OUR BABIES.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 1 May 1926, Page 15

OUR BABIES.

(By ilyeeia.)

[Published under the auspices of the Royal New Zealaud Society for the Health of Women and Children (Plunket Society).]

DAUK-HOODED PERAMBULATORS. 11l the New Zealand Tim.-s of February 27 I noticed an interesting artic e based on the enormous amount of controversy in London at the present time over the question of the best type tn perambulator for a baby. To quote -10 m the Times of that date: ‘•Quite a storm of discussion has been created bv an altogether new theoij piooounded by 7 two doctors to account for" the sickly appearance .ot many babies nowadays. The opinion they express, founded on observations in tlie ease of youthful members of thelr own families,' puts the modern perambulator under the shadow of suspicion. .Lins familiar vvhicle, they assert, is constructed on wrong lines, its design depriving the 'ittle occupant of tlie pio per allowance of light and air so essential to infant development. . . ■ Modern improvements (such as pneumatic tvr;s, ball bearings, etc.) are of secondary importance, the greatpoint to be kept in -sight being the healthy simplicity of babyhood . . - “The more luxurious the vehicle, the less likely is its occupant to grow up of the bulldog breed. . . . It is undoubtedly true that many prams are too deep, and'babies do not get sufficient fresh air and sunshine Fresh air and light aire as essential as iood for the growing baby. A doctor at the Victoria. Hospital lor CM-dren, Chelsea, London, declared: ‘ln the depths of a pram covered with a- large dark hood the- air is stagnant Ihe shallow pram is much the better. Doctors expressed very definite opinions on the question. One doctor, m condemning the deep pram says: My method is to have my child wain'll' clothed, put- in a- shadow pram, and left in the garden throughout most or the day.’ ” ' . - ~ , A most sensible method, too. provided the pram was fitted with a light-colour-ed hood (nreferablv lined with green) and that there was ample provision lor a free flow of fresh air passing between the sides of the- hood and the pi am itself. Many mothers think they are wiving their babies the benefit 'of the fresh air when they are leaving them out in the open in a pram covered with a dark leather hood.

“OUTSIDE IN THE FRESH AIR.” Once, at a house situated in a beautiful country garden, I was invited by a fond mother to peep at her baby sleeping outside. The day was bright, sunny and still, and in the garden there were some fine spreading trees just made for placing prams beneath, yet the pram was in the middle oi a small asphalted back yard. But, more than this, 1 found the baby sweltering in what might be best described as a. tiny, close, foul-smelling tent. The pram had a dark brown hood, which came right down and rested on t-lu framework, the only opening being m front. The sun was beating on the dark leather, and, as there was no outlet for the moist, breath-laden air, if simply stagnated under tlie -hood and became hotter and hotter, until, when I -saw the baby, he- was steaming w-ith perspiration and whimpering with discomfort. The mother -should have had the pram under one of the large trees, out ot the glaring beat of the sun; and she ought to have thrown a- thin, lightcoloured. cover over the hood, and have raised the hack or sides to provide for free circulation of the air. I advised her to procure a Plunket hood with movable blinds, or. failing that, one made of basket work. But such a day as that one, bright, sunny, and still, no hood was rea-llv necessary at all. ihe baby would have been better left to sleep in t-h e - shade of a tree or hedge (there were s'ome beautifully thick ones in the garden), so long as the mother kept her eve on the pram from time to time to see that the direct sunlight had not- crept round on to the baby s face In such a position the- baby would have had the benefit of pure, fresh air. with shelter from any. wind, and perfect- shade from the hot sun. As it was. baby might just as well have been in an overcrowded, over-heated, badlv-ventdated room, for all the good it was deriving from being, as his mother ignorantly called it, “outside in the fresh air”! Education .in all such simple matters is unfortunately stil much needed.