THE FIRST BABY

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1784, 24 January 1888, Page 3

THE FIRST BABY

Here is tho ezpnnenoe of an anxious young married coupla with their first baby, who, It is to be hoped, In duo time wil! leara that two-thirds at least of the reports of ' what the doctors sny ' In nowspapere was never said by any doctor who possessed common sense; — 'Oh, Charier,,' said my wife the other day,' wires the husband, * here is a German physician who saya tbat babies ehonld Dover sleep on their right side, and you know 1 always lay Tommy down m that prsitlbn 'Well, well,' sad I consolingly, •it evidently hasn't hurt him muoh. He Is tr.e ptoture of health,' ' Oh, you can't tell by that how he has felt. He may have Buffered terribly.' The next day I read In one of our pr.za ' Infant Columns ' : ' A baby should always be put to sleep on Its right side, as the pressure on the heart ls thus relieved.' 'Here,' 'I said,' we must go back to the o d way,' and baby was turned accordlagly. Within twentyfour hours m> wife oame hurrying to me, newspaper m hand, 'Charles, Vow ignorant we are. We certainly don't deserve such a treasure as our baby. Here we have been making Tommy sleep first on one side and then on the other, when I have jast read that a baby should al way* lie on its baok. and there he lay till one j morning I pioked up a magazine and i read : ' It may not be generally known that the most htalthful position a baby oan be plaoed tn for & nap ia flit on it* •tomeoh. Many ohildren softer greatly from the Ignorance of their nors«s on this point. 1 Now I understand what made baby kick and soream so when we plaoed him on his back,' and straightway he was put to bed on his stomach, ' He'll get used to It by and bye,' said my wife 1 Ksise him a little higher on hts pillow.' ' Bat I have just read that a baby shoold. never lie on a pillow ; It is liable to oans? a ourvature of the spine,' ' Oh, mercy,' soreamei my wife, 'do throw the pillow away.' Bot that very day we read. 'A rash of blood to the head often results from having a child's head on a level with its body.' ' Bring back that pillow,' I Itld. 'But I don't want bis spine ourvod,' protested my wife. What shall we do? Tommy seems as anxious about it as we are,'