BABY-COMFORT THROUGH CLOTHES
TIGHT BELLY-BANDS MAY TORTURE BABIES—UNDERWEAR THAT DOES NOT
IRRITATE—EXTENSION SKIRTS TO PROTECT THE FEET—DRESSING THE BABY IN HOT
WEATHER—HOW TO HANDLE THE BABY
Baby’s comfort, and, incidentally, the peace and quiet of the entire
household, may be increased by intelligent selection and care of
clothing. Every adult has experienced more or less discomfort from
ill-fitting or unsuitable underwear, tight bands and shoes, yet in many
homes where babies are deeply and truly loved clothing for the tender
little bodies is chosen thoughtlessly and adjusted carelessly. Even
the mother who threatens her own eyesight, embroidering dainty bits
of linen for the layette, may fairly torture her baby by supplying
underwear that irritates the delicate skin.
Perhaps in no other way does the American mother so disturb the
comfort of her baby as in the ill-advised use of the belly-band. She
will criticize the Chinese mother for binding her baby-girl’s feet,
and the Indian mother for strapping her baby to a board, and then she
will calmly pin the belly-band so tightly around her own baby as to
interfere with his breathing and digestion.
In common with the average woman, uneducated and untrained for
motherhood, I recall that I overestimated the importance of the
belly-band in clothing my own babies; but I never realized that it was
still being transformed into an instrument of torture until I attended
Better Babies Contests. There, watching mothers undress their babies
for the physical examination, I was shocked at the ridges, the cruel
red lines, left by the discarded strips of flannel. And I heard many
a good doctor lecture these mothers severely for the tightness of the
bands and the discomfort the baby had endured.
After this experience, I believe that many a baby accused of being
irritable and wakeful or others dosed for colic are merely suffering
from the stricture of the belly-band. Mothers who have had to endure
the torture of an ill-fitting, tight corset for a day or more, please
give this matter consideration.
Many mothers do not understand the dual mission of the belly-band.
They have the erroneous idea that it must be fastened very tightly
over the navel to prevent rupture both before and after the cord comes
off. This is a grave mistake, and leads to unnecessary suffering for
many children. The belly-band supports the abdomen while the baby is
very young and tender, and it protects the bowels from abrupt changes
in temperature. It is not a truss nor a surgical instrument, but a
protection to the baby’s very delicate organs and system immediately
after birth. This fact must be borne in mind by every young mother.
Another memory of my untrained motherhood is that of overdressing
my babies. Next to my wedding trousseau the most elaborate task of
sewing I have ever done was the layette for my first baby. What
overtrimmed, useless things were included in this labor of love! And
how inconsiderate that first baby was in outgrowing the pretty things I
had prepared for his coming!
One of the most comforting features of my visits to Better Babies
Contests has been the increasing evidence of sanity and consideration
in dressing babies. Mothers are gradually being educated up to the
point of supplying simple comforts for babies, and frills for where
they belong—on pincushion covers! As a rule, prize-winning babies at
these contests are simply, sensibly, comfortably dressed.
A woman who makes a specialty of supplying layettes offers the
following list as amply sufficient for the baby born to a family in
good circumstances:
4 unhemmed belly-bands.
4 shirts.
4 nightgowns or wrappers.
4 flannel skirts.
2 simple skirts of nainsook, longcloth, or lawn.
6 slips of nainsook, lawn, or batiste, simply made.
4 pairs of socks or stockings or bootees.
2 dozen diapers, 18 inches square.
2 dozen diapers, 22 inches square.
1 loose warm sacque, knitted or made of French flannel.
1 loose, soft cloak for outdoor wear.
1 soft cap, silk-lined.
1 pair mittens.
This list contains every essential, and may be varied according to
the taste and pleasure of the mother. However, it may be mentioned in
this connection that a large layette of long clothing generally proves
a waste of labor and money. The normal baby soon outgrows it, and as
styles change in baby’s clothing, as well as in adult raiment, it is
now the custom to shorten the baby’s clothes at six months, or even
less.
Now as to the materials and their fashioning into the adorable little
garments:
The belly-band, which is the first garment used in dressing the baby,
must be neither hemmed nor bound. It is of soft, fine, white flannel,
six to eight inches wide, and eighteen inches long. It encircles the
little abdomen just once and may be adjusted firmly in one of two
ways—either by sewing it on with large basting stitches, or by using
five _small_, well made safety-pins. The latter are entirely safe if
of good quality with the points perfectly protected. The present fad
for sewing on the band rose from the fact that the cheap, poorly made
safety-pins often came open and pricked the tender flesh.
The belly-band is generally worn until the baby is two months old,
when he becomes so active that the strip of flannel slips up from the
abdomen to the chest and interferes with his breathing. When he is
active enough to displace the band, his abdomen is firm and strong
enough for the band to be discarded as a binder and support, but some
protection to the bowels must be substituted. A knitted band with
shoulder straps is best, and these can be bought at any department
store or shop which deals in clothing for children, in three weights.
The best weight for average wear is a medium silk-and-wool mixture. The
mother who knows how to knit can buy a sample band and copy it with
little trouble. The baby continues to wear this knitted band until he
is a year old, and longer if he has a tendency to bowel trouble while
teething.
Silk-and-wool or cotton-and-wool shirts are preferable to all-wool
for the tender skin of the new-born baby, even in cold climates. In
warm weather the little shirt may be all cotton, but it should be
high-necked and long-sleeved.
The small sized diapers should be used at first, with squares of worn,
soft linen folded inside. Old handkerchiefs, napkins, or damask towels
can be saved for this purpose. The larger sized diapers should be used
as baby grows, but they should never be sufficiently heavy or bulky
to force the legs apart uncomfortably. Not only will the child be
uncomfortable and fretful if the diapers are not properly fitted and
adjusted to his small person, but misshapen legs are often the result
of unnecessarily heavy and bulky diapers. Diapers of rubber sheeting
should never be used, as they cause irritation.
Various materials are sold for diapering. There is nothing better
than soft cheese-cloth for baby’s first diapers. Later the average
mother finds bird’s-eye more satisfactory than cotton-flannel. There
are many patent diaperings on the market. Avoid all those made with
an interlining or one surface of rubber. For first diapers, a good
material is old soft Turkish toweling. In this connection it must be
repeated that it is safer to wash all of baby’s clothing before it is
worn. In this day of mercerized and “treated” fabrics there may be
chemicals used in bleaching, etc., that will injure the tender flesh
and start a case of eczema.
Next, the covering for the tiny feet. Tradition and maternal sentiment
demand crocheted or knitted bootees and, strange to say, modern
autocrats of baby-raising in the medical profession have not yet
condemned them. The bootees may be made in silk-and-wool yarns, with
wee drawing-strings of soft ribbon or yarn-cord, which must never be
tied tightly enough to cause a ridge around the leg or ankle. When the
baby begins to kick vigorously a soft, silk elastic can be substituted
for the drawing-string; but it must not be tight enough to bind the
tender flesh.
The last warning may seem almost unnecessary to the average mother,
yet at one of the Better Babies Contests a mother told me that she
had solved the problem of keeping on her baby’s socks in this unique
fashion:
“Every time I looked at her feet she had kicked off her socks, and they
were no good to her at all. So I took little chunks of brown laundry
soap, moistened them, rubbing her legs and the inside of the socks with
them, and I never had any more trouble. The socks stuck to the legs.”
Quite likely they did—but what of the tender skin, plastered with vile
laundry soap, reeking with alkali and unhealthy fats? Can you imagine
what irritation might result?
For the active baby the diaper may be attached by safety-pins to the
knitted band or shirt, and then long stockings may be pinned to the
diapers. Never, NEVER use round garters on little babies. They will
deform the limbs.
These long stockings, like socks, come in fine grades of
cotton-and-silk, and pure silk. Children should never wear woolen
stockings after discarding the bootees. They cause perspiration and
invite cold.
When baby’s clothes are shortened, tiny slippers or moccasins made of
kid or piqué are worn with long or short stockings, according to the
weather. The fad of sending young children barelegged into the cold is
passing. It was supposed to harden the flesh and increase the child’s
powers of endurance. To-day parents realize that children should have
their legs exposed only in warm weather.
Now for the flannel skirt, which for a month at least is the only skirt
the baby wears. A very good model consists of two strips of flannel,
silk-and-wool, or cotton-and-wool, one 25 inches long, and the other
30 inches, bound all the way round with a flat silk braid. The longer
piece forms the back of the skirt, and folds up over the front like the
flap of an envelope. This may be fastened with safety-pins or with very
flat buttons and buttonholes or loops. It affords a perfect protection
for the baby’s feet. If the old-fashion straight skirt is preferred,
it should be 26 inches long, finished with binding-ribbon or closely
worked scallops. Hems in flannel always wash badly. Either one of
these skirts is hung from the shoulders, never gathered on a band and
pinned round the waist. What is known as the Gertrude skirt has shaped
armholes, is closed back and front and is fastened with little buttons
over the shoulders.
When baby reaches the dress-up stage, for very special occasions, a
white cotton skirt, 27 inches long, in nainsook, longcloth, or batiste
may be added; but this, too, must be fitted over the shoulders.
The first slips worn by the baby should be of the simplest style and
in the softest cotton material obtainable. They should be 27 inches
long, or just long enough to cover the flannel petticoat. They are
made without any trimming. Neck and wrists are finished with plain,
flat, narrow bands. The neck is run and tied with fine flat tape. Lace
or embroidery will cause irritation of the soft skin and may lead to
eczema. If a mother feels that she must trim any of these little slips,
let her embroider small designs around the bottom of the skirt, and on
the front of the dress far enough below the neck so that even the wrong
side of the embroidery cannot touch the flesh.
What were once known as “long clothes” are no longer used by
intelligent mothers. The christening robe and its fellow-frocks which
sweep the floor are now reserved for royal babies on state occasions.
For the first few weeks of its life the less the baby is handled the
better, and it may sleep in the simple little slip which it wears
during the day. This means that its clothes will be changed only once
in 24 hours: that is, in the morning, when given its regular bath. In
cold weather the outing-flannel wrappers may be drawn over the slips,
especially at night. Later the day slips may be removed when the baby
is undressed for the night and outing-flannel or stockinette nightgowns
may be substituted.
The little crocheted or knitted jackets and the kimonas of soft flannel
are a concession to the sentiment of the mother rather than to the
needs of the baby. If the room is cool during the first few weeks of
the baby’s life he may be wrapped lightly in a small woolen shawl or
square of flannel, which is more easily adjusted than the jacket or
short kimona with sleeves. Be careful not to wind the shawl around
tightly. He will fret under the pressure.
The outdoor raiment, while baby is in long clothes, should be as
simple as possible. For the baby born in the spring a flannel wool
cape with hood attached, and a soft silk lining, is ideal for the
first few outings. The baby who has his first airings in the fall or
winter should be more warmly clad. One of the most sensible first coats
for a baby I have ever seen is made of light-weight white eider-down
flannel. The pattern is in three pieces—a pointed hood, such as you
see in pictures of Eskimo children, the back and the front of the coat
with seams on the shoulders under the arms and on either side of the
garment. The back of the coat, like the petticoat described on page
158, is longer than the front and turns up like an envelope flap to
protect the feet. The coat opens down the front; and attached to the
back is a pad made from rubber sheeting covered with cheese-cloth or
nainsook. This can be washed, and it protects the coat from stains.
Mittens may be added for cold weather; but veils are no longer used for
babies.
The most important thought to be borne in mind when fashioning the
layette is that baby should be comfortable and clean. The average
inexperienced woman makes the clothing too small. Baby either outgrows
it or is bound round the waist, neck, armholes, and wrists. Give him
room to kick and grow. If he frets after he is dressed and refuses to
go to sleep, you will probably find that he is bound by some one of the
little garments.
Cleanliness is only another word for comfort. Choose fabrics that
wash well, and then wash them carefully. Never use strong soap,
washing-powder, or starch on baby’s clothing. Wash the flannels in
tepid soapsuds made from a good white soap, and rinse them several
times in clear water of the same temperature. Violent changes in the
temperature of the water will make the flannels shrink. The unhemmed
belly-bands will fray a little with each washing; but this is better
than cutting the skin with hemmed bands.
Do not imagine that you can protect your baby from colds by
overdressing him. The average home, heated by furnace or steam, has a
temperature of from 70 to 80 degrees. This is equal to summer weather
outdoors and no child should be tortured with woolen underwear, heavy
sacques, etc., in such an atmosphere. This warning against overdressing
applies also to babies in the summer, even when they are passing
through the dreaded period of teething. We can all remember the time
when baby in his “second summer” was tortured with flannel to ward off
summer-complaint. Science has proved that the baby who is suffering
from heat will not digest his food. If a baby is normal, healthy, and
gaining steadily in weight, in hot weather, he will need only the
knitted band, diaper, and little slip. If the weather should change
suddenly the flannel skirt can easily be slipped on again.
By the time a baby is six months old the clothes can be shortened; and
they should be made long enough to give baby a chance to grow. Like his
first garments, these should all be hung from the shoulder. Rompers
should not be worn until the baby has been trained not to soil or wet
his diapers.
As soon as the baby begins to walk he should have long stockings, with
soft kid shoes to support the ankles. Moccasins, slippers, etc., do not
furnish sufficient support for the ankles which are now being put to
the first test.
The very best specialists in the care of children advise that children
from babyhood be accustomed to light-weight clothing. They advise the
use of balbriggan or cotton union-suits, with a flannel skirt for the
little girl, and no flannels for the boy except his knickerbockers. If
the weather is severe and the legs should be covered when the child
is outdoors, leggings should be used instead of long flannels. The
leggings can be removed when the child comes back into the warm house.
The underwear cannot. The result is that the child perspires in the
house, is coddled and weakened, and therefore more liable to colds when
sent out to play.
There is an art in handling the baby which makes for its comfort and
contentment. The less he is handled during the first few weeks of
his life the better. If he is well and warm and sufficiently fed he
will sleep about twenty-two hours out of the twenty-four. He has no
desire to be moved, let alone played with, and if he is left to his
own devices he will not demand attention, and, therefore, he will make
little disturbance in the family circle. On the other hand, if the
different members of the family fairly hang around the crib, waiting
for him to wake up and be played with, they must not blame the baby if
later on he demands attention throughout his waking hours.
The baby does not like to be trotted on a full stomach. It disturbs his
digestion. It may make him vomit and feel generally uncomfortable.
The mother who is nursing her first baby may find it a cross to tuck
the baby into his crib directly he finishes feeding. The temptation to
cuddle the little form close, to pet him, to rock and hum him to sleep
is very strong. Mother will do well to remember that, while she may
have time for this enjoyable occupation to-day and to-morrow, next week
or next month may tell a different story of work that must be done.
Baby will not understand this change in affairs. He will have acquired
the habit of being cuddled and rocked and he will demand the attention.
So from the very first the mother should train herself, as well as the
baby, that this practice is unnecessary.
Walking the floor or jogging the baby in his carriage is another bad
method of handling. If a baby cannot go to sleep without some such
process of soothing he needs medical attention. If he is a normal,
healthy baby he will cuddle down under the covers of his crib and go to
sleep after feeding.
Do not expect the baby, however, to sleep or lie quietly if he is
not thoroughly comfortable. He must be dry and warm. For this reason
he should have plenty of light-weight bedding; if his feet are cold
tuck against them a water bag or bottle covered with flannel. In warm
weather protect his crib or the carriage in which he sleeps outdoors
from flies and mosquitoes. Both will break his slumber or annoy his
waking hours. More important, one variety of mosquitoes carry malaria;
and on the feet of flies will be found the bacteria of typhoid fever,
bowel infection, and the dreaded meningitis and infantile paralysis.
Beyond his daily outing the young baby should do little traveling. He
is not strong enough even at a year or so to be taken into railway
trains, street-cars, crowded places of any sort. Neither should he be
shown to visitors. After he is a few months old callers may be taken
into the nursery and permitted a glimpse of his charms; but they should
not be permitted to pick him up, trot him, or kiss him.
Germs of tuberculosis, diphtheria, and many other serious diseases may
be communicated by a kiss. No baby should ever be kissed on the mouth
by other children, by nurses, visitors, or even by loving parents. If
kissed at all, the spot chosen must be on the forehead or cheek, or,
better still, on the dimpled hand.
After a baby is six months old the mother may play with him while he is
enjoying his period of undress and relaxation on the bed. This should
be in the morning or after the midday nap, never before bedtime.
Many mothers, even those whose first children have passed successfully
through the dangers of babyhood, will call these precautions fads of
the hour. They are not fads. They are valuable discoveries in science
and medicine. When we realize that the man who has passed his eightieth
birthday has a better chance to live than the child eight hours old,
we realize how many dangers surround the young baby. A shock may
wreck a child’s nervous system. A sudden chill may cause an attack
of bowel trouble that will prove fatal within twenty-four hours. A
kiss, laden with infection, may cause death or lifelong deformity for
the child. Very few children are born nervous. They acquire it from a
nerve-racking environment, or it is thrust upon them by parents who
insist upon playing with them, taking them into noisy crowds, when all
they need and ask is the right to sleep.
In lifting an infant, never grasp him around the chest or abdomen. Slip
the palm of your left hand under his back, with the fingers stretched
out to support the neck and head. Then, with the right hand, grip the
clothing just below the feet. Never lift the baby without making sure
that the spine and head are supported. And never allow the little head
to hang unsupported over your knee or arm. In lifting older children
grasp the body firmly under the armpits. Never under any circumstances
raise the child from his feet by his wrists or hands. This strains the
arm and the elbow sockets.
There is a way of making the baby comfortable even at play. I have
spoken of undressing the baby for a daily period of exercise on a bed
in a warm room. Here he first learns to amuse himself, and his first
toys are his own fists and feet. At six months of age he may be given
toys made of firm rubber—dolls, animals, or rattles; the rattle should
not be noisy enough to make him nervous. Rubber is good because it can
be thoroughly cleansed. His instinct will be to put everything into his
mouth; so that he must be given nothing that will break off easily, as
he would surely swallow the loose pieces. He must have no Teddy bears
or woolly dogs or other fabric toys. Bits of wool or hair will get into
his throat, and they also carry germs. Neither should he have any toys
with sharp points with which he can hurt himself, nor those which are
painted. Many a child has been made seriously ill from sucking cheaply
painted toys.
Never approach a child suddenly with a toy which makes a loud noise. I
have seen a six months’ baby jump and turn ashen white at the explosion
of a toy pop-gun held close to his face, or at the shaking of a large
and noisy rattle. Small babies are very sensitive to loud noises
and abrupt movements; many of those unfortunate individuals, “women
with nerves,” could trace their present ailment to carelessness and
thoughtlessness on the part of those who loved them best during their
babyhood.