Dishcloth and dish towels. Beware of a greasy, damp, disease-carrying dishcloth that is hung in a warm, dark place. The dishcloth and dish towels should be kept clean by washing them with soap and hot water every day. They should be hung out in the sunshine in the open air.
Clean hands. Clean hands mean more than personal cleanliness. They mean clean door knobs, furniture, and clothing. The hands should be washed frequently with warm water and soap, and always before handling food, after going to the toilet, and before taking the baby.
CHAPTER III
THE NEWBORN BABY
Suggestions for demonstrations. 1. Demonstrate the washing of the baby’s eyes. 2. Demonstrate giving the baby the oil bath. 3. Demonstrate giving the sponge bath. 4. Show how to make the baby’s bed and how to place the baby in it.
First care of baby. The hands should be carefully washed before handling the baby. When the baby comes his eyes must be washed with a two per cent solution of boric acid.[1] The proper care of the eyes at this time may be the means of preserving the eyesight. A fresh piece of cotton should be used for each eye. Always wash the lids from the nose toward the outer corner of the eye; then burn the cotton. The baby should then be placed upon his right side, with his head a little lower than his body.
[1] See [Appendix B], p. 109.
Oil bath. When the baby is born there is on his skin, particularly in the creases, a white cheeselike substance that can be removed only with oil. Therefore the baby’s first bath should be of warm olive oil or vaseline, applied with a piece of soft cotton and allowed to remain for an hour or more and then very gently wiped off. A water bath should not be given until the second day.
A sponge bath. A sponge bath should be given daily up to the sixth or ninth day, after which the warm tub bath should be substituted. Essentials for the bath are:
- A warm room (72° F.)
- A bath thermometer
- A large flannel bath apron
- Two basins of warm water
- Two soft washcloths
- Two large soft towels
- Olive-oil soap or pure castile soap
- Pure talcum powder
- Two per cent boric-acid solution
- Absorbent cotton
The toilet articles should be kept on a white enamel tray, which is easy to clean. After everything is prepared for the bath the fresh clothing should be warmed. The mother puts on her apron and takes the baby in her lap; she then undresses him and wraps him in the bath apron. The temperature of the bath should be 100° F. by the thermometer, and this should never be guessed at, because the water feels very much warmer to the sensitive skin of the baby than to the hand of an adult. The head and face are first washed with the warm water and carefully dried. The body is then bathed with the warm water and soap, rinsed with clear water, wrapped in soft towels, and dried by patting. Great care must be taken to dry thoroughly all the folds and creases of the skin. A little lanolin or sweet oil should then be gently rubbed into the folds or a little talcum powder may be dusted on the neck, behind the ears, under the arms and knees, in the groin, and on the buttocks. Wipe away all superfluous powder, as it is apt to get wet and cake, and will then irritate the skin.