Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1916-07-26
BABY's CLOTHES.

A mother living in South Carolina
writes us that n physician advises
her to keep a knit belly band on her
baby all summer. Another one tells
ner to let the baby go nearly naked
during the hot weather. She wants to
know which Is right. We tell her the
second-that in a hot climate. where
me temperature is warm all Of the time
IND hot some OF the time, IN baby
mould wear no clothes except q diaper
ind a cotton slip.
Ihis bald statement Is based upon
TIE following considerations: Body
leaf Is manufactured by food and work.
Aubner increased the heat production
sf a dog ~ per cen by excessive feed
ng. A any amount of food which is
srop In cold weather becomes excess
1--WE and produces too much heat in
eot weather. Rowland showed that a
frying. kicking baby made considerably
more heat than one asleep.
So much for the manufacture of heat.
Babies will kick and sQuirm. They
must eat In order to grow. Necessarily
they must make an excessive amount
II heat. How do they get rid Of itc BY
diatio conduction. and evaporation.
Clothing lessons radiation, conduc-
hon. and evaporation. The more of the
clothing h more 1t is stopped. Nc
Glure n Sauer put some Jackets on
puppies and put them in incubators.
Ihey found 1T rather an cas- matter to
XIII a puppy by overlooking him when
the air was not. Other puppies clothed
and kept In a warm place got diar-
choea. even though they were fed good
food.
In very hot weather getting rid OF
heat Is a difficult matter. Rubner
tells us that adults with proper food.
health. and clothing are at a maximum
Of comfort when the temperature Is
QnVvy n 0Ns0 Hotvynon - -~S 10
In h adult the clothing is quickly
adjusted to the atmospheric tempera-
ture. Mcclure and Sauer have been
investigating the clothing worn by in
rants. These show Surprisingly little
difference between the weights OF in
aoor clothing commonly worn by in
eants during the summer and winter"
Helmholtz found that great differ
ences in the temperatures OF rooms did
not make as much difference in the
health of babies as he had expected to
lind. Mcclure and Sauer say that the
reason for Helmholtz's results is that
the real determining factor is the
the temperature of the room. with
very careful instruments they found
the temperature OF the clothes OF a
BABY about S degrees lower than the
skin over the bare chest of a baby.
This means that the surface OF the
VAoSAiCc Will lOSo neat 10 the air muCn
slower than the bare chest will.
A baby with clothing over his body
begins to get fever. becomes restless.
and develops diarrhoea-all evidence of
heat shock when the temperature Of
the atmosphere of the room reaches
S7.S degrees. II the baby Is naked
these heat effects do not appear until
the temperature Of the room reaches
92.6. II h baby IL sickly. frail. over
fed. or exercising violently these heat
effects appear al lower Temperatures.
But In any case a naked baby can
stand an air temperature about s de-
grees higher thar can one that Is mod
erately clothed.
This IL only a part Of the known facts.
There Is plenty of scientific proof tina
babies do not thrive in hot weather
when dressed lightly. A diaper and a
cotton slip Is the ideal for hot climates
n the hot season. II the weather turns
cool q heavier covering can and should
be slipped on quickly, for babies do not
resist cold well.