Dr. Komarovsky on how to choose a humidifier

Proper humidity of the air in the room where the child lives, allows not only to provide him protection from viruses and allergies, but also to recover faster if the illness still happened. Yevgeny Komarovsky, a respected pediatrician and author of many books and articles on children's health, has repeatedly told parents about this.

Many mothers and fathers, listening to the advice of the doctor, are trying to humidify the air in the nursery with the help of a basin of water, an aquarium, steam, and wet towels hanging from the radiators. Sooner or later an understanding comes that it is easier and more profitable to purchase a special device - a humidifier. About how to choose it and how to use it, says Evgeny Komarovsky.

The mucous membranes of the nose and nasopharynx perform important protective functions. They produce mucus, which is able to bind viruses, slow down their spread.

If the mucus dries out due to the fact that the child breathes with dry air or during a cold, breathes through the mouth, then the biological fluid, which has changed its consistency, becomes dangerous for the baby. In the dried nasal mucus, bacteria start to feel great.

Many parents have noticed that current snot once turned into thick and green. This is a consequence of improper humidity.

A child who constantly breathes dry air often suffers from acute respiratory viral infections.

Humid air during illness the flu or ARVI in general, is one of the main “drugs”: viral infections recede faster, and the immune system is trained to recognize viruses and resist them when the patient breathes in moist air, drinks a lot of fluids. However, no other drugs from the pharmacy are usually needed.

Children who breathe insufficiently humidified air are more likely to suffer various allergic reactions. They are harder to tolerate the high temperature that accompanies various diseases, they get sick longer, their immunity is much weaker than their peers who breathe air with a relative humidity ranging from 50 to 70%. It is this level of humidity that Komarovsky recommends maintaining for the children's room.

Harm from a humidifier will be only if parents will grossly violate the rules of its operation. If in the room of the child there will be humidity exceeding 75-80%, then this will negatively affect his health and well-being.

Types of humidifiers - the pros and cons

Today, there are three types of humidifiers on sale:

1. steam;
2. ultrasound;
3. "Cold".

According to the principle of operation, steam humidifiers resemble teapots: in order for the water to evaporate, in the device it is heated to boiling with two electrodes. This is the cheapest and most affordable option home appliances.

When choosing a steam humidifier, you should make sure that it is equipped with a special humidity sensor, which instructs the device to switch off immediately after the required desired humidity is reached in the room. If there is no such part of the humidifier, you will have to buy it separately, which is not very convenient and expensive.

It should be remembered that moistening occurs with hot steam, and therefore it is necessary to place a humidifier so that the child under no circumstances can reach it.

Ultrasonic humidifiers are more expensive than steam, but they have more advantages. So, with a lower power consumption, these devices show a fairly high performance.

The principle of operation of such a device is more complex: ultrasonic radiation is supplied to a piezoelectric crystal, electrical oscillations become mechanical. The advantage of this technique is in small dimensions, the mobility of the sprayer, with which steam can be directed from either side.

“Cold” humidifiers are the most expensive. They got this name for the principle of operation, according to which the dry air that is present in the room at the moment, going inside the device, is cleaned. Inside there is a wet cartridge, passing through which the air cools down and is saturated with moisture.

The performance of such equipment directly depends on the initial humidity. The higher it is, the slower the device will work, because there is no sense in intensive humidification. Therefore, such a "smart" humidifier will always maintain the optimum level of humidity itself, without the intervention of the household.

This humidifier does not release streams of steam, like the previous two types, and therefore not interested in the child. Another advantage - the humidifier not only saturates the air with water, but also cleans it, because it works with smaller particles.

Electricity cold humidifiers consume as much as ultrasound. However, their performance is lower than that of ultrasound, but they are on self-regulation.

To begin the choice of the device for the nursery should be with the measurement room.

You should come to the store with a piece of paper on which will be indicated:

• room area;
• ceiling height;
• a brief description of the type of room (how many windows, what walls are made of, how many upholstered furniture and plants are in the room).

Yevgeny Komarovsky argues that the most difficult thing in choosing in the store is to evaluate the sound effects that the humidifier emits. In the space of a large shopping center, no one type of appliances seems to be making noise. But it will be used in the bedroom, including at night. It is important that the device work as quietly as possible.

If you have to choose a humidifier for the first time, you should not immediately take an expensive and technologically complex model, says Komarovsky. No beginners need a copy with a control panel, an on-board computer, and a ton of additional functions. To get started, you just need to understand how the device is used and what it is for this particular family.

Equally important are the reviews of other parents, which can be found on the Internet in parental forums. And the most important thing that mom and dad have to remember, who thought about choosing such a device: it is impossible to get sick from the humidifier, you can get sick from its absence. This is especially true for families who live in a temperate continental climate, where the winters are harsh and the summers are hot.

Where there are heaters for half a year, and then air conditioners are turned on, the air is always substantially drier than normal, which means that it should be humidified. It is easier to do this than to irrigate the nasal mucosa when the child becomes ill.

Dr. Komarovsky does not advise to keep the humidifier on at home all the time: it should work only when the humidity decreases and becomes less than 50%.

Of all types of devices Evgeny Komarovsky recommends steam and ultrasound. Moreover, for an infant there is no big difference, which of these devices the parents will buy. Toddlers who already walk and reach for everything need a safer device, such as ultrasound.

Below you can see the video of Dr. Komarovsky, in which he tells you what to look for when buying a humidifier.