OUR BABIES

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 110, 3 February 1919, Page 3

OUR BABIES

Published under tlio auspices of tho Royal New Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children. ~ "It is wiser to nut up a fence at the top of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom." i HARDENING OHILDIfEN. Indiscriminate Condemnation. There are few matters on which "orthodox" opinion is more unanimous than it U in condemning measures directed towards -what iB called "hardening" young children, especially babies, often without condescending to any definite details aa to what it means by "hardening." Almost every book dealing with the care of infants inveighs unhesitatingly against the ci'itity of attempting to "harden' theui. The following is tlio common style of warning ;— "When will mothers and nurses leant that, the tender body of the child cannot bo hardened and made more rdbtist by exposure to cold or any other hardship. Suoh ill-advised proceedings undermine the constitution and sa|l the vitality of the young being, arid thus exercise 'precisely the opposite influence to what is intended. We cannot insist too strongly that children are made less resistive to disease and weaker, not stronger, by being subjected to unnecessary stresses. However well-intentioned, nothing ismoro cruel or foolish than to run counter to Nature by doing just the opposite to what any tender-hearted mother would be inclined- to do if guided by her own heart and common .sense"—and so on, and so on. The mother, metaphorically speaking is "warned off tlie course" an. tht> mere mention of the word' "hardening," and. from*thul time forward Bhe _ib apt to him a deaf ear to any suggestion, however sensible, if it countenances proceedings which Bhe has seen dubbed foolish and cruel, and which m any caso run counter to her own "mother instinct to coddle, shield, and protect her offspring. Judicious and' Systematic Hardening Beneficial. In reality, as I shall bliow presently, tho best way to "shield and prdteet" a baby is to harden it judiciously and systematically. The wltolo erux.of the matter lies in the oucstioii wacther the stcpß taltc"u are truly judicious and systematic or not. The woman who keeps a baby coddled all night long In a stuffy bedroom and proceeds to wheel it about tho next morning, bare-legged and barearmed, in a go-cart, with a view to hardening its syßtom by extensive exposure of the skin to coot air is certainly acting in a dangerous, foolish, and cruel way-doing something neither judicious nor systematic-something, indeed, which forcibly reminds one of the tendency of thoughtless mothers to pet their offspring unduly and then harshly io slap, themacting on the mero whim or passing feeling, or want of deling, of tho moment It is just such mothers who, coddling and "hardcnbis" (as they call It) to'turn , have driven oonsiblo people almost distracted by their vagaries and inconsistencies and who, in the last een ury caused doctors mid nurses to set their faces against'anything-in the name of "hardening" as applied to children. In order to illustrate the point. I shall give an extract from a generally sound Ind good book on. "The Bearing of Healthy Children," written ««#* » years ngo by Dr. Loroy Yak* of Now York, which convcyß what may ho called the orthodox medical odr co of the Victorian era on the subject of hardening, babies. Dr. Yale gave the following question and. answer under tho heading: ' THE HARDENING THEORY. rQuestion.l "I should like to ask you a question about our fourteen-month-old baby daughter. She is doing very wc m every way, and is considered by all who see her a strong and jelMevelwed ohild. She is, however, subject to colds. My husband ia a believer In tho harden, ing theory, .and .thinks that ft wouldl'be well for her to get a cold bath every day, summer and winter, even when sha seems to have a running cold. I should like your opinion on that subject before cooler weather sots in. She enjoys the cold bath very much at present.

Dr. Yale's Answer. ' TAnswer.] "To begin with, we Have no opinion of the 'hardeniug thwny except that, as general ly interpreted, it.is a great stupidity We: do not of aonrse. mean to advocate coddling. Ttte liaioS' method in any shape rtonU not be begun on a little child. As to the cold baths we note' that you do not mention "lie kind of bath, but we presuaie you mean an unmernon. bath. ? Cold' bath iB ™cd very vnisuely in coiumoteonversation, but to * medical'man it means a bath botween SOdes. 1. ana 70dc- V Now, a bath drawn Jrom the cold tan in New York City in the middle of a warm July day is about TOdeg. i. S there has been a prolonged hot ..pell it will mark something higaci). mis even lives a distinct ch 1 1 when one entern it which is soon lost to a strong dultf'but tie baby's .?«*«<>««*,» much ereater in proportion to its mass San til adult's, and it is to the same proportion more easily # lU $; w Su i?nih? baby weißbed 2Mb. and his father 1601b., baby's mass to the fatners is 1 to 8. his surface is 1 to 1, and he chills.twice a fast making no. allowance for the relatively greater impressionability of Uie child's nervous syntern which sUI further exaggerates the disparity. as the temperature of the bath is lowered the depression is proportionately greater. In fevS he cold bath, ™cd with discroton, and by those who know its effects, is a valuable remedy,, but it is potent for mischief if used stupidly. • ••Ab to 'hardening,' once more we would say that we do not think well o cold hnths in tho usual sense, for an infant or a lit le child. If the immersions are only for a few seconds they ma,y do no harm but iii our opinion, in cool weather atTe'ast" a better bath for the purpose fs this Stand the child in luke-warm water no more than ankle deep and swore it "ver with water of about 70deg. TSomYbowl at hand. Any necessary waßhinE with lukewarm water and soap lo cleanse Boiled parts of the .person is tn h B nrevionsly done. By this method all tie'advantages of the cold bath are trained, without its drawbacks. Dr Yale represented the old school, and, as i have said, the above was written about SB years ago. I shall show next week that Dr.' Holt, the leading medical authority on children in New York today "olds very different opinions He anbroves and advocates tho use of cold ffimg for young children almost as strongly as Dr. Yale condemned it Meantime, I may point out that in eeneral one would not be inclined to adffse the use of the cold bath for infants before the age of 18 months or two years, and would «'op a child 'had a "running cold. However, apart from excess of zeal n oommeno UK cold bathing rather early, in life for the average child and proposfag .to continue it durinc av active catarrh, the view of ?he'father, which Dr. Yale »<"*««; tatinsly condemns, is in reality quite right and sensible. A heathy two-year-nd child who has been sensibly and sultablv trained to take a cold bah every morning far from finding the plunge or shower a depressing hardship, generally derives keen'stimulation and exhilaration from it and the .exercise which should atavs follow. Never is the word "hardsW' or the Phrase' "passion for unnecesary hardship" more absurdly used than with the habituation of vonng warm blooded animals to the natu?Sf pleasurable, and health-giving simulation of the skin by fresh cool air 'm^l™of' the cold bath in early childhood iB aB rational and sound in theory as it is beneficial and sat sfactory n actual practice. I shall enter into this matter more fully later on. The reader is referred? meantime, to page 81 of the society" book. "Feediiw and Care «l Babv* which conveys shortly what appears to me to be the sensible course in this very important matter. _

WAKEFUL NIGHTS. ' How many hours of needed rest- does a mother lose at night because baby is wakeful and restless. We all know that if baby frets there must bo something wrong somewhere, but you wi 1. hear mothers w that air their babies are prone to "prickly heat" or one of those distressing rashes that break out on the tender little bodies during hot weathei A. rash is regularly expected at teething time with some babies, and there is an idea that it is something that cannot be avoided. What we have to. realise is that baby's skin can bo kept .just as cool and clear and comfortable in any sort of weather by the right choice of .soap. Rexona Soap has the grateful testimony of many mothers to prove that it is the ideal soap for delicate skins, for wry voung children, and for thoso chafed and itching conditions that arise from hot weather and the little sicknesses of. early childhood. Even the rash of chickenpox and kindred ailments con be relieved of all itching and discomfort by regular bltiiing twice .daily, with Rexona Soap It kills infection cools and heals, and will restoro health and comfort to the little Testless body, and bring sleep again to the tired mother. Don't let your little one suffer another hour but let Rexona Soap sot the trouble right. Don't fSet to take a tablet of Rexona Soap home to-night. Price, Is. 6d.-Advt.