The Washington herald., 1917-07-23
Fresh Air and Pure Food
Are Baby Hospital Rules

, has gained a pound and half and
has learned to sit up In bed and take
an interest in things. She will be
kept in the hospital as long as it is
open, the latter part of September.
when, II she is not well, she will be
turned over to another baby hospital
until she is fully recovered. And all
the time DIR. French and his stan OF
nurses will follow her UP, seeing that
she is kept well and happy.
Far over in o corner of the ward de-
voted to white babies, away of from
the rest Of the little ones, Margaret
-, the sickest baby in the whole
hospital-lIes day after day, moaning
, with pain. At times burning up with
fever, the little I3-months-old girl Is
making her own tight to keep alive.
DR.. French shakes his head when he
passes the cot on which she lies, for
she has been Ill ever since. she ar
rived at the hospital For ten days
she has lain there, boaning ptitfully
with the aches in fler pain-tortured
body. Malnutrition, the doctor says,
has weakened her. Each day she is
fed five times, at four-hour intervals,
with a food made up from two ounces
OF boiled SKINNED mild, twenty-seven
ounces of boiled water and six table
spoons of carefully prepared wheat.
She has gained slightly in weight, but
yesterday her condition was truly
serious.
In another cot m the white ward.
Pinckney, a little boy of a year and
few months, who should be just
learning to walk, Is slowly gaining
strength and health. His little legs
l hnl HE hnIV
Scarcely thicker than a mans thumb,
they are white and parchment like, as
is the rest of his body. He is being
fed on thirty-four ounces Of full milk,
six Of boiled water and four teaspoons
full of graduated sugar, for his case
| Is one in which the digestive trouble
has been conquereds and the building
Of body tissue is the paramount thing.
Diet Evils Corrected.
And so 1t goes throughout the wards.
Not only are the babies thin and half
! starved but the mothers are in the
same condition. Many times. the
nurses say, 1t is necessary to cor
rect undertaking on the part OF the
mother and overlooking. of the wrong
kind of food, on the part Of the child.
Formulas for feeding the babies
are a matter of experiment, DR.
French says. Each case is studied
| individually and the needs Of the
ill-nurtured body met in the food.
Many times six or eight foods are
tried before one is found that seems
to meet all requirements. Then. too,
much may be given, the little stom-
ach turned by the excess. and the
work must begin over again.
1t takes a nurse a full morning
to prepare the acknowledgements
ed foods. 100 of them. that are needed
! throughout the day by the babies
under treatment. The bottles. each
! sealed with sterilized cotton, and with
piece OF adhesive bearing the ba-
bies' names are packed in tce-boxes
to be kept prior to their nnal warm
ing-up before feeding.
This is where the mother comes in.
II she is at the hospital with her
child, she may learn how to pre-
pare the food her baby needs. may
learn how to hold the bottle for it
{ until It is strong enough to hold 1t
itself Each week she spends several
days in the diet kitchens OF the hos
pital. Days are spent learning how
| to wash the baby, how to take care
| OF us DOlllo anu llo SlOlhGS- L%dNll
mother is taught the value OF clean
illness in rearing her child. For each
baby there is an individual bottle.
towel. a soapcup and cake OF soap.
thermometer and a set OF clothes.
When a baby arrives at the hospital.
as one did yesterday. a little boy.
| William -, 1t is first given a bath.
The clothes that it was dressed in are
washed and put aside until the baby
leaves the hospital.
| After the bath William was weighed.
Seven pounds, two ounces. and not
two months old. m-mm, not so bad"
| DR.. French said. Then an examina-
ton was made and the case diagnosed.
That's the way the day goes. Miss
Emma Schraeder is head nurse, and
her helpers are senior nurses from
Sibley and the city hospitals and
from the Washington Sanitarium. Dr.
w. ]. French is physician In charge
OF the hospital. Mrs. L. A. Simon is
social worker in charge OF the
mothers.
The hospital receives the ba bies
through various charitable associa-
| lions and individuals.