Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1913-12-07
LITTLE TALKS ON BABYOLOGY
By ANNA STEESE RICHARDSON
The Babies the WomanS Home Companion
No
CLOTHES
No 7.
CLOTHES

How odd it is that All American mother will crt-
cize the Chinese mother who binds her baby girls
feet or the Indian mother. who straps her newborn
son on a, board, and then calmly pin the belly-ban
SO tight around her newborn baby's abdomen
that it cuts into the tender flesh.
In common with the average woman, uneducated
and unframed for motherhood recall that l over
estimated the Importance OF the bellyband in clothing
my babies, but never realized that it was still
being transformed into instrument of torture until
attended Better Babies Contests. There, watching
mothers undress their babies for the physical
nation, was shocked at the ridges, the cruel red
lines left by the discarded strips of flannel And
heard many a good doctor lecture these mothers
severely for the tightncss of the bands and the dis
comfort the baby had endured.
After,this experience, l believe that many baby
accused of being irritable and wakeful or others
doscd for collie are merely suffering the structure
of the belly-band. Mothers who have had to endure
the torture OF ilittng tight corset for day or
more please give this matter consideration
Another memory of my unframed motherhood is
that Of overdressing my babies. Next to my we'd
ding rolsseau the most elaborate task of sewing |
have ever done was the layette for my first baby.
What overtrmmed useless things were included in
this labor Of love. And how inconsiderate that first
baby in outgrowing the pretty things had pre-
pared for his coming!
One Of the most comforting features of my visits
to Better Babies Contests this fall has been the in
creasing evidence of sanity and consideration in
dressing babies. Mothers gradually being cdu-
Gated up to the point of supplying simple comforts
for babies and rils for where they bclong-on pin
custom covers! AS rule, prizewinning babies at
these contests simply sensible comfortably dress
ed. .aa&&ls&z g.& Il
A >e Il
offers this list of necessary things for the new
born baby: ..S - g:.5a S@s
Satisfaction and wool mixed.
unhemned belly.bands, eight inches wide, eigh-
teen inches long
8 loose gowns Of outing flannel
flannel skirts 3y4
soft cotton, lawn. or batiste slips, simply made
2 dozen diapers, Is inches square.
2 dozen diapers, % inches square.
pairs socks
1 loose warm sacque knitted or made of outing
flannel, or French flannel
loose; soft cloak for outdoor wear.
solf, slik-ned or knitted cap.
This is not hard and fast list but one that may
be varied with the taste and purse of the mother 1t
contains every essential.
Silk and wool or cotton and wool shirts are prefer
able to al-wool for the tender skin OF the newborn
baby even in cold climates. In warm weather the
little shirt may be all cotton.
The belly-band must be unhemmed and unbound
il it is not to cut into the tender flesh and it must
be fastened firmly, but not tightly with very small
safety pins, five or six, that it will not slip AS
soon as the baby becomes active the bel,yband will
begin to slip up under the arms and perhaps inter
ere with the breathing. Then use knitted band
with tiny shoulder straps, which also be fastened
at the bottom to the diapers These, like the belly
,-..cE 49, S -