Infant care.

Date:
1945
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Infant care. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    he will carefully feel the abdomen and examine the genitals. By means of his examination and from what the mother tells him, the doctor can judge whether or not the baby is growing and developing as a healthy baby should. Sometimes the doctor may want to examine the baby’s urine. If he does he will tell the mother how to collect it. Sometimes he may want to make special tests to find out things about the baby he cannot tell in any other way. At some time during the baby’s first year he will recommend that the baby be given protection against diphtheria and smallpox. Under certain circum- stances he will recommend protection against tetanus (lockjaw) and whoop- ing cough. (See p. 104.) The doctor will keep a record of his findings each time he examines the baby, so that at later examinations he can compare them with the previous ones. This helps him to judge how the baby is growing and progressing and to keep in mind any unusual conditions that he wants to watch. After the examination the doctor will talk to the mother about the condition of her baby and will make suggestions about his care. If the mother needs further instruction to help her carry out the doctor’s suggestions, she can, in many communities, get such help from a public-health nurse.