The Mother And Her Child Part 17

FRESH AIR

Plenty of fresh air and lots of suns.h.i.+ne should enter baby's room. The large screen amply s.h.i.+elds from draughts, and when thus protected there need be no unnecessary concern about cool fresh air, especially after two or three months, as it is invigorating and prevents "catching cold." Warm, stuffy air is devitalizing and even during the early weeks when the fresh air must be warm, an electric fan should be advantageously placed so that many times each day the warm fresh air may be put in motion without creating a harmful draught.

Warm stuffy air makes babies liable to catch cold when taken out into the open.

Throw open the windows several times each day and completely change the air of baby's room. In the absence of the large screen, a wooden board five or six inches high is fitted into the opening made by raising the lower window sash. Then as the upper sash is lowered the impure air readily escapes while fresh air is admitted.

THE BATH EQUIPMENT

Make early preparations for bathing the baby in the easiest possible manner; in fact, the young mother should seek to attend to all her duties--the family, the home, and the baby--in the easiest way. For the administration of a bath during the early months, a table is needed, protected by oilcloth on which is placed a roomy bathtub with a folded turkish towel on the bottom for baby to sit on. In addition to the tub, have:

An enameled pitcher for extra supply of warm water.

A small cup for boracic acid solution.

Castile soap.

A soft wash cloth.

Several warmed soft towels.

A bath thermometer.

A medicine dropper for was.h.i.+ng baby's eyes.

Talc.u.m powder.

Oil or vaseline.

Sterile cotton.

Tooth picks.

A needle and thread for sewing on the band.

All of the clean clothing needed.

See that the bathtub is clean and enamel unbroken, and if it has been used by another babe, freshen it with a coat of special enamel sold for that purpose.

BATH TEMPERATURES

During the first eight weeks Temperature 100 F.

From two to six months Temperature 98 F.

From six to twenty-four months Temperature 90--97 F.

A bath at ninety-eight degrees is a neutral bath, and after the baby is six months and over, the bath may be given at this temperature, and at the close quickly cooled to ninety degrees.

NURSERY CLEANLINESS

The nursery should furnish the baby's first protection from contagious diseases. It must be a veritable haven of safety.

Therefore, no house work of any kind should be done in the room, such as was.h.i.+ng or drying the baby's clothes. The floors and the furniture should be wiped daily with damp cloths. A dry cloth or feather duster should never be used to scatter dust around the room.

All bedding and rugs should receive their daily shaking and airing out of doors, remembering that particles of dust are veritable airs.h.i.+ps for the transportation of germs. In every way possible avoid raising a dust. So much of the lint which commonly comes from blankets may be avoided with the daily shaking out of doors.

Soiled diapers should not acc.u.mulate in a corner or on the radiator; their removal should be immediate, and if they must await a more opportune time, soak them in a receptacle filled with cold water. Even those diapers slightly wetted should never be merely dried and used again, but should be properly washed and dried. No was.h.i.+ng soda should be used in the cleansing of diapers--just an ordinary white soap, a good boil, and plenty of rinse water, with drying in the sun if possible. They require no ironing. Hands that come in contact with soiled or wet diapers must be thoroughly cleansed before caring for the baby or preparing his food.

As before mentioned, and it will bear repet.i.tion often, all windows and doors must be well screened, for flies and mosquitoes are dreaded foes in any community and in babyland in particular. All used bottles and nipples as well as used cups, pitchers, bits of used cotton, should be removed at once. The washcloth is a splendid harbinger of germs. There should be one for the face, and one for the body and bath, and both should receive tri-weekly boiling. Bath towels should not be used more than twice, better only once.

The technic of bathing, together with the location, furnis.h.i.+ngs, and cleanliness of the baby's sick room, will be taken up in later chapters.

CHAPTER XIV

WHY BABIES CRY

It is surprising how soon even a young and inexperienced mother will learn to distinguish between the _pain_ cry and the _plain_ cry of her baby; for most crying can easily be traced to some physical discomfort which can be relieved, or to some phase of spoiling and indulgence which can be stopped.

NORMAL HEALTHY CRYING

The young baby can neither walk, talk nor engage in gymnastics, except to indulge in those splendid physical exercises connected with a good hearty cry. To be good and healthy, an aggregate of an hour a day should be spent in loud and l.u.s.ty crying. He should be allowed to kick, throw his arms in the air and get red in the face; for such gymnastics expand the lungs, increase general circulation and promote the general well-being of the normal child. As the child grows older and is able to engage in muscular efforts of various sorts, these "crying exercises" should naturally decrease in frequency and severity. When baby cries, see that the abdominal band is properly applied, that rupture need not be feared.

THE BIRTH CRY

The sound most welcomed by both doctor and nurse is the cry of the newly born child, for it shows that the inactive lungs have opened up and the baby has begun to use them, for all the time baby was living in the uterine room he did not breathe once, the lungs having been in a constant state of collapse; and not until now, the very moment the air comes in contact with his skin, do the lungs begin to functionate as he emits his first l.u.s.ty holler.

ABNORMAL CRYING

The cry is said to be abnormal when it continues too long or occurs too often. It may be strong and continuous, quieting down when he is approached or taken up; or it may be a worrying, fretful cry, a low moan or a feeble whine. And now as we take up the several cries, their description, cause, and treatment, we desire to say to the young mother: Do not yourself begin to fret and worry about deciding just which cla.s.s your baby's cry belongs to; for help, knowledge, and wisdom come to every anxious mother who desires to learn and who is willing to be taught by observation and experience.

THE HUNGER CRY

The continuous, fretful cry, accompanied by vigorous sucking of the fists, both of which stop when hunger has been satisfied, is without question the hunger cry.

If this cry is constant with regular feedings, then the quant.i.ty of the food must be increased, or the quality improved. The tired, fretful hunger cry must not be neglected; the cause must be removed, for it points to malnutrition.

THE CRY OF THIRST

One day when lecturing at an Iowa chautauqua, I remained in the beautiful park for the noonday meal. It was a warm day and the tables in the well-screened dining tent were filled with mothers who, like myself, preferred the cool shade of the park to the hot ride through the city to the home or hotel dinner. At my table a baby was pitifully crying. The mother had offered the little child seated in a small uncomfortable go-cart, milk, bread, and a piece of cake--all of which were ruthlessly pushed aside. My little son, then only four and a half, said "Mamma, maybe the baby's thirsty," and up he jumped, hurried to the mother's side with his gla.s.s of water, saying, "I haven't touched it, maybe the baby's thirsty." The mother brushed the boy aside, saying, "No, I never give the baby water." In spite of the mother's remonstrance, the baby cried on and on, and finally on "trying" the water, the child drank fully one-half the gla.s.s and the crying was hushed.

Babies should be given water regularly--many times every day--from birth, in varying amounts from two teaspoons to one-half cup, according to the age of the child. The water should be boiled for the first few months, and longer if there is any suspicion of impurities.

Milk to the nursing infant is like beefsteak and potatoes to the adult; and many times the milk bottle or the breast is just as nauseating to the thirsty babe, as meat would be to the very thirsty adult whose hunger has previously been fully satisfied.

THE FRETFUL CRY

The babe who is wet, soiled, too hot, or is wrapped too tightly, or who has on a tight, uncomfortable belly band, or whose clothing is full of wrinkles, has only one way to tell us of his discomfort, and that is to cry. It is a fretful cry and should command an immediate investigation as to the possible cause. It takes but a moment to discover a wet diaper; to run the hand up the back under the clothes; to sprinkle with talc.u.m if perspiring; to straighten out the wrinkled clothing; to find the unfastened pin that p.r.i.c.ks; or to loosen the tight band. Acquire the art of learning to perform these simple tasks easily, and any or all of these services should be rendered without taking the child from its bed.

Let the child early learn to rest happily and quietly in his own bed.