Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1913-11-08
NO. eHRAsY'S LITTLE DEFECTS
AND HOW TO CURE THEM.

AND no" 10 SOHG FGm-
These little talks on babyology are
not designed to take the place of the
family physician in the home circle
They do not deal with remedies mol
cures, but with the prevention of all
meats which will not assume such pro
portions that a physician must be call
ed in.
Mothers-and doctors-are waking
up TO the realization that preventive
medicine is the crying need among
babies. The day when babies were
supposed TO "outgrow" certain disdg-
urements or tendencies to disease or
weakness is past. Most of us can look
back to the barbarous practice of
soothing a baby with paragoric and
then trusting to nature to relieve the
condition which made soothing neces-
sary. We really seemed to think that
a miracle would be worked while the
baby slept.
If baby had any terrible deformity
or acute disease, we turned to sur
geon or physician, but we took long
chances with the baby, who was mere
/ ly good. We never stopped TO figure
n
ter baby by intelligent care, better
baby transformed into weil-nigh
perfect baby. And yet parents owe
the children they bring into the
world precisely this care.
One of the most interesting features
of the better babies contests, which
| have visited this fall has been the
amaSement of some mothers when
they discovered that with, oh, such a
little care and attention, they could
work such wonders in their babies.
AS an example, in one city near
New York, the physicians in charge
of the examinations at a contest ask
ed me IL ] would attend a meeting or
dress rehearsal of the examination
of a few weeks before the contest
They wanted a demonstration of just
how babies are examined by the bet
ter babies stand score card. So all
the arrangements were made, the ply
sicians agreeing to have a real baby
on hand for model" TO undergo
the full examination.
The baby was scored precisely as
If regular contest was under way,
and was penalized five for rough !
skin and 10 for an eruption. The
mother protested vigorously. The doc |
tors showed her a fine eruption over |
the abdomen and under the arm spits. |
She declared that the child had al |
ways had the marks-they were a sort |
of birth mark. The doctors explained |
that such an eruption indicated over
feeding. Here was a bottle-fed baby,
getting too heavy a fare The mother
admitted that she knew nothing about
modifying the milk. The doctors told
her how it should be done.
The roughness of the skin was due
TO mosquito bites, lots OF them The
mother said she couldn't help that
and neither could the baby. That
vas the fault of the mosquitoes. The
doctors did not agree with her They
explained that a careful mother pro-
ected her child from mosquitoes with
| netting. that mosquitoes carried dis
ease, that the itching sores made the
)aby nervous.
The mother listened resentfully,
especially when she saw that by the
ard her baby scored only So Never
heless, she must have thought great
Ieal about what those doctors said.
BECAUSE when the real contest was
leld in her city six weeks later, she
uttered her baby and IL carried off a
irst prize, scoring 50 per cent. The
hartman of the committee in charge
4 the work wrote me that this mother
lad lightened the quality of the baby's
God, and the rash had disappeared.
she had cleared her house of mos
uftoes and the babys skin was
mooth as rose petal. Which shows
hat a better babies contest makes
lothers think-and act. Also, that
child can be made healthier and
appier with just little thought and
ttention.
At another contest where very large
rizes were given, a mother came to
lie in tears. Her baby was a beauty.
ut it had not won a prize. She
rought the baby to me to prove its
eahty, dolllike features, absolutely
assic in their fineness, delicate skin.
oft, silken curIs. And those stern
0ctors had said that the baby could
1t have prize just because its teeth
ere dark and its stomach too big.
This baby was three years old
S head should have measured 20
ches in circumference, its chest 81
IVA ITO anuoHiSH ~. instead, its
lad measured 10, its chest 1917, and
abdomen 211z. In a wee baby the
'domen' is protuberant, but from two
'ars on the chest should be larger
an the abdomen. This indicates
20 things-that the child's respira-
ry organs are in good condition, with
fine chest development, and that n
e food is properly digested. @
1t took considerable questioning TO
ID out why this pretty child was
I in good condition, but in time we
{ at the truth The little girl loved
ndy. She inherited the taste from
father and they had INDUCED her 4,
cause they thought she could not
lp it. The discolored. decaying
eth and the protuberant abdomen
tn resulted from overinduIgence in