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INFANCY
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INFANCY , in medical practice, the See also:nursing See also:age, or the See also:period during which the See also:child is at the See also:breast. As a See also:matter of convenience it is usual to include in it See also:children up to the age of one See also:year. The care of an See also:infant begins with the preparations necessary for its See also:birth and the endeavour to ensure that taking See also:place under the best possible sanitary conditions. On being See also:born the normal infant cries lustily, See also:drawing See also:air into its lungs. As soon as the umbilical See also:cord which unites the child to the See also:mother has ceased to pulsate, it is tied about 2 in. from the child's See also:navel and is divided above the ligature. The cord is wrapped in a sterilized See also:gauze See also:pad and the dressing is not removed until the seventh to the tenth See also:day, when the umbilicus is healed.
The baby is now a See also:separate entity, and the first event in its See also:life is the first See also:bath. The See also:room ready to receive a new-born infant should be kept at a temperature of 700 F. The temperature of the first bath should be 100° F. The child should be well supported in the bath by the See also:left See also:hand of the See also:nurse, and care should be taken to avoid wetting the gauze pad covering the cord. In some cases infants are covered with a See also: A soft pad of See also:muslin or gauze which can be boiled should take its place. After the first ten days 94° F. is the most suitable temperature for a bath. When the baby has been well dried the skin may be dusted with pure See also:starch See also:powder to which a small quantity of boric See also:acid has been added. The most important See also:part of the See also:toilet of a new-born infant is the care of the eyes, which should be carefully cleansed with gauze dipped in warm See also:water and one drop of a 2% See also:solution of nitrate of See also:silver dropped into each See also:eye. The clothes of a newly born child should consist exclusively of woollen undergarments, a soft See also:flannel binder, which should be tied on, being placed next the skin, with a See also:long-sleeved See also:woven See also:wool vest and over this a loose garment of flannel coming below the feet and long enough to tuck up. Diapers should.be made of soft absorbent material such as well-washed See also:linen and should be about two yards square and folded in a three-cornered shape. An infant should always See also:sleep in a See also:bed or cot by itself. In 1907, of 749 deaths from violence in See also:England and See also:Wales of children under one See also:month, 445 were due to suffocation in bed with adults. A healthy infant should spend most of its See also:time asleep and should be laid into its cot immediately after feeding. , The normal infant at birth weighs about 7 lb. During the two or three days following birth a slight decrease in See also:weight occurs, usually 5 to 6 oz. When nursing begins the child increases in weight up to the seventh day, when the infant will have regained its weight at birth. From the second to the See also:fourth See also:week after birth (according to Camerer) an infant should gain r oz. daily or 11 to 2 lb monthly, from the fourth to the See also:sixth month a to s of an oz. daily or 1 lb monthly, from the sixth to the twelfth month z oz. daily or less than 1 lb monthly. At the sixth month it should be twice the weight at birth. The See also:average weight at the twelfth month is ao to 2r lb. The increase of weight in artificially fed is less See also:regular than in breast-fed babies. Fond —There is but one proper See also:food for an infant, and that its mother's See also:milk, unless when in exceptional circumstancesthe mother is not allowed to nurse her child. Artificially fed children are much more liable to epidemic diseases. The child should be applied to the breast the first day to induce the flow of milk. The first week the child should be fed at intervals of two See also:hours, the second week eight to nine times, and the fourth week eight times at intervals of two and a See also:half hours. At two months the child is being suckled six times daily at intervals of three hours, the last feed being at 11 P.M. Where a mother cannot nurse a child the child must be artificially fed. Cow's milk must be largely diluted to suit the new-born infant. See also:Arm-strong gives the following table of dilution: 1st week, milk t tablespoonful, water 2 tablespoonfuls at 3 months, „ 31 tablespoonfuls, „ 3 added at 6 months, ,, 9 „ ,, 3 J} with at 9 months, „ 12 ,, 3 See also:sugar. Koplik has See also:drawn out a table of the amounts to be given as follows: t oz. in 24 hours 1st day 3 feeds of to cc See also:total and day 8 „ 20 cc „ 51 „ 3rd day 8 „ 30 cc (1 oz.) „ 8 7th day 9 „ 50 cc „ 131 4th week 8 „ 6o cc (2 oz.) „ 16 3 months 7 „ 4 oz. „ 28 6 months 6 „ 7 oz. „ 42 9 months 6 82 oz. In cities it is advisable that milk should be either sterilized by boiling or pasteurized, i.e. subjected to a See also:form of See also:heating which, while destroying pathogenic bacteria, does not alter the See also:taste. The milk in a suitable apparatus is subjected to a temperature of 65° C. (149° F.) for half an See also:hour and is then rapidly cooled to 20° C.. (68° F.). Children fed on pasteurized milk should be given a teaspoonful of fresh See also:orange juice daily to See also:supply the missing acid and salts. Artificial feeding is given by means of a See also:bottle. In See also:France all bottles with See also:rubber tubes have been made illegal. They are a fruitful source of infection, as it is impossible to keep them clean. The best bottle is the See also:boat-shaped one, with a wide mouth at one end, to which is attached a rubber teat, while the other end has a See also:screw stopper. This is readily cleansed and a stream of water can be made to flow through it. All bottle teats should be boiled at least once a day for ten minutes with soda and kept in a See also:glass-covered See also:jar until required. A feed should be given at the temperature of oo° F. At the ninth month a cereal may be added to the food. Before that the infant is unable to See also:digest starchy foods. Much starch tends to See also:constipation, and it is rarely See also:wise to give starchy preparations in a proportion of more than 3% to children under a year old. A child who is carefully fed in a cleanly manner should not have See also:diarrhoea, and its See also:appearance indicates carelessness somewhere. The See also:English registrar-See also:general's returns for 1906 show that in the seventy-six largest towns in England and Wales 14,306 deaths of infants under one year from diarrhoea took place in See also:July, See also:August and See also:September alone. These deaths are largely preventable; when Dr Budin of See also:Paris established his " Consultations de Nourissons " the infant mortality of Paris amounted to 178 per 1000, but at the consultation the See also:rate was 46 per See also:i000. At Varengeville-sur-mer a consultation for nurslings was instituted under Dr Poupalt of See also:Dieppe in 1904. During the seven previous years the infant mortality had averaged 145 per 1000. In 1904–1905 not one infant at the consultation died, though it was a summer of extreme See also:heat, and in 1898 when similar heat had prevailed the infant mortality was 285 per loco. The deaths of infants under one year in England and Wales, taken from the registrar-general's returns for 1907; amounted to 117.62 per loon births, an alarming See also:sacrifice of life. France has been turning her See also:attention to the See also:establishment of infant consultations on the lines of Dr Budin's, and similar dispensaries under the designation " Gouttes de lait " have been widely established in that See also:country; gratifying results in the fall in infant mortality have followed. At the See also:Fecamp dispensary the mortality from diarrhoea has fallen to 2.8, while that in neighbouring towns is from 5o to 76 per l000 (See also:Sir A. See also:Simpson), It has been left to private enterprise in England to See also:deal with this problem. The St Pancras " School for Mothers " was 514 established in 1907 in See also:north-See also:west See also:London. Though started by private persons it was in 1909 worked in connexion with the See also:Health See also:Department of the See also:Borough See also:Council, but was supported by charitable subscriptions and by a small contribution from the student mothers. There are classes for mothers on the care of their health during pregnancy, infant feeding, See also:home nursing, cooking and See also:needlework. Poor mothers unable to contribute get See also:free dinners for three months previous to the birth of their child and for nine months after if the child is breast-fed. Two doctors are in attendance, and mothers are encouraged to bring their children fortnightly to be weighed, and receive See also:advice. The average attendance is ninety. A baby is said to have " graduated " when it is a year old. An interesting development in connexion with the See also:scheme is a class for fathers at which the medical officer of health for the See also:district lectures on the duties of fatherhood. Similar See also:schools for mothers are now established in See also:Fulham and See also:Stepney. Weighing centres have been established at See also:Dundee, See also:Sheffield, See also:Nottingham, See also:Birmingham, See also:Aberdeen, See also:Bolton, See also:Belfast, and See also:Newcastle-on-See also:Tyne. An infants' milk See also:depot has been established at See also:Finsbury, and effort is being made to establish milk laboratories where separate nursing portions of sterile milk could be supplied to poor mothers. The See also: Attempts to stand are made about the tenth month, and walking begins about the fourteenth month. By this time the intelligence should be See also:developed and memory is observed. A child a year old should be able to articulate a few small words. With the See also:advent of walking and speech the period of infancy may be said to end.
See See also:Pierre Budin, The Nursling (1907) ; See also: Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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