"Kocherga" in a child: what is it, symptoms, how to withdraw

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

Modern medicine rejects folk diseases such as poker in newborns. Indeed, the disease has a rather strange name and therefore it sounds implausible. But it is difficult to dismiss this problem, because otherwise it would not have popped up from time to time among young parents. Grandmothers healers claim that they are treating a similar ailment, but this only causes more fears for the he alth of their child in young parents. It is worth understanding in detail what a poker is, why it is dangerous, how to deal with it and whether it should be done.

What is a poker?

Poker is a disease that occurs only on the skin of a newborn, it manifests itself from birth to 3 months.

If after this time the parents do not observe her, then the problem has bypassed them. With a poker in an infant, hair sprouts under the skin that cannot break out. For this reason, the hairs are bent and grow inward. This is where the name comes from.

The second name of the disease is a bristle, it also has its own explanation. The hair growing under the skin has a very rigid structure and pricks the baby. Therefore, the child is restless and often cries. If you steam the skin and run your hand over problem areas, the parent will feel this bristle.

You can not believe in the reliability of this disease, as it is likely that the newborn suffers from colic or other medical illness. But, if the mother showed the baby to all the doctors, and no one could determine the cause of the concern, then the version about the poker no longer seems so implausible.

Lanugo is not a poker

Many parents who have heard of stubble look for a problem where there is none. So, quite often, adults confuse the poker with fluffy hair, they are also lanugo. You should not be afraid of them, as this is the natural need of the fetus in the womb.

With the help of this cover, the original lubricant is kept on the body of the child, which performs a protective function. Vellus hair falls out on its own some time after birth, in rare cases they remain for life. This disease is called hypertrichosis.

Premature babies tend to have more lanugo because they didn't fall out before their due date.

Places of manifestation

Poker in newborns can be observed throughout the body, but most often it is located on the back, shoulders and hips. Determine the approximate place of manifestationdiseases can be determined by the position in which the child is most uncomfortable. If a baby cries while lying on its side, it has bristles on its arms and thighs.

Stubble symptoms

A poker in a child is not easy to recognize, as it is not visible visually. But for babies suffering from this disease, special signs are characteristic, they appear in their behavior.

1. Baby cannot sleep comfortably on their back or side. Constantly fidgeting and calming down as soon as mom puts him on her stomach.
2. A newborn cries often and for no reason.



3. You cannot see the poker with your eyes, but in some cases you can feel it if you run your hand over the problem area of the skin.

How do you know if a child has a poker?

To accurately determine if the baby has a problem such as a bristle, you need to perform a certain procedure.

• It is necessary to steam the skin of a newborn, for this it needs to be bathed in a warm heated bath. It is important not to overdo it and prevent the baby from overheating.
• After water procedures, the baby is laid out on the tummy and a few drops of breast milk are applied to the problem area. For 2-3 minutes, the mother gives the baby a massage, rubbing the milk.

If a child really has a poker, then during this time it will show through. In the absence of it, parents will have to look further for the cause of their child's restless behavior.

Reasons for poker

No exactexplanations why some children suffer from this disease, while others safely avoid it. Nothing depends on the mother, and she can in no way influence the disease or provoke it.

According to the most common theory, a poker in a child is a manifestation of atavism. Human ancestors had a thick hairline, they needed it to escape from adverse weather conditions. Over the centuries of evolution, the need for it has disappeared, but atavistic elements sometimes still appear. These hairs grow on the body of the baby during the entire period of pregnancy, normally they fall out at 36-37 weeks of development. If this does not happen, the baby is pricked by stiff bristles, causing a lot of inconvenience.

Opinion of medical specialists

Pediatricians reject the possibility of such a disease in a child as a poker. But even they cannot help but admit that sometimes babies in the first month of life have strange growths on the skin.

Doctors explain this by the fact that newborns show adaptive erythema caused by temperature changes - reddening of the skin. A few days after birth, the redness will disappear, and in its place a crust of dead epithelial cells and descended vellus hair will form. These formations are taken by young parents for a bristle.

The crust will fall off by itself with proper children's hygiene. The baby's skin should be regularly steamed in warm water, and then lubricated with baby cream.

Sometimes the baby's mother can mistake rolled lanugo for a bristle when the baby sweats or stays in one position for a long time. Help in this situationcan simple regular hygiene.

What is the danger of a bristle?

Despite the intimidating name, the poker does not carry any serious dangers directly. But this ailment prevents the child from sleeping, deprives him of proper rest, and therefore indirectly it affects the mental and physical development of the baby.

Also, this disease can seriously undermine the nervous system of the mother of the baby and the fragile state of he alth after a recent birth. This can provoke the loss of breast milk, exacerbation of chronic diseases.

How to remove a poker from newborns?

If, using the above method, parents identified a bristle in their child, then it is necessary to get rid of it. It won't go away on its own. There are several methods, in any case, it is necessary to pre-steam the skin of children in a bath or bath.

1. To get rid of bristles, you need to cook a small amount of ordinary unleavened dough, like dumplings. Before the procedure, the baby is bathed in a bath or in a bath so that his skin is clean and steamed. A piece of dough is taken and applied to problem areas. From steaming, the pores open and the hairs remain on the dough. After the end of the manipulations, the baby should be rinsed again and smeared with cream.
2. The second method is easier, you will need fresh bread for it, it is best to use rye bread. The bread crumb is kneaded to a soft plasticine-like state and rolled into a ball. This piece also needs to be carried out over the skin, where the poker is observed.
3. Rolling out hair in newborns can also be done with liquid honey. Before the procedure, you need to make sure that the child is not allergic to honey, as this is a very strong allergen. The resulting dough is driven over the skin, it is very sticky and perfectly removes annoying hairs.
4. There is a technique with applying only fresh honey. To do this, you will also need to steam the skin of the child in the bath or in the bathroom. Not all children feel good in the bath, so it is recommended that before removing the bristles, try to take the newborn there in advance in order to know his reaction. The steamed skin of the baby is smeared with honey and wrapped in a natural cloth. It is required to withstand the lotion for 15 minutes, then remove. The bristle will stick to the honey and stay on the material.
5. To get rid of the poker, you can also use batter, like on pancakes. Having previously bathed the baby, it should be smeared with this dough, and then wrapped in cotton cloth. This procedure is recommended to be carried out already in a room with a neutral temperature. The dough compress should be kept on the child's skin for at least 10 minutes. After that, it is necessary to carefully, without sudden movements, remove the material, hairs will remain on the fabric. At the end of the procedure, the baby needs to bathe again and smear the skin with a softening cream.
6. The last method does not require any special preparations. After the bath, the back of the child is smeared with mother's milk with light massaging movements. Gauze is applied to problem areas so that it fits snugly against the skin. Compress holding time-15minutes, then the tissue is removed. The bristle will stick to the gauze after manipulations.

In no case, you can not carry out the procedure on dry and unsteamed skin.

So you can hurt the newborn and injure the skin. Sometimes it may be necessary to roll out the hair several times. Then you need to repeat the treatment no less than a week later.

Unfortunately, bristle problems occur in about half of newborns. Some parents prefer to endure this attack than to turn to healers. Indeed, you don’t really want to take your child into the wilderness, into unsanitary conditions and trust a complete stranger. But any mother will be able to carry out the procedures described above on their own. If the child gets better from this, why not try the folk way.