Walking the floor or jogging the baby in his carriage is another bad method of handling. If a baby cannot go to sleep without some such process of soothing he needs medical attention. If he is a normal, healthy baby he will cuddle down under the covers of his crib and go to sleep after feeding.
Do not expect the baby, however, to sleep or lie quietly if he is not thoroughly comfortable. He must be dry and warm. For this reason he should have plenty of light-weight bedding; if his feet are cold tuck against them a water bag or bottle covered with flannel. In warm weather protect his crib or the carriage in which he sleeps outdoors from flies and mosquitoes. Both will break his slumber or annoy his waking hours. More important, one variety of mosquitoes carry malaria; and on the feet of flies will be found the bacteria of typhoid fever, bowel infection, and the dreaded meningitis and infantile paralysis.
Beyond his daily outing the young baby should do little traveling. He is not strong enough even at a year or so to be taken into railway trains, street-cars, crowded places of any sort. Neither should he be shown to visitors. After he is a few months old callers may be taken into the nursery and permitted a glimpse of his charms; but they should not be permitted to pick him up, trot him, or kiss him.
Germs of tuberculosis, diphtheria, and many other serious diseases may be communicated by a kiss. No baby should ever be kissed on the mouth by other children, by nurses, visitors, or even by loving parents. If kissed at all, the spot chosen must be on the forehead or cheek, or, better still, on the dimpled hand.
After a baby is six months old the mother may play with him while he is enjoying his period of undress and relaxation on the bed. This should be in the morning or after the midday nap, never before bedtime.
Many mothers, even those whose first children have passed successfully through the dangers of babyhood, will call these precautions fads of the hour. They are not fads. They are valuable discoveries in science and medicine. When we realize that the man who has passed his eightieth birthday has a better chance to live than the child eight hours old, we realize how many dangers surround the young baby. A shock may wreck a child’s nervous system. A sudden chill may cause an attack of bowel trouble that will prove fatal within twenty-four hours. A kiss, laden with infection, may cause death or lifelong deformity for the child. Very few children are born nervous. They acquire it from a nerve-racking environment, or it is thrust upon them by parents who insist upon playing with them, taking them into noisy crowds, when all they need and ask is the right to sleep.
In lifting an infant, never grasp him around the chest or abdomen. Slip the palm of your left hand under his back, with the fingers stretched out to support the neck and head. Then, with the right hand, grip the clothing just below the feet. Never lift the baby without making sure that the spine and head are supported. And never allow the little head to hang unsupported over your knee or arm. In lifting older children grasp the body firmly under the armpits. Never under any circumstances raise the child from his feet by his wrists or hands. This strains the arm and the elbow sockets.
There is a way of making the baby comfortable even at play. I have spoken of undressing the baby for a daily period of exercise on a bed in a warm room. Here he first learns to amuse himself, and his first toys are his own fists and feet. At six months of age he may be given toys made of firm rubber—dolls, animals, or rattles; the rattle should not be noisy enough to make him nervous. Rubber is good because it can be thoroughly cleansed. His instinct will be to put everything into his mouth; so that he must be given nothing that will break off easily, as he would surely swallow the loose pieces. He must have no Teddy bears or woolly dogs or other fabric toys. Bits of wool or hair will get into his throat, and they also carry germs. Neither should he have any toys with sharp points with which he can hurt himself, nor those which are painted. Many a child has been made seriously ill from sucking cheaply painted toys.
Never approach a child suddenly with a toy which makes a loud noise. I have seen a six months’ baby jump and turn ashen white at the explosion of a toy pop-gun held close to his face, or at the shaking of a large and noisy rattle. Small babies are very sensitive to loud noises and abrupt movements; many of those unfortunate individuals, “women with nerves,” could trace their present ailment to carelessness and thoughtlessness on the part of those who loved them best during their babyhood.