THE PRESENT MODES OF WASHING AND DRESSING THE NEW-BORN.
Usually, as soon as the birth of a child is announced, a basin or tub of
hot water is ordered. The washing begins with a “wee bit of rag” and a
great cake of perfumed soap purchased long, long before, for the
occasion. Then follows wiping with a great linen towel, during which
time the creature gets well aired, being indirectly exhibited to as many
as have courage to look on and admire “the cunning little thing.”
“The water must be hot, to get off the grease,” said an old nurse. Aye,
but with ignorant help would it be surprising if a little of the skin
came off first? In more favored circles a nice bath tub is prepared, the
water of an equal temperature with the room. Some fine soap is put in to
make a suds, which is applied after the surface of the body is oiled.
Some cold water adherents persist in using ice-cold water upon a
new-born babe, depending on “rubbing it to get up a circulation.” I once
knew a divine (divines have rules sometimes) whose customs led him to
have his only child washed in this way, and believing in the adage of
“the hair of the dog curing the bite,” he continued to doctor it himself
for eighteen months; from its birth to its death, with cold water. The
babe received a severe cold, stopping up its nostrils and air-tubes, and
rendering its little life wholly miserable. To the cause of all this
suffering they gave the technical name, Catarrh.
The methods of washing infants just described are more common even in
this enlightened age of humanity than is generally known. The excuse for
cold baths may exist in the mode of life of the erratic tribes, or among
uncivilized nations whose minds are dark upon the construction and
office of a nervous system. The several sad results that I myself have
witnessed at times, and places, that it was not deemed my business to
speak, have led me to adopt what seemed a more humane course. With the
use of cold water some judgment is required, as many infants, when born,
are weak, and ready to yield up life upon the application of the
slightest sedative. The skin being so largely supplied with nerves which
transmit all sensations to the internal organs, as telegraph wires do
the electric current. Thus cold water may send a chill to some vital
part, the result of which no effort in the power of man can counteract.
It is next to impossible to keep a babe as warm as it should be going
through with the customary routine. Indeed it is not at all uncommon for
a babe to be laid beside its mother (if not alone in a crib) lips purple
and cold as a lump of clay. I once looked upon a babe who from this
cause had for three days resisted all attempts to get it warm. Thus, I
fear, many come and go. Does any desire to preserve the vitality of a
new being? Then it will not suffice to be too self-assured or too
oriental to seek to improve in the matter.
I deeply regret to have to state that I have heard many apparently
intelligent persons express opposition to the continuation of the human
species. But let me ask, What devastating visitations may we not expect
if we seek to diminish God’s images by any selfish or misguided motives?
THE USE OF SOAP.
There are many kinds of soap in use for the purpose of washing clothes,
cleansing paint, etc. Then there are not a few advertised as superior
for washing the skin. But the fact that water into which soap is rubbed
turns white, or becomes sudsy, is sufficient evidence that it contains
an alkali, or something having the nature of potash. To use it on the
tender skin of infants is but to experiment for the benefit of the
dealer, at the expense of the babe. Again, soap is irritating to the
more tender surfaces, as the lips and eyelids. If the suds is sucked by
the child while the sponge is passed over the face, severe purging may
occur. Then if soap gets in the eyes, it is liable to cause sore or
inflamed eyes, perhaps for life. I truly believe that more children are
afflicted with sore eyes, ears, noses, and heads, whose friends took the
precaution to have them washed with “pure baby soap,” than could be
counted in a hundred years. The germs of bronchitis, which means cold
settled in the air-tubes leading to the lungs,—pneumonia, which means
lung fever, indigestion, each or all, can be inducted into the system in
the first washing. The male physician, unlike the woman physician, does
not always remain long enough to see this important duty properly
performed. This may be owing to the fact that, among the poorer classes,
two or three women are present who are expected to be experts in
baby-washing. But, as a fact, many old women sit around on such
occasions who have almost as little knowledge what and how to do, as the
babe whose expected advent has called them together. Therefore we cannot
too strongly protest against the practice of many physicians,—that of
leaving a woman in the hands of an inexperienced person as soon as the
navel cord is severed. For it is not at all reasonable to conclude, that
because a woman is the mother of many children, she is an expert in the
matter of washing and dressing the new-born, or of relieving the various
ailments incident upon child-bearing.