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24. Have you any remarks to make on the clothing of an infant?

A baby’s clothing ought to be light, warm, loose, and free from pins. (1.) It should be light, without being too airy. Many infants’ clothes are both too long and too cumbersome. It is really painful to see how some poor little babies are weighed down with a weight of clothes. They may be said to “bear the burden,” and that a heavy one, from the very commencement of their lives! How absurd, too, the practice of making them wear long clothes. Clothes to cover a child’s feet, and even a little beyond, may be desirable; but for clothes, when the infant is carried about, to reach to the ground, is foolish and cruel in the extreme. I have seen a delicate baby almost ready to faint under the infliction. (2.) It should be warm, without being too warm. The parts that ought to be kept warm are the chest, the bowels, and the feet. If the infant be delicate, especially if he be subject to inflammation of the lungs, he ought to wear a fine flannel, instead of his usual shirts, which should be changed as frequently. (3.) The dress should be loose, so as to prevent any pressure upon the blood-vessels, which would otherwise impede the circulation, and thus hinder a proper development of the parts. It ought to be loose about the chest and waist, so that the lungs and the heart may have free play. It should be loose about the stomach, so that digestion may not be impeded; it ought to be loose about the bowels, in order that the spiral motion of the intestines may not be interfered with; hence the importance of putting on a belly-band moderately slack; it should be loose about the sleeves, so that the blood may course, without let or hindrance, through the arteries and veins; it ought to be loose, then, everywhere, for nature delights in freedom from restraint, and will resent, sooner or later, any interference. Oh that a mother would take common sense, and not custom, as her guide! (4.) As few pins should be used in the dressing of a baby as possible. Inattention to this advice has caused many a little sufferer to be thrown into convulsions.