2.  Keep everything connected with a baby absolutely clean.  Cleanliness in the house accounts for a baby’s health.  Untidy babies are usually sick babies.

3.  Never let a baby get chilled.  Keep its hands and feet warm.

4.  Regulate a baby’s day by the clock.  Everything about its wants should be attended to on schedule time.

5.  Diminish a baby’s food the minute signs of illness appear.  Most babies are overfed anyway.

6.  Weigh a baby every week until it is a year old.  Its weight is an index of its health.

7.  Every mother should get daily out-door exercise.  It means better health for her babies.

8.  Every baby should be “mothered” more and mauled less.  Babies thrive on cuddling but they can get along on a lot less kissing.

9.  Don’t amuse or play with your baby too much.  Its regular daily routine is all the stimulation its little brain needs at first.

10.  Don’t let too many different people take care of the baby.  Even members of the same family make a baby nervous if they fuss around him too much.

[Illustration]

[Illustration:  MAN WITH SCALES AND INFANT.]

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THE CARE OF NEW-BORN INFANTS.

1.  The first thing to be done ordinarily is to give the little stranger a bath by using soap and warm water.  To remove the white material that usually covers the child use olive oil, goose oil or lard, and apply it with a soft piece of worn flannel, and when the child is entirely clean rub all off with a fresh piece of flannel.

2.  Many physicians in the United States recommend a thorough oiling of the child with pure lard or olive oil, and then rub dry as above stated.  By these means water is avoided, and with it much risk of taking cold.

3.  The application of brandy or liquor is entirely unnecessary, and generally does more injury than good.

4.  If an infant should breathe feebly, or exhibit other signs of great feebleness, it should not be washed at once, but allowed to remain quiet and undisturbed, warmly wrapped up until the vital actions have acquired a fair degree of activity.

5.  DRESSING THE NAVEL.—­There is nothing better for dressing the navel than absorbent antiseptic cotton.  There needs be no grease or oil upon the cotton.  After the separation of the cord the navel should be dressed with a little cosmoline, still using the absorbent cotton.  The navel string usually separates in a week’s time; it may be delayed for twice this length of time, this will make no material difference, and the rule is to allow it to drop off of its own accord.