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Show Family Weekly,/ May14, 1967 either on his front or on his back, exposed to the dull and uninteresting white surface of either the sheet or the ceiling with only the “prison bars” at the sides of his crib to break the monotony of this arid landscape. He needs the contact of a snugly cushioning environment, the reassurance that he is still in contact with the world and not airily suspended in it. His means of assuring himself that all-is-well is largely achieved through the messages he receives from his skin. The support he receives in the environing recesses of the cradle are very reassuring; to him, for the cradle affords him_the-nearest-experience to a continuation of the life he led so long-in the womb. This és good and comforting. When-the baby feels uncomfortable or insecure, he may whimper. If his mother or anyoneelse rocks the cradle, it will have a soothing effect upon. him. Again it reassures him for, when he was in’ his mother’s womb, he was naturally rocked by the normal motions of his mother’s body. When the infant is too warm, the rocking has a cooling effect, hastening evaporation of moisture from the skin. When the infant is too cold, the rocking helps to warm him. The rocking has a hypnotic effect on the infant, and it is soothing to his nervous system. The prob‘abilities. are high that numerous other benefits accrue to the child rocked in the cradle. These are for future research to determine. lt is absurd to suggest that the cradle is harmful because the baby will develop the habit of rocking before he is able to go to sleep. If cradle rocking is habit-forming, so is breast feeding or bottle feeding. Children have been known to be weaned from breast and bottle without any serious aftereffects. Millions of babies who had been rocked to sleep in cradles grew up to be adults who were able to fall asleep without the necessity of being rocked. Children outgrow the cradle as well as other childish habits. It is strange that no one has ever suggested that the rocking chair is “unnecessary and vicious” for adults or that they will be unable to relax unless they can do so with the assistance of a rocking chair. In fact, rocking chairs are to be highly recommended for adults (especially the aging) for reasons similar-to those which make the cradle so good for babies. Rocking, in both babies and adults, increases cardiac output and is helpful to the circulation. It promotes respiration and discourages lung congestion. It stimulates muscle tone. And not least importantly, it maintains the feeling of relatedness. A baby whois rocked knows that he is not alone. Again, especially in babies, the rocking helps to develop the efficient functioning of the gastrointestinal tract. The intestine is loosely attached by folds of peritoneum to the back wall of the abdominal cavity. The rocking assists the’ movements of the intestine like a pendulum and thus serves to maintain its tone. The intestine always contains liquid chyle and gas. The rocking movement causes the chyle to move backward and forward over the intestinal mucosa. The general distribution of chyle over the whole intestine undoubtedly aids digestion and probably absorption. Dr. John Zahovsky, a Saint Louis pediatrician, said in 1984 that “young infants who are rocked after nursing have, as a rule, less colic and less enterospasm and become happier babies than those who are laid in the crib without rocking. I firmly believe that the cradle assists maternal nursing.” And Dr. Zahovsky concluded with the words, “Some dayit will be no disgrace to rear the young baby in a cradle and even sing him to sleep with a lullaby.” More than a generation has had toelapse before persons could be found to echo Dr Zahovsky’s words. At Riverside Hospital in Toledo, Ohio, rocking chairs are in use as a regular part of the infantcare program. A mahogany rocking chair was introduced as @ Christmas gift from Riverside nurses’ aides, who pooled money to buy what they voted as “most needed new equipment” at the hospital! In each of the three nurseries a rocking chair is now available. “It’s the best way to feed a baby and put him to sleep at the same time,” says Mrs, Herbert Mercurio, the obstetrical supervisor. “And it’s relaxing for the nurse, too.” Possibly the rocking chair used in this manner has_some_advantages over the cradle. I think both might well become standard equipment in the home when there is a small infant—in this manner at once satisfying the needs of both infant and adult for rocking. The cradle and the rocking chair should be restored to their places of honor, and the hand that rocks the cradle should resume its true and loving role. @ Family Weekly, May 14, 1967 5 |