The sleeves, too, should be large and loose, and the arm-size should be roomy, so as to prevent chafing.  The sleeves may be tied in at the wrist with a ribbon to insure warmth.

Lightness of weight. The underclothing should be made of pure wool, so as to gain the greatest amount of warmth from the least weight.  In the few cases where wool would cause irritation, a silk and wool fixture makes a softer but more expensive garment.  Under the best conditions, clothes restrict and impede free development somewhat, and the heavier they are the more they impede it.  Therefore, the effort should be to get the greatest amount of warmth with the least possible weight.  Knit garments attain this most perfectly, but the next best thing is all-wool flannel of a fine grade.  The weave known as stockinet is best of all, because goods thus made cling to the body and yet restrict its activity very little.

The best garments for a baby are made according to the accompanying diagram.

[Sidenote:  Princess Garment]

They consist of three garments, to be worn one over the other, each one an inch longer in every way than the underlying one.  The first is a princess garment, made of white stockinet, which takes the place of shirt, pinning-blanket, and band.  Before cutting this out, a box-pleat an inch and a half wide should be laid down the middle of the front, and a side pleat three-fourths of an inch wide on either side of the placket in the back.  The sleeve should have a tuck an inch wide.  These tucks and pleats are better run in be hand, so that they may be easily ripped.  As the baby grows and the flannel shrinks, these tucks and pleats can be let out.

[Illustration:  Diagram of the “Gertrude” Suit.]

The next garment, which goes over this, is made in the same way, only an inch larger in every measurement.  It is made of baby flannel, and takes the place of the flannel petticoat with its cotton band.  Over these two garments any ordinary dress may be worn.  Dressed in this suit, the child is evenly covered with too thicknesses of flannel and one of cotton.  As the skirts are rather short, however, and he is expected to move his legs about freely, he may well wear long white wool stockings.

As the child grows older, the principles underlying this method of clothing should be borne in mind, and clothes should be designed and adapted so as to meet these three requirements.

FOOD.

[Sidenote:  Natural Food]

[Sidenote:  Bottle-fed Babies]