The birth of a baby is the happiest event inlife of every person. Young mom and dad get to know a new world, previously inaccessible to them. The world of the first tear and the first smile, the world of endless happiness, care and love. Parents will carry this love and care through many years. The most important thing that parents always closely monitor is the baby's health. And this is absolutely right, because the foundation of health that is laid in childhood will largely determine how healthy an adult will be. That is why strengthening the immune system in children and knowing how to properly support the child's immunity is one of the primary tasks of parents, because weakened immunity is the cause of frequent illnesses of your baby and brings a lot of grief and trouble.
What is immunity?
In order to find out how to developthe child's immunity and answer the question of how to increase it, it is necessary to understand the nature of the origin of immunity itself and the mechanism of its work. Having this information, it will be easier for you to choose a way to strengthen your child's immunity. Immunity is the body's ability to fight infectious agents that are carriers of foreign genetic information. As a rule, the carriers of this information are viruses, bacteria and fungi. That is why it is impossible to judge the level of immunity by the number of colds that do not flow into inflammatory processes. Immunity is divided into several subtypes:
- Immunity is specific. Specific immunity is produced after a person has transferred a disease, for example, chickenpox or rubella. Depending on what disease was transferred, the immunity can be for life, and maybe only for a certain period of time.
- Nonspecific is called congenital immunity, which begins to form in the fetus during pregnancy.
These two types of immunity, in turn, are subdivided into:
- Antimicrobial immunity. The effect of this immunity is directed directly to the causative agent of the disease in order to destroy it.
- Antitoxic immunity fights with toxic products of vital activity and the decay of the deceased pathogen.
In addition, scientists - immunologists - divide all the above-mentioned types of immunity according to two more parameters:
- Natural immunity is produced exclusively by the body after contact with the pathogens of the disease.
- Artificial immunity is produced as a result of vaccination.
The role of vaccination in the formation of immunity
The question is how to improve immunity in a child withwith the help of vaccinations, we asked a doctor - an immunologist with many years of experience. Below we provide the doctor's answer. "Recently, there have been constant discussions about whether it is worth vaccinating a child. Despite the newfangled trends promoting the refusal of vaccinations, according to statistics from the Ministry of Health, vaccinated children get sick much less often. In recent years, unfortunately, there has been a tendency for cases of diseases such as diphtheria and poliomyelitis to increase. This can be explained by the fact that infected citizens from epidemiologically disadvantaged countries are entering Russia in large numbers. If a child gets sick, treatment will cause much more harm to the body than vaccination. In the same case, if the child is vaccinated, he will develop artificial immunity, which will protect your baby from dangerous diseases." That is why, before thinking about how to improve the baby's immunity, you must first get all the required vaccinations.
Signs of weakened immunity
However, before you start raising it too zealously,the child's immunity, parents must be firmly convinced that the child really has a weak immunity. After all, the fact that the child periodically gets sick does not in any way indicate that the child has a weakened immunity. Moreover, it is illnesses that stimulate the work of your child's immunity. After all, during illness, the body learns to react correctly to pathogens (viruses and bacteria) that penetrate the body. A child who gets colds 3-4 times a year absolutely does not need intervention in the natural development of his immune system. However, this line is very thin. And the main task of parents is to understand in time when it is really necessary to strengthen the immunity of children. To do this, each parent must clearly know in which cases it is necessary to restore immunity in children, as well as how to support the child's immunity.
- If the child is ill with such colds as ARD, SARS, influenza, bronchitis, more than 5 times a year.
- The flow of these diseases without temperature -a very terrible symptom, which indicates a serious disruption in the immune system. In this case, the immune system is so weakened that it can not resist viruses and bacteria.
- Increased fatigue and paleness of the child,the presence of blue circles under the eyes may also indicate a violation of the immune system. However, this symptom may indicate the presence of various anemias and other blood diseases in the child, and therefore requires immediate consultation of a hematologist.
- Pay attention to the condition of the lymph nodes of the child. If a child has weak immunity, cervical and axillary nodes, as a rule, are constantly enlarged. These lymph nodes to the touch are soft, completely painless.
- In some children, who have decreased immunity, there is a significant increase in spleen.
- Very often, allergic reactions to food also indicate a decrease in immunity in a child.
- Also for weakened immunity is characteristicpresence of a dysbacteriosis. Dysbacteriosis is characterized by the presence of such signs as a decrease in appetite, rumbling in the abdomen, increased gas production, constipation and diarrhea, which are not associated with intestinal infections, weight loss.
The first thing parents should do if they suspectthat there is a decrease in immunity in children - this is to contact a doctor - an immunologist or your local pediatrician. You should not try to cope with this problem on your own: vitamins for children will not raise immunity, and drugs that increase immunity in children are quite strong and serious drugs, treatment with which can only be carried out under strict supervision of a doctor. Features of immunity in children of different ages are different. Below we will talk separately about all age categories of children.
Features of the immune system of infants
Unfortunately, almost from the first day of birthbaby, many mothers are concerned about the question of how to strengthen the immunity of an infant. However, this is a fundamentally wrong view of the immunity of infants. In most cases, raising the immunity of children in the first year of life leads to an absolutely opposite result. The peculiarities of immunity in infants are that the child has so-called maternal immunity, due to the presence of maternal antibodies in the body, which he received during pregnancy. This explains the fact that rubella or chickenpox are almost never found in children in the first year of life. However, colds, on the contrary, are quite common. Infants develop their own immunity precisely during such diseases. However, if your baby was born with certain problems, such as asphyxia, congenital pneumonia or bronchitis, etc., the question of how to increase the immunity of an infant, unfortunately, will be very relevant for you. After all, such children are more susceptible to various diseases than their healthy peers. In no case, do not use any drugs that boost immunity in children on your own, without a doctor's prescription. The use of these drugs is unacceptable for children in their first year of life. Only your pediatrician, who has been monitoring the baby since birth and knows all the features of his health, can give an exact answer to the question of how to strengthen the immunity of an infant. However, you can give several universal tips on how to boost the immunity of an infant, which will benefit absolutely all children.
- Prolonged breastfeeding guaranteessignificant increase in immunity in children. Feed your baby for as long as possible. Perhaps in the first month of breastfeeding will seem to you quite a difficult and uncomfortable occupation. This is due to the fact that in the first month, the normal lactation process was not established and regulated by the mother.
You may feel like you have very little milk, oron the contrary, the baby may choke on it. Do not give up at the first difficulties and transfer the baby to artificial mixtures. Very soon, your body will fully meet all the baby's needs. You will appreciate all the benefits of breastfeeding. And decreased immunity in children who are breastfed is much less common.
- Hardening is another way of howto develop immunity in the child. Hardening can begin from the first day of life crumbs. However, do not go to fanaticism and take the baby to the cold undressed, or bathe it in cold water. Hardening should be reasonable and gradual. Otherwise, the weakened immunity of the child is guaranteed to you. For hardening, it is enough to hold air baths and do not over-feed the child unnecessarily. After you have been discharged from the hospital, you can begin to carry out the hardening procedures. At each diapering and changing the diaper, leave the baby undressed for 5 to 10 minutes. Pay attention to the temperature in the room. It should not be less than 18 degrees. Each day, add one minute, bringing the duration of air baths to 30 minutes. Pay attention to how you dress the baby. It is not necessary at a temperature of plus 20 to wrap a child in a few warm blouses, and even wear a warm hat. Remember the simple formula: put the baby on one layer of clothes, than put on you. In addition to hardening, it helps to avoid sweating the child and, as a consequence, his illnesses.
- There is a popular belief that a newbornthe child does not have immunity at all, and therefore needs to create sterile conditions. As mentioned above, this opinion is fundamentally wrong. If you are worried about immunity, it is necessary to stimulate its increase in children in completely different ways. Of course, it is necessary to follow basic hygiene rules. But you should not be afraid to kiss your child once again or go for a walk with him, and there is absolutely no need to boil children's dishes and iron children's clothes for half an hour at a time. After all, the bacteria that the child encounters are the main catalyst for the process of developing immunity.
We strengthen immunity in front of the garden
Time goes by, and now your baby has grown up.When it's time to go to kindergarten, all parents ask themselves the same question about how to strengthen the child's immunity before kindergarten. Surely everyone has heard stories about a child going to kindergarten for three days and then sitting at home sick for a week. And parents begin to feverishly look for ways to boost the child's immunity. That is why it is necessary to think in advance, before kindergarten, about how to strengthen your child's immunity. After all, restoring immunity in children is a rather long and difficult process. That is why information about how to strengthen the child's immunity is very relevant. However, the question of how to improve immunity must be approached very responsibly. Below is advice from a doctor - immunologist on how to strengthen the child's immunity before kindergarten and reduce the chances of various diseases to zero.
- Pay attention to the diet of your baby. All foods must contain useful vitamins for children. After all, the immunity of the good can never be achieved if the baby's body is not provided with all the necessary for the full functioning of the growing organism.
- It is not out of place that the child will also regularly take multivitamin complexes for children.
- Strictly observe the regime of the day. Preliminarily find out which mode of the day is in the garden where your baby will go. Gradually accustom your crumb to a similar regime of the day. This, it would seem, simple advice, will help stimulate the raising of immunity in children. In addition, it eliminates the need to use drugs to improve immunity for children, which are often abused by many parents. It is explained very very simply. Going to a kindergarten in itself is a stressful situation for the child's psyche, but a sharp change in the daily routine is a strong stress factor for the child's body, resulting in an inevitable decrease in the protective properties of the immune system and, as a result, frequent illnesses. It is for the exclusion of such situations that it is so important to know how to strengthen the immunity in front of the kindergarten.
- Prepare the child for a hike in the kindergarten psychologically. Accustom it to the children's society, lead to children's playgrounds. This, by the way, is also an excellent training for children's immunity, which learns to resist infections and a good option for resolving the issue of how to strengthen immunity in front of the kindergarten.
Restoration and strengthening of immunity after disease
Unfortunately, after serious illnesses, orsurgical interventions, there is often a significant weakening of the body's defenses. And all parents wonder how to strengthen the immunity of their treasure after an illness. In this situation, your faithful ally should be a doctor - a pediatrician who treated the child during the illness. He knows exactly how to increase the immunity of your baby, taking into account the illness suffered. Well, parents can use age-old knowledge about how to increase immunity with folk remedies. Very often, folk remedies help to increase immunity in a matter of days. Below is a more detailed description of how to strengthen the child's immunity with folk remedies.
Nature protects children's immunity
Looking for ways to strengthen immunitysooner or later, parents come across advice on how to strengthen the child's immunity with folk remedies. Folk remedies for immunity for children are often much more effective than pharmacological drugs. In addition, most often they are completely free of side effects and act on the body much more gently than drugs to increase immunity for children. After all, drugs for immunity for children often have a negative effect on the condition and functioning of the digestive tract and urinary system. In addition, those parents who, when deciding how to increase immunity, decided to use drugs for immunity intended for children, when exceeding the exact dosage, can significantly worsen the condition of the child's immune system. That is why it is unacceptable to self-medicate with such drugs. Next, we will consider how to strengthen the child's immunity with folk remedies, almost step by step:
- First of all, revise the children's dietnutrition, otherwise all information on how to strengthen children's immunity by popular means will be absolutely useless. Exclude from the diet of the baby all products containing preservatives and dyes. Chips, chewing gum and lemonade are nothing but harm, they do not bring the baby. A child should receive healthy, full-fledged food.
- Rosehip is the answer to the question of how to strengthenand improve immunity. Replace all drinks of the child, except milk, with a rose hips decoction. For its preparation, you need 200 grams of fresh hips, or 300 grams of dried berries, 100 grams of sugar and a liter of water. Fill the rose hips with water and put on fire. Cook for several hours until the berries completely boil. Then add sugar, boil for about two minutes. Pour the saucepan tightly with a towel and leave to stand until the broth cools. After that, strain the broth, using a gauze napkin. A child can drink a decoction in unlimited quantities, but not less than 100 grams for every 10 kilograms of weight. The use of this decoction can cause a slight increase in urination. This is an absolutely normal process that should not scare parents. However, in the event that the child suffers from kidney disease, a preliminary medical consultation is necessary.
- There is a significant restoration of immunitychildren who often walk barefoot. On the base of a person there is a large number of biologically active points, stimulation of which significantly increases immunity. It is very useful to walk barefoot on the sand, on the sea pebbles. In winter, walking barefoot at home. To prevent colds, you just need to put on your baby's socks.
- Older children (10 - 14 years)the next folk remedy for raising the immunity will help. You will need a head of garlic and 100 grams of lime honey. Purified garlic is passed through a meat grinder, and then thoroughly mixed with honey. Give this mixture a week, then give the baby one teaspoon directly during meals, at least three times a day. Please note that if the child has a propensity for food allergies, this means can not be used.
- The simplest, but at the same time one of the mostEffective means is a trip to the sea. As a rule, several weeks spent in the environment of the sea, sun and water, give the child a charge for the whole year and remarkably strengthen immunity.
We hope that this information will be useful for you, but we wish that your child's immunity is always strong and never needs to be restored. We recommend reading: