OUR BABIES

Patea Mail, Volume XLIX, 30 March 1927, Page 4

OUR BABIES

By Hygcia. Published under the auspices of tho Royal New Zealand Society for the Health of AVomeu and Children (Blanket Society). “It is wiser to put up a fence at the top of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at tho bottom.' ’ 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 foxprotection against weather. They are made adjustable, but how often they are used as a fixture. During the most beautiful weather one sees pram alter 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 the 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 UN VENTILATED HOOD. “The ordinary unventilated leather pram hood is most injurious, as there is no current of pilrc 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 .brown 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 sec 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 tho child is constantly exhaling. Ybu see a nurse or mother enjoying herself on a sunny seat in the park, with a tree casting a glorious shade rpiito near to her, but her little charge is lying in tho sun’s glare under tho cver-handy hood. I sometimes wish I could make it a punfshable offence to put up a. 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 hotter off in a well-ventilated 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 tho 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 tho hood is only fitted to bo either up or down, fix a c'ord to the front, which yon can tie to the foot of the pram, so adjusting' the hood to give ■shelter or simile without completely covering the baby’s head. It is very seldom the hoods need 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 baity out in his pram. Little babies are really better sleeping quietly under the shelter of verandah or tree. In this way they have the benelit of more restful, quiet, sleep, without the jolting incidental to being wheeled over uneven roads.