The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-09-27

WHY so MANY BABIES DEE In watching the experienced mother or grandmother taking care of ba- bies, did you ever notice that they will usually hold the baby face down ward over the arm or hand when 1t cries and in most every case the cry ing ceases?
 I was much interested and pleased by an article that pr. Charles E. Page of Boston wrote on, Infant Mortality" in which he shows why babies die without drowning and kit tens don't.'' All other animals except babies are kept in their bed or nests with the right side up which is their backs. Now, if the mother cat, dog, squirrel hog or COW were to insist upon keep ing their babies in a soft bed or on pillow. lying on their backs and bun dled up to the suffocating point even in hot weather, there would be just as many deaths in proportion as there are among our babies.
 Just stop and think a moment about the matter. Then take away the pillow and put your baby upon req sonably hard bed, one that Is firm but elastic, no pillows, only light, soft covering, and then let your baby lie upon it's belly. It will not develop fat so rapidly but it will develop strength and health, and as rule 1t will begin to creep in from seven to eight weeks and instead of the small amount of exercise that is usually confined to the arms and legs, when lying on it's back it will develop a strong, muscular body with little if any surplus fat, and it will be prac- tically immune from coughs, colds, collie and constipation. Then if a reasonable amount of precaution is taken in giving it clean food and plenty of fresh air, you will see 1t grow and thrive in a way that makes a mothers heart rejoice.
 l have often told you that babies should have plenty of fresh air, not air that must be drawn through the bedding or wraps. Fresh air will not give the baby collie, neither will 1t give the baby cold. The babys blood circulates faster than yours dnd 1t feels the heat more than you do. When the thermometer is al 90 degrees, the baby should have but little if any clothing and should be kept outdoors and in the shade.
 If the average mother were to sec lot of boys with a nest of kittens or puppies all tied up in such man. ner that they must lie on their backs for hours, the society for the proven tion of cruelty to animals would bC c., the society has forbidden restaurant keepers to keep turtles upon theil backs but they forget that babies arg animals and that it is just as mucf a part of natures laws for them to lie belly down as it is for kittens ol puppies. Of course the baby should not be kept on it's belly all the time but the only other position that .' natural and proper is on the side.
 Here Is a bit of advice from pr Paul Burmaster of the Children's Ma tional Tuberculosis Society, under tn, heading of Sleep Right" %
 Tt is better to go to sleep on tn aided in passing out by gravitation right side. for then the stomach | very much in the position of bottl; turned upside down, and the contents If one goes to sleep on the left sidt the operation of emptying the stom ach of It's contents is more like draw ing water from a well. After goini to sleep let the body take it's own DO sition. If you sleep on your back especially soon after a heavy mea' the weight of the digestive organ and that of the blood resting on tn great vein of the body, near the back bone, congresses it and arrests tn flow of blood more or less. If tn arrest is partial, the sleep is disturb ed and there are unpleasant dreams If the meal has been recent or hearty the arrest is more decided and tn various sensations such as falling owe a precipice or the pursuit of @ vii beast, or other impending danger, an the desperate effort to get rid of i arouses us. That sends on the stag mated blood and we awake with
 fright, or trembling, or there sweating or feelings of exhaustion aC cording to the degree of stagnatio and the length or strength of the et fort made to escape the danger Eat ing a large or "hearty' meal just be fore going to bed should always b avoided"
 CLUB NOTES.
 Dear DOCtcI'. am ol1ita 7-a11 n o1