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Willesden Urban District Council.
PUBLIC HEALTH DEPARTMENT.
The Care of Infants and Children.
The chief concern of every right-minded mother is to do her
duty by her children. On the faithful discharge of this duty
depends the future well-being of her offspring—health, a sound
constitution, and the joy of physical fitness for the combat of life.
Wbong Notions as to what to do and not do, in the bringing up
of children, are just as evil in their effects upon the child as
culpable neglect or cruel and cowardly forsaking of the little ones
trusted to your care.
THE BATH.
Babies should be bathed regularly twice a day from their
birth. In this, as in all else that is done for the baby, an effort
should be made to teach it habits. Let the bath be given at the
same hour every morning and every evening. The warm bath at
night is most soothing to children, and they will sleep soundly
after it, even when they are most fretful. The morning bath
should be tepid, and, in the case of healthy children over six
months of age, cold. The tepid or cold bath is bracing, and,
together with fresh air, one of the best preventives against
catching cold. There are few babies over six months of age who
have been properly cared for, who do not soon learn to enjoy their
rapid dip in cold water. Remember that a baby not kept clean
cannot be healthy.