The care of the baby : a manual for mothers and nurses, containing practical directions for the management of infancy and childhood in health and in disease / by J. P. Crozer Griffith.

  • John Price Crozer Griffith
Date:
1903
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The care of the baby : a manual for mothers and nurses, containing practical directions for the management of infancy and childhood in health and in disease / by J. P. Crozer Griffith. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

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    CHAPTER II. THE BABY. The new-born baby is certainly not an object of beauty. Even its mother could hardly think it so, did she see it at the moment of its birth, before it has expe- rienced the improving influences of its first toilet—wet and more or less covered, as it is, with a peculiar whitish, waxy substance. After it is washed and dressed its ap- pearance even yet cannot be called altogether prepossess- ing. Still, despite its lack of beauty, its mother loves it and is naturally anxious to know whether it is all right.'' ]\Iany times afterward will she be fortunate if she can tell whether all is still right v/itli it. As without a knowledge of how a baby of any age should look and act it is impos- sible to recognize illness developing, our first duty is to pass in review the characteristics of a healthy child— often called the features of health. A healthy and well-developed new-born infant should be plump and firm, with its bones well covered and with a soft and extremely delicate skin. This remarkable softness is due in great part to the presence everywhere of a coating of fine down, which is sometimes scarcely visible, sometimes quite abundant. The skin is of a decidedly reddish color, and only when the baby is suffering from some disease or when it is cold does it become mottled or bluish. Cold is the most frequent cause of this, for a baby has but feeble vitality as com- pared with an adult. The baby should weigh anywhere from 6i< to lo pounds, the average being 'jYz pounds.' Its length is about 19 inches, with a range, however, of from 16 to 22 inches. Any child which conies within these limits of