Book for mothers on the management of children in health and in disease / by A. M. Usher ; with introduction by Francis B. Rutter.

  • Usher, A. M.
Date:
1913
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Book for mothers on the management of children in health and in disease / by A. M. Usher ; with introduction by Francis B. Rutter. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    20/126 (page 4)
    Washing baby. A steady increase of weight is sometimes mis- leading. If a child becomes fat and flabby, there is usually something wrong in the diet, and it often occurs in the early stages of rickets. The average length of an infant at birth is 19 in., and it increases to 30 in. at twelve months. Growth in length of a baby without increase of weight is always a bad sign. I have always left off weighing my babies at two months, but that was because they were thoroughly well and healthy. If you have an oval bath, about a gallon of warm water makes a nice depth for bathing; about 92°F. is a fair heat for the water; test it with a bath thermometer or with the back of the hand; be very careful not to let a child be frightened by too hot a bath. It is a great mistake to bring up scalding hot water and then cool it. I have once had a child badly frightened by feeling the water before it was cooled, and another nearly killed by tipping over a can of boiling water which the nurse was bringing for a bath. Rain-water is best, being softest, and Castile soap, being the least irritating, or the Primrose soap will do. Be careful not to get it into the eyes. I never use soap for the face, and, when sponging a baby’s face, I always bring the sponge slowly down from the forehead, which gives the child time to shut his eyes, then he doesn’t mind how much sponging he gets; use a piece of flannel for the soap, and take care that both sponge and flannel are well squeezed out after use, and put to dry. It is wise to look every week to see what state a nursery sponge and flannel are