OUR BABIES.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 244, 5 July 1915, Page 2

OUR BABIES.

(BY HYGEIA.) (Published by request of the Tailiapc Plunkot Society.) COOL FRESH AIR TOU BABIES. Last week I had to interrupt the continuity of the articles on "Fresh Air for Babies," but I will resume now my quotation from the very sensible remarks by Dr. and Mrs. Fitz in their "Problems of Babyhood.'' My previous article concluded with the words:—"After a three-hours' sleep in an outside window-box in zero weather (mind-winter, U.S.A.), a six | months' baby, properly protected, will | come in with glowing cheeks and a body radiating warmth." Then they proceed:— A Baby in a Blizzard. I know that to many mothers this will seem incredible. I remember well the horror of one mother who, on" learning that a six months' baby was asleep out-of-doors one winter day, exclaimed, "A baby in a blizzard!" When the baby came in she rushed to feel Its rosy cheeks, its ears, and nose. She could hardly believe her own senses when she found them warm. Her own two little boys ay ere jealously guarded from every breath of cold air. In response to a remark about the baby's marked freedom from nose and throat troubles, she admitted that her children, on the contrary, were almost never free from colds. Fresh Air Best For All. The idea that it is a safe procedure only with constitutionally strong children, who survive because of their abnormal strength, is a most pathetic perversion of cause and effect, and has gained what semblance of truth it has only through the common criminal neglect adequately to clothe children in cold weather. The shivering little mite In the fine raiment which sacrifices warmth to daintiness, is predestined to physical depression, and of course, cannot be subjected to stimulating, conditions; but the vigorous little human animal whose blood runs warmly in its well-protected body will tingle with the physical exhilaration from exposure to crisp, life-giving air. Best Tonic and Best Sedative! Moreover, the coolness of fresh air is not only a tonic for the physical, out 's a nic-'t valuable sedative for the nervous system of the growing cb.ii.ti. Where everyone realises the feverish restlessness consequent upon excessive heat, it seems strange that so many ignore the soothing influence of cold. I have seen a child refuse to sleep in a room with a temperature of _Go deg. Falir. tossing to and fro upon his bed, and I have seen the same child when taken up and put into an. outside ventilated window-box, the awnings of which were thrashed by driving sleet, fall immediately into a restful sleep, ttiiieh lasted for three hours.

Since sleep is as necessary for the calm, strong developing of the nervous system as food is for that of the physical, the fresh air which favours, and in many cases alone makes it possible, is a vital factor in development which should be used to the fullest extent. Kariane Baby Hospital.

The views of Dr. Fitz are entirely borne out by the Society's experience in connection with the Karitane Baby Hospital, near Dunedin, where delicate babies live in the pure fresh air day and night, winter and summer. The bedroom windows are left wide open, and provided the beds are properly made (see pages 85 and 160 "Feeding and Care of Baby"), and kept out of the direct line of draught between window and chimney, besides being protected from driving wind by a screen when needed, no colds are caught. What the Nurses Say.

Indeed, the nurses who come for training at Ivaritane all remark how much they are impressed with the effect of fresh air on the weak, delicate mortals who are sent to the hospital to recuperate. These babies often arrive with colds; but a few weeks of proper regular feeding and fresh air seem to make them "cold proof." The babies practically never "catch cold" in the hospital, though they sleep in bedrooms where the windows are as wide open as they will go, and the air current is flowing fresh and free across the room and out of a wide-open chimney. Except for delicate, coddie.d babies at the start, or Cor prematures, no fires or other moans of healing the bedroom. i-j resorted to.

Tin' difference in the appearance and "feci" of a "fresh-air baby'' as compart".] with one who is "coddled" is most striking. The fresh-air baby is nuldyg. firm fleshed, active, jolly, and n sound sleeper; while the average coddled baby is pale, pasty, querulous, and fretful, often snuffling with cold, and usually a bad sleeper. As for sickness in general, fresh cool air and activity are the greatest safeguards against getting ill, while coddled children tend to catch "everything that's going," and are not good at recovering.