OUR BABIES.

Otago Witness, Volume 1851, Issue 3809, 15 March 1927, Page 72

OUR BABIES.

Bi

Hygeia.

(•üblhhod under the auspices of the Royal Now Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children (Plunket Society). “It la wiser to put up a fence at the top of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom.'* PLUNKET NURSES, ETC., DUNEDIN BRANCH, NURSES' SERVICES FREE. Nurses O’Shea (telephone 2348), Isbister (telephone 7566), Thomson, Scott, and Ewart (telephone 116), and Mathieson (telephone 3020). Society's Rooms: Jamieson's Buildings, 6 Lower Stuart street (telephone 116), Office hours, daily from 2 to 4 p.m. (except Saturday and Sunday) and 10 «a.m. to noon on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays; 315 King Edward street, South Dunedin, 2 to 4 p.m. daily (except Saturday and Sunday), and 10 a.m to noon on Fridays; also 125 Highgate, Roslyn—Monday and Thursday from 2 to 4 p.m.; and at Kelsey-Yaralla Kindergarten Mondav and Friday from 2 to 4 p.m.; and at 99 Musselburgh Rise, Wednesdays, 2 to 4 p.m. Out-stations: Baptist Church, Gordon road, Mosgiel, Tuesday afternoons from 3 to 4 o’clock; Municipal Buildings, Port Chalmers, Wednesday afternoons from 2 to 4 o’clock. Secretary, Miss G. Hoddinott, Jamie son’s Buildings, Stuart street (telephone 1161. Karitane-llarris Baby Hospital, Anderson’s Bay (telephone 1985). Matron, Miss Fitz-Gibbon. Demonstrations given on request every Wednesday afternoon from 2.30 by Plunket Nurses and Earitane Baby Nurses. Visiting hours: 2 to 4 p.m.. Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday.

MAKING THE MOST OF THE AIR. Prams and Pram Hoods. Our attention has lately been called, or, rather, recalled, to the matter of pram hoods and the wrong use that is made of them. Hoods are meant for protection against weather. They are made adjustable, but how often they are used as a fixture! During the most beautiful weather one sees pram after pram go by with the hood right up. "One of the most pitiable and exasperating sights of modern babyhood is the spectacle of an unfortunate infant sweltering and sweating under an American leather pram hood. Here surely is human ignorance at the worst—a glorious sunny day, intended to give life and strength to all young creatures, perverted into an agency of debility and sickness for (he baby.” Fortunately this sight at its worst is not so often seen as formerly, and the barbarous old custom of hanging curtains or a shawl over the front .of the hood is dying out, as are veils for babies’ faces. But one still sees both occasionally. The Ordinary Unventh.ated Hood. "The ordinary unventilated leather pram hood is most injurious, as there is no current of pure air passing over the baby’s head. It is especially harmful "in warm weather, when the baby's breath stagnates round the mouth and nose, so that it breathes its own breath over and over again, thus poisoning the system. The enfeebling effect is increased by the fact that the hot air causes sweating and limpness of the whole body.” If a shawl is thrown over the opening the hood is converted into a veritable Black Hole of Calcutta, in the atmosphere of which, with the sun beating on the leather hood, most mothers would quickly faint. On this subject Miss Liddiard, matron of the Mothercraft Training Centre, London, writes: “You see babies lying in their front gardens, presumably to get the fresh air. buried right up to their chins and with a leather hood to exclude every natural breeze and catch the used-up air which the child is constantly exhaling. You see- a nurse oi* mother enjoying herself on a sunny seat in the park, with a tree casting a glorious shade quite near to her, lyit her little charge is lying in the sun’s glare under the ever-handy hood. I sometimes wish I could make it a punishable offence to put up hood unless it is actually raining or there is a hurricane of wind. As far as the air is concerned, the baby would be infinitely better off in a wellventilated room, with the window wide open, in his cot. While hoods may be a necessity in our uncertain climate, they should, like umbrellas and mackintoshes, be kept entirely for use in bad weather.”

Selecting a Pram. Although a great many prams are now made of seagrass, unfortunately the great majority of the hoods are spoiled by being lined throughout with American leather. If you are buying a new pram be sure and study “Feeding and Care of Baby,”. page 72, before deciding on which you will have. If you are ~choosing a seagrass one, some are lined with prettily patterned chintz or shadow tissue, and these are infinitely preferable to the leather-lined ones. If you are buying a wooden pram with a leather hood, insist on getting a ventilated “Plunket” hood, as illustrated in “Feeding and Care of Baby.” Adjusting the Hood. If the hood is only fitted to be either up or down, fix a cord to the front, which you can tie to the foot of the pram, so .adjusting the hood to give ■ shelter or shade without completely covering the baby’s head. It is very seldom the hoods needs to be right up. The Ideal Sunshade. The ideal sunshade is a tree, shrub, or hedge, such as animals instinctively seek on bright days. Next best is a verandah or wall. Do not make a fetish of taking baby out in his pram.. Little babies are really better sleeping quietly under the shelter of verandah or tree. In this way they have the benefit of

more restful, quiet sleep, without the jolting incidental to being wheeled over uneven roads.