Better babies and their careRichardson, Anna Steese
Science
Better babies and their care
Richardson, Anna Steese
Infants -- Care; Infants -- Health and hygiene
Many mothers cannot provide either a separate room or the modern
equipment described; but a resourceful woman will supply admirable
substitutes. If she can do no better, she will arrange one corner of
her own bedroom for the baby. To make this sanitary she will follow the
general plan of a bare floor, painted walls, and even sacrifice her
ruffled curtains to the health of her baby. The baby’s corner can be
separated from the rest of the room by screens. A screen may be made
from an ordinary clothes-horse, enameled white, and covered with heavy
dotted Swiss or silkaline, which can be taken off and washed.
If the white enameled crib is beyond the family purse, there are
several substitutes which can be placed on an ordinary table with the
legs cut off a few inches. One woman whom I met at a contest had found
an old kitchen table in the attic. Her husband first cut off the legs
evenly and then inserted casters, painting the whole white. On this she
placed an ordinary marketing basket, with the handle sawed off. This,
too, was painted with white enamel. In it she laid a hair pillow, cut
down to the size of the basket, and then added the usual protecting
piece of rubber cloth, sheets, and bedding. This basket was closely
woven, and when the paint filled all the cracks, it made a snug little
bed. If an open-work basket or an ordinary laundry basket is used, it
may be draped on the outside with plain muslin, fastened with thumb
tacks so that it can easily be removed and washed. Decorating the
basket with frills of dotted Swiss over paper-muslin or silesia may
give very attractive results, but it is not sanitary.
Another substitute for a crib is an ordinary packing box, which can be
bought from any grocer or shoe dealer, scrubbed, dried and then painted
white inside and out, and covered with muslin attached with thumb tacks.
If a feather pillow, instead of hair, must be used, it should be
completely covered with rubber cloth or ordinary table oilcloth,
because the feathers are heating and should be separated from the baby
by the rubber.
If a good-sized basket or box is chosen, the baby can sleep in this
until it is several months old.
On the day of baby’s birth, his clothes-rack and toilet basket, a low
chair, and a table with basin should be placed near the fireplace,
stove, or radiator. On the clothes-rack hang the first garments he will
wear. On the chair hang an outing flannel or soft woolen apron for the
nurse, and the soft shawl or blanket in which the little newcomer will
be wrapped directly after birth. The toilet basket should contain the
following supplies:
Four dozen safety-pins in assorted sizes.
A roll of old soft towels.
Soft wash-cloths and squares of sterile gauze to be thrown away after
using.
Talcum powder.
Castile or Ivory soap.
Very soft hair-brush.
Small bottle of olive oil.
Two-ounce bottle of boric acid.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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