The Washington herald., 1915-10-11

have lately had some letters asking
! for instruction In the care of the very
| Young baby. so many. in fact, that am
1 taking one of our club talks to answer
| them instead OF writing personal letters.
| One received today is as follows:
| Dear Aunt Chatty: viii you please
advise me about nursing my oaby? How
, often should an infant he nursed? Is it
necessary to wake him up at the nursing
hour: Is the nursing required just as
; often at night?
! Also please inform me whether or not
i the baby should be bathed every day. and
J if the water should be hot or only luke
/ warm"
The essential thing in the care of your
J baby is regularity. Other things you
| must do. too but all that you do must De
| done at regular hours. as nearly as possi-
/ BILE at the same hour each day. When
! the baby comes, he must be started on
( schedule time in this new, strange world
of his. If you have Il trained nurse to
! care for him, that will be done for you
| and you will find your schedule estab-
| lished-or you should--when you are ready
| to assume the care of your child YOUR
| self But II you are depending on friend
: or a relative to help YOU over the first
! few weeks then YOU will have to know
Just what should be done, and lay down
tne Id" UGlOltildfiu i''oSN ~
, done as YOU say.
| When baby first comes he must be
nursed every two hours. For the first
| three OF four weeks. he should be taken
up when the hour arrives and given his
! meal not only because 1t is desirable 10
! begin training him from the outset In
! regular habits, but because he really re-
uuires the nourishment at short intervals
until he begins to adapt himself to his
! new environment.
By the time he is six weeks old. the time
should have been gradually heightened
i between his meals until he is fed every
two and a half hours. And then. II he Is
! inclined to sleep over nursing period.
. I should not waken him to feed him.
| know some of the medical guides say the
| child should always be taken up to nurse
: at his regular period. ! suspect this Is
! one word for the baby and two Tor the
/ mother for it is true. that yo,Sr schedule
! is dsarrangcd by the omission OF even
! one reriod; you naturally begin to count
J a gain from the new hour after baby
! wakens and thus you can never plan
| ahead anything for yorseuf. But, as l
! have told you before. your time is for
! your baby. not yourself. until your free
J dom comes in the course OF time. For
merly We were told that the baby re-
: Guires sleep as we'll as food. and that It
; Is q nervous SHOCK u uisluip uis A'S''
even for the purpose of feeding him.
One good doctor ! know says that We
| do not leave enough to Nature in our
modern struggle for efficiency. and he
! ascribes much Of the nervous restless
ness of the day to this very attempt to
outgeneral Dame Nature. The best rule
to go by is, II you can't be regular. be as
regular as you can.
BY the time the baby is three months
old, or even a little earlier the time for
meals should have extended TO intervals
of three hours and in another two months
tn four hours until he begins to take
something besides milk. and the intervals
should not be much longer than that:
although that, too. depends somewhat
upon the health and strength Of the child
and the amount he takes at each meal.
1t is Impossible to lay down fixed rules.
for many individual pecIliarities are al
WAYS to be reckoned with.
From the day he is born baby should
have his daily bath. This. too. must be
given at the same hour each day as near
" as possible No outside engagements
on the part of the mother should cause
that to be omitted. Only II he is sound
asleep and you think it unwise 70 waken
him should YOU wait beyond the regular !
time for the bath. He should never be
Iathed Immediately after eating. either.
When very young, a luIi hour aiVf huis-
ing should elapse before his bath. and
then he should not be nursed after the
bath for twenty minutes or half an hour.
Water should not be hot. / think many
poor babies suffer torments they are
quite unable to tell us about by being
put into water too hot for the tender
skin. Test the water with your own arm;
If it is perfectly comfortable to you on
the tender part Of your arm. Just below
G,.I all rssrI.t snr
himself.