The National tribune., 1909-07-08


a lot these very warm days; but, after
all the suffering they endure is nothing
to be compared with that which the
poor little babies and children have TO
go thru with. Grown people may take
a bath, and they may be put on clean
clothing and adjust it so that it is COM
Portable. Babies sometimes get bath,
not nearly as often as they should get
clean clothing, and,' of course, cannot
tell you when there is too much on or
that it is wrinEied about their poor lit
tie bodies, and hence their suffering is
intensified So many, many mothers
are young and inexperienced and SO
many, many other mothers simply
throw the clothing on their children
and put them down to get them out of
the way, without thinking anything
about whether the child has an abraded
skin into which the humidity Will press
the perspiration from their little bodies
until the skin is almost like running
sore.
We must remember that the skin or
a baby Is very, very tender, much more
SO than the skin of a grown person,
and up 10 three or four years of age the
skin of most children has to be very
carefully looked after if it is to get thru
the warm weather with any degree OF
comfort whatever. Prickly heat is one
of the torments of baby life, and no
cn1lu escapes, II uOtSil ehS NiA
ference how perfectly healthy it may
be. 1t does seem as tho mothers might
have a little more care for the tender
children, who cannot help themselves
and must just endure, but the selfish
ness of human nature is just as preva-
lent among mothers as it is among any
other class of people. / have known
mothers whose babies cried In hot
weather who would spank them un-
mercifully instead of trying TO find out
if they were being tormented alive with
the roughness of the clothing, sticking
pins and prickly heat, and sometimes
have found that the babies were suf-
fering from all three.
1t is an easy thing to care for even
the smallest baby if woman will only
use common, ordinary horse-sense, and
the woman who does not exercise judg-
ment and good sense is criminally re-
sponsible if her baby finally cries itself
into spasms and dies. In the first place,
babies must be kept perfectly clean.
Now, 1 do not mean by that they should
be continually scrubbed and secured"
That is the last thing on earth you do
want to do for a perspiring, heat-cov-
cred baby. Strip off the little thing S
clothes in the coolest room that you
can find, but, of course, do not let a
draft blow directly on the baby. Buy
your vaseline by the pint or quart. Dip
yOuI lulO lllt plCh up q
tablespoonful or two of the vaseline,
and rub the baby all over. Rub the
vaseline well in, but rub gently. The
expression of comfort that will come to
that baby's face in about three minutes
ought to be balm to the sore heart of
the real mother. You can lay the baby
on q newspaper on your lap If you like
while you are rubbing the vaseline in,
but lay soft towel or cloth over the
newspaper, so that you won't get your
self greasy. Then take the soft cloth
and gently rub the vaseline off. Now,
remember, this must all be done very
carefully, so as to not abrade or break
the skin any more than IT already is.
After you have taken off all of the out
side oil have the very best talcum pow
der that you can get and sprinkle it
thickly all over the body. particularly
in the little creases formed by the fat
under its arms, around its neck and
about its dear little legs. Then slip on
one little garment and put on thin,
perfectly smooth napkin, and il the
child does not want to go to sleep put
1t on the floor on a clean sheet or on
the clean. hard floor, and let 1t kick for
Itself You will find that this treat
ment will soothe the baby that is
screaming from the prickly heat, and
you will certainly feel rewarded for the
little effort that you have made for its
comfort.
Never put a baby on a feather pillow
or soft quilt or anything of that kind
In the Summer. The back heats very
quickly. and the nasty little red pim-
pies that cause so much suffering will
come out no matter how clean you keep
the baby, If its little back gets heated.
The very incest thing FOR a baby to
sleep in in the Summer is one of the
soft, very loosely-woven, cotton-thread
hammocks, which you can make per-
1ectiy safe by fitting around a frame.
II you cannot afford one of these, take
piece of strong, heavy new muslin or
duck, say, at least one and one-haIf
yards long and the same in width. tie
It's ends firmly and make eyolet holes
thru the goods, into which slip ropes.
make spreader of piece of pine, and
hang where the air can circulate all
around 1t. You can put the baby into
TINS without a pillow and with nothing
between Its little body and the ham.
mock. This way it is bound TO be cool
er than If 1t were lain upon a bed or in
its crib or cab - --'
In bathing the baby have clean.
large bath tub half filed with luke
warm water. 1t should be tust a de-
gree warmer than the blood and then