OUR BABIES

Northern Advocate, 19 May 1934, Page 4

OUR BABIES

j (% iiygeia.) ) Published under the auspices of the Royal New Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Childrciw(Plunket. Society). “It is wiser to put up a fence at the top of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom.” PR LMATTRL BABIES. \ > j .Before going mi to talk about pre- | mature babies, we must again ernphaI sise the fact that all babies who are | small and debilitated at birth should |be clas' rd as prematures and need I more or less similar treatment. The j Plunkot muses find that some mothers ! are not sufficiently alive to the great | need for care and attention to detail in safeguarding very small babies, even though they have been born at | full term. ! Practical Details for Prematures, The bod is made as illustrated on page 4d of “The Expectant Mother and Baby's First Month” (a booklet

published by the New Zealand Department of Health, and issued to parents free of charge), with the addition of an extra lining of brown paper and flannel to our list of requirements. The baby will keep warm if snugly tucked into thk; cosy nest three or four inches below the level of the rim.

The baby should not ho bathed, but should be oiled all over with warm olive oil, then dressed in a soft muslin vest, two woollen singlets (one with long sleeves, a llannel nightgown, and a eoft shawl, also a woollen bonnet with a muslin lining, if the above garments arc not in readiness, a wrapping of cotton wool lined with gauze may be used. Instead of the ordinary napkin of Turkish towelling it is much better to use a pad of cotton wool, enveloped in a few thicknesses of gauze, held in place by a napkin of ooft butter muslin. Each time the napkin is changed the buttocks and adjacent parts should be cleansed with warm olive nil. The baby should be re-oiled every other day. It is not advjsable to sponge him until a normal temperature is being maintained and strength and weight increasing. The room and garments should be well warmed beforehand, and the changing must be done expeditiously. Dawdling at any stage robs the baby of heat, saps its strength and resistive power, and makes it very liable to catch infective colds —the banc of prematures. Further, all such checks tend to prevent gain in weight however well the feeding may be done.

Premature babies should be .handled as little as possible; but they need turning from side to side regularly, at intervals of four to six hours, to prevent congestion of the lunge. Temperature of Room and of Cradle.

For the newly-born premature babe the temperature of the room should be between (55 and 70 degrees Fahr. This should bo gradually lowered to between (55 to (!0 degrees as the rendition of the r-hild permits. The warmth of the room must not bo kept up at the expense of freshness, as is frequently the case. Warm, moist, muggy air is, of course, very enervating; but the air should not be unduly dry—about two-thirds saturated is best.

Throe hot water bags (in flannel covers), filled alternately one each hour, should be placed one at each side underneath the outer blanket, and the third between the chaff shakedown and the mattress at the foot end of the cradle. The temperature of the water in the side bag at the lime of filing should be Kifl degrees Fahr., and that of the foot bag ISO degrees Fahr. This should maintain a “cradle heat” between 8.7 and Ob degrees, as ascertained by means of a dairy thermometer placed between the blanket and Die baby’s clothing and mid-way between the side bags, and kept there. Gradually lower the artificial heat supply as baby’s own internal fres and powers of heat regulation improve. Temperature of Baby.

If the rectal temperature is taken every four hours, and later every eight hours, undue fluctuations can be prevented by regulating the cradle heat. Few prematures survive if their rectal temperature is allowed to fall appreciably below !)5 degrees Fahr. A fairly constant temperature of OS 1o 00 degrees Fahr. (with an extreme range of 07 to 100 degrees) is the ideal, and this can be assured by veacionable vigilance. No greater fluctuation should take place, especially no fall below 07 degrees. Tim wider the range the greater the strain on the organism. Next week' wo will discuss the feeding of a premature baby.