Warmth and Our Growing Children
5 Simple Ways to Bring More Warmth in Your Homelife and The Benefit of Doing So …
How do you feel when you are cold? More contracted? A bit more tense?
How do you feel when you are warm? Most people say they feel more relaxed and open.
Children (like elders) have a limited capacity to maintain/regulate their body temperature. This means that as parents we can do a great service in providing the clothing and the reminders to keep hats on/get hats back on!
Placing a high importance on keeping our young children warm is actually a big deal! When our children don’t need to expend their core energy to regulate their temperature because we’ve set them up, then this energy is available in abundance to complete key body processes that are happening at this time. Examples of these processes include the maturation of their organs and the developing the organ rhythm - both of which the body works on after birth and in those first 6 years of life.
5 practical ways …
For babes, cover head in all weather to protect the fontanelles and developing nervous system that lies beneath it.
Children need especially to have warm hats on in the Fall/Winter as they will lose a lot of heat through their head.
Invest in good clothing - natural breathable materials. Dress in layers. Merino wool is our favourite for the light weight and comfort.
Foods – miso soup, soups, oatmeal.
Others: herbal teas, oil dispersion baths, water bottle to bed, cozy blankets, storytelling, snuggling, pets, laughing together ….(-:
* By knowing the importance of warmth we can help our children develop a capacity for warmth to carry them through their life – warmth physically and also warmth emotionally. The expression warm hands warm heart has some good ol’ fashioned truth to it!
May warmth infuse your parenting, xo, Dr. Monika
Dr. Monika Herwig ND is a Naturopathic Doctor, mother of 2, and a Trailblazer with Happy Healthy Women in Canmore, Alberta. She practices Mind-Body Medicine especially around Adrenal, Gut and Mental Health in her clinic and leads Wellness Workshops and Retreats locally and internationally. Dr. Monika supports heart centered women shine their light and share their gifts with the world without burning out. She is especially passionate about supporting moms and creative women. She runs yearly Fairy Nature Camps for her clients’ children (and herself!) and coaches mothers individually and in groups in creating calm, rich, healthy lives for themselves and their families.
