TEMPERATURES AND PULSE
The normal temperature of a baby is 98.5 to 99 F. in the rectum. After shaking the mercury of the thermometer down below the 97 mark it is well lubricated with vaseline and then carefully, gently, pushed into the rectum for about an inch and a half or two inches, and left there for three minutes before removing.
Mothers should exercise self-control in taking the temperature, for nothing is gained by allowing a panicky fear to seize you should the mercury register higher than you anticipated. Notify your physician when the temperature registers above 100 F.
The respirations of a child are fairly regular and rhythmic and occur about forty times per minute during the first month of life and about thirty times per minute during the remainder of the year. From one to two years, twenty-six to twenty-eight is the average. Breathing is somewhat irregular when the child is awake and may be a bit slower when asleep. Before the baby is born the fetal pulse is about 150. At birth it ranges from 130 to 140. During the first month the pulse is found to be from 120 to 140. By the sixth month it gets down to 120 or 130, and from that on to a year the normal pulse beat of the baby is about 120. The pulse is influenced very much by exercise and is often increased by crying or nursing or any other excitement.