You will often feel a little like Alice in Wonderland, who found, one time, that she had to keep running very fast to stay where she was, for you will not be able to relax in a single detail of your baby’s care if you are to keep him well. With him, as with you, or anyone else, the satisfactory use of even ideal food is largely dependent upon the general condition and mode of living, and we find accordingly, that the question of keeping the baby well finally resolves itself into the following common sense requirements:
1. Proper food. 2. Fresh air. 3. Regularity in the daily routine care. 4. Cleanliness of food, clothing and surroundings. 5. Preservation of an even body temperature. 6. Adequate rest and sleep. 7. Periodic consultations with your doctor.
Carve these principles into the tablets of your brain and you cannot fail to give your baby the kind of care that is literally life-saving. I am going to describe the tiny, intimate details of this care, for I think this will help you, in the beginning at least, but if you will keep these fundamentals in mind and use good common sense you really need not read another word about baby care, for they give it all in a nutshell.
Let me warn you emphatically against making the very serious mistake of acting upon the advice of friends or relatives, no matter how many children they have had. These counselors are just as dangerous for babies as they are for expectant mothers, so beware of them!
“Is it not preposterous,” says Herbert Spencer, “that the fate of a new generation should be left to the chance of unreasoning custom, impulse, fancy, joined with the suggestions of ignorant nurses and the prejudiced counsel of grandmothers? To tens of thousands that are killed, add hundreds of thousands that survive with feeble constitutions, and millions that grow up with constitutions not so strong as they should be, and you have some idea of the curse inflicted on their offspring by parents ignorant of the laws of life.”
It is a very wise precaution to have your doctor see the baby every week or ten days during the first three months and once a month during the remainder of the year. Not because he is fragile or ill. Not at all. You consult your doctor in order to be sure that you are keeping your baby well.
Did you ever hear of the Chinese custom of paying the doctor as long as one is well, but not paying for attention during illness? It isn’t so very heathenish—that idea of paying for the skillful care that will prevent illness.
In addition to taking the general precaution of seeing your doctor periodically, about the baby, be sure to consult him about anything that you do not understand or about any new condition that arises. You will find any number of persons who are ready and eager to advise you, but your doctor is the only one whose advice it is safe for you to follow.
The Daily Schedule. The importance of regularity in the daily routine of the baby’s care cannot be stressed too often nor too insistently. No matter how well he is nursed in other respects, nor how skillfully the doctor directs his care, the baby cannot be expected to progress satisfactorily if his life is not absolutely regular.
Begin by arranging a daily program for the feedings, fresh air, bath, sleep and exercise and then allow nothing to interfere with your carrying it out.