Summer Safety for Babies

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18581, 15 December 1934, Page 10

Summer Safety for Babies

VY/TTir the summer here, and the coming of the fly, carrying insidious disease germs, every effort should be made to keep, the baby free from that scourge, summer diarrhoea. Especial care ' must bo paid to the cooking utensils used in preparing the food of the artificially-fed’ baby, as well as the baby on a mixed,diet. Where possible, flyproof doors and window-frames, “swots,”' and flysprays should be utilised iii the effort to banish the pest,-and a net curtain must be kept over the baby, asleep or awake, as far as possible.

The mother should make herself entirely responsible for all baby’s feedings an'd requirements, to see that the chain' of cleanliness and hygiene is unbroken'. From the 'time ‘the milk arrives at the kitchen door until the baby's feeding-times, no one but the mother, or other person responsible for his welfare, should’ have any part in “the handling and preparation of the milk mixture , for ejther the baby or the toddler during the summer months. To this rule-there .should be no exception. . , .. .

Hot weather being responsible for most of the sicknesses among babies, the mother should be prepared to adjust her child’s day to suit the weather. The baby and his cot. should be in-summer clothing, and the coolest part of the house, provided it is well ventilated’, should be utilised for the hottest part of the day, with an outing and any out-of-door treatment only when the atmosphere is kinder. Make sure that baby is put outside, perhaps under a tree, with his eyes well protected from glare, as soon as he has had the first meal of the day.