OUR BABIES.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20313, 24 May 1934, Page 4

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 np a fence at the top of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom.” COLDS. Just now with colds, coughs and influenza the order of the day a talk about their prevention and treatment may bo helpful to our readers. Though colds are always more or less with us, it is in the cold, wet, wintry weather that they become more common and less easy to resist. Common colds are generally regarded as mysterious, accidental, and more or less unavoidable, but in reality they are nothing of the kind. They are no more mysterious or inevitable than constipation or diarrhoea, and it is even probable that a great many deaths are the result of neglected colds. Further, the measures that render a child hardy and resistant to colds and capable of throwing tfiem off really tend also to render him safe as regards all other fevers and illnesses. Hostile microbes are always likely to be lurking about the mouth, nose and throat, and are ready to attack immediately one’s resistance becomes at all lowered; especially those people who live in warm, stuffy rooms, and fail to take a daily cold sponge or bath followed by brisk robbing down, and exercise in the open air and sunlight. Prevention of Colds. A state of perfect physical fitness is the best preventive in early life. The most important means of inducing immunity and warding off colds are to increase the child’s resistance—1. By proper died (breast feeding) during infancy. 2. By dressing the children according to the temperature of the day, not the season. Constant overclothing is weakening and lowers the resistance. 3. By ensuring sufficiency of daily active exercise. 4. By realising the advantage of pure, fresh, free-flowing air day and night. Keep the house well ventilated and the children out of doors as much as tne weather permits. 5. By making use of every half-hour of sunshine. Correctly regulated exposure of the whole of the body to the has a stimulating and brac6. By keeping the bowels regular. 7. By giving a cool sponge down t.nd a brisk, vigorous rub after the warm bath each morning. S. By seeing that children have long, unbroken sleep at night and a daytime sleep. 9. By protecting from sudden chilling by wrapping in a shawl or blanket when lifting from a warm bed after sleep. 10. By keeping children away from anyone who lias a cold or other respiratory trouble. Do not allow indiscriminate kissing and fondling. Colds are in feetious. Treatment. If baby catches a cold, especially if he is feverish, remember the following simple suggestions: The child’s main need is for fluid warm boiled water or fruit juice. He needs less food and more water than usual, consequently do not press him to take all his ordinary food if lie is disinclined for it. If there is any digestive upset dilute the baby’s milk mixture with a few ounces of extra watet. The giving of sufficient fluid is an important point—one which is often neglected because the child is very apt to refuse drinks, probably because the throat is sore. If this is the case every possible means of inducing the child to drink must be resorted to. If coaxing and wiles fail, firmness may be necessary for the child’s own good. Try the child with his drink through a straw. This method seldom fails to appeal. If the child takes less food for a few days, do not worry so long as he takes sufficient fluids. Keep the bowels regularly and well opened. Keep the nostrils clear. Raise the head and shoulders a little higher than usual if breathing seems easier this way. Give him a good warm bath to open the pores of the skin. Cool down the, bath with cold water before taking him j out to close the pores, and keep him ! warm in bed. Then rub the chest and

trunk with olive or camphorated oil. Keep the child warm and out of draughts. Bathing the Baby. Bathing a baby or child during a cold is perhaps a little unconventional, for one commonly finds that they have not been bathed for days during the course of a severe cold. One aas to think how important a part the skin plays in ridding the body of impurities to realise that it is doubly necessary to keep tbe skin active and cleansed during the time when poisons of a cold are circulating in the body. It may be as well to sponge the child in bed or on the lap in front of the fire instead of bathing. Unless this procedure is carried out quickly and deftly there is more risk of exposure and chilling than there is from a quick bath given in a cosy corner of the room. In any case the child should be tucked up in a previously warmed bed directly after the bath or sponge. During convalescence it is as well to keep a crawling baby off the floor to guard against chilling. Realising the value of fresh air and sunshine, don’t keep the children with colds cooped up in stuffy rooms. If it is necessary to keep them indoors, see that the rooms are well ventilated. Do not let a cold go on indefinitely without getting medical advice, especi- ■ ally if there is a chesty cough, difficult breathing, feverishness, drowsiness, or j any sign of ear trouble. Many serious | | illnesses developing from colds (e.g.. ; 1 pneumonia and bronchitis) could be | prevented if medical advice is obtained j l in the early stages of the trouble. # I i