We know that morning sunshine is good for the health, and this also applies to your babies. After birth, the function of his liver is not yet perfect in the process of processing bilirubin.
Where bilirubin levels in the baby’s blood are very high and this is what causes the baby to feel a physiological process that causes it to experience jaundice.
To overcome this, health experts will usually suggest a natural way to deal with this, namely by bathing the baby under the morning sun, before trying to approach the source of vitamin D foods.
Morning sunlight has been believed to provide natural health effects for the body. One of them is to lower bilirubin levels that are too high which is the cause of postpartum jaundice infants into the world. So sunbathing a newborn in the morning is indeed a very important activity.
Baby sunbathing activities had become a warm conversation at some time ago. Many have questioned the right time to dry the baby and its relationship with the benefits and dangers for the little one.
Sunbathing the baby itself is an activity that has been done since the 19th century. Sunlight is believed to have therapeutic effects in various bone disorder diseases due to Vitamin D deficiency, calcium, or phosphate.
In yellow babies or jaundice, baby sunbathing is also believed to lower bilirubin levels in his/her body. It’s just that to get the benefits of this activity, you have to pay attention to a few things first.
Health Benefits of Sunbathing for Baby
1. Getting Natural Vitamin D
Infant age is the golden age for human development. For the maximum development of children as young as toddlers, vitamin intake is a very important factor. One of the important vitamins for the development of toddlers that are often forgotten is vitamin D.
Whereas Moms, vitamin D deficiency can be fatal for a child’s development and even have an influence on his health as an adult since it has the main function of helping the absorption of calcium. That is, vitamin D deficiency can cause a lack of calcium in children even though calcium is a very important aspect for growth.
This is the main benefit of sunbathing the baby, since aside from the fact that Vitamin D helps the body in absorbing calcium that can strengthen the bones of babies who are still prone, it can also help the baby’s immune system so that the baby is not easily affected by the disease.
To feel this benefit, it is enough to sunbathe the baby for 15-30 minutes. However, do not get more than 30 minutes because it is feared that it will bring negative effects of sunlight on the baby, such as burning skin.
It’s a much better option than taking the Vitamin D intake, since it may bring the effects of taking too much Vitamin D as well. Unless it’s necessary or recommended by your doctor, it’s always better to avoid any chemical products.
2. Lowers Bilirubin Levels
The main treatment of jaundice babies is indeed with phototherapy, but for babies whose bilirubin levels are not very high, doctors usually advise parents to sunbathe the baby for 15-20 minutes each morning.
You do not need to undress the baby because there is a risk that the baby’s skin could be burned. Any outfit will still be able to absorb the necessary sunlight. If your baby is over 6 months old, you can give your baby special sunscreen to protect against the dangers of ultraviolet rays.
Do not bathe the baby in direct sunlight to avoid burning skin. If your baby has jaundice with very high levels of bilirubin, consult a doctor for more effective treatment.
3. Increases Insulin Production
The disease that impairs insulin production is known to be diabetes, which is the production of insulin that is too low that makes sugar levels high. But there is also an overproduction disorder of insulin (congenital hyperinsulinism) that makes sugar levels very low.
Other than trying the benefits of okra, bathing in sunlight is very good for increasing insulin levels in the blood so that babies are not prone to diabetes.
To prevent diabetes, of course, bathing in sunlight alone is not enough because the disease is also influenced by the diet and lifestyle of the child in the future.
So, the parents need to prepare a better lifestyle and healthier daily intake to increase their little one’s health.
4. Avoiding Babies from Stress
Babies who experience postnatal stress usually experience crying continuously and frequently. Morning sunlight can also be efficacious to release endorphin hormone or commonly called antidepressant hormone in the body, so that babies who get enough morning sunlight can avoid stress and saturation.
Also, another function of sunbathing the baby is to increase the production of the hormone serotonin in the baby’s body. Serotonin is often referred to as the ‘happy hormone’ which makes humans less fussy and digestively smoother.
5. Forming a Baby’s Sleep Pattern
Newborns are usually still often awake throughout the night and fall asleep in the morning or during the day. This is because the hormones serotonin and melatonin in his body have not been very balanced. Well, sunbathing the baby is believed to affect both hormone levels so that the baby will sleep with a better pattern.
When sunbathed, melatonin levels will decrease, while serotonin increases. This is expected to make babies more easily awake in the morning and fall asleep at night like human sleep patterns in general.
While sunbathing the baby, moms can also take a healthy, refreshing fruits to start the day, like having the benefits of grape.