Most crying can be traced to physical discomfort which can be relieved, or to spoiling and indulgence which can be checked. In this day of intelligent care and disciplining of children, there is absolutely no excuse for having a screaming baby in the house. The modern mother not only realizes that behind the crying lies a good and sufficient cause, but she traces the cause to its lair—and lays it low. CHAPTER XI BABY-COMFORT THROUGH CLOTHES TIGHT BELLY-BANDS MAY TORTURE BABIES—UNDERWEAR THAT DOES NOT IRRITATE—EXTENSION SKIRTS TO PROTECT THE FEET—DRESSING THE BABY IN HOT WEATHER—HOW TO HANDLE THE BABY Baby’s comfort, and, incidentally, the peace and quiet of the entire household, may be increased by intelligent selection and care of clothing. Every adult has experienced more or less discomfort from ill-fitting or unsuitable underwear, tight bands and shoes, yet in many homes where babies are deeply and truly loved clothing for the tender little bodies is chosen thoughtlessly and adjusted carelessly. Even the mother who threatens her own eyesight, embroidering dainty bits of linen for the layette, may fairly torture her baby by supplying underwear that irritates the delicate skin. Perhaps in no other way does the American mother so disturb the comfort of her baby as in the ill-advised use of the belly-band. She will criticize the Chinese mother for binding her baby-girl’s feet, and the Indian mother for strapping her baby to a board, and then she will calmly pin the belly-band so tightly around her own baby as to interfere with his breathing and digestion. In common with the average woman, uneducated and untrained for motherhood, I recall that I overestimated the importance of the belly-band in clothing my own babies; but I never realized that it was still being transformed into an instrument of torture until I attended Better Babies Contests. There, watching mothers undress their babies for the physical examination, I was shocked at the ridges, the cruel red lines, left by the discarded strips of flannel. And I heard many a good doctor lecture these mothers severely for the tightness of the bands and the discomfort the baby had endured. After this experience, I believe that many a baby accused of being irritable and wakeful or others dosed for colic are merely suffering from the stricture of the belly-band. Mothers who have had to endure the torture of an ill-fitting, tight corset for a day or more, please give this matter consideration.