HOME HEALTH GUIDE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 92, 10 February 1947, Page 3

HOME HEALTH GUIDE

PROTECTION FROM THE SUN (By the Department of Health) Ancient medical writers on diseases of children were concerned about guarding, the head of infants and young children from strong' sunshine, and they actually recommended shielding the young head from accidents. Ferrarius, writing' in 1577, said: “In the early stage in walking it very often happens that the infant falls, so to prevent injury of his face or head by falling I recommend that every day there should be put on the child’s head a sort of round, smooth fillet made of linen rag, or of the skin of a kid, and filled with cottpn wool, like a king’s crown divided into four parts.” So the infant in the middle ages went about with a kind of cross barred hoop arrangement to protect the head from injury.

We don’t need to worry about that kind of contraption, but we do need to protect a young child’s head from strong sunshine. A correspondent from Auckland writes: “Summer has come with burning sun. Babies and young children in numerous cases are unprotected in arms, pushcarts, play-pens, chiefly by young mothers who, perhaps, do not realise how the ‘ wee ones suffer from their oversight.”

The head, eyes and back of the neck need protection in young children from hot sunshine. If you have been careless on this point in the past begin right away by getting sunhats. They are said to be available in the shops, and in any case, are very easily made at home from patterns readily procurable. A soft linen hat for boys, lined with green on the under side, brim only so deep in front as to shade the eyes, deepening at the sides to be deepest at the back of the neck. This is the type recommended. A girl could have a sun bonnet made to match her frock, having a wide brim over the forehead and a flap over the neck. Keep the little one’s head covered through the hours of hottest sunshine this summer. v