How to brew a camomile for bathing a newborn

After the baby was born, young parents, as well as grandparents, aunts and uncles living with the baby, will not see peace for the next few ... years. Newborns are the most unprotected category, they are influenced by everything: inappropriate nutrition (including mothers, because when breastfeeding, she passes on to the baby all the vitamins, nutrients and harmful substances that she receives), the environment and the scandals of her parents.

Why babies chamomile baths

Chamomile is incredibly useful not only in the form of a decoction for baths. An infusion prepared in the same way, but in smaller proportions, can be used to wipe the baby’s skin when it exhibits allergies, sweatshirts — it works better than any pharmacy antiseptic. Also, chamomile compresses and rubbing are recommended for eye inflammation.

You can start bathing your child after the umbilical wound has completely healed (about two weeks), before that you only need to wipe it with a soft towel dampened with warm clean water. And after the navel is tightened, it is allowed to prepare baths. Moreover, most often they should consist only of warm clean water, bathing in herbal decoctions should be carried out two or three times a week. And before the first procedure, it is necessary to check allergic reactions - prepare a decoction and apply a little on the wrist (or, even better, on the bend of the elbow). Within two hours, redness may occur, but allergies to chamomile are isolated cases, almost an exception.

Cooking a camomile broth for bathing

To begin with, it is worth buying a camomile. And if an adult organism still allows saving for the sake of buying herbs from the hands of grandmothers in the market, then for a chamomile for babies it is better to contact a pharmacy or phyto-shop where they are engaged in the official sale of certified products. This will protect you from risk, because pharmacists and sellers of specialized stores know where their herbs are collected, but street vendors are unlikely to be able to guarantee that this is not the urgently dried chamomile that grew the day before yesterday on the road a couple of streets from the house.

In addition, you can collect and dry chamomile flowers yourself, but take this with all responsibility - the plant should not be in close proximity to residential areas, landfills, roads and other places from the "risk zone". And pluck the right daisies - low, dotted with small white little flowers. For love divination, others are intended.

If you have stocked up with chamomile, water, dishes and patience, then you can start preparing a decoction for swimming:

1. Grind chamomile flowers and pour a tablespoon of a liter of boiling water. Let it stand for two hours, preferably in a thermos, so that the broth cools down, but just to the temperature that you need.
2. After a couple of hours, strain the resulting broth through cheesecloth and pour into a bathroom filled with water. Bring it to 37 degrees and let it stand for a while so that the chamomile disinfects the water.But watch out for temperature.

The indicated proportions are applicable for a baby bath, but if you decide to do without it, double the amount of broth: pour two tablespoons of flowers with two liters of boiling water.

To prepare chamomile broth, you can use grass in filter bags, which are also sold in a pharmacy. They will provide faster brewing, and then the infusion will not have to be filtered - small pieces of chamomile, which can wake up even if the bag breaks, do not scratch the delicate infant skin and are unlikely to prevent you, parents, from swimming.

The basic rules for bathing babies in the broth

There are several basic rules that young parents should definitely take note of.

1. Bath or baby bath. There is no strict rule when choosing, the main thing is to make parents comfortable. If you want to accustom your child to “big water”, you can immediately start bathing him in an ordinary bath, however, it is worth considering the change in the proportions of the decoction and water, and the fact that special baths for children are more convenient and hygienic.
2. Baby safety. When bathing in a baby bath, the risk of harming the baby is minimal - it should be put on a stand and gently hold the legs. But when using a regular bath, you should make sure that the baby is not swallowed - buy him a hat equipped with foam inserts, or an inflatable collar, it acts on the principle of a circle with which children are taught to swim in the sea, but worn on the neck and supported the head. At the same time, lower the baby into the water, you need to get acquainted with it slowly, otherwise it may be frightened.
3. Water. The first bathing is best done in boiled water - during the boil, bacteria and pathogenic microbes that can harm the child are destroyed in it. Boil the water and cool it to 37 degrees (the temperature is allowed a little lower, about 36, but not higher).
4. Duration Chamomile is very useful, but herbal bathing should not exceed a quarter of an hour. You should start with five minutes and gradually increase the time, accustoming the child to water, as well as calming his skin.
5. Bathing time. For many young children, bathing is relaxation; they calm down, stop crying, act up, and if the water is broth, then it still has a good effect on sleep. Therefore, it is better to bathe the baby in the evening, before going to bed. However, you need to take into account individual characteristics - if water, on the contrary, worries the child, then it is worth moving bathing in the morning, and then it will help to wake up the children's body.
6. Post-treatment procedures. After taking the bath there should not be any rinses, since they can wash the entire protective barrier created by the chamomile. Wipe (not dry) the baby with a fluffy towel, and this should complete the water procedures. It is not recommended to grease babies with oils, creams or lotions, even if the labeling allows it. The same applies to detergents - you can use foam specially designed for newborns, but it dries the skin, so its use should be limited once a week.

These rules apply not only to bathing in chamomile or other herbal decoction, but also to water procedures with the newborn as a whole. Stick to them, and the baby will enjoy swimming, get used to the water, and by a certain age will happily wallow in the bath himself.

Video: how to brew a camomile - for moms note