Volume 1

A manual of obstetric nursing / by Marian Humfrey.

Date:
[1894-1895]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A manual of obstetric nursing / by Marian Humfrey. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    and night rooms are well ventilated, the infant obtains as much fresh air as he requires, and in large cities the atmo- sphere in winter is nearly always bad, and the babe is better indoors than out. The value of these precautions will be more apparent when we reflect how many thousands of tender infants are taken out in frost, in fog, in bitter winds, under the deplorable notion that they can be hardened by so doing against the vicissitudes of our pidless climate; but, alas! those who know best know but too well that for one infant hardened into health by this drasdc process, hundreds are hardened into disease, suffering, and death. The eminent physician, Sir James Simpson, denounced this mischievous fallacy of hardening tender infants and young children by exposure to weather, and also insufficient clothing, and his remarks hold good to this hour. Let us take another view of the matter, and assume that our baby is born in May (the best month of the year to be born in); we can modify our arrangements to suit the altered conditions. In the first instance we had all the winter months before us; now we have all the summer and early autumn to look forward to, and by midsummer town babies can be taken into the square gardens and public parks, and country babies into gardens, fields, and lanes, and sunshine and soft airs make them grow like the flowers. There is here a point to bear in mind, that during the summer the infant's head must be protected from the direct rays of the sun, if carried, by a sunshade ; if in a bassinette, by an awning. For my part I prefer the latter mode of conveyance to carrying, the infant being comfortably laid on a pillow and covered over. Too much light is not good, as it over-stimulates the brain, and I have had reason to believe, induces fits of uncontrollable crying. I should also advise the covering of the bassinette to be green or blue, and not the usual drab colour. I told you how to handle the infant; remember these instructions when you have to carry him out. There are two ways of doing this—underhand and overhand; the former is the right method. The head and shoulders of the infant should rest on one arm (the left), the rest of the body on the other, and the baby held perfectly level. The