OUR BABIES.

Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 14839, 3 December 1913, Page 13

OUR BABIES.

(By Hygeia.)

(""Weekly Press and. Referet)."'>

BATHING. EXERCISE, REST. The word "bathing" is so c.osely asBociated with the iuea of waswng or. cSung that few people have any dear realisation that the process would still be essential for periect growth and development, and for ensuringj6und> robust health, if it were not neededl at ail for cleanliness. In reality the boduy mechanism cannot be run and built up. properly without bathing, using the term to denote alterations of heat cold, etc., acting on the surface of the body. The merest smattering of physiology teaches us that none of our organs work by simple automatism —that they do not work simply from within as aclock works during the time for which it has been wound up, but that they have to bo subjected directly or indirectly to varying stimulations transmitted from without by means of impulses arriving at the nerve centres all day lon-* through the millions of living telegraph wires called nerves. These messages reach the vital telegraph offices not only through special nerves, such as those of seeing and hearing, but in infinitely greater number through what arc called nerves of common sensation, the nerves which go to every speck of skin, and are intended to be kept at work conducting impulses thence to the centres as long as life lasts, as long as tho body continues to live, as long as the various organs need to be kept at work in due accord at their appointed tasks—the heart muscle pumping, the chest heaving, the muscles of the blood tubes, air tubes, and rood passages regulating delivery, the glands secreting digestive and other fiqids and excreting and getting rid of waste products, the brain feeling and thinking. To keep this hive of strenuous energy going "whole," going in "wholth" (or, as we have chosen to alter the word, in "health"), the drivers and regulators must be called upon to do their appointed' tasks. If they are allowed to be habitually idle while the body is being built, the building will be imperfectly done, and vitality .nil be feeble. Hetice tnp importance of a healthy bodily environment daring tho growing peric^i—important, indeed, throughout life, but trebly important in babyhood and youth.

SLEEP. The part which stimulation -of the -nerves plays in keeping the vital organs going may be realised hy reflecting how wo pave the way to sleep by cutting off outside stimuli—how .the healthy, living being' approaches as near as may be to rest and deatn. It does not suffice to merely withdraw light and sound. Sleep will not usually come unless we rednco the stimuli acting on the sktn and muscles by letting the body lie comfortably slack and inert α-i some soft substance, which will leave nothing to be supported by voluntary muscular effort, and will prevent approciablo irritative pressure at any part. Under such conditions, if the body be also covered so as to maintain & kind of passive warmth, stimulated neither by undue heat., nor cold, a normal person cannot keep awake at the end of an active day. Sleep is necessary for rest, recuperation and growth. The more rapid the growth the more sleep the organism needs. Before birth all is sleep; a newly-born babe should sleep nine-tenths of tho time; at six months sleep is reduced to about two-thirds of the time; at GO years six hours may suffice.

SENSORY STIMULATION. But it must not be inferred because a six months old baby sleeps for 16 hours out of the 24 that, therefore, there is no need for stimulating its activities during the waking period. Quite the contrary is tho case. If the sensory nerves (nerves that convey impressions of light, sound, touch, variationa of heat and cold, etc.) and the muscles are not kept active, every function mast suffer more or less —sleep itself, digestion, development, etc. —but most of all the baby will tend to lack spirit cheerfulness, activity, and intelligence. The one thing not to do is" to keep a baby coddled in a nursery, warmed, as commonly recommended, to a temperature- of 70deg. to 75deg. Fahr. A very premature infant may need at the start an artificial atmosphere warmed on the principle of a chicken incubator, but a healthy baby, when a few days old, may be put out into the pure open air in a sheltered corner of a sunny verandah, care being taken to protect it from strong light or draughts.

The nursery for a normal baby is better kept below rather than above GQdeg. In fact, an ordinary cool room with an open fire to prevent dampness, and to secure ventilation rather than any marked warmth, is the best condition,for a healthy infant, provided that it is properly clad and covered, and shielded from direct draught. An airbath of varying temperature, to which tho exposed parts of the skin should be daily subjected, promotes the action of all the organs, and is the best means of obviating the risks of "catching cold." Indeed, "catching cold" is the natural result of coddling, alternating with careless exrtosnre to draughts. But tho habitual exposure of limited skin areas, hands, face, etc., is not enough. More widespread stimulation is needed, and this is {jfforded to a eufficient degree at first durins the changing of clothes, bathing, drying, etc.

ft should be noted that a warm atmosphere is always desirable when an infant is being bathed, and special care should he taken to prevent draught. This can be effected by means of a screen, if a cosy position before the fire cannot be secured otherwise.