p. 8 | The Care of the Baby

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 11, 1910

The Care of the Baby

By Emelyn Lincoln Coolidge, M. D.

Prickly Heat

BABIES are very apt to have prickly heat in summer. Most mothers are able to distinguish prickly heat from other skin eruptions. It consists of a fine red rash, or little pimples, raised up enough to give the skin a decidedly rough feeling when the hand is passed over it. It may appear in only one place, or be scattered over the greater part of the body. It is caused by heat, and greatly aggravated by thick flannel underwear. To prevent it the baby should be given frequent cool sponge-baths on every warm day, then lightly dusted with a pure talcum powder. His clothing must contain a little wool, but must be light in weight; a thin silk-and-wool band, and the lightest-weight wool-gauze shirt should be worn, as a rule, but on very warm days the shirt may be omitted. The band must always be kept on, as it protects the digestive organs. With the diaper these two articles of clothing are the essentials of the baby's dress in summer: the petticoats, dress, stockings, shoes, and outer garments may be regulated as the weather demands.

When prickly heat has actually developed, the body should be sponged often with equal parts of vinegar and water, tepid water in which a teaspoonful of bicarbonate of soda has been dissolved, or water in which a small lump of starch has been dissolved. A bran bag squeezed in the bath water until it looks cloudy is another soothing thing to try. What will suit one baby's skin may not be so helpful to another, so all the above things may be tried, and the one that gives the greatest relief continued. After the bath the eruption should be lightly covered with a powder made of one tablespoonful of corn-starch, one tablespoonful of talcum powder, and two teaspoonfuls of boracic acid powder, all thoroughly mixed together. If the eruption is on the body, and the silk-and-wool band seems to irritate the skin, a little linen shirt may be worn next to the skin, and the band put on outside of this. Sometimes the eruption is so intense that little pustules will form, making the baby still more uncomfortable. In such cases it is well to have the druggist put up one-half drachm of ichthyol with eight ounces of water. Mix well together and sop on the irritated skin every two or three hours; then dust on the powder suggested above. This is one of the best things to use for a severe case of prickly heat.

When the Baby is Chafed

As babies are more apt to have diarrhea in summer than in winter, chafing of the lower parts of the body is naturally more frequently seen at this period of the year. No one realizes how much the poor baby suffers from chafing: every time he passes water, or has a movement, he is in actual agony, and the most scrupulous care must be taken to keep him dry and clean. Never for one moment should he be allowed to lie in a wet or soiled diaper.

The greatest possible care must be taken of the diapers themselves. As soon as they are soiled, they should be placed in a covered pail (never on the floor or on a chair) while the baby is having a fresh napkin put on. When this is accomplished, the soiled diaper should be at once rinsed in cold water until all the solid parts are removed. It should then be placed in a covered pail of water, and allowed to soak until such time as the more thorough washing may be given it. This should be at least once in twenty-four hours, when all the soiled napkins should be washed with hot water and a pure, white soap, and then boiled for at least fifteen minutes. They should then be very carefully rinsed in cold water, so that all soap is removed, wrung, and dried in the open air. It is better to iron the diapers, but all busy mothers do not have time for this. They must be well aired and warmed before they are put on the baby.

When the parts are badly chafed, they should be washed with olive-oil in place of water. Then an ointment, made of two teaspoonfuls of oxide of zinc powder, two of starch, and one ounce of pure petroleum—all thoroughly mixed together—should be rather thickly spread on soft linen or cheese-cloth and placed on the parts inside of the diaper. Every time the child is changed, fresh ointment must be applied. When the chafing is less severe, washing the parts with olive-oil and dusting on a stearate of zinc powder is often beneficial. The ichthyol solution and powder mentioned above are also helpful in many cases.

Acid movements from the bowels are one of the chief causes of chafing; and as sugar water makes the movements acid, it is therefore very wrong to give sweetened water to a baby. Teach him from the first to take plain boiled water. — Emelyn Lincoln Coolidge, M. D.

Make a Chum of Your Boy

My heart goes out in sincere pity to the man who does not make companions of his boys. Do you know, fathers, that you are unconsciously depriving yourself and your sons of the sweetest pleasures if you do not make them your companions?

Think what you are doing by allowing them to grow up without your protecting care. Some day, perhaps, you will realize what you miss by not associating with them more. Be with all your children just as much as possible while they are little; for by so doing you will become young yourself, and will appreciate with keener zest the really good things of this life.

Many boys go on the wrong road because their fathers maintain an indifferent attitude toward them from the time they are two years of age until they are eighteen or nineteen. You can not reasonably expect a boy to turn out as you would like to have him if you take no personal interest in his welfare. I know a father who has a son in whom he takes a genuine interest, and they are the closest chums it is possible to imagine. It is, of course, impossible for them to be together all the time; for the father works all day at his store, and the boy goes to school, but at night they are always together. The father does not monopolize the companionship of his son by any means. He invites other boys to the house, and when you see them all together, you can well imagine that there is no man about. The father enters with spirit into all the sports of the boys, who rightly aver that he is “great.” That boy is now almost nineteen; but when he had passed the age of twelve, the father said: “My, O, my! next year you’ll be in your ’teens, and then what shall I do?”

“Same as you’ve always done,” said the boy, while a dimple came in his cheek and a sly twinkle came to his eye. “You know we’ve pledged ourselves to stick together forever.”

“So we have, so we have,” said the father, “and no matter how big you get, you will always be my chum.”

That’s the way to treat your boy.—Baptist Commonwealth.