7 Ayurveda Tips for Children

Anyone who believes Ayurveda is only for adults is greatly mistaken. Whether it's nutrition, massage, or sounds: there's a lot you, as parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc., can do to lovingly support your little ones' development – from infancy to teenage years!

Dr. Jasmin Blumenberg, a pediatrician and Ayurvedic physician, and board member of the German Society for Ayurveda, the oldest Ayurvedic medical association in Germany (founded 1983), will show you how. Dr. Jasmin Blumenberg practices at the Minden Children's Hospital and is a lecturer at the German Ayurveda Academy in Regensburg.

Tip 1: Maintain a daily rhythm

For healthy development, children need regularity and rhythm. Ayurveda and Western medicine are in complete agreement on this. Without a regular rhythm, children have difficulty coping with the flood of stimuli in their lives. Common consequences include restlessness, excessive activity, and inner turmoil. The children then find no balance. From an Ayurvedic perspective, this is an expression of an excessive accumulation of Vata. A regular daily rhythm with Ayurvedic approaches that create balance and equilibrium can help bring the Doshas back into balance or preserve the Dosha balance in advance.

What does this look like in practice?

You can begin to introduce the Ayurvedic daily rhythm to children who already sleep through the night, meaning they have a regular day-night rhythm. This is usually the case between two and three years of age. From an Ayurvedic perspective, the day should begin early. The recommended wake-up time is 6 AM. Since young children are often "early risers" anyway, this will be relatively easy to implement in the early years. It becomes much more difficult with teenagers, whose rhythm increasingly shifts later. But for them too, a regular daily rhythm with early rising improves their Dosha balance and gives them stability for their daily lives. After a sleepless or bad night – which often happens with small children – parents and child should, of course, sleep in a little longer. Here, everyone has to find their own way that suits them. The same applies to bedtime. Children – like adults – should go to bed at a fixed time if possible. For teenagers, this should not be after 10 PM – although, of course, it's okay to stay up later for a party.

Tip 2: Start the day with water

Anyone who drinks a glass of water on an empty stomach in the morning has already done a lot for themselves. From an Ayurvedic perspective, drinking water contributes to internal cleansing and stimulates morning bowel movements. For children, this recommendation can be applied from the first year of life.

How it's done

Ideally, for your "morning drink," use boiled water that has cooled to room temperature for 10 minutes. You can also keep the boiled water in a thermos and let it cool to the desired temperature as needed. For children who are used to drinking fruit juice and are unwilling to drink plain water, you can gradually reduce the juice content. In any case, children under 4 years of age should drink as little fruit juice as possible, which also protects their teeth. As a daily thirst quencher, plain water is the optimal drink for children. Fruit juice should rather be reserved for special occasions. As parents and other close adults, you can significantly improve children's acceptance, of course, by demonstrating water drinking yourselves.

Tip 3: Ayurvedic morning hygiene for children

Similar to adults, we recommend that children start the day with an Ayurvedic morning routine. The steps in detail:

• Internal cleansing: Ensure the child takes time for bowel and bladder emptying.
• Abhyanga: For babies, the morning full-body massage is performed by parents or another adult. Rub the little ones for about 10 to 15 minutes with matured sesame oil. Older children (from about eight years) and teenagers can perform the massage themselves and are welcome to use a massage oil tailored to their Dosha type, possibly diluted with sesame oil (Vata Massage Oil for dry to normal skin, Pitta Massage Oil for sensitive skin types, Kapha Massage Oil for oily skin prone to impurities).

• Stretching exercises: For infants and toddlers, you can gently bring their legs over their head during the morning massage. Then guide the right arm to the left leg – and vice versa. This is not only fun for the little ones, but it simply does them good.

• Body cleansing: Shower after the massage. While plain water is usually sufficient for small children, older children and teenagers can use a shower gel or shampoo suitable for their Dosha type.
  • Ayurvedic shower gel for Vata type with normal or dry skin
  • Ayurvedic shower gel for Pitta type with normal or sensitive skin
  • Ayurvedic shower gel for Kapha type with normal or oily skin
  • Vata shampoo for normal to dry and brittle hair
  • Pitta shampoo for normal to fine hair
  • Kapha shampoo normal to strong and oily hair.
• Cleaning of tongue and teeth: In addition to regular brushing, a tongue cleaner can also be used for small children. While older children can easily use the tongue scraper themselves with a little practice, smaller children should still be supported by adults who then gently run the tongue cleaner over the tongue.

We recommend our silver-plated tongue cleaner, which is particularly small, soft, and round.

Tip 4: Ayurvedic cuisine for children

The goal of all nutrition is to adequately supply our body and thus every single body cell with nutrients and energy. A prerequisite for this is thorough digestion of food. At this point, according to Ayurveda, the digestive fire Agni comes into play. Only when it burns properly are our cells well supplied and as few waste products (Ama) as possible formed. Accordingly, Ayurvedic cuisine relies not only on healthy, wholesome nutrition, but also on numerous spices and other ingredients that stimulate the digestive fire. According to Ayurveda, they form the basis for good physical and mental performance as well as the prevention of diseases and everyday complaints. Otherwise, feelings of fullness, fatigue, skin impurities, difficulty concentrating, and other complaints threaten. By the way: The principles of Ayurvedic cuisine resulting from this Ayurvedic understanding apply to children as well as to adults.

• Address all six senses with every meal by always including all six tastes (sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter, astringent). They all have different effects on a person's body and psyche.
• Always prepare meals as freshly as possible. This is not only healthier but also tastes simply better.
• Let the child drink warm water between meals. This strengthens the digestive tract, while cold drinks weaken it.

In addition to these general guidelines for Ayurvedic nutrition, there are some specifics that apply especially to children. From an Ayurvedic perspective, the Kapha Dosha dominates in children during the first years of life. This also explains their pronounced craving for sweets. If you give a child a small amount of something sweet (for example, a spoonful of applesauce or part of the dessert) before the main meal, from an Ayurvedic perspective, this activates the digestive fire and thereby the nutrients of the food are better metabolized. Those who wish may also enjoy a sweet dessert afterward – as is common in our Western culture. Sweet does not always have to be unhealthy. A porridge prepared with ripe, sweet fruit is not only tasty and healthy, but also satisfies the need for sweetness. Do you remember that from your own youth? During puberty, the craving for sweets becomes even greater. Teenagers are now in a transitional period in which the whole body is working. In this phase of self-discovery, teenagers need something that gives them support and stabilizes their Kapha Dosha. This search for stability is also a reason why children sometimes eat the same dish repeatedly for a long time. Especially important in childhood and adolescence is Ghee. Whether you stir it into milk or cook a lot with it. Let your creativity run wild! If you want to enhance the diet of children – especially during special developmental phases – you might want to try our Kids' Rasayana. This is specially designed to meet the needs of children. Its use is very simple: Children from three years of age take 1 tablet in the morning and evening approximately ½ hour before eating with warm water or warm milk with rock sugar (if necessary, crush the tablet and rock sugar). Incidentally, the "Student Rasayana," which can be recommended to pupils and students alike, is specially tailored to the needs of learners.

Tips for all meals

Breakfast

To stimulate the digestive fire "Agni" of children, Ayurveda recommends warm porridge with some ground ginger, turmeric, cinnamon and a little cardamom. Children can drink a spiced milk with it. For this, add some ground ginger and Ghee to a glass of milk. For children from two years of age, you can additionally refine the drink with some almond butter. Ayurveda generally recommends the use of cow's milk because vegan diets can lead to deficiencies in children, and vitamin deficiencies can then lead to growth and developmental disorders, for example. Dr. Jasmin Blumenberg: "Unfortunately, we repeatedly experience in the hospital that children suffer from bone growth disorders due to calcium deficiency and also developmental deficiencies due to vegan diets. In the first year of life, development can even be completely stopped, which is then difficult to compensate for."

Lunch

To complement a balanced lunch, we recommend a lassi, the Ayurvedic yogurt drink. Prepared with probiotic yogurt, it additionally supports your offspring's intestinal flora. Test our diverse lassi recipes and discover your personal favorite lassi together. Here you can find the basic recipe for making lassi. On the same page, you will find our peppermint lassi, rose lassi, coconut lassi, and a salty lassi, as well as other delicious recipes such as:

• Lassi with coconut and vanilla
• Mango Lassi Supreme
• Almond Vanilla Lassi
• Zesty Spice Lassi

If you want to prepare the yogurt for your lassi fresh at home, you can easily do so with a yogurt maker like our Yogurt Box.

Dinner

To relieve the intestines and allow children to sleep peacefully, Ayurveda prefers light, easily digestible meals for dinner. Therefore, animal – and thus hard-to-digest – proteins should rather be avoided in the evening.

Tip 5: Fun balance exercises

For very young children, you can passively perform simple stretching exercises – as described above – as part of the massage (taking legs over the head, hand to foot). To promote posture and balance, children from about three years of age can practice poses like the "Tree," where children stand on one leg, bring the free foot to the knee of the standing leg, and raise their arms above their head. This is fun – and movement is an important pillar in a child's development. Especially nowadays, when even small children use smartphones and computers a lot, it is very important for children's development that movement (and outdoor movement in all weather conditions) is supported. Just join in! This is not only good for you, but also generates even more enthusiasm in the little ones.

Tip 6: Compensation for sensory overload

Dr. Jasmin Blumenberg: "Children often tell me that they play computer games after school and try to process the daily stimuli or sensory overload that they increasingly experience in modern times. Unfortunately, they do not realize that this leads to renewed sensory overload, as computer games create new stimuli. The stimuli then potentiate, and medical follow-up problems can certainly occur. We are seeing more and more children playing all night, and it sometimes happens that children come to us in the hospital with seizures due to permanent sensory overload combined with lack of sleep." It is therefore important to help children into a good rhythm and regularity that also includes phases of rest, breathing exercises, or children's meditation.

Tip 7: Vedic Sounds for the Child's Soul

Gandharva Veda music, which is also used as music therapy, harmonizes the doshas and provides relaxation and inner peace not only for children. Especially in a time when many children are already under time and performance pressure, harmonious sounds can significantly contribute to the relaxation of body and mind. This allows them to find the necessary peace they need to process the diverse daily stimuli. Dr. Jasmin Blumenberg: "In the clinic, we have had very good experiences when we perform massages on infants accompanied by Gandharva Veda music. We then observe from the monitor recording that the heart rate decreases, breathing becomes calmer, and this leads to a reduction of the Vata dosha." The Rain Melody is particularly recommended for beginners. It is suitable for all ages and times of day and is particularly popular for states of restlessness.

Tip for dealing with our recommendations

Have we given you interesting impulses that you would like to put into practice now? Then it's best to start gently with individual steps that particularly appeal to you and that you gradually implement. Simply see our recommendations as a guide that shows you the way. And then calmly go your own way. With each step, pay attention to what is good for you and the child and what makes both of you feel comfortable. Like children, be curious and open to new things, without forcing anything or even overtaxing yourself. Then you and the child will benefit the most.

Thank you

We thank Dr. Jasmin Blumenberg for her professional support and the wonderful photos.