The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1913-12-01
Little alks on Babyology
BY Anna Seese Richardson Director Of the Better Babies
Bureau of the Woman's Home Companion.
CLIO THEs

How odd 1t is that an American
mother will criticise the Chinese moth
er who binds her baby-girl's feet or
4 the Indian mother who straps her
newborn son on board, and then
calmly pin the belly-band so tight
4 round her own newborn baby's abdo-,
i men that it cuts into the tender flesh
In common with the average woman,
uneducated and unframed for mother
hood, recall that overestimated the
Importance of the belly-bano in cloth
ing my own babies, but l never realiz-
into an instrument of torture until 1
attended Better Babies Contests.
4 There, watching mothers undress their
babies for the physical examination, I
was shocked at the ridges, the cruel
4 red lines left by the discarded strips Of
flannel. And / heard many good doc
j tor lecture these mothers severely for
the tightnes of the bands and the dis
comfort the baby had endured.
After this experience. believe that
many baby accused of being irritable
and wakeful or others dosed for collie
/ are merely suffering from the structure
| of the bellyband. Mothers who have
had to endure the torture of an lift
\ ting. tight corset for a day or more,
please give this matter consideration.
j Another memory OF my unframed
motherhood is that Of overdressing my
babies. Next to my wedding rousseau
the most elaborate task of sewing l
have ever done was the layette for my
first baby. What overturned, useless
things were included In this labor of
love. And how inconsiderate that first
baby was In outgrowing the pretty
things had prepared for his coming!
One of the most comforting features
of my visits to Better Babies Contests
this fall has been the increasing evil
dence of sanity and consideration in
dressing babies. Mothers are gradual
ly being educated up to the point OF
,, supplying simple comforts for babies
and frills for where they belong-on
pin cushion covers. AS a rule, prize
winning babies at these contests are
simply. sensibly and comfortably
. dressed.
A trained nurse of long experience
in maternity cases offers this list y
necessary things for the newborn
baby.
! shirts-cotton and wool mixed.
unhemmed belly-bands eight
; inches wide, eighteen inches long.
3 loose gowns of outing flannel.
/ 4 flannel skirts.
soft cotton, lawn or batiste slips
simply made.
2 dozen diapers, IS inches square.
2 dozen diapers, % inches square.
u pairs socks.
I ! loose. warm sacque, knitted o.
d made of outing flannel, or French flan
mel
d ! loose, soft cloak for outdoor wear
soft siik-lined or knitted cap.
8 This is not hard and fast list, blu
2 one that may be varied with the tast,
: and purse of the mother It contain
! every essential.
s Silk and wool or cotton and woo
d shirts are preferable to Atwood TO
the tender skin Of the newborn baby
e even in cold climates. In warm weatf
J. er the little shirt may be all cotton.
The belly-band must be unhemme
and unbound If it is not to cut int
), the tender flesh, and it must be fas'
!. ened firmly but not tightly with yer
q small safety pins, Ave or six, so tina
it will not slip. As soon as the bah
]. becomes active, the belly-band will bt
Il gin to slip up under the arms and pc,
h haps interfere with the breathin;
n Then use knitted band with tin
=. shoulder straps which can also be fai
:. tened at the bottom to the diapers
: These. like the belly-band, are bette
: If bought in silk and wool, or wool an
:. cotton combination. They both SUI
: port the abdomen and ward off chi
to the bowels.
). The flannel skirts which show tt
.. same soft mixture of silk and wool {
: cotton and wool, are hung from IL
Of shoulder, not pinned around the Ion
al suffering little abdomen, and shou
De not be more than 26 inches in lengt
as What were once known as "lol
lr- clothes" are no longer used by intel
y gent mothers. The christening rol
y. Is and its fellow-frocks which sweep Il
-. !, floor, are now reserved for roy
- babies on state occasions
= The flannel skirt may be hemstitc
hit ed or bound with silk braid or e
be broidered in fine scallop. This
ms baby's only skirt. The old-fashion
re skirt OF cambria. lawn, etc, has go
he out. Over the flannel skirt is wo
ee the simplest sort of slip, made FRI
De some soft finished cotton mater
os like nainsook, batiste or Persian Law
,.s This slip may be hand-embrotdered
~, scalloped round the neck and wrists.
or. is never trimmed with machine G
re. broidery or lace which irritates
tender flesh.
The most comfortable method
Fa,+acsuo these little slips lis dr.