A child is born practically without its own immunity - for the first six months it uses antibodies received from its mother in utero. When this protection wears off, your little one's body slowly begins to produce immunoglobulin A (IgA), or immune antibodies. Many serious diseases in infancy are caused by lack of hygiene.
On the day of her first birthday,childhas an antibody level of only 15-17%. compared to the amount produced by an adult human body. This is why inbabyinfection can be caused by even a minimal amount of bacteria or fungi living on everyday objects (pacifiers, bottles) and brought into the apartment by household members and guests. Microorganisms that cause gastroenteritis are especially dangerous. This ailment often leads to a life-threatening dehydration of the body, because the toddler refuses to drink, vomits and has severe diarrhea. Therefore, before handling your baby, you should wash your hands and thoroughly sterilize your baby's feeding accessories every day for at least the first year.
Use moderation in cleaning up your child's environment
The point is not to make the toddler's surroundings completely sterile of all microorganisms (because sterile cleanliness is conducive to the development of allergies), but to eliminate those that can be harmful. Therefore, it makes no sense to buy a UV lamp that will kill all microorganisms (such lamps are in hospitals, and you can buy their home equivalents on the Internet). It is enough to properly disinfect and sterilize feeding accessories (including plastic spoons, unless the manufacturer clearly indicated that they must not be sterilized at high temperatures) and items that may end up in the baby's mouth, such as rattles. And when your baby starts crawling, twice a week you should also disinfect the floor and objects that it can touch - toys, cabinets, a feeding chair.
Check how to strengthen the child's immunity
Electric (steam) sterilizers for baby bottles
Suitable for sterilizing bottles and teats. Thoroughly washed, they are placed on special shelves. Pour a little water into the container, which is usually located at the bottom of the devicemeasured out with a measuring cup (depending on the model, it is 100-140 ml). The dishes are disinfected with steam at 100 ° C. Thesterilization timeis 5 to 8 minutes. Bottles and teats stored in the closed sterilizer are sterile for three hours.
Microwave sterilizers
This is a special container whose walls let through microwaves. Just pour water into the sterilizer, put the items to be sterilized, put everything in the oven and start the heating program.
Cooking
This is the least friendly method for toys and feeding accessories, as items boiled in boiling water deteriorate faster. Before boiling them, you need to wash them thoroughly - preferably without the use of detergents. To keep them clean, it is enough to soak them for a few minutes in a 3% soda solution. Then rinse, put into the pot, add water, cover, bring to the boil and cook for five minutes.
Disinfectants
In some pharmacies and stores with articles for children you can buy agents for disinfecting and disinfecting objects and surfaces, which remove, among others, fungi, e.coli, listeria, salmonella bacteria, as well as rotaviruses. Milton preparations are new in Poland. The Milton method has been used in Great Britain for over half a century. It allows you to disinfect not only small feeding accessories, but also cots, changing tables, toys, furniture and even the floor. The series includes five preparations: disinfectant liquid, tablets for dissolving in water, antibacterial spray, wipes and antibacterial hand gel (its use does not require rinsing with water). Each of them eliminates dangerous microorganisms, and their effectiveness has been confirmed by clinical trials. Note: carefully read the instruction leaflet before use.
monthly "M jak mama"