When can I teach my child to gargle?
The optimal age for teaching the child to rinse the throat is 3-4 years. It is at this age that the kid already understands what his parents want from him, and is able to perform simple actions that require of him. Nevertheless, three- or four-year-olds tire of long studies, so with all the necessary skills they should be introduced in a playful manner.
How can I quickly teach my child how to gargle?
Teach a child at the age of 3-4 years gargle will help such exercises as:
- Rinsing the oral cavity. To do this, prepare any liquid of room temperature and, for your example, show your child how to pick it up with a mouth from the cup, "distill" from cheek to cheek, and then spit out into a basin or any other container. If you use ordinary water, you must first boil it, as the child will swallow a large amount of liquid. Also, you can use purified water for baby food or a chilled broth of medicinal herbs, such as chamomile, marigold or sage. In case the child already knows how to rinse his mouth, go immediately to the second stage.
- Washing of the mouth. At the second stage, introduce the baby to the procedure for irrigation of the tonsils and throat. To do this, bend over the tub or sink and direct a jet of warm water or saline from the enema or syringe first to the inner surface of the cheek, and then to the tonsils. In some cases, this procedure causes a small gag reflex in small children, under such circumstances it should be abandoned.
- Directly rinse the throat. Put a mouthwash into your mouth, gently tilt your head back and "pound", holding out the sound of "ah-ah-ah." The child will definitely like this fun activity, and he will certainly want to repeat it.