ALL ABOUT BABY

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Preparation, Outfit, Nursing, Formulas for Preparation of Milk for Bottle-Fed Infants; Weaning, Teething, Diet Through Childhood, All the Baby Diseases, etc., from the Best Medical Authority, Infant Hospitals and Nurses.

How long does pregnancy usually last?  Two hundred and eighty days.

How can the time be reckoned?  Count back three months from the first day of the last menstruation and add seven days to the date thus obtained.  To be more accurate, you should add only six days in the months of April and September, five days in December and January, and in February four days.

What time of pregnancy does the form begin to change?  It changes a little the first two months.  It is flatter and lower down.  After the third month there is a progressive enlargement.

What is quickening, and when first felt?  It is a motion, of the foetus (child) in the womb, imparted to the abdominal walls, and is felt from the sixteenth to the twentieth week.  It has been said to have occurred earlier in some cases.

Can you foretell twin pregnancy?  Not to a certainty.

Can a mother influence her child as to character and temperament before birth?  Authorities differ very much upon this point.  The child inherits the physical characteristics of its parents.  The frame of the mother’s mind, some think, can be given in some degree to her offspring.

Will nervousness be inherited by the child?  Not invariably; if the mother is fretful, irritable, cross, repining, etc., her child may be puny, cross and irritable, etc.

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Do you believe in influences transmitted before birth (parental influences?) All must admit that there is a great deal in heredity, and the characteristics of parents are shown in their children.

Can a mother mark her baby?  This is another disputed question.

When should the family physician be informed of the woman’s condition?  The first month.

Why?  So that the woman will know how to live properly, and also that he will be given the urine twice each month to examine.  This is for her protection and is necessary, because anything that may be wrong with the kidneys can be corrected much easier, and diet, etc. can be arranged to prevent future trouble.

What kind of diet should a pregnant woman have?  She should eat only healthy articles of food.  Stimulating, highly seasoned, rich, greasy foods should be avoided.  Constipation is frequently present and the diet must be chosen with reference to that also.  She should not restrict herself to one line of diet unless it is necessary.

Should she take a daily bath, if so, what kind and when?  Yes, if it does her good.  The pores of the skin should be kept open so that the kidneys will have less work to do.  Spray and baths should be taken cold or lukewarm.  Hot baths or Turkish baths are to be avoided.  The time should be at the woman’s convenience.  Morning is preferable, if she does not feel the need of sleep.