Sleeping Rooms or Nurseries
When it is possible in a home a room should be set aside for the nursery. This room should be well lighted, properly ventilated, and the heat and humidity should be carefully regulated. This room is to be the chief home of the infant for the first few months. Therefore it should meet the needs of the infant. It should receive the direct rays of the sun during the day. No processes, such as preparation of food, or washing of diapers, for example, should be permitted in this room. As far as possible gas plates, heaters, or gas lights should be avoided.
The nursery should not be kept too warm. A temperature of 70° F. is proper during the day. During the first few weeks it should not be allowed to drop below 65° F. through the night. For children over two months of age the temperature during the night may go as low as 60° F. but not below 50° F.
It is more sanitary for the infant to have a separate bed. Both mother and babe will rest better and there will not be the tendency for the baby to nurse too frequently during the night. The infant should be placed in a crib without rockers. A basket or bassinet is very convenient and sanitary. The sides of the bassinet may be lined and this will prevent drafts and assist materially in keeping the baby warm. The pillow should be small and soft. It is advisable to change the position of the child occasionally while sleeping. It must be remembered that the child is unable to turn should he become cramped or should he become tired from lying in one position. The average mother knows how to take care of her child in a general way and nurses have had special training in this respect, but these simple necessities should not be beneath the notice of the chiropractor. Especially is this of importance in determining the cause of irritability in the infant. Attention must be given to skin irritation, especially resulting from carelessness in the changing of the diaper and in keeping the body of the child otherwise clean. It is not, however, the intention of the author to present in this text complete instruction in the care of infants except from the general viewpoint of hygiene. The chiropractor is not to be a nurse, but he must know the rules of hygiene since there are many conditions of infancy which result from a violation of these rules.
After the first week or two the infant should be taken out of doors if it is in the summer. The open air is healthful for the young children and they should be kept outdoors a part of each day. The eyes must be protected from the sun and the head from the wind. The child, of course, should be properly dressed for out of doors. At first the child must be kept out only a few minutes, since sufficient time must be allowed for adaptation to take place, or in other words, for the child to become accustomed to the change. Before children are taken out the first time it is well to get them accustomed to the change by opening the doors and windows of the room that there may be a gradual cooling of the temperature. The child born in the fall or winter must not be deprived of fresh air even though the weather will not permit the outside airing. The child may be dressed as for an outdoor airing, then the doors and windows opened. Great care must be exercised or the child will take cold.