The best time for the daily bath, during the first three or four months, is about an hour before the second feeding in the morning. After this age the full bath is sometimes given before the six o’clock feeding, in the evening, for a bath at this hour is soothing and restful and often helps toward giving the baby a good night.
Preparation for the bath should made with its possible effects, both good and bad, in mind, for the baby may be helped or harmed according to the skill with which he is bathed. He must not be chilled during his bath, and fatigue and irritation must be avoided by giving it quickly and with the least possible handling and turning. These ends may be served by conveniently arranging all of the articles which will be needed, on a low table at the right hand side of the nurse’s chair, before the baby is undressed.
There should be a pitcher of hot and one of cold water; a bath thermometer; two soft wash-cloths; soft towels; bath blankets; Castile, or some other mild soap; boracic acid solution; sterile cotton pledgets; large and small safety pins, or large ones and a needle and thread if the band is to be sewed on; unscented talcum powder; sterile albolene or olive oil; soft hair brush and a complete outfit of clothing. The little garments should be arranged in the order in which they will be put on, the petticoat slipped inside the dress, and all hung before the fire or heater, to warm.
The temperature of the room should be about 72° F. and if it is possible to bathe the baby before an open fire or a heater, so much the better. In any case he must be protected from drafts. A sheet hung over the backs of two straight chairs will serve very well as a screen if no other is available.
The tub or basin should be about three-quarters full of water at 100° F. for the new baby; about 95° after the third month and gradually lowered to 85° F. or 90° F. for the baby a year old. The temperature of the water should not be guessed at, but tested with a thermometer, though in an emergency the nurse may safely use water that feels comfortably warm to her elbow.
It is a good plan to lay a folded towel in the bottom of the tub, before beginning, as babies are often frightened by coming in contact with the hard surface.
Fig. 153.—Nursery at Manhattan Maternity Hospital. Note beam scales, low table with articles for bath, and method of protecting babies’ heads from drafts.
The nurse should wear a waterproof apron, covered with one of flannel over which is laid a soft towel until the bath is finished, when it is slipped out, leaving the dry flannel apron to wrap about the baby. She should wash her hands thoroughly with hot water and soap; sit squarely, with her knees together, in a chair without arms; take the baby in her lap and undress him under a blanket.
In order that the bath may be given deftly and quickly, it is a good plan to give the different parts in the same order every day, for practice makes perfect.