OUR BABIES.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 659, 12 January 1933, Page 11

OUR BABIES.

(By

HYGEIA.)

Published under the auspices of the Royal New Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children (Plunket Society). “It Is wiser to put up a fence at the top of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom.” THE HOLIDAYS. (Continued.) Clothing-, Wraps, Btc. Railway carriages are draughty places, and yet are hard to ventilate and apt to be stuffy. A good deal of ingenuity and tact are necessary to make the best of the conditions. It is risky to let children get overheated. Try to adjust their clothes to suit the time of day and the temperature, and take them out for a run on the platform if possible whenever there is a sufficiently long stop. Needless to say a plentiful supply of napkins for the baby is a necessity. A mackintosh bag is the ideal way to keep wet nappies when travelling, but if this is not procurable it is a good plan to make tight little parcels of them in several thicknesses of old newspaper, lou will find a bundle of newspapers will cpme in handy in more ways than A light rug and cushion are most necessary for the comfort of the small child, and with these and a spare seat tl ?e matter of a daytime sleep is simplified. Sleep. It is all important to assure some sleep for the little ones if over-fatigue and fretfulness are to be avoided. This may be very difficult if the train ia crowded, but sometimes a bed may be improvised by placing a wide board between a seat and the one immediately in front of it. Pushed up against it and the outer wall of the carriage, and with a cushion and rug upon it, this makes quite a comfortable enough bed for the toddler—one which is perfectly safe if the board is well wedged and a suitcase is propped upon the outer side to prevent a tumble. The Useful Dressbasket. The dressbasket is invaluable when travelling with a young baby, making as it does a comfortable bed and a receptacle for all the baby’s clothes. We have travelled with babies by train and boat—healthy, normal babies and tiny weaklings—and Ufi/ve found that they need not be moved at all except at feeding; times, but will sleep and lie awake quite contented, rather enjoying the constant movement. The result is the minimum of fatigue for mother and baby—very different from the utter exhaustion of both when the baby has been nursed all day, restless and irritable because of the complete reversal of his ordinary routine. Tiny babies may be ’packed” in the dressbasket before starting. The improvised cradle can easily be carried for short distances by one person, and the baby is kept uniformly warm and protected from wind and draughtjs. Next to the dressbasket probably the most useful piece of luggage is the canvas carryall, which conveniently accommodates all the knobby and awkward last articles. Toys and Playthings. A few simple toys and picture books, a puzzle perhaps, and a block and pencil form part of the necessary paraphernalia; but most children will be interested for hours in watching the novel sights out of the carriage windows. Conveniences. On some of the through expresses some of the ladies’ compartments help to lighten the difficulties of travelling tor the mother with children, providing as they do more privacy and larger, better kept lavatory and wash-basin arrangements. However, it is never safe to allow children to use any lavatory in the ordinary way when travelling. An excellent plan is to make a circular pad of several thicknesses of paper wide enough to completely cover the ordinary seat; mark the top side of the pad. This will make things safe, and, folded in half and itself wrapped in paper, it will pack away quite easily. Otherwise an ordinary little enamel chamber may be taken. Some pieces of old linen (damp and dry) will come in most handy, and save hankies and towels. Sea Trips. A sea trip (unless the mother is a bad sailor) does not present nearly so many difficulties as a long train journey, especially if it is a night passage, as so many of our inter-island passages are. Children are comparatively rarely seasick, and there is room for them to spread out and lie down comfortably. Train Sickness. Very occasionally children are habitually train and car sick, when the only thing to do is to give very light food before starting and to manage some means of allowing the child to lie down. In conclusion, one might remark that the mother who has trained her children in obedience, regularity and good habits generally will reap her just reward when holiday travelling time comes round. The long day will pass without unbearable exhaustion on anybody’s part—parents, children, or fellowtravellers.