OUR BABIES

Waikato Independent, Volume XXIII, Issue 3148, 8 December 1923, Page 3

OUR BABIES

(By "Hygeia.")

(Published under the auspices of the Royal New Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children). "It is wiser to put up a fence at the top of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom." PREMATURE BABIES. (Continued). Last wool? we began the section on Premature Babies taken from the new edition of the Government Pamphlet, "The Expectant Mother and Baby's First Month." We must again emphasise the fact that all babies who are small and debilitated at birth should be classed with prematures, and need more or less similar treatment. The Plunket nurses find that some mothers are not sufficiently alive to the great need for care and attention to detail j in safeguarding very small babies, even though they have been born at full term. Further Practical Details for Prematures. Make the bed as illustrated on page 46; in addition, prevent free circulation of air round about the baby by lining the cradle and by keeping the infant in a cosy nest Sin or 4in below the level of the rim. Also gather the outside enveloping blanket round the head end so as to form a kind of cowl. The baby should not be bathed. The body should be oiled all over with warm oil and then be wrapped in cotwhich may bo carried up over the head; but a knitted -woollen hood, lined with two thickne'sses of butteri | muslin, is more convenient and com- j ! fortable. The baby should be re-oiled j every other day, and each time the nap- j kin is changed the buttocks and adjacent parts should be oiled. Instead of the ordinary napkin of Turkish towelling, it is much better to use a pad of teased-out wood,wool, enveloped in a few thicknesses of surgical gauze, held in place by a napkin of soft buttermuslin. After a few days, or at the end of a week or more, it is generally desirable to replace the cotton-wool with Ordinary, clothing, as being easier to change and more comfortable, and as allowing the baby greater freedom of movement.

Extreme care must be taken not to waste heat and exhaust the child while changing and dressing. The room and the garments should be well wanned beforehand, and the changing must be done expeditiously. Dawdling at any stage robs the baby of heat, saps its strength and resistive power, and makes it very liable 1o catch infective colds—the bane of prematures. Further, all such cheeks tend to prevent gain in weight, however well the feeding may be done.

Premature babies should be handled as little as possible; but thoy need turning from side to side regularly, at intervals of from four to six- hours, to prevent congestion of the lungs. Temperature of the Room for Prematures.—For the. newly-born premature baby the temperature of the room should be between Godeg and 70deg Fahr. This should be gradually lowered to between OOdeg and f?sdog as the condition of the child permits. Tho warmth of the room must not be kept up at the expense of freshness, as is so frequently the ca.se. Warm, ' moist, muggy air is. of course, very enervating; but the air should not be unduly dry—about two-thirds saturated is best. Further remarks on the temperature of the room given at the end of this section.

Temperature of the Cradle—Three hot-water bags (in flannel covers), filled alternately one each hour, should be placed one at each-side underneath the outer blanket, and the third between the chaff shake down and the mattress toward? the foot end of the cradle.

The temporal mo of the water in the side-bags at the time of filling should he IfiOdeg Fahr.. and that of l.lio footbng ISOdog Fahr. Tins should maintain it "cradle heat" of 85dcg to fWdeg Fahr.. as ascertained by mean* of a dairy thermometer placed between the blanket ami (he baby's clothing and midway between the side-bass, arid kept I here. Gradually lower the artificial heat supply as the baby's own interim] fires and powers of heat regulation improve.

Temperature of the Baby. —If the rectal temperature is taken every four hours, and later every eight hours, undue fluctuation can be • prevented by regulating" the cradle-heat. Range of Body Temperature.—Few prematures survive if their rectal temperature is allowed to fall appreciably below fl.nlog Fahr. Little apparent harm is done by a rise of the baby's temperature l<> lO.lrteg Fahr. but there is no excuse for allowing such overheating to take (dace. A fairly constant temperature of OSdeg to !)9deg Fahr. (with an extreme range of 07deg to lOOdeg Fahr.) is the ideal, and this can be ensured by reasonable vigilance. Xo greater fluctuation should take rdace. especially no fall below i»7deg Fahr. The wider the range the greater the strain on the organism.

Pbmkof Nurse Govdstone, telc.pj.ono 392 M. office IftSS. Mrs J. W. Poake.

Sc*., Plunket Society, telephone 13.1 M