OUR BABIES.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 14 January 1928, Page 15

OUR BABIES.

BY HYGEIA.

Published under the Auspices of the Royal New Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children (Pltmket Society).

SUNLIGHT

Outing and exposure to sunshine is as necessary for uie proper growth, development ana health, of human beings tnrougnout infancy and childhood as it is for the young of the rest of the animal kingdom. fortunately in New Zealand we have abundance of sunshine, but, in spite of this, lew babies get as much as is good tor them, f rom che end of the first month onwards, the baby should be habituated to a gradually increasing play or the direct rays of the sun on the skin, starting with momentary exposure of hands and forearms, feet and legs, and extending in due course to the upper arms and thighs, and including later mi more or less the surface or the body. SKIN-SENSITIVENESS.

It is aio use attempting to give any indication as to the extent ol surface to exposure, or the best time-allowance Tiiese will vary not only with the age and general health and strength of the particular baby, but also with the sensitiveness of his skin to solar radiation. in babies ,even more than in. the case of adults, there are very great differences in the sensitiveness of the skin to the direct action of the sun’s rays Taking two normal healthy babies who (up to, say, three months of age) have been reared side by side on precisely the same lines, it might be found that in the course of a month the one would benefit by duty graduated exposure of the limbs and part of the body up to five or ten minutes twice a day, while in the case of the other baoy undue reddening and irritation would have indicated that only half or even a quarter of this rate of progress could be tolerated. The safest and best procedure in this, as in other matters affecting the baby, is to go cautiously and to err on the side of advancing too slowly rather than risk going too quickly. When a normal baby is about a week old he may be taken out into the sunshine for a short time if the weather is mild and genial. His eyes can be shaded from the glare by turning him on his side in liis cot and shading his head, without putting any covering near his face. The leather hood of an ordinary perambulator affords a very unhealthy shelter for the baby. (See “Feeding and Care of Uaby.” page 72.) Yet many infants live in a leather-lined perambulator during the greater part of their first vear.

SUN BATHS

When the temperature of the day is not under 60 aegrees Fahrenheit a heartily baby who has been properly reared should have become accustomed towards the end of the second month to having his arms and legs ana part of the adjacent skin-suriace of Ms body bared to the sun for, say, five or ten minutes beiore the 10 a.m. feeding, and in the course of another week or two berore the 2 p.m. feeding also, lhe mother should hold the baoy on her knee, if possible, so that while he is being sun-rayed she can give him stimulation and passive exercise by si rolling his legs and arms gently but. firmly, starting at the hands ana leet and working systematically towards the trunk, so as to drive the Mood in the right direction and thus promote increased activity of the circulation. As the baby grows older liis legs and arms may be bared to the sunshine for, say, ten minutes or a quarter of an hour before his 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. feedings. Even longer exposure may prove beneficial on specially favourable uays. If tlie weather is warm a healthy baby in liis second month may have his morning bath on the open veranda, where the sunshine can play on his body. Eater, when lie can crawl and run about, exposure of the whole body in the open sunlight for from 10 to Id minutes or more may be allowable.

BEACH FLAY

If baby lives by the seaside, the mother may saxely let him run about on the beach for a time on a warm summer’s day with littve, if any, covering xor the body—provided, of course, that he has been reared sensibly and not coddled and spoiled. Babies habituated to daily exposure of the skin to open air and sunshine do not catch cold easily, and do not feel the changes of weather —they become practically “weather-proof” and almost disease-proof. Such children are a joy to themselves and to everyone connected with them : they radiate happiness as the sun radiates light, heat, and health. Their circulation will be good, and their feet and hands will glow with warmth even on cold days. Of course, if a baby has not been habituated to exposure to sunshine, the mother must proceed very cautiously, accustoming him gradually, little by little, to fuller exposure of the skin surface.

A BED TO HIMSELF

To ensure pure air day and night the baby must have a bed to himselr. “A baby must never sleep in bed with ills mother.” Only a few weeks ago there was a case of death from “overlying'’ in the North Island. The Coroner at the inquest condemned this foolish and utterly unjustifiable practice, which is stiil quite common among careless, self-indulgent mothers. “If the cot is kept in the room in which ilie parents or other persons sleep, it should be placed on the side of the room opposite to where the other hod or beds stand, and there should be a current of pure outside air flowing across the room between the oot and the bed. so that the baby may not rebreathe the air which the "other occupants of tho room have used up and poisoned.” livery mother should make herself quite familiar with the illustrations and instructions given on pages 65 to b!) of “.Feeding find Caro of Baby.” IT she beans those in mind she cannot go far wrong in the placing of the tally’s cot and the other provisions for ensuring pure air in the night as well as in the daytime. SUNfJI(I HT ESSICNTIAL.

Parents and nurses should be brought to realise that, during the last live or ten years, a series of highly important and very striking investigations have proved conclusively that deficiency of exposure of the skin surface to direct sunlight is one of the leading causes of delicacy, debility, and disease. The first practical discoveries were mainly in the direction of proving that, children suffering from various forms of tuberculosis could be cured

and made strong and healthy by gradually habituating them to spend some hours every day in the open air, clad with nothing but a loin cloth—the other factors of healthy living (suitable food, adequate exercise, rest, and sleep being also provided. Seeing what wonders direct sunlight can do for young children in general, it is becoming more and more apparent that we have all of us been too sparing of sunlight for babies; practice is proving that they benefit as much as the older children of the family from a more liberal exposure of the skin to direct solar' radiation. WARNING.

While it is highly beneficial to the normal baby to be gradually habituated to the moderate exposure of the arms and legs, and later to more or less exposure of part at least of the body to .sunlight, parents ought to realise that, like other beneficial agencies, the sun's rays are liable to do far more harm than good if any attempt is made to proceed quickly, especially if sun baths are begun in liot weather. In this, as in other matters affecting the baby, the golden rule is to advance slowly and watch results. In some babies the tendencies of “solarisation,” as in the case of some older children, is to cause irritation and freckling instead of the rich, ruddy brown which may he regarded as the normal and healthy reaction we aim at inducing. Jn all cases if is safest and best to expose the limbs and outlying parts of the body first, and to only resort to exposure of the trunk itself later, and for a shorter period. Special care should he exercised with regard to the protection of the head and e\es, especially in hot weather. The best head covering in summer is a loose white perforated soil, linen hat or a. similar cap with a. brim all round, such as ■loss sometimes wear when playing cricket. This keeps the head reasonably cool, and the brim shades the eyes and the hack of the neck, which is a danger point in connection with sunstroke. Bear in mind that the

■‘golden mean’’ is always best. It is possible to have too much of n good thing, men sunlight. Rr. Saleeby says: “The so-called sun cure sounds simple and fool-proof. It, is nothing •>f the sort. Great rare should be exercised, beginning with only a few minutes and increasing very gradually.'’ -