If electric lighting is not an equipment of the home neither gas or oil lamps should be allowed to burn in the room for long periods. For emergency night lighting a well-protected wax candle should be used. However, don't go to sleep and allow a candle to burn unprotected as did one tired, exhausted mother. The father, suddenly aroused from his sleep, saw a large flame caused by the overturning of a wax candle into a box of candles, while the lace drapery of the basinet was within a few inches of the flame and the baby just beyond. Grabbing a pillow he smothered the flames and saved baby and all.
FRESH AIR
Plenty of fresh air and lots of sunshine should enter baby's room. The large screen amply shields from draughts, and when thus protected there need be no unnecessary concern about cool fresh air, especially after two or three months, as it is invigorating and prevents "catching cold." Warm, stuffy air is devitalizing and even during the early weeks when the fresh air must be warm, an electric fan should be advantageously placed so that many times each day the warm fresh air may be put in motion without creating a harmful draught.
Warm stuffy air makes babies liable to catch cold when taken out into the open.
Throw open the windows several times each day and completely change the air of baby's room. In the absence of the large screen, a wooden board five or six inches high is fitted into the opening made by raising the lower window sash. Then as the upper sash is lowered the impure air readily escapes while fresh air is admitted.
THE BATH EQUIPMENT
Make early preparations for bathing the baby in the easiest possible manner; in fact, the young mother should seek to attend to all her duties—the family, the home, and the baby—in the easiest way. For the administration of a bath during the early months, a table is needed, protected by oilcloth on which is placed a roomy bathtub with a folded turkish towel on the bottom for baby to sit on. In addition to the tub, have:
| An enameled pitcher for extra supply of warm water. | A medicine dropper for washing baby's eyes. |
| A small cup for boracic acid solution. | Talcum powder. |
| Castile soap. | Oil or vaseline. |
| A soft wash cloth. | Sterile cotton. |
| Several warmed soft towels. | Tooth picks. |
| A bath thermometer. | A needle and thread for sewing on the band. |
| All of the clean clothing needed. |
See that the bathtub is clean and enamel unbroken, and if it has been used by another babe, freshen it with a coat of special enamel sold for that purpose.