ON BATHING.
Danger of savage practices. Rousseau. Cold water at birth. First washing
of the child. Rules. Temperature. Bathing vessels. Unreasonable fears.
Whims. Views of Dr. Dewees. Hardening. Rules for the cold bath. Securing
a glow. Coming out of the bath. Local baths. Shower bath. Vapor bath.
Sponging. Neglect of bathing. The Romans. Treatment of children compared
with that of domestic animals.
Some of the hardy nations of antiquity, as well as a few savage tribes
of modern times, have been accustomed to plunge their new-born infants
into cold water. This is done for the two-fold purpose of washing and
hardening them.
To all who reason but for a moment on this subject, the danger of such a
practice must be obvious. So sudden a change from a temperature of
nearly 100º of Fahrenheit to one quite low, perhaps scarcely 40º, must
and does have a powerful effect on the nervous system even of an adult;
but how much more on that of a tender infant? We may form some idea of
this, by the suddenness and violence of its cries, by the sudden
contractions and relaxations of its limbs and body, and by its
palpitating heart and difficult breathing.
Every one's experience may also remind him, that what produces at best a
momentary pain to himself, cannot otherwise than be painful to the
infant. In making a comparison between adults and infants, however, in
this respect, we should remember that the lungs of the infant do not get
into full and vigorous action until some time after birth; and that, on
this account, the hold they have on life is so feeble, that any powerful
shock, and especially that given by the cold bath, is ten times more
dangerous to them than to adults, or even to infants themselves, after a
few months have elapsed.
It is surprising to me that so sensible a writer as Rousseau generally
is on education, should have encouraged this dangerous practice; and
still more so that many fathers even now, blinded by theory, should
persist in it, notwithstanding the pleadings of the mother or the nurse,
and the plainest dictates of common sense and common prudence.[Footnote:
Nothing is intended to be said here, which shall encourage unthinking
nurses or mothers in setting themselves against measures which have been
prescribed by higher authority,--I mean the physician. There are cases
of this kind, where it requires all the resolution which a father,
uninterrupted, can summon to his aid, to administer a dose or perform a
task, on which he knows the existence of his child may be depending: but
when the thoughtless entreaties of the mother or nurse are interposed,
it makes his condition most distressing. Mothers, in such cases, ought
to encourage rather than remonstrate. They who _do not_, are guilty of
cruelty, and--perhaps--of infanticide.]
A child plunged into cold water at birth, by those whose theories carry
them so far as to do it even in the coldest weather, has sometimes been
twenty-four hours in recovering, notwithstanding the most active and
judicious efforts to restore it. In other instances the results have
been still more distressing. Dr. Dewees is persuaded that he has "known
death itself to follow the use of cold water," in this way--I believe he
means _immediate_ death--and adds, with great confidence, that he has
"repeatedly seen it require the lapse of several hours before reaction
could establish itself; during which time the pale and sunken cheeks and
livid lips declared the almost exhausted state" of the infant's
excitability.[Footnote: "Dewees on children" p. 72.]
We need not hesitate to put very great confidence in the opinion here
expressed; for besides being a close and just observer of human nature,
Dr. D. has had the direction and management, in a greater or less
degree, of several thousands of new-born infants.
Nothing, indeed, in the whole range of physical education, seems better
proved, than that while some few infants, whose constitutions are
naturally very strong, are invigorated by the practice in question,
others, in the proportion of hundreds for one, who are _less_ robust,
are injured for life; some of them seriously.
Nor will spirits added to the water make any material difference. I am
aware that there is a very general notion abroad, that the injurious
effects of cold water, in its application both internally and
externally, are greatly diminished by the addition of a little spirit;
but it is not so. Does the addition of such a small quantity of spirit
as is generally used in these cases, materially alter the temperature?
Is it not the application of a cold liquid to a heated surface, still?
Can we make anything else of it, either more or less?
I do not undertake to say, that the cold bath may not be so managed in
the progress of infancy, as to make it beneficial, especially to strong
constitutions. It is its indiscriminate application to all new-born
children, without regard to strength of constitution, or any other
circumstances, that I most strenuously oppose. Of its occasional use,
under the eye of a physician, and by parents who will discriminate, I
shall say more presently.
Our first duty on receiving a new inhabitant of the world is, to see
that it is gently but thoroughly washed, in moderately warm soft water,
with fine soap. Special attention should be paid to the folds of the
joints, the neck, the arm pits, &c. For rubbing the body, in order to
disengage anything which might obstruct the pores, or irritate or fret
the skin, nothing can be preferable to a piece of soft sponge or
flannel. Though the operation should be thorough, and also as rapid as
the nature of circumstances will permit, all harshness should be
avoided. When finished, the child should be wiped perfectly dry with
soft flannel.
While the washing is performed, the temperature of the room should be
but a few degrees lower than that of the water; and the child should not
be exposed to currents of cold air. If the weather is severe, or if
currents of air in the room cannot otherwise be avoided, the dressing,
undressing, washing, &c., may be done near the fire. And I repeat the
rule, it should always be done with as much rapidity as is compatible
with safety.
Here will be seen one great advantage of simplicity in the form of
dress. If the more rational suggestions of our chapter on that subject
are attended to, it will greatly facilitate the process of washing, and
the subsequent daily process of bathing, which I am about to recommend
to my readers.
This washing process is also an introduction to bathing. For it should
be repeated every day; but with less and less attention to the washing,
and more and more reference to the bathing. How long the child should
stay in the bath, must be left to experience. If he is quiet, fifteen
minutes can never be too long; and I should not object to twenty. If
otherwise, and you are obliged to remove him in five minutes, or even in
three, still the bathing will be of too much service to be dispensed
with.
Nothing should be mixed with the water, if the infant is healthy, except
a little soap, as already mentioned. Some are fond of using salt; but it
is by no means necessary, and may do harm.
The proper hour for bathing is the early part of the day, or about the
middle of the forenoon. This season is selected, because the process,
manage it as carefully as we may, is at first a little exhausting. As
the child grows older, however, and not only becomes stronger, but
appears to be actually refreshed and invigorated by the bath, it will be
advisable to defer it to a later and later hour. By the time the babe is
three months old, particularly in the warm season, the hour of bathing
may be at sunset.
The degree of heat must be determined, in part, by observing its effect
on the child; and in part by a thermometer. For this, and for other
purposes, a thermometer, as I have already more than hinted, is
indispensable in every nursery. Our own sensations are often at best a
very unsafe guide. There is one rule which should always be
observed--never to have the temperature of the bath below that of the
air of the room. If the thermometer show the latter to be 70º, the bath
should be something like 80º; perhaps with feeble children, rather more.
Great care ought always to be taken to proportion the air of the room
and the water of the bath to each other. If, for example, the
temperature of the room have been, for some time, unusually warm, that
of the water must not be so low as if it had been otherwise. On the
contrary, if the room have been, for a considerable time, rather cool,
the bath may be made several degrees cooler than in other circumstances.
But in no case and in no circumstances must a _warm_ bath--intended as
such, simply--be so warm or so cold, as to make the child uncomfortable;
whether the temperature be 70º, 80º, or 90º.
It is hardly necessary to add, that in bathing a young child, the vessel
used for the purpose should be large enough to give free scope to all
the motions of its extremities. Most children are delighted to play and
scramble about in the water. I know, indeed, that the contrary sometimes
happens; but when it does, it is usually--I do not say _always_--because
the countenances of those who are around express fear or apprehension;
for it is surprising how early these little beings learn to decipher our
feelings by our very countenances.
Some of our readers may be surprised at the intimation that there are
mothers and nurses who have fears or apprehensions in regard to the
effects of the warm bath; but others--and it is for such that I write
this paragraph--will fully understand me. I have been often surprised at
the fact, but it is undoubted, that there is a strong prejudice against
warm bathing, in many parts of the country. In endeavoring to trace the
cause, I have usually found that it arose from having seen or heard of
some child who died soon after its application. I have had many a parent
remonstrate with me on the danger of the warm bath; and this, too, in
circumstances when it appeared to me, that the child's existence
depended, under God, on that very measure. Perhaps it is useless in such
cases, however, to reason with parents on the subject. The medical
practitioner must do his duty boldly and fearlessly, and risk the
consequences.
But as I am writing, not for persons under immediate excitement, but for
those that may be reasoned with, it is proper to say, that in medicine,
the warm bath is so often used in extreme cases, and as a last resort,
even when death has already grasped, or is about to fix his grasp on the
sufferer, that it would be very strange if many persons _did not_ die,
just after bathing. But that the bathing itself ever produced this
result, in one case in a thousand, there is not the slightest reason for
believing. [Footnote: Let me not be understood as intimating that, the
general neglect of bathing, of which I complain so loudly, is _chiefly_
owing to this unreasonable prejudice, though this no doubt has its sway.
On the contrary, I believe it is much oftener owing to ignorance,
indolence, and parsimony.]
There are many more whims connected with bathing, as with almost
everything else, which it were equally desirable to remove. Some nurses
and mothers think that if the child's skin is wiped dry after bathing,
it will impair, if not destroy, the good effects of the operation.
Others still, shocking to relate, will even put it to bed in its wet
clothes; this, too, from principle. Not unlike this, is the belief, very
common among adults, that if we get our clothes wet--even our
stockings--we must, by all means, suffer them to dry on us; a belief
which, in its results, has sent thousands to a premature grave--and,
what is still worse, made invalids, for life, of a still greater number.
I am aware, that in rejecting the indiscriminate cold bathing of
infants, I am treading on ground which is rather unpopular, even with
medical men; a large proportion of whom seem to believe that the
practice may be useful. But I am not _wholly_ alone. Dr. Dewees--of
whose large experience I have already spoken--and some others, do not
hesitate to avow similar sentiments.
The objections of Dr. Dewees to cold bathing are the following. 1. There
often exists a predisposition to disease, which cold bathing is sure to
rouse to action. Or if the disease have already begun to affect the
system, the bath is sure to aggravate it. 2. Some children have such
feeble constitutions that they are sure to be permanently weakened by
it, rather than invigorated. 3. To those in whom there is the tendency
of a large quantity of blood to the head, lungs, liver, &c., it is
injurious. 4. In some, the shock produces a species of syncope, or
catalepsy. 5. The _reaction_, as shown by the heat which follows the
cold bath, is, in some cases, so great as to produce a degree of fever,
and consequent debility. 6. It never answers the purposes of
cleanliness--one great object of bathing--so well as the warm bath. 7.
It is always unpleasant or painful to the child; especially at first. 8.
It sometimes produces severe pain in the bowels.
This is a very formidable list of objections; and certainly deserves
consideration. There is one statement made by Dr. D. in the progress of
his remarks on this subject, in which I do not concur. He says--"The
object of all bathing is to remove impurities arising from dust,
perspiration, &c., from the surface; that the skin may not be obstructed
in the performance of its proper offices."
But the object of cold bathing, with many, is to _harden_; consequently
it is not true that cleanliness is the _only object_. If he means, even,
that cleanliness is the only _legitimate_ object of all bathing, I shall
still be compelled to dissent.
If the cold bath could be used, always, by and with the direction of a
skilful physician, I believe its occasional use might be rendered
salutary. And although as it is now commonly used, I believe its effects
are almost anything but salutary, I do not deny that if its use were
cautiously and gradually begun, and judiciously conducted, it might be
the means of making children who are already robust, still more hardy
and healthy than before, and better able to resist those sudden changes
of temperature so common in our climate, and so apt to produce cold,
fever, and consumption.
Cold bathing, in the hands of those who are ignorant of the laws of the
human frame--and such unfortunately and unaccountably most fathers and
mothers are--I cannot help regarding as a highly dangerous weapon; and
therefore it is, that in view of the whole subject, I cannot recommend
its general and indiscriminate use.
If there are individuals, however, who are determined to employ it, in
the case of their more vigorous children, and without the advice or
direction of their family physician, I beg them to attend to the
following rules or principles, expressed as briefly as possible.
In no ordinary case whatever, is the cold bath useful, unless it is
succeeded by that degree of warmth on the surface of the body which is
usually called a _glow_. This is a leading and important principle. The
contrary, that is, the injurious effects of cold bathing--its
_immediate_ bad effects, I mean--are shown by the skin remaining pale
and shrivelled after coming out of the bath, by its blue appearance, and
by its coldness, as well as by a sunken state of the eyes, and much
general languor.
To secure this point--I mean the GLOW--it is indispensably important to
begin the use of cold water gradually; that is, to use it at first of
so high a temperature as to produce only a slight sensation of cold, and
to take special care that the skin be immediately wiped very dry, and
the temperature of the room be quite as high as usual. Afterward the
water may be cooled gradually, from week to week, though never more than
a degree or two at once.
It will probably be unsafe to commence this practice of cold
bathing--even in the case of the most robust children--until they are at
least six months of age.
The appropriate season will be the middle of the forenoon, the hour when
the system is usually the most vigorous, and at which we shall be most
likely to secure a reaction. At first, twice or three times a week are
as often as it will be safe to repeat it. Some writers recommend it
twice a day; but once is enough, under any ordinary circumstances.
The method at first is, to give the infant a single plunge. Afterward,
when he becomes older, and more inured to it, he may be plunged several
times in succession.
On taking him out of the bath, the skin should be wiped perfectly dry,
as in the case of the warm bath, and with the same or an increased
degree of attention to other circumstances--the temperature of the
room, the avoiding currents of air, &c. He should next be put in a soft,
warm blanket, and be kept for some time in a state of gentle motion; and
after a little time, should be dressed.
I have already mentioned the importance of avoiding the manifestation of
fear, when we bathe a child; and the caution is particularly necessary
in the administration of the cold bath. Some writers even recommend,
that during the whole process of undressing, bathing, exercising, and
dressing, singing should be employed. There is philosophy in this
advice, and it is easily tried; but I cannot speak of it from
experience.
There is one thing which may serve to calm our apprehensions--if we have
any--of danger; which is, that though the child's lungs are feeble at
first, from their not having been, like the heart, accustomed to
previous action, yet when they get fairly into motion and action, and
the child is a few months old, they are probably as strong, if not
stronger, in proportion, than those of adults.
Bathing in cold water should never be performed immediately after a full
meal. Neither is it desirable to go to the contrary extreme, and bathe
when the stomach has been long empty; nor when the child's mental or
bodily powers are more than usually exhausted by fatigue.
Although I have given these rules for those who are determined to use
the cold bath with their children, yet, for fear I shall be
misunderstood, I must be suffered to repeat, in this place, that,
uninformed as people generally are in regard to physiology, I cannot
advise even its moderate use. On the contrary, I would gladly dissuade
from it, as most likely, in the way it would inevitably be used, to do
more harm than good.
There is no sort of objection to what might be called local bathing with
cold water. If the child's head is hot at any time, the temples, and
indeed the whole upper part of the head, may be very properly wet with
moderately cold water--taking care to avoid wetting the clothes. But
avoid, by all means, the common but foolish practice of putting spirits
in the water.
A tea-spoonful of cold water cannot be too early put into the mouth of
the infant. The object is to cleanse or rinse the mouth; and the process
may be aided by wiping it out with a piece of soft linen rag. If a part
or all of the water should be swallowed, no harm will be done. This
practice, commenced almost as soon as children are born, has saved many
a sore mouth.
There are other forms of bathing besides those already mentioned; among
which are the shower bath, the vapor bath, and the medicated bath. The
shower bath--for which purpose the water is commonly used cold--is but
poorly adapted to the wants of infants. The shock is much greater than
the common cold bath, and more apt to frighten; and fear is unfavorable
to reaction, or the production of a genial glow.
The vapor bath is much better; and probably has quite as good an effect
as the common warm bath. The trouble and expense of procuring the
necessary apparatus is somewhat greater, however, as a mere bathing tub
costs but little, and can be made by every father who possesses common
ingenuity. But whatever may be the expense, it is indispensable in every
family; and whenever the pores of the skin are obstructed, a vapor
bathing apparatus is equally desirable.
The medicated vapor bath is sometimes used; but I am not now treating of
infants who are sick, but of those who are in a state of health.
The common warm bath is sometimes medicated by putting in salt. This, of
course, renders the water more stimulating to the skin; but except when
the perspiration is checked, or the skin peculiarly inactive from some
other cause--in other words, unless we are sick--it is seldom expedient
to use it.
There is one substitute for the bathing tub, in the case of the cold
bath. I refer to the use of a wet cloth or sponge, applied rapidly to
the whole surface of the body. When this is done, the skin should be
wiped thoroughly dry immediately afterwards, as in the case of complete
immersion.
The application of either a cloth or a sponge, filled with warm water,
to the skin, in this manner, even if continued for several minutes
together, is less efficacious than a continuous immersion. I repeat
it--no family ought to be without conveniences for bathing in warm water
daily. I speak now of every member of the family, young and old, as well
as the infant; and I refer particularly to the summer season: though I
do not think the practice ought to be wholly discontinued during the
winter.
It will still be objected that this care of, and attention to the young,
in reference to health--this provision for bathing daily, and care to
see that it is performed--can never be afforded by the laboring portion
of the community. But I shall as strenuously insist on the contrary; and
trust I shall, in the sequel, produce reasons which will be
satisfactory.
The great difficulty is, to convince parents that these things are
vastly more productive of health and happiness to their children--more
truly necessaries--than a great many things for which they now expend
their time and money. There is, and always has been--except, perhaps,
among the Jews, in the earliest periods of the history of that wonderful
nation--a strange disposition to overlook the happiness of the young. It
is not necessary to represent this dereliction as peculiar to modern
times, for we find traces of the same thing thousands of years ago.
The Roman emperors--Dioclesian in particular--could make provision for
bathing, to an extent which now astonishes us; but for whom? For whom, I
repeat it, was incurred the enormous expense of fitting up and keeping
in repair accommodations for bathing at once 18,000 people? For adults;
and for adults alone. I do not say that children were not admitted, in
any case; but I say they were not contemplated in these arrangements.
Nothing was done--not a single thing--that would not have been done, had
there been no child under ten years of age in the whole empire.
And what better than this do WE, now? We make provision for the
happiness of the adult. The most indigent person will find time and
money to spend for the gratification of his own senses, his pride, or
his curiosity; but his children--they may be overlooked! Or, if he has
an eye to the future happiness of his child, he conceives that he is
promoting it in the best possible degree, by endeavoring to lay up a few
dollars for his use, after his character is formed--at a period, as it
too often happens, when money will do him little good, since it can
neither purchase health, peace of mind, nor reputation.
Far be it from me to say, that the poor--ground into the dust as they
are, by the force of circumstances operating with their own concurrence,
to make them ignorant, vicious, or miserable--can do for their children
all that is desirable. By no means. But they have it in their power to
do much more than they are at present doing. They have it in their
power, at least, to use the same good sense in the management of the
human being that they do in that of a pig, a calf, or a colt, or even a
young vegetable. No parent, let him be ever so poor, is found in the
habit of neglecting either of these in proportion to its infancy, and of
exerting himself only in proportion as it grows older. Common sense
tells him that the contrary is the true course; that however poor he may
be, he will be still poorer, if he do not take special pains with the
young animal, to rear it and with the young vegetable, to give it the
right direction, by keeping down the weeds, and pruning and watering it.
And I say again, that however deserving of censure the wealthy of a
Christian community may be in not directing the ignorant and vicious
into the right path, and in not expending more of their wealth on those
who are poor, in elevating their minds and their manners, and promoting
their health, still the latter are inexcusable for their present neglect
of their infant offspring, while they would not think of neglecting, on
the same principle, the offspring of their domestic animals.