OCR BABIES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 January 1939, Page 8

OCR BABIES

Published under the auspices of the Royal New Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children (Plunket Society). “It is wiser to put up a fence at the top of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom.” THE HOLIDAYS , CLOTHING AND WRAPS. Railway carriages are draughty places, and yet are hard to ventilate and apt to be stuffy. A good deal of ingenuity and tact is necessary to make the best of the conditions. It is risky to let children get overheated, so try to adjust their clothes to the time of day and the temperature, and to take them out for a run on the platform if possible whenever there is a sufficiently long stop. Needless to say, a plentiful supply of napkins for the baby is a necessity. A macintosh bag is the ideal way to carry wet napkins when travelling, but if this is not procurable it is a good plan to make tight little parcels of them in several thicknesses of newspaper. You will find a bundle of. old newspapers will come in handy in more ways than one. A light rug and a cushion are most necessary for the comfort of the small child, and with these and a spare seat the matter of a daytime sleep is simplified. Sleep. It is all-important to ensure some sleep for the little ones if overfatigue and fretfulness are to be avoided. This may be very difficult if the train is crowded, but sometimes a bed may be improvised uy placing a wide board between a seat and tn? one immediately in front of it. Pushed up against it and the outer wall of the carriage, and with a cushion and. rug upon it, this makes a comfortable enough bed for the.toddler —one which is perfectly safe if the board is well wedged ,and- a suitcase is propped against the outer side to prevent a tumble. The Useful Dressbasket.

The dressbasket is invaluable when travelling with a young baby, making as it does a comfortable bed and a receptacle for all the baby’s clothes. We have travelled with babies by train and’boat—healthy, normal babies and tirjy weaklings—and have found that they need not be. moved at all except at feeding times, but will sleep and lie awake quite contentedly, rather enjoying the constant movement. The result is the minimum of fatigue for mother and baby—very different from the utter exhaustion of both when the baby, having been nursed all day, is restless and irritable because of the complete upsetting of his ordinary routine. Tiny babies may be “packed” in the dressbasket before starting. The improvised cradle can easily be carried for short distances by one person, and' the baby is kept uniformly warm and protected from wind and draughts. Next to the dressbasket, probably the most useful piece of luggage is the canvas carry-all, which conveniently accommodates all the knobby and awkward last articles. Toys and Playthings. A few simple toys and picture books a puzzle perhaps, and a block and pencil form part of the necessary paraphernalia, but most children- will be interested for hours in watching the novel sights out of the carriage windows. Conveniences. It is never safe to allow children to use any lavatory in the ordinary way when travelling. An excellent plan is to make a circular pad of several thicknesses of paper to cover completely the ordinary seat, and to mark the top side of the pad. This will make things safe, and folded in half and itself wrapped in paper it will pack away quite easily. Otherwise an ordinary little enamel chamber may be taken. Some pieces of old linen (damp and dry) will come in most handy and save handkerchiefs and towels. Sea Trips. A sea trip (unless the mother is a bad sailor) does not present nearly so many difficulties as a long train journey, especially if it is a night passage, as our interisland, passages generally< are. Children are comparatively rarely seasick, and there is room for them to lie down comfortably. Train Sickness.

Very occasionally we find children who are habitually train or car sick, and the only thing to do is to give very light food before starting and to manage some means of allowing the child to lie down.

In conclusion, one might remark that the mother who has trained her children in obedience, regularity and good habits generally will reap her just reward when holiday travelling times comes round. The long day will pass without unbearable exhaustion on anybody’s part —parents, children or fellow-travellers.