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Show LITTLE TALKS ON BABYOLOGY By Anna Steese Richardson Babies' Bureau, Woman's Home Companion. SLEEP. The healthy baby is a sleepy baby. When a baby (j?s not want to sleep, when it Is restless and wakeful, one of two conditions exists, either it has been spoiled and actually trained to he wakeful by a thoughtless mother, or It Is In need of medical care A babv comes into the world sleepy If well and left to his own devices, he sleeps twenty-two hours out of every twenty-four during the first iw weeks of his life. The mother who interrupts his slumber to cuddle him or show him off is endangering his health, and her future peace of mind. Take a lesson from puppies and kittens. They sleep day and night The wise mother-dogs and cats do not disturb them Tbe wise house mother tells her children not to touch or disturb dis-turb tho newborn pets, and yet she will permit family and friends to break in upon the slumber of the ne-a born baby of the household Directly a baby has been ushered into the world washed, dressed and fed, it goes to sleep Inlets roused for feeding, it is apt to sleep manv hours. This Is Nature's warning to mothers that new-born babies need Just three things- warmth, food, sleep. And for the future good of the household, the greatest of these Is sleep and the habit of sleeping When a new-born baby is permitted to sleep and trained to sleep the family and household routine Is not disturbed The healthy baby starts life by sleeping three hours, and then wali Ing to be fed If the quality of the breast milk or boillo milk fed him Is sustaining and satisfying, the three hour interval Is correct If the milk is not quite heav. enough, he may-wake may-wake at internals of l" hours and a half, lull no babj should be fed oftei, er thau once in two hours. If he does not sleep in strotchc-s of two hours there is something wrong with his I general h.-alth or the quality of the milk he take For two 0r three mouths, the baby varies this monotony of eating and sleeping only by an enforced daily bath and an occasional crying speli. Some babies drop right off to sloop after being fed. others cry a little Moderate crying does not hurt a baby nor Indicate a serious condition It is about the only form of exercise he has and. In moderation, is good for his lungs But if his sleep Is badly broken and his crying is shrill and prolonged, his digestion is probably at fault. If the babv uakes up Inside of two hours, nnd ihere Is no evidence of ill-health ill-health or discomfort, the mother1 should let him wait, e en If he cries! unui me iwo-nour limit is up IMS period she can gradually Increase to two hours and a half and then to three hours. Tbe healthy baby Is easily trained Of course, a dimpled, rosy baby Is a great temptation to the mother, eapet Itllj while she is lying restfuily in bed, with a nurse in attendance, It Is so delightful to snuggle the babj agaliiM her to cuddle his tiny fists, to smooth his soft cheek, his silk-hair silk-hair But Just the same, every time Baby's sleep is Interrupted by thes maternal pettings, Mother Is laving I foundations for future trouble. hen she Is up and about, with no nurse to relieve her. and household dutlos to perform, she will wish that she had trained baby to sleep to the limit of his desires and inclinations. U the third month, the bab begins be-gins to take notlco of what goes -n around him and will lie awake a little lit-tle lonjjer between naps If undisturbed, undis-turbed, however, he will soon drop off asleep of his own sweet will. At bIx months he sleep from six o'clock to six. straight through the night, with just one feeding at 9 p m This 9 p m feeding should be given quietly and the baby immediately re turned to bis bed or crib should also be having two naps a day, from 9 to 1 1 in the morning, from 1 to :: In the afternoon If he sleeps too late In the afternoon, he will be wakeful at 6, the hour set for going to sleep lor the night After his first birthday Baby has only one dally nap, in early afternoon, after-noon, but the twelve hour sleep at night Is essential to his health until he has passed his sixth birthday It is nonsense to say thai a youne child does not want to sleep Nature cries out for sleep. Parents Interfere with nature by starting the baby off wrong and teaching It not to want to sleep. The best argument Is that tho baby who Is kept up to romp with Papa in the evening, at tho age of two, thro,, or four years, is n late sleeper In the morning. Irritable and heavy. The babv should not be rocked to sleep, nor should he be tucked into a carriage and then trundled to leep, In clear weather he may be snuggled up In his carrluge and set out of doors in a corner screened from draught or direct rays of the sun for both his morning and afternoon naps At C o'clock, he should be undressed, made perfectly comfortable, fed and then laid down on a firm hair mattress without a pillow, to go to sleep without with-out further attention. D not form the habit of singing a baby to sleep or holding his tiny hand till he drops off There will come evenings when von are too tired to sing, or there "will be other work for your busy-hands busy-hands to do and Baby, not understanding, under-standing, will raise his voice In pro test From birth, the baby should sleep alone, In a dark room well ventilated Baby knows no fear and needs no light. Neither does he need the warmth of an adult body There have lcen sad tragedies of babies smothered smother-ed by tired mothers, too heavy with tiee to know tbev had rolled over on tbe tiny, helpless form There bavo been other cases wher babies permitted to sleep with adults, afflicted af-flicted with chronic disease, have contracted con-tracted the ailment and died. Ventilation Is Importaut. Occasionally Occas-ionally we read of unusual cases where parents boast that they have raised eight, nine, or ten healthy children In unvcutllated bedrooms These, children have been constitutionally constitu-tionally strong enough to survive such doses of vitiated air. The modern mother does not take the chance She supplies fresh air to her baby from birth. The little crib should not stand in a draught, but the window should be dropped from the top anil raised from the bottom to creai- a current of fresh, pure air. The crib, with lt little Bleeper, may be protected pro-tected by screens Above all things, do not start your baby's sleeping habits with the warning warn-ing "Hush!" Have the room In which he sleeps as free from noise as vour household habits will permit and do not permit other mem Iters of the family to disturb him unneces saril. but when he Is asleep on the second floor, do not demand that everybody ev-erybody tiptoe and speak In whispers whis-pers on the ground floor. Remember a healthy baby is not a nervous Invalid In-valid whose "nerves" mii6t ho saved in evorv possible WSJ Take It for granted that he was sent Into the world with sound nerve3 and a normal nor-mal appetite lor sleep as well as food The baby's habits of sleep are regulated reg-ulated largely by bis physical comfort, and this in turn i. dependent upon tbe way in which he is clothed. So the nxf talk on Bahvology will deal deal exclusively with clothes lor the baby. Copyright, lftl3, by the Worn an'e Home t ompanlon |