Pediatrics : the hygienic and medical treatment of children.

  • Rotch, T. M. (Thomas Morgan), 1849-1914.
Date:
1906
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Pediatrics : the hygienic and medical treatment of children. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

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    over the cracks of the doors and the open fireplace while the infant is breathing the fresh air. The room being far above the ground, the damp- ness is avoided, and even a considerable velocity of the wind outside the house will in this way be unable to affect the air of the room, and will not make too strong a draught. Where it is possible, as is the casein certain families who can afford such a luxury for their child, a solarium at the top of the house, especially in cities, is desirable and practicable. Not only should an injudicious administration of cold air be avoided, but extreme care also sliould be taken in hot weather that the child is not exposed to too great cUrect heat from the sun, and it should never be kept in a hot atmosphere where currents of fresh air cannot have access. NURSERY-MAIDS.—The idea that the child should be taken care of by an old, experienced nurse is a vicious one. The experience of nurses, as a rule, is that of ignorance rather than of intelligence. Every mother, as she is presumably more intelligent than the nurse whom she employs, and is surely more interested in the welfare of her child, should personally supervise and unhesitatingly investigate all that the nurse does to the cliild. The nurse's ideas as to what is ]j ceded for the cliild's hygienic surroundings, food, and clothing can well be dispensed witli. The mother, learning from the physician what is best for her child, should give her directions to the nurse and see that these directions are strictly carried out. A nurse between the ages of twenty and thirty-five is prefer- able to one who is younger or older. She should be neat, healthy, strong, cheerful, gentle, and patient. She should be willing to refer small details of the nursery routine to the inother, as well as those which appear of greater importance. The chief attributes of a good child's nurse, in our opinion, are a desire to obey implicitly the orders which she receives from her mistress, and a temperament in harmony with the sensitive nervous organization of her charge. In certain cities, such as New York, Philadelphia, Buffalo, and Boston, schools have been established for nursery-maids. An admiralDle school of this kind has been carried on for some years at the Infants Hospital in Boston, where the nurses are trained to be servants as well as nurses, the course lasting for one year. When intelligent girls trained in this way can be obtained, the preferable ag-e is between twenty and thirty-five years. MOUTH.—A protest should be made against the way in which the nurse, and in fact almost every one who comes near the infant, put their fingers into its mouth on all occasions. It would seem as though the m- fanfs mouth was considered by those who ought to know better as some- thing which was especially made to be felt. Infants are much more likely to have various diseases in their mouths than are adults, and prob- ably one reason for this is that dirt of all kinds is constantly being intro- duced into them. The fingers should always be thoroughly washed before entering the infant's mouth, and yet unwashed fingers are continu- ahy feeling the baby's gums to ascertam if a tooth can be found.