The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1914-01-15
Little Talks on Babyology
By Anna Steee Richardson Director of the Better Babies
Bureau Of the Woman's Home Companion.
Fresh Air and Exc rcise for the Baby.

pure air. Ii should be supplied TWEEN
ty-four hours in each day. Fresh air
properly inhaled, is the sure proven
tive of catarrh and tuberculosis. Pure
air is the baby's just due. No mother
has the right to deprive her child OF
of this precious, health-giving boon.
In the darker ages of motherhood,
babies were literally deprived of air
To this fact may be traced part OF
the White Plague Curse of today.
can recall seeing babies wrapped up,
head and all In dusty little shawls, SO
! that not a breath of fresh air could
penetrate the supposedly delicate
/ lungs ] have seen babies thus wrap.
4 ped up, tucked into cradle or huge
armchair behind kitchen stove,
where the choking edors of cooking
and coal gas were added to the gen
orally impure air of the room. The
/ average mother in fact was convinced
that not breath of what she called
cold air. must reach her baby's
! lungs.
Is it not wonderful that so many of
us have lived to-raise babies more
sanely?
This is a fresh-air age. But this
does not mean that a mother should
go to extremes in supplying the air
her baby needs nor In hardening its
body as some faddists maintain. The
baby should not be chilled nor exposed
to direct draught, but the air in the
room should be cool and pure, not hot
and fetid. In this one respect,
strangely enough. the city baby has
the best of the country baby The
average city house is uniformly heat
ed by steam or furnace, and easily
ventilated. The country or farm
house is still heated largely by stoves.
One room is very hot, others very
cold The warm rooms are places of
refuge for the entire family and they
are kept too hot often every window
is closed tightly and the air is sadly
vitiated
1t is significant fact that at all the
Better Babies Contests this year where
the Better Babies Bureau offered two
championship prizes, one for city
babies and one for country babies, the
city babies scored higher than the
country babies and showed a better
chest development. The country baby
should have the best of air to breathe,
but it does not because its busy farm
mother has SO little time to take it
out in the fresh air. The city mother
is always being reminded of dangers
from impure air, by newspaper writ
eTs, by talks at clubs and social CEN
tiers and at clinics. Even her older
children come home from school,
preaching the gospel of fresh air for
the family baby. She is shamed into
ventilating her house properly and
taking her baby out for daily airing.
The country mother keeps her house
closed in winter to shut out cold and
in summer to ward off heat, dust and
flies Her baby has small chance to
breathe the fresh air.
From the beginning. the baby, city
or country, should sleep in ventilated
room, window open top and bottom, at
temperature of from 65 degrees to
20 degrees F. A thermometer ia
better investment than cough
syrup. A baby raised in a uniform
temperature will not need cough
syrup. The crib should not stand in a
draught but be protected by screen.
Ii the room is very small, opening on
a larger room, let the ventilation come
from the larger room Happy, also,
that mother whose house can boast an
open frs place This room should be
chosen for Bahy's nursery. Open fire
place ventilation is ideal.
Whenever possible the baby should
be tucked warmly into a carriage and
allowed to sleep outdoors in the day
time. Only extreme cold and inclem-
ent weather should prevent this SEN
sible plan. Nor should the baby's
face be covered while sleeping out of
doors. A sunny corner of the porch is
an ideal day sleeping room, with the
carriage screened from the sun. In
summer, mosquito net should protect
the baby from flies, gnats, etc.
Never should the child be allowed to
sleep in room with gas or lamp
burning low. The fumes from such III
Elimination are extremely bad for the
lungs. They exhaust the oxygen
which the baby needs SO sorely.
The busy farm mother who cannot
take her baby for daily airing has no
excuse for not letting 1t sleep outdoors.
If she has no carriage. she can have
casters put on the crib and roll it out
on the porch, or even deep box can
be padded and baby can be made safe
and comfortable by adding a firm hair
mattress and warm blankets. When
the baby begins to sit UP and play.
similar padded box or small fenced
enclosure should be built on the porch
for nursery. 1t is a positive injus-
ttce, nothing short of criminal, to
keep a delicate baby in the kitchen.
Many mother worn out with a fret.
full baby will secure rest for herself
and good health for the baby by max
ing 1t comfortable outdoors. The