OUR BABIES

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIII, 16 July 1929, Page 7

OUR BABIES

:1 OPEN YOUR WINDOWS ', By "ifygeia" Published under tho auspices of tint * Royal New Zealand Society for tho [ Health of Women and Children (IMunket Society). "It is wiser to put up a fence at (he lop of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom. 3 The following article, written by Sister Raymond, of the Mothercraft TrainJ ing Centre London, for tho "Nursery !- World," embodies sound nursery principles of which it is well to remind 1 ourselves occasionally. Doubtless few 1 New Zealand children have "day and ' night, nurseries"; but these truth's hold ' good all over the world and can be ' applied under ajl conditions. Sister Raymond says: MOVING AIR 1 "It is just lately that we have come to realise that what, really matters about indoor air is that it should bo cool, dry, and, above all, moving. The relativo proportion of oxygen and carbonic acid in the air is certainly important, bu£ nowadays there is very littlo danger of suffering from deficiency or excess of these. What matters vitally is that thero ■should be an inlet for the fresh outside air and an outlet for the used-up air, fresh air moving through the room (in fact, through the house!) day and night. "Tho practice of 'airing' the nursery while the children are out, and letting them como in to a closed-up room with a roaring fire is very bad indeed. They are thoroughly tired and enervated by this atmosphere, and quite possibly they do feel chilly upon leaving it for the cooler passages or their night nursery; hut if they get a cold or chill it is the overheated, iinaired day nursery which should be blamed. They are much healthier, brighter, and more vital if rooms are never overheated and if they live out of doors every possible minute. "Even in winter they can spend most of their time outside if they are properly clothed. If there is no veranda, a rough outside shelter is a very wise investment. Here baby can sleep in any weather (except fog), and tho older children can spend happy, health-giving hours with their sand heap, large building bricks, etc. Sometimes it is possible to let town children have for then- playroom an empty, tireless room, where they can play with wide-open windows, but, of course, they will need extra clothing. "Children should never be in very hot rooms. If they are kept in stagnant, overheated air all their bodily emanations cling round them instead of being carried away by the air which should be flowing round them, and they become pale, flabby and devitalised. If anyone has doubt about this, all that is necessary to convince him is to see tho marvellous change that takes place in a baby who from being kept indoors in a stuffy, unventilated room is gradually acclimatised to fresh, cold, moving air. In a very short time his general condition improves, ho gains in muscular tone, his colour becomes clear and bright, and even his (expression becomes happier and more alert. AVOID DRAUGHTS "The fireplace should never be closed up, because the chimney provides the best means of exit for the warm, used- . up air. This means that there is always a draught between the open window and the fireplace, so bewaro of placing baby in this part of tho room. The old-fashioned practice of putting baby on a rug in front of tho fire to kick and warm his toes has been given up .because it is now understood that in this position he was in the direct line of draught from all points of the room towards the fireplace—currents oi air Rowing towards it from the windows, from beneath the skirting boards, and from under the door. "If baby is put on a rag on the floor to kick, a rofied-up rug can be put against the bottom of the door, but even then he should he protected by a screen. If he is in a kicking pen, a light blanket should be arranged round one corner of it. Although moving air is absolutely necessary for him, great fcare must be taken to prevent him from losing his vital bodily_ warmth by being placed', in the direct line of draught.

POSITION OF BABY'S COT '"The cot should always have a small two-fold screen round the head of it. It should never be placed beside the mother's or nurse's bed. A child who has learnt to live in fresh air sleeps better on a balcony, even in cold weather, so long as he is kept warm by suitable clothing, a properly mado cot, and, if necessary, a hot-water bottle. "If indoors he is best in a well-ven-tilated room by himself, but if this is not practicable his cot should be on the side of the room near the window, and away from his mother's or nurse's bed. In this way he gets pure, fresh air to breathe and not that which has been already used up. It is sometimes amazing to find the effect this change has upon the child who has not been sleeping well. ( "We all acknowledge that it is tho coddled* child who catches cold—the child who lives in overheated rooms, who wears too much clothes, and probably sleeps under an eiderdown. With children as with grown-ups, thoso who have accustomed their body to adapting itself to all sorts of conditions are those who enjoy good health and who have the power of resistiu. geven the ever-present germ of the 'common cold.' "