The Mother And Her Child Part 32

The wind s.h.i.+eld, procurable wherever baby carriages are sold, should be a part of the outdoor equipment, as it greatly helps in the protection of the baby.

The wind should never blow in his face; neither should he lie, unprotected, asleep or awake to gaze up into the suns.h.i.+ne or the sky--or even at a white lining of the hood of his carriage. The lining should be a shade of green, preferably dark green. And while it may be necessary during the summer to suspend a netting over the carriage to protect from flies, mosquitoes, etc., it should never lie on his face.

OPEN WINDOWS

Many of our readers recall with sadness of heart a little hunchback child or a life-long invalid confined to a bed or wheel chair because some careless but well-meaning caretaker or mother left an open window unguarded; and--in an unlooked for moment--baby crawled too near, leaned out too far, and fell to the ground. The little fellow was picked up crippled for life; and so while it is very essential to baby's health to have open windows, admitting fresh air, they should be amply guarded. Screens afford protection if well fastened, and in their absence a slat three inches wide and one inch thick may be securely fastened across the opening, thus preventing all such tragedies with their life-long regrets.

SLEEP

If any of our readers have seen a new-born baby immediately after he has been washed, dressed, and comfortably warmed, they have observed that he usually goes to sleep at once, and that he generally sleeps from four to six hours. Babies, especially new-born babies, need just four things: warmth, food, water, and sleep.

And while the babies sleep they are not to be disturbed by the fond mother's caresses and cuddling--feeling of the tiny hands, smoothing out the soft cheek, or stroking his silky hair--for all such mothers are truly sowing for future trouble. Let baby absolutely alone while sleeping, and let this rule be maintained even if some important guest must be disappointed. If such cannot wait till baby wakens, then he must be content with the mental picture drawn from the mother's vivid description of baby--his first smile, his first tooth, his first recognition of the light, etc. The wise mother cat never disturbs her sleeping kittens.

SLEEP REQUIREMENTS

Sleeping, eating, and growing occupy the whole time of young babies.

Until they are two months old they need from eighteen to twenty hours sleep out of each twenty-four; and not less than sixteen hours up to the end of the first year.

At six months, baby should sleep right through the night from six in the evening until six in the morning, with a ten o'clock feed, which should be given quietly, in a darkened room, the babe being immediately returned to his bed.

At two or three years of age, twelve to fourteen hours of sleep is required; while at four to five years, eleven to twelve hours are needed; when they attain the age of thirteen years they should still have ten hours of unbroken sleep each night.

As a general rule, children should sleep alone; even in the case of two brothers or two sisters, separate beds are far better than a double bed for both hygienic and moral reasons.

Baby should have a separate bed. The temptation to nurse him on the least provocation, as well as the danger of overlying, are reasons enough for such an arrangement.

PUTTING BABY TO SLEEP

At five-thirty in the afternoon, baby should be undressed, rubbed or bathed, made perfectly comfortable, and fed; then, my mother reader, he should be laid down in his little bed and allowed to go to sleep, without any coaxing, singing, rocking, or even holding his hand.

Babies will do this very thing and continue to do it if you never begin to rock, jolt, bounce, or sing to them; and, mind you, if you do sing to them or rock them, or even sit near without doing anything but "just hold their tiny hands," there will come a time when you greatly desire to do something else--you have many urgent duties awaiting you--and baby not being old enough to understand the circ.u.mstances, begins to wail out his feeling of neglect and abuse. It is nothing short of wicked thus to spoil a child.

We have seen so many beautiful babies go to sleep by themselves without any patting, dangling, or rocking, that we encourage and urge every mother to begin right, for if the little one never knows anything about rocking and pattings he will never miss them; and even if the baby is spoiled through extra attention which sickness often makes necessary, then at the first observance of the tendency on the part of the child to insist on the rocking, or the presence of a light in the sleeping-room, or the craving for a pacifier, we most strongly urge the mothers to stick to the heroic work of "letting him cry it out."

The notion that the household must move about on tiptoes is not only unnecessary but perfectly ridiculous. From the very hour of his birth, let the child become accustomed to the ordinary noises of the home, and if this plan is early started he will prove a blessing and a ray of suns.h.i.+ne to the family and not an autocrat to whom all must bow and bend the knee.

BEDTIME AND SLEEPING POSITION

Bedtime is regulated somewhat by the hour of rising in the morning.

Usually, up to two years, baby is put to bed from five to six P. M.

Regularity is urged in maintaining the bedtime hour.

The seven o'clock bedtime hour is later established and continued until the young child attains school age, when retiring at the curfew hour of eight o'clock gives our boy or girl from ten to eleven hours of sleep, which is essential to proper growth, calm nerves, and an unruffled temper.

The first few days finds our little fellow sleeping nine-tenths of his time. Let him lie on his right side, for this favors the complete closure of the fetal heart valve, the foramen ovale.

Whether baby lies on his stomach, his side, or with the hands over his head is of little or no consequence. His position should be changed first from one side to the other until he is old enough to turn himself.

WAKING UP AT NIGHT

Before baby is three months old, he should receive nourishment during the night at nine and twelve, and again at six in the morning. After four or five months a healthy child should not be fed between the hours of ten P. M. and six A. M. At this age, many children sleep right through from six P. M. to six A. M. without food.

After five months, if a healthy baby awakens between ten P. M. and six A. M. warm water may be given from a bottle; he soon forgets about this and the night's sleep becomes unbroken. There are many other reasons than the need of food that cause the wakefulness of the child; and since the baby should, after a few months, sleep undisturbed and peacefully, if he is wakeful and restless--crying out in a peevish whine--and then quiets down for a few moments only to cry out again, you may suspect one of a half-dozen different things. Let us, therefore, summarize the things which may disturb baby's sleep:

1. _Lack of Fresh Air._ Babies cannot sleep peacefully in a hot, stuffy room, or in a room filled with the fumes of an oil lamp turned low. A crying fretful baby often quiets down as if by magic, providing he is not hungry and the diaper is dry, when taken into a cool room with fresh air. After the first two months the temperature of the sleeping room should be fairly cool and fresh.

2. _Clothes and Bedding._ The night clothes may be irritating and causing perspiration, while the bedding may be wrapped too snugly about the child. If baby's neck is warm and moist, you may know that he is too warm. If the diaper is wet it should be changed at once. One of the worst habits a baby can possibly get into is to become so accustomed to a wet diaper that it does not annoy him. In cold weather he is changed under the bed clothing without exposure or chilling. It may be the bedding is cold and, if so, it should be warmed up by the use of the photoph.o.r.e previously described, or by means of the flannel-covered hot water bottle.

3. _The Food._ Too little, too much, or the wrong kind of food, will disturb baby's sleep. Indigestion is very easily produced in babies who are improperly fed. For instance, the mother's milk may be lacking in nourishment and baby may really be hungry; or, as in the case of a bottle-fed baby, it is usually due to over feeding. Many mothers we have known who sleep with their babies or who sleep very near them, nurse them every time they wake up or murmur, and this soon becomes one of the biggest causes of disturbed sleep.

4. _Spoiling._ A lighted nursery or bedroom, rocking to sleep, jolting the carriage over a door sill or up and down, the habit of picking baby up the moment he cries, late rompings--any and all of these may disturb sleep, as well as unsettle the tender nervous system of the child, thus laying the foundation for future nervousness, neurasthenia, and possibly hysteria. This is particularly true in the case of the children who have nervous parents.

5. _Reflex Causes._ Wakefulness is sometimes due to reflex nervous causes such as the need for circ.u.mcision, or the presence of adenoids, enlarged tonsils or worms. Does baby have to breathe through his mouth? Then you may suspect adenoids or other conditions which should be removed.

6. _Chronic Disorders._ The presence of scurvy or syphilis causes the child to cry out sharply as if in acute pain, while in older children tuberculosis of the spine or hip is attended by a sharp, painful crying out during sleep. Malnutrition or anemia are also conditions which greatly disturb sleep.

7. _Soothing Syrups._ Untold trouble, both physical and nervous, is bound to follow the giving of soothing syrups. These medicines soothe by knocking the nerves senseless and never by removing the cause. They contain morphin, opium, cocain, heroin, and other drugs which deaden pain, and are most dangerous to give baby.

DAILY NAPS

The morning nap from the sixth month on should be from two to three hours long, out on the porch, well protected; while the afternoon nap may be from one to one and a half hours long with an interval of two or three hours before bedtime. The child should be wakened at regular intervals for feedings during the day--every three hours until he is six months old, and then every four hours. These naps should be taken in a cool place--on the porch, on the roof, in the yard, under a tree, or on the protected fire escape.

If the nap is to be taken indoors, then lower the windows from the top and darken the room. All children should take daily naps until they are five or six years old.

CHAPTER XXIII

BABY HYGIENE

Possibly if all our babies could grow up in a mild, warm climate, out of doors, where they were cared for by mothers who had nothing else to do but enjoy nature in a garden, their babies unhampered by clothes and other conventionalities inflicted upon us by our present standards of living--well, if that were our environment, probably this chapter on baby hygiene would not need to be written. But realizing that variable climatic conditions, the indoor life, and the necessary bundling up with clothes, all tend to increase the ever-present danger of infection from thickly settled peoples and their domestic pets--these facts, together with the further fact that modern social conditions make it necessary for some mothers to toil long hours--all these influences, I say, considered separately or combined, make it imperative for us to give thoroughgoing consideration to the essentials of baby hygiene. The subjects of fresh air, sleep, bathing, etc., have been duly discussed in previous chapters.

WATER DRINKING

As soon as the newborn baby has been washed and dressed, before he is put to sleep, he is given two teaspoons of warm, boiled water in a sterile bottle with a clean nipple. This is repeated every two hours when he is awake, until he is old enough to ask for water himself.

This water should contain no sugar, or anything else--just clean, boiled water. It is better to give this water from a bottle; for in case of enforced weaning, this practice of taking his water from a bottle, will have made him acquainted with that method of feeding.

URINATION