CLOTHING FOR CHILDREN by Lauretta Kress

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · May 29, 1901

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 27, No. 22.

CLOTHING FOR CHILDREN.

By Lauretta Kress

A VERY important part of the mother's duty is to clothe her children so as to keep their bodies in health. This responsibility begins at the time the child is born, and increases as the days go on. We see there is much error being taught about the clothing of children, and as the result, sickness and disease increasing with remarkable rapidity, because of failure to understand the organization of the body.

Mothers who are careful to have their own garments hygienic, are careless regarding their children. They place upon them ready-made clothing, bought at a very reasonable price at the shops. These have been made in large lots without any consideration as to the form of the body, and do not fit. They are tight in the arm-holes, often measuring the same in the front, back, and chest, leaving no room for expansion as the child stands erect, and takes a deep inspiration. All these particulars are very essential to the development of a healthy child. There must be an abundance of room in the chest, as well as about the waist.

The proper way for each mother to do, in making garments for her children, is to allow sufficient cloth in seams, and about the chest and waist, so that they can be made larger as the child grows. Frequent measurements of the chest and waist should be taken

as the child grows in years, so that the mother can be sure that the clothing is not binding or hindering the growth of the body, or displacing any organs.

Great care should also be taken to have all parts of the body clothed evenly. The arms should not be left with a thin covering over them while the trunk of the body has many thicknesses. The legs and knees need, correspondingly, as much clothing as the thighs and the trunk. If these are not properly clothed, the blood on its way to the extremities and to the skin is chilled by contact with the air from both the morning and the evening breeze, and is driven internally, congesting the digestive organs, also the lungs, and other organs contained in the body. If the knees and legs are bare, a great deal of disturbance with the throat and nose will result. Physicians who are studying into these things have noticed for a number of years that there has been an increase in disease where the arms and legs of children have not been properly clothed, and many deaths occur that might not have been, had some heed been given to this great essential by the mothers.

In the autumn and winter the limbs require to be clothed with two thicknesses of flannel or wool; long combination undersuits coming to the ankles and the wrists, with woolen stockings coming over the knees, will keep the hands and feet warm, and increase the assimilation of food very remarkably. If children have cold hands and feet, some disturbance of the digestion will surely follow. For colder weather it is quite necessary that the legs and arms should be well protected.—Lauretta Kress, M. D.