In addition to these fairly specific evidences of the baby’s condition and progress, such as weight, height and muscular development, there are other and less definite indications of his well-being which the nurse must watch for and accord a very high value.
The baby who is well and is being properly fed in all respects, will have good color; his flesh will be firm; he will take his nourishment with a certain amount of eagerness and seem satisfied afterward. He will sleep for two or three hours after each feeding; will sleep quietly at night, and while awake, unless he is wet or uncomfortable for some other good reason, he will seem contented, good-natured and happy.
CHAPTER XXII
NURSING CARE OF THE AVERAGE NEW-BORN BABY
It is estimated that out of every thousand babies born alive, in this country, forty die during the first month of life, and that more than as many again, or about eighty-five all told, perish before reaching the first birthday.
So hazardous is this period of early infancy, in the United States, that our annual loss of baby life is between seven and eight times as great as was the yearly toll of our young men during the war, for upwards of 200,000 babies less than a year old die each year. That the first month of life is fraught with greater danger than any which follow is shown by the fact that about 100,000 of these deaths occur during the first four weeks.
The tragedy of these figures is made darker by the knowledge that at least half of the babies who are lost die from preventable causes. In other words, they die from lack of proper care.
That is the significant fact for the obstetrical nurse, since more and more frequently she has the young baby in her care during the crucial first month and inevitably plays an important part in increasing his chances to live. She does this by helping to keep the well baby well, rather than by nursing a sick baby.
The dangers which make babyhood such a precarious period may be grouped very largely under the general headings of unfavorable ante-natal conditions, nutritional disturbances and infections. The care and supervision of the expectant mother will remove many of the unfavorable ante-natal causes. Nutritional disturbances and infections must be dealt with after birth.
Faulty nutrition may result in rickets, scurvy, malnutrition, marasmus, acute inanition or the less serious colic, constipation or diarrhea. The most frequent results of infection among young babies are the respiratory diseases in winter, such as bronchitis and pneumonia, and the intestinal disorders in summer, commonly referred to as “summer complaint.” Since undernourished babies are very susceptible to infection, the two conditions are frequently coincident.
With the baby’s frailty and imperfect development in mind, as well as the needs of his growing body and the evils that beset his way, we can understand the reasons for the painstaking, protecting care which he is given during the early weeks of his life.