of sleep, elimination of allergic itching, prevention of respiratory diseases, relieving spasms and relaxing muscles, restoring metabolism, relieving irritation, calming the nervous system. All this is really possible. The main thing is to follow the pediatrician's recommendations.

Although it has been established that pine baths for infants are very useful, there are some contraindications to their use. It is because of this that such procedures can only be carried out by the attending physician, who knows what the baby’s condition is at this moment.

It is contraindicated to give children such baths if the children:

• heart pathologies;
• infectious diseases;
• asthma (and bronchial too);
• wounds, scratches and abrasions on the skin;
• increased temperature;
• chronic diseases are exacerbated; atherosclerosis.

Contraindications include local allergic reaction and individual intolerance. If the baby is in a nervous state after a bath, he is worried, his sleep is disturbed, or rashes appear on the skin, you should stop the course before consulting with a pediatrician.

Properties of pine baths and features of their use

Pine baths have a number of therapeutic properties and are often prescribed by pediatricians for children with a weakened immune system or a predisposition to certain diseases. In addition, they can be done for strong and healthy babies as a preventive measure. Such medicinal baths perform several functions at once:

• Dry and fresh needles, ready-made concentrate and even essential oils have a pronounced calming effect. They help the child relax after a stressful or too active day, and prepare for bed without whims. Systematically arranging pine baths for children with hyperactivity, increased anxiety and a tendency to react sharply to stress, you can reduce the severity of symptoms characteristic of the conditions.

Advice: You should not resort to pine baths as a means to normalize daytime sleep. The plant extract can give too strong an effect and lead to a disruption in the baby’s biorhythms. His daytime sleep will be so deep that he will stop sleeping at night.

• Coniferous concentrate in any form is one of the best medicines for lung diseases. Such bathing significantly improves the condition of children with cough, asthma and other negative manifestations.
• Salt baths with pine needles are often used to prevent rickets.
• Physiotherapy is prescribed for insomnia, insufficient weight gain, and problems with the cardiovascular system.
• The plant extract helps remove toxins from the child's body, removing them along with sweat, and normalizes the course of metabolic processes at all levels.