Hints For Mothers.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 976, 14 November 1890, Page 6

Hints For Mothers.

BUIES TO KEEP A CHILD HEALTHY. Twice, or even three times a day, in very hot weather, the whole surface of the body should be sponged with water at a temperature of 80 deg. IT., and after, dried with gentle rubbing. The bracing effect of these baths is greatly increased by the addition of rock salt or concentrated sea water. Care should be taken to wet the child’s head first, and to see that it is not in a current of air. The following rules—being a portion of those recommended by the Obstetrical Society of Philadelphia, and published by the Board of Health of that city—are concise and worthy of quotation:— Buie 1. —Bathe the child once a day in lukewarm water. If it be feeble, sponge it all over twice a day with lukewarm water and vinegar. Buie 2.—Avoid all tight bandaging. Have light flannel as the inner garment, and the rest of the clothing and cool, and so loose that the child may have loose play for its limbs. At night undress it, sponge it, and put on a slip. In the morning remove the slip, bathe the child, and dress it in clean clothes. If this cannot be afforded thoroughly air the day clothing by hanging it up during the night, Use clean diapers, and change them often. Never dry a soiled one in the room in which the child is, and never use one for the second time without first washing it. Eule 3. —The child should sleep by itself in a cot or cradle. It should be put to bed at regular hours, and be taught to go to sleep without being nursed in the arms. Without the advice of a physician never give it any spirits, cordials, carminatives, soothing syrups, or sleeping drops. Thousands of children die every year from the use of these poisons. If the child frets and does not sleep, it is either hungry or else ill, and needs a physician. Never quiet it by candy or by cake; they are common causes of diarrhoea. Buie 4.—Give the child plenty of fresh air. In the cool of the morning and early evening have it out of doors for a little ; take it to the shady side of broad streets, to the public squares, to the park, or make frequent excursions on the rivers. Whenever it seems to suffer from the heat let it drink freely of water has been boiled and cooled by ice. Keep it out of the room in which washing or cooking is going on. It is excessive heat that destroys the lives of young infants. Buie s.—Keep your house sweet and clean, cool and well aired. In very hot weather let the windows be open day and night. Do your cooking in the yard, in a shed, in the garret, or in an upper room. Whitewash the walls every spring and see that the cellar is clear of all rubbish. Let no slops collect to poison the air. Correct all foul smells by pouring chloride of lime into the sinks and privies. Make every effort yourself, and urge your neighbours to keep the gutters of your street or your court clean. baby’s food. Next to cleanliness of the feeding apparatus it is important to insist upon the separate preparation of each meal immediately before it is to be given. The practice of making in the morning the whole day’s supply of food, though it saves trouble, is a dangerous one. Changes almost invariably take place in the mixture, and by the close of the day it becomes unfit for consumption. The proper plan is the following :—Some moments before meal time, so as to avoid hurry, measure out the different fluid ingredients of the food one after the other ; add the requisite quantity of milk sugar, and mix the whole thoroughly by stirring with a spoon, and pour into the feeding bottle. The food must now be heated to a temperature of about 90 deg. F. This can be done by steeping the bottle in hot water, or by placing it in a water-bath over an alcohol lamp or gas jet. Finally, apply the tip and the meal is ready. When feeding the child must occupy a halfreclining position in the nurse’s lap. The | bottle should be held by the nurse, at first horizontally, but gradually more and more tilted up as it is emptied, the object being to keep the neck always full and prevent the drawing in and swallowing of air. Ample time, say five, ten, or fifteen minutes, according to the quantity of food, should be allowed for the meal. It is best to withdraw the bottle occasionally for a brief rest, and after the meal is over sucking from the empty bottle must not be allowed, even for a moment. The graduated bottles, now readily obtainable, greatly facilitate the preparation of the meals. The milk and cream must be transported from the dairy in perfectly clean vessels. To insure this it is best to provide two sets of small cans ; one set to be thoroughly cleansed and aired while the other is taken away bv the milkman to bring back the next supply. As soon as the milk arrives it should be sterilized. The feeding bottle must be of transparent flint glass, so that the slightest foulness can be detected at a glance, and may vary in capacity from six to twelve fluid ounces, according to the age of the child. Two should be on hand at a time, to be used alternately. Immediately after a meal the bottle must be thoroughly washed out with scalding water, filled with a solution of bicarbonate or salicylate of sodium—one teaspoonful of either to a pint of water—and thus allowed to stand until next required; then, the soda solution being emptied it must he thoroughly rinsed with cold water before receiving the food. The tips or nipples, of which there should be two, must be composed of soft, flexible Indiarubber, and a conical shape is to be preferred as being more readily everted and cleaned - ; the opening at the point must be free, but not large enough to prevent the milk to flow in a stream without suction. At the end of each feeding the nipples must be removed at once from the bottle, cleansed externally by rubbing with a stiff brush wet with cold water, everted and treated in the same way, and then placed in cold water and allowed to stand in a cool place until again wanted. . While taking these precautions for perfect cleanliness the nurse must satisfy herself of the efficacy by smelling both the bottle and the tip just before they are used, to be sure of the absence of any sour odour.