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INFANCY
, in medical practice, the See also:nursing See also:age, or the See also:period during which the See also:child is at the See also:breast
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As a See also:matter of convenience it is usual to include in it See also:children up to the age of one See also:year
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The care of an See also:infant begins with the preparations necessary for its See also:birth and the endeavour to ensure that taking See also:place under the best possible sanitary conditions
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On being See also:born the normal infant cries lustily, See also:drawing See also:air into its lungs
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As soon as the umbilical See also:cord which unites the child to the See also:mother has ceased to pulsate, it is tied about 2 in. from the child's See also:navel and is divided above the ligature
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The cord is wrapped in a sterilized See also:gauze See also:pad and the dressing is not removed until the seventh to the tenth See also:day, when the umbilicus is healed
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The baby is now a See also:separate entity, and the first event in its See also:life is the first See also:bath
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The See also:room ready to receive a new-born infant should be kept at a temperature of 700 F
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The temperature of the first bath should be 100° F
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The child should be well supported in the bath by the See also:left See also:hand of the See also:nurse, and care should be taken to avoid wetting the gauze pad covering the cord
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In some cases infants are covered with a See also: A soft pad of See also:muslin or gauze which can be boiled should take its place . After the first ten days 94° F. is the most suitable temperature for a bath . When the baby has been well dried the skin may be dusted with pure See also:starch See also:powder to which a small quantity of boric See also:acid has been added . The most important See also:part of the See also:toilet of a new-born infant is the care of the eyes, which should be carefully cleansed with gauze dipped in warm See also:water and one drop of a 2% See also:solution of nitrate of See also:silver dropped into each See also:eye . The clothes of a newly born child should consist exclusively of woollen undergarments, a soft See also:flannel binder, which should be tied on, being placed next the skin, with a See also:long-sleeved See also:woven See also:wool vest and over this a loose garment of flannel coming below the feet and long enough to tuck up . Diapers should.be made of soft absorbent material such as well-washed See also:linen and should be about two yards square and folded in a three-cornered shape . An infant should always See also:sleep in a See also:bed or cot by itself . In 1907, of 749 deaths from violence in See also:England and See also:Wales of children under one See also:month, 445 were due to suffocation in bed with adults . A healthy infant should spend most of its See also:time asleep and should be laid into its cot immediately after feeding . , The normal infant at birth weighs about 7 lb . During the two or three days following birth a slight decrease in See also:weight occurs, usually 5 to 6 oz . When nursing begins the child increases in weight up to the seventh day, when the infant will have regained its weight at birth . From the second to the See also:fourth See also:week after birth (according to Camerer) an infant should gain r oz. daily or 11 to 2 lb monthly, from the fourth to the See also:sixth month a to s of an oz. daily or 1 lb monthly, from the sixth to the twelfth month z oz. daily or less than 1 lb monthly . At the sixth month it should be twice the weight at birth . The See also:average weight at the twelfth month is ao to 2r lb . The increase of weight in artificially fed is less See also:regular than in breast-fed babies . Fond —There is but one proper See also:food for an infant, and that its mother's See also:milk, unless when in exceptional circumstancesthe mother is not allowed to nurse her child . Artificially fed children are much more liable to epidemic diseases . The child should be applied to the breast the first day to induce the flow of milk . The first week the child should be fed at intervals of two See also:hours, the second week eight to nine times, and the fourth week eight times at intervals of two and a See also:half hours . At two months the child is being suckled six times daily at intervals of three hours, the last feed being at 11 P.M . Where a mother cannot nurse a child the child must be artificially fed . Cow's milk must be largely diluted to suit the new-born infant . See also:Arm-strong gives the following table of dilution: 1st week, milk t tablespoonful, water 2 tablespoonfuls at 3 months, „ 31 tablespoonfuls, „ 3 added at 6 months, ,, 9 „ ,, 3 J} with at 9 months, „ 12 ,, 3 See also:sugar . Koplik has See also:drawn out a table of the amounts to be given as follows: t oz. in 24 hours 1st day 3 feeds of to cc See also:total and day 8 „ 20 cc „ 51 „ 3rd day 8 „ 30 cc (1 oz.) „ 8 7th day 9 „ 50 cc „ 131 4th week 8 „ 6o cc (2 oz.) „ 16 3 months 7 „ 4 oz . „ 28 6 months 6 „ 7 oz . „ 42 9 months 6 82 oz . In cities it is advisable that milk should be either sterilized by boiling or pasteurized, i.e. subjected to a See also:form of See also:heating which, while destroying pathogenic bacteria, does not alter the See also:taste . The milk in a suitable apparatus is subjected to a temperature of 65° C . (149° F.) for half an See also:hour and is then rapidly cooled to 20° C .. (68° F.) . Children fed on pasteurized milk should be given a teaspoonful of fresh See also:orange juice daily to See also:supply the missing acid and salts . Artificial feeding is given by means of a See also:bottle . In See also:France all bottles with See also:rubber tubes have been made illegal . They are a fruitful source of infection, as it is impossible to keep them clean . The best bottle is the See also:boat-shaped one, with a wide mouth at one end, to which is attached a rubber teat, while the other end has a See also:screw stopper . This is readily cleansed and a stream of water can be made to flow through it . All bottle teats should be boiled at least once a day for ten minutes with soda and kept in a See also:glass-covered See also:jar until required . A feed should be given at the temperature of oo° F . At the ninth month a cereal may be added to the food . Before that the infant is unable to See also:digest starchy foods . Much starch tends to See also:constipation, and it is rarely See also:wise to give starchy preparations in a proportion of more than 3% to children under a year old . A child who is carefully fed in a cleanly manner should not have See also:diarrhoea, and its See also:appearance indicates carelessness somewhere . The See also:English registrar-See also:general's returns for 1906 show that in the seventy-six largest towns in England and Wales 14,306 deaths of infants under one year from diarrhoea took place in See also:July, See also:August and See also:September alone . These deaths are largely preventable; when Dr Budin of See also:Paris established his " Consultations de Nourissons " the infant mortality of Paris amounted to 178 per 1000, but at the consultation the See also:rate was 46 per See also:i000 . At Varengeville-sur-mer a consultation for nurslings was instituted under Dr Poupalt of See also:Dieppe in 1904 . During the seven previous years the infant mortality had averaged 145 per 1000 . In 1904–1905 not one infant at the consultation died, though it was a summer of extreme See also:heat, and in 1898 when similar heat had prevailed the infant mortality was 285 per loco . The deaths of infants under one year in England and Wales, taken from the registrar-general's returns for 1907; amounted to 117.62 per loon births, an alarming See also:sacrifice of life . France has been turning her See also:attention to the See also:establishment of infant consultations on the lines of Dr Budin's, and similar dispensaries under the designation " Gouttes de lait " have been widely established in that See also:country; gratifying results in the fall in infant mortality have followed . At the See also:Fecamp dispensary the mortality from diarrhoea has fallen to 2.8, while that in neighbouring towns is from 5o to 76 per l000 (See also:Sir A . See also:Simpson), It has been left to private enterprise in England to See also:deal with this problem . The St Pancras " School for Mothers " was 514 established in 1907 in See also:north-See also:west See also:London . Though started by private persons it was in 1909 worked in connexion with the See also:Health See also:Department of the See also:Borough See also:Council, but was supported by charitable subscriptions and by a small contribution from the student mothers . There are classes for mothers on the care of their health during pregnancy, infant feeding, See also:home nursing, cooking and See also:needlework . Poor mothers unable to contribute get See also:free dinners for three months previous to the birth of their child and for nine months after if the child is breast-fed . Two doctors are in attendance, and mothers are encouraged to bring their children fortnightly to be weighed, and receive See also:advice . The average attendance is ninety . A baby is said to have " graduated " when it is a year old . An interesting development in connexion with the See also:scheme is a class for fathers at which the medical officer of health for the See also:district lectures on the duties of fatherhood .
Similar See also:schools for mothers are now established in See also:Fulham and See also:Stepney
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Weighing centres have been established at See also:Dundee, See also:Sheffield, See also:Nottingham, See also:Birmingham, See also:Aberdeen, See also:Bolton, See also:Belfast, and See also:Newcastle-on-See also:Tyne
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An infants' milk See also:depot has been established at See also:Finsbury, and effort is being made to establish milk laboratories where separate nursing portions of sterile milk could be supplied to poor mothers
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The See also:
Attempts to stand are made about the tenth month, and walking begins about the fourteenth month
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By this time the intelligence should be See also:developed and memory is observed
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A child a year old should be able to articulate a few small words
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With the See also:advent of walking and speech the period of infancy may be said to end
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See See also:Pierre Budin, The Nursling (1907) ; See also: |
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