COMFORTS IN BED.

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume LVI, Issue 39, 17 May 1935, Page 3

COMFORTS IN BED.

PTIRXNG CONVALESCENCE.

Convalescence, that period when all who have been ill feel that they need a little extra attention and that they want all sorts of comforts aroi'«*J them, should be made as attractive as is possible to the patient. Above all, patients should have as many comforts as can be provided while, they are in bed.

The electric pad is a marvellous | addition to the land of counterpane with its capacity for remaining hot and for being turned off when not needed. Further, the wedge-shaped pillow with springs is a help for sitting up in bed. Rubber pillows are j now on the market, which work almost as well. In any case, for people sitting up in bed three pillows are necessary; the first large and rather hard, next a softer pillow which is slightly smaller, and thirdly a down pillow which lends itself to filling up the gaps. For sitting up in bed a ring cushion is also frequently comfortable, especially for those who have been there a long time. The great point about it is that it should not be blown up too tightly.

The ideal bed-jacket has perhaps yet to be made. Some of the most comfortable are the high-necked knitted jackets. They can be made

in two-ply wool, knitted; loosely, and then used double—that is to say, one jacket is lined with another. Bed-jackets of unyielding' material like crepe-de-dhine should never be made with set-in sleeves. The shoulders need to remain entirely loose, and the kimono shape is the best for this. Also, they should never be trimmed... with swansdown, which pricks in bed—a fact that might be remembered with regard to babies, who long suffered under this decoration. Where it can be put on easily a white sweater is as good as anything in bed, topped with a loose wool wrap. Where patients suffer from cold feet, socks or stockings may be made on the same lines as the double bedjacket. A tube may be knitted with big needles and two-ply wool and sewn up at one end, which is slightly shaped. Another tube pulled dyer this makes a warm mixture. For bed for any length of time a housewife is a boon which contains in different compartments comb, powder, nailscissors, ordinary sewing materials, pen, writing-block, stamps—ail those things, in fact, which it is so tiresome to be without and yet for which one hesitates continually to ask.