Advice to a Mother on the Management of Her ChildrenChavasse, Pye Henry
Science
Advice to a Mother on the Management of Her Children
Chavasse, Pye Henry
Child care; Children -- Health and hygiene; Infants -- Health and hygiene
Let him by all means, then, as soon as the navel-string has separated
from the body, be bathed either in his tub, or in his bath, or in his
large nursery-basin, for if he is to be strong and hearty, in the
water every morning he must go. The water ought to be slightly warmer
than new milk. It us dangerous for him to remain for a long period in
his bath, this, of course, holds good in a ten fold degree if the
child have either a cold or pain in his bowels. Take care that,
immediately after he comes out of his tub, he is well dried with warm
towels. It is well to let him have his bath the first thing in the
morning, and before he has been put to the breast, let him be washed
before he has his breakfast, it will refresh him and give him an
appetite. Besides, he ought to have his morning ablution on an empty
stomach, or it may interfere with digestion, and might produce
sickness and pain. In putting him in his tub, let his head be the
first part washed. We all know, that in bathing in the sea, now much
better we can bear the water if we first wet our head, if we do not do
so, we feel shivering and starved and miserable. Let there be no
dawdling in the washing, let it be quickly over. When he is thoroughly
dried with warm _dry_ towels, let him be well rubbed with the warm
hand of the mother or of the nurse. As I previously recommended, while
drying him and while rubbing him, let him repose and kick and stretch
either on the warm flannel apron, or else on a small blanket placed on
the lap. One bathing in the tub, and that in the morning, is
sufficient, and better than night and morning. During the day, as I
before observed, he may, after the action either of his bowels or of
his bladder, require several spongings of lukewarm water, _for
cleanliness is a grand incentive to health and comeliness_.
Remember it is absolutely necessary to every child from his earliest
babyhood to have a bath, to be immersed every morning of his life in
the water. This advice, unless in cases of severe illness, admits of
no exception. Water to the body--to the whole body--is a necessity of
life, of health, and of happiness, it wards off disease, it brace? the
nerves, it hardens the frame, it is the finest tonic in the world. Oh,
if every mother would follow to the very letter this counsel how much
misery, how much ill-health might then be averted!
MANAGEMENT OF THE NAVEL.
13. _Should the navel-string be wrapped in SINGED rag_?
There is nothing better than a piece of fine old linen rag,
_unsinged_; when singed, it frequently irritates the infant's skin.
14. _How ought the navel-string to be wrapped in the rag_?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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