If gray or brown, with mucus, blood, or undigested food, report to the physician.
If green or with foul odor, report immediately and substitute barley water for feedings. Spinach will cause green stools, or they may turn green an hour after removal; this is normal.
Keep the bowels in good condition by giving plenty of water, fruit juice, and abdominal exercises; avoid enemas, suppositories, and laxative drugs, all of which are detrimental.
Sleep. During his first year this should be the baby’s chief occupation. Any period of rapid growth involves much work on the part of all internal organs, and a low power of resistance. In this twelve months, the weight trebles, and the length increases about one half; the brain increases its weight nearly three times, and has by far more work in learning new adjustments than in any similar period later in life.
The amount of sleep required at different stages is shown in the table on page [118].
The baby should always have his own bed, and if possible, his own room. He should preferably sleep outdoors except (1) in rain or falling snow, (2) damp, fogging weather, (3) with snow melting, (4) dusty, windy weather, (5) temperature below 40° F. or above 90°. The night air is as healthful as that of the day with these same provisions. A sleeping porch is an investment that will pay high dividends all through his life.
In dry, still weather, 68° to 95° F., the baby may be taken outdoors two or three days after his arrival; otherwise he must gradually be accustomed to the cooler outer air by being taken into a room with windows open on one side (wrapping him up judiciously), reducing the temperature every few days, until at one month he is breathing a temperature of 65° F., at two months of 55° F., and at three months, he can breathe it nearly at freezing (32° F.). Abrupt changes should be carefully avoided. Pure cold air is invigorating; stale air is poisonous; air too dry injures the mucous membrane of the nose and throat; air too moist is oppressive; all of these develop colds and pneumonia.
When the baby is indoors, there should be a constant, quiet current of fresh air, except during dressing and bathing. The air should be regulated, not by guess, but by a reliable thermometer (tested at the baby’s head), and the equally important hygrometer for humidity, when there is not a constant intake of fresh, outside air.
The room temperature should not exceed 70° F. the first three months, and 68° F. later, when the baby is dressed. It may advantageously thereafter be 65°-68° ordinarily. When the baby is sleeping, or playing with wraps on, it is of vital value to have it lower, graduating it from 40° to 60° according to circumstances. Cold air is vitalizing; warm air is devitalizing. An open fireplace, with one window lowered from the top, or a six-inch window board for very cold or windy weather, will provide reasonable ventilation.
A baby has more room and sleeps more comfortably in his basket or crib than in a carriage. When awake, he needs more space to roll, kick, creep, walk. In the open country, he is much better off on the veranda or in the nursery with windows open, lying in his basket or pen, than rolled up in a carriage. Babies unfortunately housed in city apartments or crowded tenements must sometimes be confined in a carriage for the sake of getting to the open air. In a sunny, open-aired room or by an open window is better for a baby than down in a dusty street. The air at higher levels has less dust and fewer germs. The roof of an apartment house, if there is protection from chimney gas, hot sun, and high winds, is preferable to the street. He should never be put on the ground without the protection of a waterproof and blanket or rug to prevent chilling.