All children should take a nap of from one to two hours in the middle of the day until they are 6 years old.

X. THE BATH.

Every baby should be bathed at least once a day; during the hot weather two or three sponge baths may be given in 24 hours. The temperature of the bath should be from 90° to 95° F. in the early months. By the end of the first year the temperature may be lowered to 80° to 85° F. If you have no thermometer, a practical test for the correct temperature is to use water that feels warm to the elbow.

When bathing the baby in a tub let it rest upon your left arm, which is slipped under its back from the baby's right side. By grasping the baby under the armpit with the left hand a good hold is secured which prevents slipping. The right hand is left free for washing the baby. A special wash cloth, preferably of cheese cloth, should be provided for washing the baby's face, and head.

After the baby is taken out of the tub it should be dried in a large soft bath towel.

Do not wash a healthy baby's mouth; it will do no good and may do harm. As soon as the baby has teeth clean them carefully with a soft clean cloth or gauze, and later with a soft toothbrush and cooled, boiled water.

After the baby is dressed it is wise to keep it indoors for at least an hour after bathing and to protect it from drafts.

The best time for bathing the baby is just before its morning feeding, between 8 and 10 o'clock. After its bath the baby will be ready to take its food and go to sleep.

The baby should be weighed regularly at least once a week for the first year and the record of the weight kept in a book. The most convenient time for weighing the baby is before the regular bath in the morning. It is well to remember that the record of the baby's gain in weight will be reliable only if it has been weighed at the same hour each time.

XII. THE NORMAL BABY.

An average healthy baby weighs from 7 to 7 pounds at birth; 15 pounds at 5 or 6 months, and 21 pounds at 12 months. In other words, the baby doubles its weight in 6 months and trebles it in 12 months.

XIII. CONTAGIOUS DISEASES.

The spread of most contagious diseases is caused through ignorance or carelessness. Inasmuch as contagious diseases often can

not be distinguished from the non-contagious, it is wise to separate children from every sick person, young or old, until the true nature of the illness is known. If the disease is contagious, the separation must be kept up. This separation consists in placing the patient in a room by himself and giving him separate wash cloths, towels, and dishes. One person only should care for the patient, and the clothing of this person should be protected by a gown or long apron or sheet when in the patient's room. After caring for or handling the patient the caretaker's hands should be carefully washed with warm water and soap.

Every person should co-operate to the fullest extent with the local department of health in its efforts to limit the spread of communicable diseases. Do yourself what you would desire of another parent whose child might be a source of danger to your own family.

So-called colds, such as running nose, sore throat, bronchitis and the like, are easily communicated to children and may be especially serious for the baby.

Do not sneeze or cough in the baby's face. A mother should protect the baby from catching her own cold by tying a handkerchief or piece of cheesecloth over her nose and mouth when nursing or caring for her baby. She should not kiss the baby.

Tuberculosis very often gets its start in infancy. Every effort, therefore, should be made to protect the baby from infection. Common ways of infecting the baby are by kissing it, coughing or sneezing near the child, or by allowing it to sit on the floor where it has a good chance to pick up tuberculosis germs with the dust on its toys or other objects and thus get them into its mouth. It is a good plan to have a separate room or at least part of a room fenced off as the baby's play room, and to cover the floor with a clean sheet each day. Milk from tuberculosis cows may also be the cause of tuberculosis in the baby.

XIV. EYE DISEASE AND BLINDNESS.

Many babies within two or three days after birth, occasionally later, have what is commonly known as "sore eyes" or, as the mothers say, "have caught cold in their eyes." The proper name for this condition is ophthalmia, and it is caused by a germ getting into the eyes during the baby's birth. The eyelids become reddened and swollen and in a very few hours pus is seen in abundance. All such cases must be energetically and skillfully treated at once by trained physicians. Neglect and carelessness may result in the loss of the baby's sight. The condition can usually be prevented if the physician puts a drop of a proper antiseptic in each eye immediately after the birth.

Do not forget that the earlier the child is vaccinated the sooner it is protected against smallpox. In this country it is not possible to know when and where an outbreak of smallpox will take place. It is well, therefore, to be prepared.

The best time to have a baby vaccinated is in its first year. If the baby is healthy it may be vaccinated as early as the third or fourth month.

XVI. BIRTH REGISTRATION.

See that your doctor registers your baby's birth as soon as possible after it is born. Birth registration secures citizenship and may save future legal trouble.

By this is meant the care and advice given to the mother before the birth of the baby, in order that she may fit herself to bear and to care for it.

There is no doubt that the welfare of the baby depends largely upon the mother's health and that many mothers would be better able to nurse their babies if they had proper care, food, clothing and exercise before the babies were born.

In order to secure the proper advice as early as possible, every prospective mother should consult a physician as soon as she knows she is to have a baby. If she cannot afford the services of a physician, she should apply to a maternity hospital or dispensary where competent physicians and nurses are ready to advise and care for her until the baby is born.

If, for any reason, the prospective mother cannot see a competent physician at least once a month during her pregnancy she should send a specimen of her urine to him regularly each month. She must drink enough liquid so that she will pass at least 3 pints of urine each 24 hours. Her bowels should move once a day. Persistent or sudden and severe headaches, swelling of the face or hands, increasing swelling of the ankles must be reported at once to the physician in charge. Any appearance of blood from the vagina demands instant summoning of the physician. As soon as a woman knows she is preegnant she should go to the dentist and have her teeth put in good condition.

The above statements are the merest outlines of the fundamental care which every woman should have. It must be remembered that if the prospective mothers are intelligently supervised and will report all untoward symptoms at once deaths and disabilities of both mothers and children will be less frequent.

Training of Expectant Mothers and the

Care of Infants

L. H. HUFFMAN, M.D., Hobart, Oklahoma.

Life today is demanding more than ever in the history of the world. In every occupation and in every profession and department of business there is a greater strife for supremacy, and in keeping with the times demands a closer proximity to perfection. Business organizations demand master minds and a system as complete as a perfect machine. Antiquated methods and ideas are lost in our present manner of living and scheme of things. This struggle for supremacy in all lines of business, with the strife to be at the top of the ladder, demands from each individual the qualifications necessary to meet these requirements. He who enters this life handicapped by the lack of proper training, education and environment must of necessity fall far behind in the race and fail of success.

A healthy mind, a necessity for a wholesome citizenship, cannot be built on a defective body, therefore in the interest of public health and for the raising of the standard of our citizens of tomorrow, a continuous co-operation of physicians, teachers and public health departments is required to overcome the physical defects of infants and children.

Now,

The care of expectant mothers determines the strength of the child, whether it be a healthy, normal child or the reverse. the essential points in the care of expectant mothers are four in number-to eliminate disease, debility, improper food and overwork. It would require a readjustment of our social and economic conditions to gain these points. Not only does the present system exert its influence during the nine months previous to birth, but also unfits the mother for nursing and caring for the child after birth.

The better baby contests, as a new movement, have for their supreme purpose the placing of such information before parents as will teach them how to preserve the child's energies and by so doing bring about as nearly as possible perfect human beings. Few parents now, with the ordinary social customs, have proper time to devote to their home, necessarily neglecting the training of the children. The well-to-do are in search of pleasure, while the poorer classes are compelled to spend the most of their time in mills or factories. Reduction of the working hours to women who are compelled to

earn their living and the passage of child labor laws have done much toward reducing infant mortality. Through the boards of health and medical meetings, to which the public is invited, much valuable information is given out as to correct methods of living and sanitation.

The health of the infant is greatly influenced by the health of its parents, particularly the health of the mother. One-third of all infants dying in the first year of life die the first month, and onefourth of these die the first week. The deaths may be due to conditions that develop after birth, but are in a large measure due to absence of proper hygienic living of the mother previous to giving birth and not to lack of care of the child after delivery.

It must be remembered that the mother is the only source of food and nourishment for the child for nine months. From her blood the child must be formed. Then if her blood is diseased or if she is overworked, or worried, or underfed, the blood supply of her offspring is impoverished, and the result is a diseased or deformed and debilitated child. As an example of this dentists now claim that the decay of children's teeth is due to the lack of lime salts in the mother's blood previous to birth.

In the same manner all the other organs of the body are influenced in regard to the proper development, depending upon the composition of the blood of the mother. Diseases affecting the offspring most are mental diseases, insanity, epilepsy, and lastly the one most dreaded of all-syphilis. All chronic diseases of the mother, whatever they may be, are productive of a lowered vitality and a weakened condition of the child.

For the nine months during pregnancy great strength and energy are required, and as each mother has but a certain amount of this it is quite necessary that they be conserved during this period. The mother carrying the child has a constant drain on her system, and if she is using her strength in other directions the child is robbed. In all cases where the care of the mother has been systematic we find no miscarriages, no still births or difficult labors, but instead we have a healthy baby free from disease and up to the standard in weight and vitality.

The subject of greatest importance for the infant is that of feeding during the first year of life. There is but little doubt that there are fewer mothers now nursing their children than in the past. While there has been an immense improvement in the physical and social life of people in all countries during the last century, the high rate of infant mortality leads us to but one conclusion and places the blame on one cause-artificial food. No matter how carefully or scientifically we may modify the food, there is but one which is natural and will produce the best developed child, and that is the "natural mother's milk." Whether or not the mothers have a supply of breast food, it is a fact that artificial food is more frequently