Maybe I'm captain of obviousness, but this is a useful article)

“Many parents have repeatedly heard that you need to walk with your child as much as possible. But not everyone has a good idea of ​​why exactly this needs to be done. It’s understandable when it comes to countryside areas, where there is an opportunity to “merge with nature.” But in a metropolis, the idea of ​​“breathing fresh air” looks rather dubious. Is it so important to leave your “warm nest” and go for a walk with your child in any weather?

When talking about the pollution of the city, parents often overestimate the safety of their apartments. Firstly, any human habitation is a reservoir of pathogenic bacteria, as well as a source of increased concentrations of household chemicals, dust and allergens. They hide in carpets, upholstered furniture, woolen products, varnishes, paints, etc. Secondly, in any city, even the most environmentally unfavorable one, there are green areas - parks, squares, or at least quiet courtyards far from highways and industrial enterprises.

What is the main meaning of daily exercise? “Staying in the fresh air allows, first of all, to cleanse the lungs of household dust accumulated in them and improve the functioning of the mucous membranes of the upper respiratory tract,” explains the famous Russian pediatrician Evgeniy Komarovsky, author of the book “The Health of a Child and the Common Sense of His Parents.” – Increased energy consumption – to maintain body temperature, for physical activity – has a stimulating effect on all vital systems of the body».

From the first month of life Your baby needs vitamin D, which is produced in the skin when exposed to sunlight.(which, of course, are not in the room). This is a very important vitamin that promotes the development of a child's skeleton. Vitamin D regulates the absorption of minerals, their level in the blood and their entry into bone tissue and teeth. Its deficiency can lead to rickets. In addition, together with calcium and phosphorus, vitamin D protects the body from colds, diabetes, eye and skin diseases.

Most parents during a walk try to limit the activity of their offspring so that he does not fall, sweat, or catch a cold. The dream of mothers and grandmothers is a child sitting peacefully with a book on a bench. According to experts, it is movement that promotes the physical and intellectual development of the child and stimulates the activity of the cardiovascular and immune systems. In addition, outdoor games develop reaction and coordination of movements. That is why it is so important for the child to run, jump, and climb around the playground.

Another benefit of walking is that it help prevent myopia in children. Indoors, the gaze focuses only on nearby objects. When outdoors, you can see distant objects, which helps prevent vision problems.

Drizzling rain or unexpected cold weather outside force many parents to give up going out so that their child does not catch a cold. But, according to doctors, it is important that from early childhood the baby got used to walking in any weather. Exactly contact with various environmental factors– wind and rain, snow and frost, sun and heat – helps strengthen the immune system and hardens the child.

Are there situations when Can partying harm a child's health? Almost the only valid reason to miss a walk is an acute period of illness, during which strict bed rest is necessary and there is a risk of infecting others. If a child is worried about weakness, something hurts, or the temperature is above 37.5%, you need to stay home. “Firstly, when body temperature rises, cold air causes spasm of blood vessels in the skin, reduces heat loss and increases the temperature of internal organs, which is not desirable,” explains Dr. Komarovsky, “Secondly, physical activity and maintaining body temperature require significant energy expenditure, and energy is needed more to fight the disease.”

But during the recovery period or with a minor cold, walking is not only possible, but also necessary. Fresh air helps to quickly cope with any illness, especially respiratory diseases. Many parents regard a cough or runny nose that gets worse outside as evidence of a deterioration in their child’s condition. In fact, when cool air is inhaled, moisture condenses on a person's hot airways, which helps thin mucus and expel phlegm. Therefore, if during a walk a child develops a wet cough or snot flows, this is a good sign.

“Our spring was cold, my son caught a cold. I was snotty for about a month, no remedies helped,” says one of the mothers on an Internet forum. “And then it got warmer, we went to the city park, to the playground. It's all covered with sand. He ran barefoot on the hot sand for about two hours, and my runny nose was gone!”

Besides the fact that walking is good for your health, it are also necessary for the intellectual development of children. Perhaps the street is an ideal developmental environment for a child. Even a sleeping baby receives many new emotions, impressions and knowledge about the world around him, because a million sounds and smells creep into his sensitive sleep.

What an adult perceives as commonplace is the greatest discovery for a child. On the street, he gets acquainted with various natural phenomena, with the changing times of day and seasons, with animals, trees and plants, and sees colorful moving objects - cars, huge multi-story buildings.

During walks, the child learns to pay attention to what is happening around him, develop powers of observation, navigate in space and time, and expands his horizons. By the way, it is on the street that you can find a lot of material for crafts that develop both fine motor skills and the child’s imagination - pebbles, acorns, pine cones, colorful leaves.

Naturally, you shouldn’t limit yourself to a children’s playground in the courtyard of the house. Try to diversify your walking program - explore your neighborhood, go to parks, arrange excursions around the city. As your child grows up, introduce him to architectural monuments, historical places, and simply beautiful courtyards. Don’t forget to go for country walks - children get great pleasure from skiing and sledding, picking berries and mushrooms, fishing and other joys that nature gives us.

While walking a child develops and yours social skills, meeting new people, learning the rules of behavior and the laws of communication. Playing with his own kind on playgrounds, he learns to find a common language and common interests with other children, make friends, behave in conflict situations, and come to compromises. The task of adults is to help the child find friends and encourage joint games with other children.

Psychologists say that walks also help a child realize himself and contribute to the development of qualities such as independence and self-confidence. “A walk is a child’s time. Let him choose what to do, where to go, how long to walk,” advises Evgeniy Komarovsky.

By the way, walks are useful not only for children, but also for their parents. They bring peace, lift your spirits, calm your nerves and, perhaps, will again teach you to pay attention to the amazing and beautiful that you did not notice, always rushing about your business. „

In any park on a sunny day, the majority of the walking public are mothers with strollers. Pediatricians and nurses tirelessly remind you that you need to walk every day, and the more, the better. But new mothers, even without reminders, strive to “see others and show themselves off.” The baby, despite the angry crying, dresses up, loads himself into the stroller and goes for a walk. After all, you need to go for a walk, no matter how much nerves it costs, isn’t it?

Points of view

In fact, there are more and more mothers who are embarrassed by walks “at any cost.” How exactly to walk with a child, when, how much and whether to walk at all, becomes a subject of debate. Therefore, today there are several radically different points of view on walking.

One of them says that it is not necessary and even harmful to walk with a small child. That the baby should spend the first six weeks after birth at home, and only then go out for a short time and in the arms of his mother. At the same time, it is important that the walk occurs while he is awake, because the child psychologically needs to fall asleep and wake up in the same place, with the same person.

From another point of view, a child needs to go for a walk, but... not on the street. And without a mother at all. Proponents of the hardening system argue that it will be beneficial for everyone if the child sleeps almost all of his time on the balcony. Literally, the mother brings the awakened baby in for feeding, and then takes her out to the balcony again so that the baby can be “tempered.” Meanwhile, she herself is busy with everyday affairs, courting her husband, so that the birth of a child does not infringe on anyone’s interests and generally does not particularly change the accepted way of life in the family...

Both of these positions can be criticized. Not every mother will be able to stay at home for the first month of her life or even longer, without leaving the walls of the apartment, as long as the baby sees only her and no one else. It is appropriate to note that in nature, the mother of newborn cubs still leaves them, albeit for a short time, and preferably under the supervision of another parent, and sometimes carries them from one place to another. This means that this option is still laid down by nature within the framework of the biological norm. Therefore, there is nothing fatal in walking from time to time, especially if the baby is in the mother’s arms.

At the same time, the system “fed - took out to the balcony - two (three, four) hours later brought from the balcony - changed the diaper - fed - took out to the balcony” is generally absurd from the point of view of nature. Not a single mammal leaves its young “in the fresh air for hardening”; this is unnatural for a biological species. In the practice of natural feeding consultants, this behavior often becomes the reason for breast refusal. After all, a child really needs his mother’s attention much more than fresh air.

Why go for a walk

In the middle of these two positions are mothers who still walk with their children. Of course, they are the majority. A mother who wants a walk to really benefit both her and her baby should follow a simple rule: a walk for the child, not a child for a walk. If the weather outside is bad, raining, windy, you don’t need to leave the house just to take a certain time off.

Children often fall asleep on the street deeply and for a long time, and this alone makes some mothers so happy that they are ready to walk for literally hours. But children of a certain age have certain sleep rhythms. So, for babies up to one and a half months, the normal duration of sleep is from 20 minutes to an hour, but if the baby sleeps longer, there is a danger of malnutrition (after all, such a baby usually wakes up to eat) or changes in night sleep: too frequent waking up, which is known as " confusion of day and night." As for older children, they have every right to sleep a couple of times a day for one and a half to two hours, but most mothers would benefit much more if these long children's sleeps were used for their own rest at home, because lack of sleep is a problem for many. .. It happens the other way around: children, having dozed on the street for about forty minutes, wake up with or without crying - and mothers spend gigantic efforts rocking them, in a stroller or in their arms, hoping to continue a measured walk with a sleeping baby. But if the baby is not sleeping, it may be easier to start communicating with the child - to show him something, tell him something. Try to find an opportunity to breastfeed in a private area until your baby calms down. And if the baby is completely capricious and doesn’t want to go for a walk, isn’t it better to go home, to familiar and calm conditions for the baby, than to waste energy and nerves on motion sickness, which is most often useless?

Some mothers are convinced that a walk outside with a child should be daily and of a certain duration, so that the baby’s skin, when exposed to sunlight, produces vitamin D. However, modern studies have shown that if the mother herself did not have a deficiency of vitamin D, then the baby is born with intrauterine a supply of this vitamin that will last for two months without exposure to sunlight. If the baby goes outside from time to time, vitamin D reserves are replenished. According to the official WHO recommendation for Russia, to get your daily vitamin D requirement Exposure to sunlight only on the face (or lower arms and legs) for 30 minutes is sufficient. At the same time, vitamin D accumulates in the body, and if a mother walks for an hour on a sunny day, even with a thoroughly dressed child, he manages to receive even two daily requirements.

It is worth mentioning a feature inherent in inexperienced mothers, who are instructed by grandmothers who are freezing due to their age - wrapping the child. Especially in spring, you often come across mothers who, almost in T-shirts, walk their sweaty, red-faced babies, dressed in multi-layered suits with knitted hats...

Children in the first months of life have a very imperfect thermoregulation system; the comfort temperature for an undressed child is approximately between 18 and 24 degrees Celsius. When overheated, the baby's body cools down by secreting sweat through the soles, palms and head, which is why they often seem damp and cool. To know, Is the baby really cold? you can touch his wrist, neck or ankle - if they are warm, then everything is in order, the child is simply undergoing intense heat exchange! But it is precisely these places that grandmothers often strive to wrap up as best as possible - woolen socks on their feet, a cap on their head, and a warm hat... If it’s really hot outside, then a child dressed in this way can get a real heatstroke. But even if there are no such extreme consequences, the child will get used to warm clothes, and it is these little ones who risk catching a cold just by running across the floor barefoot.

One way to calculate how to dress a child for a walk, says: if it is from 18 to 24 degrees outside, then we consider that the temperature is comfortable for the child, and we dress like ourselves. If you are under 18 - as yourself and one other piece of clothing (for example, a bodysuit or a cotton jumpsuit). And if it’s more than 24, how about yourself minus one clothes, because it’s more difficult for a child to cope with hot weather than for his mother.

What to go out with

Supporters of street walks are divided into two groups: those who prefer strollers, and fans of devices for carrying babies on themselves (various types of backpacks and slings). Both methods have certain advantages, you just have to choose.

The method is more traditional (more precisely, accepted in our culture). A mother who uses a stroller will not face surprise or indignation, and will not listen to a dozen questions during the walk like “Oh, won’t he fall out of there?!”

• An expensive branded stroller becomes an element of image for many mothers. On the other hand, the stroller is often passed down “by inheritance” within the same family, which helps save money.
• From afar, a stroller makes it clear to others that you are walking with a child here and you need to be careful. At the same time, from the back, for example, a child in a sling is not always visible. Therefore, a mother with a stroller is much less likely to be accidentally pushed by inattentive people.
• When the weather changes abruptly, a child in a stroller is more protected from rain and wind.
• The stroller makes it possible to completely distance yourself from the child at least for a while.
• The stroller relieves not only your head, but also your hands - essentially, it is a very large bag on wheels. If the baby is sleeping, the mother can rest completely.

Carrying children on yourself with the help of various species, it appeared in Russia recently, but is finding more and more fans. The following advantages speak in its favor:

• Children who are carried by their mother are calmer in infancy and subsequently more independent, because they early gain confidence in their mother’s protection and strong rear. At the same time, carrying a child in a special device is easier than just in your arms, since the load is redistributed over the shoulders and back;
• the child does not lie passively in the stroller, but explores the world with his mother;
• a backpack or sling seriously increases mom's mobility - she is not afraid of stairs or public transport;
• It’s easy to change the baby’s position, and an experienced mother’s hands remain free. Here, by definition, the situation that has happened to any “stroller” mother is excluded: in one hand there is a child who categorically and very loudly does not want to be separated from the mother right now, in the other there is a stroller;
• slings and backpacks are much cheaper than a stroller, and at the same time very diverse in both cut and color, from simple cotton slings to exclusive models with hand-painted fabric. This allows you to make the sling part of a stylish wardrobe;
• Many accessories for baby slings that have appeared recently make it possible to minimize the baby’s natural dissatisfaction with the dressing process: thanks to special bibs, sling jackets, mother’s ponchos, and so on, in cold weather, a mother can easily carry the baby under her own clothes without dressing him more than usual and at the same time easily controlling whether her baby is cold or warm now.

In any case, it’s good that a modern mother has the opportunity to have such a rich choice that our own parents never dreamed of!

Walking with a newborn is an important stage in the development of the baby. Your baby was recently born, you have already returned from the maternity hospital with him, you are just starting to get used to each other and, of course, are thinking about your first walk.

The first walk is a rather important event, because the baby is still completely defenseless, in addition, parents have many questions: how to dress? how long to walk? Is it possible to go outside at all? We often forget to ask about this when leaving the maternity hospital. Today we invite you to learn about why you need to go for a walk with your child, how to properly organize the first walk, how best to dress your baby, What's the best way to go for a walk at different times of the year? .

Why go for a walk with your child?

We have all heard that it is necessary to go for walks with children. But we don’t always understand why exactly we need to go for walks with kids. Let's figure out what the benefits of walking are.

Walking with your child is useful because:

• staying in the fresh air strengthens the child;
• they increase the body's immunity and resistance;
• they contribute to the development of the baby’s nervous system;
• during walks, the baby’s body is saturated with oxygen;
• metabolism increases;
• the skin receives the necessary portion of ultraviolet radiation, under the influence of which vitamin D is produced;
• walks train eyesight, since on the street the child’s gaze often shifts from close to distant objects;
• During walks, emotional development occurs - the baby gets his first experience of communicating in society.

First walk: when and how?

Of course, it is the first walk that raises the most questions for mothers: when, how, what to wear, for how long.

Experts say that with a child it should last no more than 15-20 minutes if the weather is nice and warm, and no more than 5-10 minutes if the weather is colder. You can take your first walk the very next day after returning from the maternity hospital if it’s warm outside, and two weeks after birth if it’s cool outside. If it is very cold outside - below -10 degrees, then it is better to postpone the first walk to a warmer time or take the baby out to the glass balcony for 10 minutes, opening the window there first.

Tatyana Znamenskaya, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor, President of the Association of Neonatologists of Ukraine: “If the weather outside is favorable, not winter, but autumn, spring, summer, then you can start walking with your baby on the 2-3rd day after returning from the maternity hospital. The first walk is 20 minutes, then every day the walk time increases by 20 minutes. Ultimately, in the summer, a child can walk for up to 8-9 hours, because the temperature outside and in the apartment is the same. If it is spring or autumn, then you need to walk with your child for 2 hours in the morning and evening. In the cold season, at temperatures down to minus 10 degrees, going outside is possible and necessary. This is a comfortable temperature that will not make the child sick. The baby sleeps much better outside than in the apartment.”

How to dress a newborn baby for a walk?

There is no mother who, while walking with her baby, does not have a thought: isn’t he cold? This thought always appears, even if it’s hot outside. This is quite natural; the desire to warm the baby is genetically embedded in us. But let's be reasonable. Although a pair of bones does not ache, overheating can be very dangerous for a small child, because his thermoregulation has not yet been established. Everything is good in moderation!

The golden rule of proper wardrobe for a walk, “dress your child as you would + another layer of children’s clothing.”

In addition, do not forget that:

• the child's clothes should be warm, but not hot;
• It’s better to dress the baby in layers so that you can take something off if it gets hot;
• if it's cold outside, take an extra blanket with you in case your baby gets cold;
• you should not tie a scarf over your mouth - this may make it difficult for the child to breathe, but will not help warm the inhaled air (do an experiment: take a deep breath in the air outside, and then tie a scarf over your nose and mouth and inhale again: can you really feel the difference? The breath still remains cold);
• if your baby is already walking or trying to do so, dress him in comfortable clothes that will not hinder his movements;
• watch whether the child is cold or hot;
• If you go to a supermarket during a walk, for example, take off the baby’s blanket or unbutton his jacket, because if he sweats and then goes outside, he’s guaranteed to get a cold.

Mom Svetlana says: “The main pest of proper dressing is grandmothers who think that their children are always cold. If you live with your grandmother, then from the first day the baby is at home, convince the grandmother, referring to the doctors in the maternity hospital, that the child needs to be dressed according to the principle “as yourself + another layer of clothing.” Ask the patronage nurse to confirm the correctness of this principle in the presence of the babshuka, then everything will be ok. It worked for us; grandma didn’t wrap anyone up or tie a scarf over anyone else’s mouth.”

You can start walking with your newborn baby from about the second week of his life. The first walk should not exceed 15 minutes. Every day you need to walk 5-10 minutes longer and gradually increase the duration of the walk to 2, or even 3 hours. Of course, in winter or simply in cold weather, walks should be somewhat shorter. Also, during a walk, you need to take into account the temperature in order to dress your baby correctly, because he still has poor control over his body temperature.

When can you start walking with your newborn baby?

If the mother is feeling normal and the weather is good outside, then you can go out for a walk with the baby already in the second week of his life. It's worth noting that this only applies to times when it's really warm outside. If the child was born in winter, late autumn or early spring, then it is worth holding off on walks for a few more days. If the frost outside is above 10 degrees, then you should forget about walking until the temperature rises a little.

Why should you take your child for a walk every day?

Both the child and the woman need fresh air, because it can increase appetite, improve blood circulation and well-being, have a positive effect on sleep, in addition, temperature changes are a kind of hardening of the body. If we talk about sunlight, it is needed in order for vitamin D to be produced in sufficient quantities.

How long should you walk with a newborn baby?

First of all, you should pay attention to weather conditions. Of course, in summer a child can be outside all day long, but in winter this time should be limited to 1-2 hours, and it is better if you walk in winter 2-3 times for 30-40 minutes.

Sleeping on the balcony as an alternative to walking

If you want, you can put your baby to sleep in a stroller on the balcony. This way you can completely replace a walk if you feel unwell or want to do something around the house. Of course, this option is suitable only for those families who live in a relatively ecologically clean area, and the balcony does not face a polluted street. You should make sure that no foreign objects can get into the stroller, as they can greatly harm your child. To hear when your child wakes up, you can purchase a baby monitor. Then you won't need to run to the balcony every five minutes.

You should also worry about the baby's safety. You can leave the child alone only if he has learned to sit or get on all fours and can get out of the stroller on his own. Or you need to leave the child to sleep in a cradle from which he could not fall to the floor.

Why you shouldn't walk for a long time with your newborn

First of all, the duration of the walk depends entirely on the weather and how well the child adapts to the environment. You can start walking for 5-10 minutes and gradually increase it to several hours. Walking with a child for a very long time is not very convenient, because he needs to be fed quite often and it will be better if you divide the walk into several stages, which will be carried out between feedings. Feeding a child on the street is quite inconvenient. Of course, if you have a sling, then it is very easy to solve this problem in the warm season, but in winter you cannot do this.

Remember that the duration of walks cannot be increased very quickly, because the child must gradually adapt to new conditions. Initially, he must get used to the house, and only then to walks and the amount of space that now exists around him. If you do all this very abruptly, then the child may even experience psychological trauma, and no parent wants this.

Modern rhythmic life contributes to the constant acceleration of all processes in society. People are in a hurry, worrying, wasting their nerves on solving problems and all sorts of little things, forgetting about such an important factor as fresh air. When we accidentally find ourselves in the natural environment, we begin to inhale oxygen purified by trees and understand all the delights of life.

Most people do not understand that fresh air is essential for the normal functioning of the body from the very first minutes of life until death. Young mothers regularly take walks with their children along the park alleys. Usually this takes at least 2-3 hours. Adults should spend the same amount of time outdoors. But do we always adhere to the rules of behavior and allocate precious hours for a walk?

In most cases, our walks are limited to short walks from home to the garage, to a nearby store for shopping, or from the parking lot to the entrance to the office. At a young age, people still visit entertainment venues and sometimes go out in the company of peers. If there are children in the family, then parents sometimes devote a day off to them to visit the park or go on a trip out of town. As a result, rarely can anyone boast of a three-hour walk.

Due to lack of oxygen, people become weak and can become victims of various diseases such as pneumonia or heart failure. Fatigue increases, the person becomes lethargic and irritable. Inhaling clean air is extremely necessary, but for some reason the process of understanding is postponed to the last years of life and manifests itself in old age.

Inhaling fresh air can normalize the functioning of the human body's systems. Most of all, oxygen is required for the reliable functioning of the brain and nervous system. The deficiency causes memory impairment, a state of absent-mindedness and depression. A sufficient amount of air improves lung ventilation, heart function, vascular permeability, and the condition of the digestive system. The general condition of the body is strengthened, the likelihood of illness decreases, and life expectancy increases.

To fully satisfy your body in oxygen, you need to take walks every day. It is best for them to choose areas covered with green spaces: trees, shrubs, grass. City dwellers can visit the nearest park or nearby forest. As a result, the lungs will receive the necessary amount of oxygen, the body’s tone will rise, and strength will be restored for further successful activities.

Walk outdoors

Scientists in different countries are engaged in research into healthy lifestyles. The Americans have confirmed through practical experiments the high returns of walking. To do this, they decided to compare the results of different types of physical exercise. A group of people of different ages was divided into two equal halves. One did muscle stretching exercises in stationary conditions, the other took walks in the air for half an hour to 45 minutes three times a week.

A year later, scientists conducted surveys of both groups. The brain volume of “walkers” was 2% larger than that of those involved in physical exercise. Moreover, the increase occurred due to the areas responsible for memory and planning. Those who stretched had a 1.5% reduction in brain size.

A long-term experiment showed that exposure to air promotes the rejuvenation of brain cells. The results were enhanced when walks were combined with activities for memory training, mental arithmetic, logical thinking and speed reading.

How to take walks correctly?

Moving along the alleys of a park or square not only helps the body receive the required amount of oxygen, but also helps strengthen the muscles of the legs and back, introduces you to nature, and helps you enjoy green foliage.

In order to allocate a little time every day for walks, you can familiarize yourself with the following recommendations:

• Take every opportunity for a walk. When going to work or home, walk part of the way. At lunchtime, take half an hour and walk around the nearest square or park area. Walk to the store;
• Organize meetings with friends or loved ones in nature. On weekends, go outdoors with the whole group;
• Occasionally allocate time and finances to travel. A trip to another city can add oxygen to the body and a lot of new impressions to the brain;
• To fill your walk with impressions, get yourself a hobby or a dog. You can take photographs or collect herbariums;
• Loads should be increased gradually. To get started, 15 minutes is enough. Then gradually increase to an hour. Over time, walks will increase to 2-3 hours.