Better babies and their care

by Anna Steese Richardson

The healthy baby starts life by sleeping two or three hours, and then waking to be fed. If the quality of the breast milk or bottle milk fed him is sustaining and satisfying the three-hour interval is correct. If the milk is not quite heavy enough he may wake at intervals of two hours and a half; but no baby should be fed oftener than once in two hours. If he does not sleep in stretches of two hours there is something wrong with his general health or the quality of the milk he takes.

For two or three months the baby varies this monotony of eating and sleeping only by an enforced daily bath and an occasional crying spell. Some babies drop right off to sleep after being fed; others cry a little. Moderate crying does not hurt a baby nor indicate a serious condition. It is about the only form of exercise he has, and, in moderation, is good for his lungs. But if his sleep is badly broken and his crying is shrill and prolonged, his digestion is probably at fault.

If the baby wakes up inside of two hours, and there is no evidence of ill-health or discomfort, the mother should let him wait, even if he cries, until the two-hour limit is up. This period she can gradually increase to two hours and a half, and then to three hours. The healthy baby is easily trained.

Of course, a dimpled, rosy baby is a great temptation to the mother, especially when she is lying restfully in bed, with a nurse in attendance. It is so delightful to snuggle the baby against her, and cuddle its tiny fists, to smooth its soft cheek and silky hair. But every time baby’s sleep is interrupted by these maternal pettings, mother is laying foundations for future trouble. When she is up and about, with no nurse to relieve her, and household duties to perform, she will wish that she had trained baby to sleep to the limit of his desires and inclinations.

At the third month the baby begins to take notice of what goes on around him and will lie awake a little longer between naps. If undisturbed, however, he will soon drop off to sleep of his own sweet will.

At six months he should sleep from six o’clock to six straight through the night, with just one feeding at 9 P.M. This 9 P.M. feeding should be given quietly and the baby immediately returned to his bed or crib. He should also be having two naps a day—from nine till eleven in the morning, and from one till three in the afternoon. If he sleeps too late in the afternoon he will be wakeful at six, the hour set for going to sleep at night.

After his first birthday baby has only one daily nap in the early afternoon; but the twelve-hour sleep at night is essential to his health until he has passed his sixth birthday. It is nonsense to say that a young child does not want to sleep. Nature cries out for sleep. Parents interfere with nature by starting the baby off wrong and teaching it not to want sleep. The best argument is that the baby who is kept up to romp with Papa in the evening, at the age of two, three, or four years, is a late sleeper in the morning, irritable and heavy.

The baby should not be rocked to sleep, nor should he be tucked into a carriage and then trundled to sleep. In clear weather he may be snuggled up in his carriage and set outdoors, in a corner screened from draught or direct rays of the sun, for both his morning and afternoon naps. At six o’clock he should be undressed, made perfectly comfortable, fed, and then laid down on a firm hair mattress without a pillow, to go to sleep without further attention. Do not form the habit of singing a baby to sleep or holding his tiny hand till he drops off. There will come evenings when you are too tired to sing, or there will be other work for your busy hands to do—and Baby, not understanding, will raise his voice in protest.

From birth the baby should sleep alone in a dark room well ventilated. Baby knows no fear and needs no light. Neither does he need the warmth of an adult body. There have been sad tragedies of babies smothered by tired mothers, too heavy with sleep to know they had rolled over on the tiny, helpless form. There have been other cases where babies permitted to sleep with adults, afflicted with chronic disease, have contracted the ailment and died.

Ventilation is most important. Occasionally we read of unusual cases where parents boast that they have raised eight, nine, or ten healthy children in unventilated bedrooms. These children have been constitutionally strong enough to survive such doses of vitiated air. The modern mother does not take the chance. She supplies fresh air to her baby from birth.