The Science of Bathing by Mary Wood-Allen

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · May 5, 1904

The Science of Bathing

By Mary Wood-Allen

A PHYSICIAN once ordered a bath for a sick man. Making his usual visit the next day, he was greeted with the joyous exclamation: “Say! doctor, if I’d ’a’ known how good a bath would make a fellow feel, I’d ’a’ taken one forty years ago.”

The bath as a luxury is quite well understood by the present generation, and yet it is a fact that a great proportion of people do not understand the science of bathing.

There is a right way and a wrong way even in the simple taking of a bath; and in the case of infants it is quite important that this be understood, and the right way chosen. Adults can speak their wants, or object to what does not please them: infants are obliged to accept the dictum of their caretakers, however disagreeable it may be.

In the first place, the temperature of the room in which the bath is given is of great importance. Remembering that heat is radiated much more rapidly from the body when wet than when dry, we can see that our own feelings as to the warmth of the room will hardly be a criterion for the comfort, or even for the safety, of the child.

The room should never be at a lower temperature than seventy degrees Fahrenheit; and in the case of a delicate infant or an invalid, it may be raised to eighty-five degrees, and even then it may not be wise to expose the wet body uncovered to the air. With very delicate babies it may be needful—in order to secure the best results—to sponge the body under cover, drying in same way, instead of giving a tub bath.

The temperature of the bath, too, should not be guesswork. We use the words “cool,” “warm,” “tepid,” or “hot;” but they have no absolute meaning unless measured by the thermometer. A cool bath is from sixty degrees to seventy-five degrees; a tepid bath, from eighty-five degrees to ninety-two degrees; a warm bath, from ninety-two degrees to ninety-eight degrees; a hot bath, from ninety-eight degrees to one hundred and twelve degrees.

But what is the mother to do who has no thermometer, and can not immediately procure one? Her hand will afford no guide to the temperature of the water, for what will seem only warm to her hand may be actually hot to the skin of the child. The elbow will give a surer indication of the temperature of the bath, as its skin is more delicate and sensitive than that of the hand.

Dr. J. H. Kellogg gives a method of approximating the temperature of the bath without a thermometer. He says: “It is a well-known fact that, at the level of the sea, water boils at two hundred and twelve degrees Fahrenheit. Well and spring water, and the water of cisterns, does not vary greatly from fifty-three degrees Fahrenheit. By combining the proper quantities of water of these known temperatures, any required temperature may be produced.” Thus:—

Two quarts at fifty-three degrees added to one quart at two hundred and twelve degrees equals three quarts at one hundred and six degrees.

Two and one-half quarts at fifty-three degrees added to one quart at two hundred and twelve degrees equals three and one-half quarts at ninety-eight degrees.

Three quarts at fifty-three degrees added to one quart at two hundred and twelve degrees equals four quarts at ninety-three degrees.

Eight quarts at fifty-three degrees added to one quart at two hundred and twelve degrees equals nine quarts at seventy-one degrees.

There should be no delay in adding the boiling water to the cold water, or the temperature will not be accurate.

It will be seen that all that is needful to figure out the temperature approximately for any amount of water is to multiply the number of quarts of spring or cistern water by fifty-three, then multiply the number of quarts of boiling water by two hundred and twelve, add the two products, and divide by the whole number of quarts. This is only a make-shift, however, and not advisable except where it is not easy to procure a thermometer.

In order that a bath be successful, the mother or nurse should be dextrous

and skilful, that the handling of the child may not be productive of discomfort or of fright, and that the infant should not be chilled in the process of drying. The least possible time should be spent in giving the bath.

Care should be taken to wipe the head dry, especially if there is much hair. In such cases the child should be kept out of drafts or the head be protected until the hair is perfectly dry.

If the child looks blue or seems exhausted after the bath, you may be sure that the bath has not been given scientifically; that is, in accordance with the physical condition of the child.

The first bath of the new-born infant should be about body temperature; that is, ninety-eight degrees Fahrenheit. But the temperature may be gradually lowered, so that in a few weeks it may be from eighty degrees to ninety degrees. A very warm bath is exhausting, while a cool bath is invigorating. There is not so much danger of taking cold after a cool bath as after a hot one. If the bath is very warm at first, it should be cooled by the addition of cold water just before the child is lifted out of it, so as to secure the tonic effect.

The child should be encouraged to use his limbs vigorously while in the water, but at the same time the bath should not be unduly prolonged simply for the delight it gives the mother or other friends who enjoy seeing the little one splash. In this, as in everything else, the welfare of the baby must be the first consideration.—Mary Wood-Allen, M. D.