How can parents understand that their newborn is cold? How can you tell if your child is cold or hot? How to tell if a child is cold at night

Hello, dear parents. Today we will talk about how to understand that a child is hot. After reading this article, you will find out what reasons can provoke this phenomenon, what to do if it overheats, and what precautions must be taken to prevent this.

Possible reasons

Many parents wonder why their child is hot. This condition can be caused by a number of factors.

1. Increased body temperature.
2. Excess clothing on the baby. Moreover, both in warm and cold seasons.
3. High air temperature in the environment.
4. The use of diapers, especially those made from non-natural materials.
5. Insufficient air humidity in the room where the baby is.
6. Wearing clothes made of synthetic materials.
7. Increased activity.
8. Being in a confined space, such as a closed car, on a hot day.

The late mother-in-law often liked to put as many clothes on my son as possible. It always seemed to her that “the child was cold.” The result is increased sweating and overheating.

Signs

1. The child is sweating a lot, sweat is literally flowing in a stream.
2. The baby has wet hair.
3. Hot neck.
4. Flushed face and ears.
5. You can place your palm, but be sure to be warm, between the baby’s shoulder blades. If the back is hot and wet, then the baby is hot.
6. The baby is capricious, behaves restlessly, you can get angry, try to undress.
7. The hands turn pink, may turn red, and are hot to the touch.

With severe overheating, symptoms of dehydration may occur, since all the fluid from the body comes out through sweat. Signs of this condition are:

• dry skin, tongue;
• crying without tears;
• lack of urination or significant reduction in urination;
• absence of bowel movements or presence of dry stool.

If the above symptoms are present, consultation with a doctor is recommended.

If the baby becomes very hot due to excess clothing, heat stroke is possible, which will be manifested by the presence of the following signs:

• dizziness, headache;
• nausea, possible;
• strong feeling of thirst;
• hyperthermia, sometimes above 38 degrees;
• general signs of dehydration.

If symptoms of heat stroke are present, you should also consult a doctor.

What to do if you overheat

• Have your baby indoors, preferably in a cool place.
• Undress the toddler, blot the resulting sweat.
• Wipe the baby's limbs and face with a damp towel or wipes.
• Change your baby into dry clothes, preferably made of cotton.
• Provide your little one with complete rest.
• Give the child something to drink. If your baby is breastfed, put him to your breast as often as possible, but do not forget that you also need to drink as much fluid as possible during this period. If the baby is artificial, then it is necessary to give him some water to drink and not allow him to drink thick mixtures. Adult children need to be provided with plenty of fluids; compotes or juices are especially well received.

If a child has a fever, the use of antipyretics is not recommended. Instead, parents are advised to use the following methods:

• every three minutes, wet the baby’s body with a damp cloth dipped in cool water;
• Apply cold to your armpits and neck.

After severe overheating, monitor the child's health. It is very important not to miss the onset of dehydration, make sure that he urinates regularly and his skin does not dry out.

If, due to overheating, a child experiences hyperthermia, vomiting and increased weakness, it is necessary to urgently seek medical help.

One day, going for a walk on a frosty day, I put more clothes on my son. After literally 10 minutes of being outside, I began to notice that he was hot. He wanted to take off his gloves and even his hat. We immediately returned home. I undressed him, wiped off the sweat that appeared and put on dry cotton clothes. She gave me some juice to drink and put me to bed.

Precautionary measures

1. Dress and shoe the baby in accordance with weather conditions.
2. To understand how to dress a baby, look at what grandparents are wearing on the street. This is due to the fact that in children of the first year of life, blood circulation and thermoregulation have not yet been normalized.
3. Wear clothes that do not restrict movement and must be made from natural fabrics.
4. When going for a walk on a hot day, don't forget to take a bottle of water with you. Give your baby water regularly.
5. At high temperatures, take care to drink enough.
6. Use soft diapers made from natural fabrics that are highly breathable.
7. When going for a walk, do not forget to put on a hat for your little one.
8. During the hot season, wear as little clothing as possible on your child.
9. In summer you need to go for a walk before 12 o'clock and after 16 o'clock.
10. During the hot season, walk in shaded areas.
11. Make sure there is optimal temperature and humidity in the room where the baby is.
12. Make sure your baby's skin is sufficiently moisturized.

Now you know how to tell if your baby is hot. The task of parents is to detect the symptoms of overheating in time and provide assistance to the baby. If any alarming signs occur, you should consult a doctor promptly. Follow the suggested precautions. This way, you can prevent the risk of overheating and possible heatstroke or sunstroke.

The newborn was born from the uterus, where the temperature was fairly constant and ranged from 38-38.5’C. On earth one cannot dream of such a temperature or its constancy. Therefore, the process of a child’s adaptation to new temperature conditions should be gentle and gradual.

Thermal adaptation is the process of adaptation of a newborn and infant to a new temperature regime in conditions of extrauterine existence. Thermal adaptation of a newborn occurs during daily air baths, while washing and bathing, subject to full holding and breastfeeding.

Initially, the mother provides thermal adaptation to the baby. On the one hand, it must prolong the conditions of intrauterine comfort for the child, and on the other, give him the opportunity to meet the new world, get to know it and safely adapt to new influences. To ensure intrauterine comfort, the mother carries the baby on herself and breastfeeds him, which prolongs contact with the usual maternal warmth.

Periodically, she puts the child aside to treat or change him, at which time he takes short-term air baths. She also regularly, 4-5 times a day, washes the child.

In order for thermal adaptation to be complete, the child should be washed with water of different temperatures. To do this, the mother, without choosing, washes him with either cold or warm water. After a while, the child begins to react completely calmly to water of any temperature and simply waits patiently until they finish washing him.

Hypothermia and overheating

A newborn cannot independently maintain his body temperature, so he is extremely sensitive to overheating and hypothermia. The mother must warm the baby with her warmth so that cooling does not occur, and save him from the heat so that there is no overheating.

The baby's tummy is most sensitive to cooling. Insufficient warming of the baby's abdomen disrupts the functioning of his intestines, which threatens bloating. In addition, cooling adversely affects the functioning of the kidneys and adrenal glands. To determine whether the child is cold, the mother must first focus on the subjective perception of external temperature. To do this, she should be dressed a little lighter than the baby, because a newborn will always be colder than an adult.

For example, if the mother is wearing a T-shirt and shorts, then the child should be dressed in a T-shirt or a cotton vest, and if the mother is wearing a sweater, then the child should be wearing a vest, a warm blouse and a flannel diaper.

Overheating is no less dangerous for a child’s body and can lead to heat stroke. Therefore, if the baby is hot, he should be removed from his excess clothes, washed with cool water to make him more comfortable, and outside he can be hidden in the shade.

The mother should monitor the ambient temperature and, if possible, regulate it to avoid adverse effects on the child.

How to understand that a child is cold?

If the baby is not cold, then his skin should be an even pink color, it should not become bluish or marbled. However, cyanosis of the baby’s feet and hands is not a sign of cooling.

The skin should feel warm or cool to the touch, but not cold.

The armpits should be warm, as well as the folds under the knees, elbows, and groin. The coldness in these folds indicates that the child is cooling.

If the child has been lying separately from the mother for 20 minutes, in order to avoid cooling, he should be picked up in order to warm him with maternal warmth.

Hardening

Successful thermal adaptation is the basis for further hardening of the child. Hardening is the formation of the body's resistance to environmental influences. The influence of temperature is only one of the influences of the external environment.

The need for hardening should be determined by lifestyle. If a person walks in the snow because he needs to run out every day to get firewood, these are the most optimal conditions for hardening.

All artificial measures do not give sustainable results and can even undermine health. For successful hardening, the child’s conscious desire to test his endurance is important, so hardening procedures should begin no earlier than 5-6 years. It is at this age that children are ready to test their body's endurance.

Almost all books and textbooks on child care draw attention to the obvious fact that the baby's body temperature regulation mechanisms are imperfect, and therefore there is a high risk of hypothermia. From this, in general, absolutely correct position, absolutely wrong conclusions are often drawn 1 .

Protecting your child from hypothermia is given top priority, to the point that purchasing an electric heater is one of the most mandatory steps in preparing for a meeting. If the air temperature in the newborn ward of the maternity hospital should, in accordance with the instructions, be no lower than 22°C (as a rule, it is higher), then parents who are afraid of everything will strive at all costs to ensure that it (the temperature) does not drop below this figure. . The author visited hundreds of newborns in the first days after their discharge from the hospital, and the feeling of shortness of breath was the most constant and most typical of all the feelings he experienced after a short stay in the nursery.

Panicically afraid of the cold, parents often don’t even think about the fact that the imperfection of thermoregulation mechanisms we mentioned is fraught not only with hypothermia, but also with overheating.

Metabolism in a newborn is very intense and is accompanied by the production of a significant amount of heat. The child’s body needs to get rid of this heat. This can be done in two ways - through the lungs and through the skin (direct heat transfer upon contact of two environments with different temperatures plus evaporation of sweat).

The air inhaled by a person (a newborn is no exception), reaching the lungs, heats up to body temperature. That is, the child inhales air with a temperature of 18°C, and exhales, respectively, 36.6°C. In this case, of course, a certain amount of heat is lost. If the temperature of the inhaled air is 23°C, then it is obvious that heat loss is noticeably reduced. But you have to lose heat! And the child activates the second way of loss - through the skin. It is necessary to form sweat 2, which is not only wet, but also salty - this means that water and salts are lost, and the newborn’s reserves of both are very small.

Even with a slight lack of fluid, the functioning of all systems and organs is significantly disrupted. And you will definitely discover the consequences of these violations when you turn the child around. Overheating organized in the maternity hospital (as long as you don’t say that you have a cold) is first of all visible on the skin of a newborn - it is bright red; in those places where sweat accumulates, in the groin, for example - 3. His tummy is swollen and painful (thick intestinal juices due to lack of fluid are difficult to digest food), there are white spots in his mouth - 4 (thick saliva due to lack of fluid does not perform its functions), dry crusts in the nose, making breathing difficult ( sometimes he can’t even suck), etc.

Regulating the temperature of a newborn can be accomplished by solving two problems:

1. Air temperature in the children's room.
2. Child's clothes.

Both of these problems must be solved immediately, on the very first day after returning from the hospital. The longer you take to get together and decide, the worse it will be for you and your baby, the more effort you will subsequently need to catch up.

It is extremely important (!!!) not to confuse or confuse such concepts as “the child is cold” and “the temperature of the air that the child breathes.”

The optimal temperature in a child's room is 18-19°C.

The higher, the worse. But for the rest of your life - both yours and your child's - you need to remember the most important rule that allows you to make the right decision when in doubt 5.

It's better to overcool than overheat

Only this way and not otherwise, because we cannot, in no case should we forget that overheating of a child is no less, and, as a rule, much more dangerous than hypothermia!

Natural conditions usually allow you to create an optimal temperature regime (18-19°C), but there are exceptions - and they are not uncommon. A child may be born in the hot season, in a country with a hot climate, in a city where heating system workers tend to be more diligent in their duties, etc.

You can protect your child from overheating at high room temperatures (above 22°C) by taking actions in three directions:

1. Clothing, or rather, the minimum amount of it.
2. Sufficient intake of fluids into the child’s body other than milk (water).
3. Bath.

We will go through all these areas in detail in the future.

Now let's pay attention to such a surprising phenomenon from an everyday point of view as a draft 6.

"Draft- a through wind, a stream of air blowing the room through openings located opposite each other" 7.

I wonder who was the first to come up with the idea that Nature could create a biological species for which a stream of air poses a formidable danger?

Dear people! You and I are afraid of drafts, because our parents protected us in every possible way from these same drafts. But what does the baby have to do with it? Of course, there is no need to go too far, but there are constant shouts: “Close the door quickly!” - do not lead to anything good. The child is afraid of the unknown. And you can’t live your life without ever encountering a draft. So it’s better to get to know him in infancy, having ceased to be afraid, than to shout at the whole bus as an adult and respectable man: “Close the window, it’s drafty!”

From the moment you return from the maternity hospital, do not pay attention to whether the door to the room where the child is open or closed. From the point of view of his health, it does not matter where the bed is located and whether air enters it from a slightly open window. For a five-year-old child, already spoiled by the desire to protect him, it has. But for a newborn - no.

Cloth

Regarding temperature conditions: parents must ensure that clothing does not allow the child to freeze.

Separately, regarding disposable diapers

Often, grandmothers-doctors write and talk about the development of some special “greenhouse effect”, about the fact that the testicles really need cold, and elevated temperatures are contraindicated for them (the testicles) (grandfathers-doctors do not write about this), they have already agreed (added) to the point that the use of disposable diapers leads to infertility. It is not clear where our doctors got this information from. But it's always nice to blame overseas diapers for our local problems, especially considering the fact that at least 15% of married couples are infertile. Please note: no one writes anything about the “greenhouse effect” from four diapers on a child and two heaters in a child’s room.

Now about the rules of use.

• At a standard good (from the point of view of our average person) temperature in the children's room - and this is 24-25 ° C - a child in a disposable diaper will suffer. Diaper rash and skin irritation under the diaper are inevitable. It is easy to understand that disposable diapers are a unique barometer that allows you to confidently answer the question: have you overheated your child or not? Under normal temperature conditions, the area of ​​the body covered with a diaper does not differ in color from the rest. And if it’s different, then it’s not the diaper’s fault, but the loving relatives. The rules are clear: maintain the proper temperature, and if this is not possible (July heat), do not use disposable diapers at all or use them occasionally - for example, only at night.
• Everything good must have its beginning and its end. I emphasize once again: a disposable diaper is for mom! If after giving birth you have regained your strength, if you feel good, if, after all, you have an automatic washing machine, don’t get carried away!
• Do not use a disposable diaper when your baby is awake. Since, as a child grows older, he sleeps less and less, the duration of contact with a disposable diaper should decrease all the time.
• Particular care is necessary if the child is sick and has a high temperature - after all, the diaper covers about 30% of the body surface and prevents heat transfer. Therefore, if your body temperature is above 38°C, it is better not to use a disposable diaper.

The right to choose diapers or onesies remains with the parents. From a health point of view, this choice is not important. Decide for yourself what is simpler, what is more convenient, what is cheaper. Personally, I advise you to focus on the time of year. If the child is “summer” (born in the summer) and the room is warm (above 20°C), it is better to immediately refuse diapers. Well, the “winter” one will be more comfortable in diapers.

Does a newborn need a hat?

At temperatures above 18°C ​​it is not needed at all. You will definitely need it for walks in the cold season and after swimming. Numerous conversations about the need to protect your ears are purely talk and have no logical basis. It is clear that, since the auricle and ear canal are constantly protected from the effects of temperature changes, moisture and the influence of moving air (the same draft), then the very first contact with water and wind will end in some kind of sore - otitis (ear inflammation), For example.

As the child grows, the quantitative and qualitative composition of clothing will change significantly, but the main thing is still clothing in the first months of life. You can't predict everything that might be needed. In July, a T-shirt and shorts will be enough for a six-month-old baby, but in February a fur coat and rompers will be needed. It is important for you and me to understand dressing principles, and any sane person will be able to answer the remaining questions on their own.

We have already stated the main principle, but for reliability we will repeat it again: It's better to overcool than overheat.

Let me explain: if the child sleeps in the nursery, you swaddle him with just two items - a diaper and a thin diaper. Everyone else: a warmer diaper, towel, blanket - will need to be covered. But parents are always unclear: how much of everything else is needed? How to determine whether a child is cold or hot?

The most important criterion is the appearance of the skin, which should be pale pink. Red means you have overheated, and next time you need to use less clothing (wrap in less, cover with less). The peculiarity of a healthy child is that he reacts very violently to the cold - he screams loudly, moves. If you swaddled your baby and he fell asleep peacefully, there simply cannot be any talk of cold. But if you are very scared for him, cover him with an extra diaper, just don’t be nervous.

Clothing is always less important compared to the air temperature in the room.

At temperatures below 18°, it is almost impossible to overheat a child - no matter how you wrap him up, the excess heat will go away during breathing.

At temperatures from 18°C ​​to 22°C, one or two diapers and a diaper are enough. At temperatures above 22°C, a healthy child will not freeze at all, but it is easy to overheat.

There are a lot of misconceptions about what the baby’s skin temperature should be - not the temperature that the thermometer shows, but by touch - the arms, legs, nose, ears, etc. It is completely wrong for cool and pale heels to be considered a health threat or a sign of illness!

In any warm-blooded organism, as we have already found out, two processes constantly occur - heat generation and heat transfer.

In a normal body, these processes are in a state of equilibrium, which is about 36.4-36.9 ° C, but individual fluctuations are possible (that is, there are people - both children and adults - for whom the body temperature is quite normal, say, 36 .3°C or 37.2°C).

When the room where the child is located is cool, and the child is healthy, his body reacts in a very specific way - it reduces heat loss. This is achieved quite easily - the blood vessels of the skin contract, the intensity of blood circulation in them decreases and, thus, heat transfer decreases. The skin is cool to the touch, which indicates normal thermoregulation.

If the room is 18°C, and a naked child has pink and warm heels, it means that you have already ruined him - he does not know how to retain heat, and therefore can quickly become hypothermic and get sick.

Drink: liquid for newborn

Another criterion that a baby is hot is his desire to drink.

The amount of fluid your baby needs is determined by how much fluid he loses. The main ways the body loses water are humidification of inhaled air and sweating. As a rule, a baby who is on does not require additional drinking, however, the warmer the room and the warmer the child is dressed, the more fluid he loses and the more important it is for him to drink.

When the air temperature does not exceed 20°C, it is very difficult to get a baby to drink. At 24°C, the need for water is approximately 30 ml per 1 kg of weight per day, that is, for a newborn - about 100 ml.

It goes without saying that you need to give your baby water between feedings - for example, if he wakes up an hour after eating. Believe me, if there is not enough fluid, you will never sleep peacefully from feeding to feeding. With a lack of fluid, intestinal juices become thick and cannot cope with their responsibilities for processing food. And the child has a tummy ache. Therefore, doctors have come up with a wonderful way to treat abdominal pain - they prescribe dill water. The child was not given anything to drink, and he cried. Then they started giving dill water, and everything went away. Only dill has nothing to do with it. You can also drink parsley, celery and salad water with the same success. The main thing is different: if it is not possible to avoid fluid loss - it is very hot - providing the child with water in addition to breast milk should be given priority attention. Unlike formula milk, whose temperature should be 36-37°C, water can be cooler - 26-30°C in the first 1-2 months of life and about 20°C for older children.

In any case, the problem of drinking is secondary. It simply does not exist if the proper temperature regime is provided in the room (18-19°). And that is why the desire or reluctance to drink water is an extremely convenient criterion for answering the question: is there overheating or not. He’s healthy, but he drinks greedily, which means he’s overheated. Take action quickly. Refuses to drink - oh well.

On the calendar it's April, however weather does not please us with warmth. Spring has suddenly turned into a continuation of winter. Many mommies With the arrival of warmer weather, we already hid all the children’s warm clothes and began to think about changing the children’s wardrobe. But a natural surprise destroyed all plans and expectations. Again parents in thought: “How to dress a child so that he does not freeze during walks? It’s worth remembering that overheat The toddler also has a negative impact on the baby’s body, just like freezing.

By what signs can you understand that your baby is cold?

1.Blush on the cheeks.

The appearance of blush indicates that the baby has good circulation blood, so you can walk a little more.

2. Change in nose color.

In cold weather the tip nose the child blushes. Please note that if after this it changes its light to bright scarlet, this indicates that the baby Cold and it's time to return home.

3. Touch the baby's back and neck.

Back and neck are cold - sign, which shows that the child is cold. If your back is covered in sweat, this is also not very good, since overheating can subsequently cause cold.

4. Feet.

After your walk, touch Feet baby. If they are wet, you should not wear too warm socks for your next walk. If your feet turn out to be cold, you should take care of additional socks.

5. Areas of skin above the feet and hands.

If these areas of the body are cold, you should stop walking.

Many parents bundle up before going out baby. However, this is strictly forbidden, as this increases the risk that the baby will catch a cold - first the baby will sweat, then begins to freeze and eventually occurs disease.

Experts recommend that instead of T-shirts and t-shirts, which mothers often put on their children under blouses and sweaters, wear them on the baby thermal underwear.Also an important factor is shoes child. An ideal option for walks in cold weather are shoes with membrane coating, which repels moisture, but at the same time reduces heat loss.

Remember that when temperature air up to – 5 degrees, you should not put several sweaters on your baby. On thermal underwear you can wear a turtleneck made of cotton, linen or synthetics. cloth It will not only remove moisture, but also form a protective layer of warm air on the child’s body.

Good luck with your “warm” walk!