OUR BABIES

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXVI, Issue 3432, 13 October 1932, Page 2

OUR BABIES

FRESH AIR. ITS VALUE AND NEED. (By Hygeia.) Published under the auspices of the Royal New Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children (Plunket Society.) Let us begin with the new-born baby. . The new-born baby needs special care. In cold weather for the first few days it may be necessary to have a fire in the room, but, unless for special reasons, this is not advisable after a week or 10 days. Even when there is a fire the room should not be allowed to warm up much, but must have a free flow of pure air day and night. See that the baby is sufficiently covered with light, open, fluffy or porous woollen materials, and, if necessary, has a hot water bottle, preferable a rubber one with a woollen cover. The bottle should be sandwiched between the two mattresses.of baby's bed, the lower one being of hair and the upper one of chaff. Make sure that the stopper is securely fixed, and place the stoppered end away from the baby. In hot weather a strong, healthy baby may be taken out of doors on the second or third day. Keep baby out of a direct draught, but don't be frightened of the air being cool. Pure, cool air is invigorating and prevents baby catching cold. Warm, stuffy air is poisonous and makes baby liable to catch cold when taken out into the open. Remember that the new-born babe is very sensitive to light, and must be only gradually habituated to it. Protection of the eyes from direct light must always be attended to.

What- is the value of fresh air? It is the oxygen and the physical properties and purity of fresh air that make it valuable. The living body cannot exist deprived of oxygen. The air entering the lungs consists of about one-fifth oxygen and fourfifths nitrogen. This nitrogen is of no use to the body and is exhaled unchanged. Our food must be changed into fluid by the digestive organs and the nutriment separated from the waste matter before it can be assimilated and absorbed into the blood. Similarly, the 'oxygen must be separated from the nitrogen and other properties of the air by the respiratory organs. The oxygen enters the blood vessels in the lungs and is carried to every cell in the body. By a similar process the waste products are removed from the cells of the body. About half a pint of

water is given off through the lungs in a day. Minute quantities of injurious animal matter are also given off in the breath from even the healthiest person, while one with decayed teeth, catarrh, indigestion, or lung trouble gives off still more of this material. When many people are assembled in a badly ventilated room the amount of injurious animal matter in the air is much increased and is called "crowd poison." We are all familiar with the strong and stale odour to be met with in a crowded room when we enter it from the fresh, open air. "Air once breathed is impure," hence the importance of keeping baby in the fresh outside air as much as possible. To function properly the skin must be continually cooled; this is impossible if the body is surrounded by an overheated, moist, stagnant atmosphere, the results of which are that the tone and vitality becomes greatly decreased, pallor is increased and resistance to disease is lowered. Movement of air is vitally necessary. In freely moving air oxygen is conveyed to the blood, the appetite is stimulated, and there is considerably less likelihood of infection. Miss Liddiard, matron of the Mothercraft Training Centre, London, founded by Sir Truby King in 1918, in her Mothercraft Manual says: "Keep baby in the 'open air as much as possible; the garden, if there is one, should be his day nursery, and he should be indoors only when being fed or in wet weather. If there is no garden, or sheltered balcony or veranda, baby should be in a well-ventilated room in which the window should be open top and bottom. In this way fresh air comes in through the opening at the bottom and the stale, used-up air rises and goes out at the top. So many mothers take their babies out for two or three hours daily, and for the rest of the 24 hours, that is for 21 hours out of the 24, they are left in warm, stuffy rooms. What wonder that one sees so many palefaced, sickly-looking infants?"

i Mothers are too often inclined to put baby out only on a bright, sunny day. If baby is suitably clad and warmly tucked up in his cot or pram there is no need to keep him indoors in dull or cloudy or even wet days, provided he is adequately protected from wind and rain. At Karitane-Harris Hospital a distinct improvement is noticed in certain types of children once they can sleep outside. "Life in the open air and sunshine, combined with good nutrition, builds stronger and healthier men and women than life lived indoors. Many men and women amongst uncivilised people have fine physique, their diet is of the sim-

plest, and they have few of the amenities of civilisation, but they live a natural life in the open air and sunlight. Fresh air and sunlight are not only necessary for the cure of certain diseases, but are invaluable in the maintenance of good health."