Making Good on Private Duty: Practical Hints to Graduate NursesLounsbery, Harriet Camp
Science
Making Good on Private Duty: Practical Hints to Graduate Nurses
Lounsbery, Harriet Camp
Private duty nursing
If the baby seems much frightened by being put into the tub,
spread a bath towel or small thin blanket over it and have someone
hold his hands, so that he will not clutch so wildly at
everything, then lower him into the water, towel and all, and he
will not notice it so much.
I know of no place where deftness of handling shows to such
advantage as with a baby. He knows well enough if he is handled
properly or not, and his fretful cry, or violent screams, will
tell you without delay if he is not comfortable.
Once more, let me impress upon the minds of all who read this, the
necessity of having everything used about the tub and subsequent
dressing, warm. Anything cold will make the little one scream, and
I think all nurses will agree with me, that there is no more
nervous work than washing and dressing a baby who is crying (and
once he begins, he is only too apt to keep it up during the entire
time). This is especially true if a weak, ignorant mother is made
nervous by the noise, or a doting grandmother hovers about, making
remarks about "new fashioned ways," and wondering why this child
should cry when his mother was always so good, as a baby, in her
bath.
Now, as to the time of washing a baby. The morning is
unquestionably the time, but if the baby be very young (less than
two weeks) and has been wakeful during the night, I would let him
have his nap, even if it did delay you and interfere with your
plan of work. If he sleeps he is comfortable, and, unless for some
more serious reason than the bath, he ought not to be disturbed.
This, for babies in private practice. Hospital babies cannot be so
tenderly cared for. When there are ten or eleven to be washed in
one morning, choose, of course, the ones that are awake, as far as
you can, but there will always be one or two sleepy, warm little
ones about whom you will have some twinges of conscience as you
begin to wash their faces, but the work presses so, it must be
done.
A baby should not be bathed just after nursing, or when he is
hungry. Yet, most little babies go to sleep at the breast, and
very often do not waken until they are once more ready for eating.
This seems like stating a difficult problem, and I know it is not
always easy to select just the proper time, but the best way, I
think, is this.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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