R.V. Russell - "The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India Volume I (of IV)"

Sven Anders Hedin - "From Pole to Pole"

Frank Preston Stearns - "Cambridge Sketches"

Harry A. Lewis - "Hidden Treasures"

Annual Bibliography of Commonwealth Literature 2007
This paper argues that discourses of love in Ghanaian market literature for youth offer a view into complex negotiations of agency and empowerment. Drawing on Deborah Durham's notion of youth as "social `shifters'" and Francis Nyamnjoh's conception of the "interconnectedness" of agency, I take Ghanaian market literature as one specific case of how African literature for youth foregrounds questions of continuity and change as African societies enter into increasingly complex global relations. In this literature for youth, received notions of love, often constructed out of impressions from American pop and hip hop music, carry new notions of agency that compete with existing "domesticated" forms. Authors like Ike Tandoh and Evelyn Tay employ discourses of love to offer youth alternative avenues for empowerment in a context of socio-economic disenfranchizement. In a creative process of "straddling", this writing both reveals and reproduces the contradictions that obtain in youth configurations of agency.

The Mother and Her Child

W >> William S. Sadler >> The Mother and Her Child




The eyes are washed daily by dropping saturated solution of boracic
acid into each eye with a medicine dropper. Separate pieces of gauze
or cotton are used for each eye.


THE FIRST OIL BATH

As soon as the cord and the eyes have received the proper attention
and the mother has been made comfortable, the baby is given its
initial bath of oil. This oil may be lard, olive oil, sweet oil, or
liquid vaseline. The oil should be warmed and the baby should be well
covered with a warm blanket and placed on a table which is covered
with a thick pad or pillow. The temperature of the room should be at
least eighty degrees Fahrenheit. Quickly, thoroughly, and carefully
the entire body is swabbed with the warmed oil--the head, neck, behind
the ears, under the arms, the groin, the folds of the elbow and
knee--no part of the body is left untouched, save the cord with its
dressing. This oil is then all gently rubbed off with an old soft
linen towel.


THE FIRST CLOTHING

After the oil bath, the silk and wool shirt (size No. 2), the diaper
and stockings are quickly put on to avoid the least danger of
chilling. The band having been applied at the time of the dressing of
the cord, our baby is now ready for the flannel skirt. This should
hang from the shoulders by a yoke of material adapted to the season,
cotton yoke without sleeves if a summer baby, and a woolen yoke with
woolen sleeves if a winter baby. The outing-flannel night dress
completes the outfit and should be the only style of dress worn for
the first two weeks. Loosely wrapped in a warm shawl, the baby is
about ready for its first nap, save for a drink of cooled, boiled
water.

This cooled, boiled, unsweetened water should be given in increasing
amounts every two hours until the child is two or three years of age.
It is usually given the child in a nursing bottle. In this way it is
taken comfortably, slowly, can be kept clean and warm, and should the
babe be robbed of its natural food and transferred to the bottle as a
substitute for mother's milk, it will already be acquainted with the
bottle and thus one-half of a hard battle has already been fought and
won.


BABY'S FIRST NAP

The baby's bed should be separate and apart from the mother's. It may
be a well-padded box, a dresser drawer, a clothes basket, or a large
market basket. A folded comfortable slipped in a pillow slip makes a
good mattress. A most ideal bed may be made out of a clothes basket;
the mattress or pad should come up to within two or three inches of
the top, so the baby may breathe good fresh air and not the stale air
that is always found in a deeply made bed. Into this individual bed
the baby is placed as soon as it is dressed; and a good sleep of four
to six hours usually follows.

Frequent observations of the cord dressing should be made as
occasionally hemorrhage does take place, much to the detriment of the
babe. If bleeding is at any time discovered the cord is retied just
below the original tying. By the time baby has finished a six- or
eight-hour nap the mother is wondrously refreshed and is ready to
receive it to her breast.


PUTTING TO THE BREAST

During the first two days the baby draws from the breasts little more
than a sweetened watery fluid known as the colostrum; but its intake
is essential to the child in that it acts as a good laxative which
causes the emptying of the alimentary tract of the dark, tarry
appearing stools known as the meconium. On the third day this form of
stool disappears and there follows a soft, yellow stool two or three
times a day.

The child should be put to the breast regularly every four hours; two
things being thus encouraged: an abundant supply of milk on the third
day and the early shrinking of the uterus. More than once a mother has
missed the blessed privilege of suckling her child because some
thoughtless person told her "why trouble yourself with nursing the
baby every four hours, there's nothing there, wait until the third
day;" and so when the third day came, there was little more than a
mere suggestion of a scanty flow of milk, which steadily grew less and
less.


THE URINE

The urine of the very young child should be clear, free from odor and
should not stain the diaper, nor should it irritate the skin of the
babe. Often urination does not take place for several hours, sometimes
not at all during the first twenty-four hours. If the infant does not
show signs of distress, there is no cause for alarm; the urine should
pass, however, within thirty hours. As a rule there are usually
between ten and twenty wet diapers during each twenty-four hours. The
following table shows about the amounts of urine at different ages:

Birth to two years 8 to 12 ounces
Two to five years 15 to 25 ounces
Five to ten years 25 to 35 ounces


GENITALS OF THE MALE CHILD

The foreskin of the male child is often long, tight, and adherent, and
is often the direct cause of irritability, nervousness, crying, and
too frequent urination. It should be closely examined by both
physician and nurse and when the foreskin does not readily slip back
over the acorn-like head of the organ, circumcision is advised early
in the second week. This simple operation will start the child out on
his career with at least one moral handicap removed and one desirable
possibility established--that of being able to keep himself clean.


POST-OPERATIVE CARE OF CIRCUMCISION

The dressings that are loosely applied at the time of the operation
should remain untouched (especially those next to the skin), unless
otherwise directed by the physician, until the seventh or eighth day
when the babe is placed in a warm soap bath, at which time the
dressings all come off together. Clean sterile gauze is so placed as
entirely to protect the inflamed skin from the diaper at all times
before this bath, and these same dressings should be continued for at
least another week. Sterile vaseline (from a tube) should be applied
twice a day after the original dressings are removed in the bath at
the end of the first week. There should be little or no bleeding
following the operation, neither should the penis swell markedly; if
either complication should occur, the physician should be promptly
notified.


CARE OF THE FEMALE GENITALS

The girl baby is often neglected in respect to the proper care of the
genitals. The lips of the vulva should be separated and thorough but
careful cleaning should be the daily routine. The foreskin or covering
of the clitoris should not be adherent; while the presence of mucus,
pus, or blood in the vulva should be at once reported to the
physician; in his absence, the application of twenty per cent argyrol
should be made daily.

[Illustration: Fig. 6. How to Hold the Baby]


HANDLING THE BABY

Let us thoroughly come to understand the very first day the little
one's life, that it was not sent to us because the family needed
something to play with; it is not a ball to toss up, neither is it a
variety show. It is a tiny individual, and your responsibilities as
parents and caretakers are very great. The child was sent to be fed,
clothed, kept warm, dry, and otherwise cared for by you, until such a
time as it will become able to care for itself. Remember, what we sow,
that shall we also reap. If we sow indulgence we shall reap anger,
selfishness, irritability, "unbecomingness"--the spoiled child. At two
or three days the baby learns that when it opens its mouth and emits a
holler, someone immediately comes. If we do it on the second and third
day, why should we object to run, bow, and indulge on the one
hundredth and second day?

Handle the baby as little as possible. Turn occasionally from side to
side, feed it, change it, keep it warm, and let it alone; crying is
absolutely essential to the development of good strong lungs. A baby
should cry vigorously several times each day. If the baby is to be
handled, support the back carefully (Fig. 6).


THE EARLY BATHS

During the first week the baby is oiled daily over his entire body,
with the exception that the cord dressing remains untouched. The face,
hands, and buttocks are washed in warm water. After the third week the
bathroom is thoroughly warmed and the small tub is filled with water
at temperature of 100 F. The baby having been stripped and wrapped in
a warm turkish towel, is placed on a table protected by a pillow,
while the caretaker stands by and vaselines the creases of the neck,
armpits, folds of the elbows, knees, thighs, wrists, and genitals; and
then, with her own hands, she applies soap suds all over the
body--every portion of which is more quickly and readily reached--than
by the use of a wash cloth. And now, with the bath at 100 F., with a
folded towel on the bottom of the small tub, the soapy child is placed
into the water and after a thorough rinsing is lifted out again to a
warm fresh towel on the table and the careful drying is quickly begun.
After the bath all the folds and creases are given a light dusting
with a good talcum.

During hot weather the bath should be given daily, soap being used
twice a week. On the other days there should be the simple dipping of
the child into the tub. During the cold weather the full bath is given
but twice a week, while on the other days a sponge bath or an oil rub
may be administered.

A weak, delicate child should not be exposed to the daily full bath,
but rather the semi-weekly sponge bath and the daily oil rub should be
administered. We have found the late afternoon hour to be better than
the early morning hour for baby's bath. It requires too much vital
resistance to react to an early morning bath, especially when the
house is cool.


REGARDING SOAP

The use of soap is very much abused with young babies. I recall one
mother who came into the office with her poor little baby which was
constantly crying and fretting because of a greatly inflamed body--all
a result of the too frequent use of soap. I said, "I am afraid you do
not keep your baby clean." "O Doctor!" she replied, "I wash him with
soap every time I change him; I am sure he is clean." And come to find
out, the poor little fellow's tender skin had been subjected to soap
several times a day. We ordered the use of all soap discontinued,
vaseline and talcum powder to be used instead, and the child's skin
got well in a very short time.


CARE OF THE UMBILICUS

Tight bands should not be placed about the babe. If the umbilicus
protrudes, do not endeavor to hold it in by a tight band, but consult
your physician about the use of a bit of folded cotton and adhesive
plaster, and then allow the child the freedom of the knitted bands,
with skirts suspended from yokes. The day of tight bands and pinning
blankets with their additional and traditional windings is over. After
the complete healing of the cord, the need for a snug binder to hold
the dressings in place is over. Should the baby cry violently, the
umbilicus should be protected in the manner described above--the fold
of cotton and the adhesive plaster.

The diaper, stockings, shirt, skirt, and dress with an additional
wrapper for cold days completes the outfit at this age.


BIRTH REGISTRATION

"One of the most important services to render the newborn baby is to
have his birth promptly and properly registered."

In most states the attending physician or midwife is required by law
to report the birth to the proper authority, who will see that the
child's name, the date of his birth, and other particulars are made a
matter of public record. Birth registration may be of the greatest
importance when the child is older, and parents should make sure this
duty is not neglected.

A public health official some time ago epitomized some of the uses of
birth registration as follows:

There is hardly a relation in life from the cradle to the grave
in which such a record may not prove to be of the greatest value.
For example, in the matter of descent; in the relations of wards
and guardians; in the disabilities of minors; in the
administration of estates; the settlement of insurance and
pensions; the requirements of foreign countries in matters of
residence, marriage, and legacies; in marriage in our own
country; in voting and in jury and militia service; in the right
to admission and practice in the professions and many public
offices; in the enforcement of laws relating to education and to
child labor, as well as to various matters in the criminal code;
the irresponsibility of children under ten for crime or
misdemeanor; the determination of the age of consent, etc., etc.




CHAPTER XIII

THE NURSERY


We wish it were possible for every mother who reads this book to have
a special baby's room or nursery. Some of our readers have a separate
nursery-room for the little folks, and so we will devote a portion of
this chapter to the description of what seems to us a model
arrangement for such a room; but, realizing that ninety-five per cent
of our readers can only devote a corner of their own bedroom to the
oncoming citizen, we have also carefully sought to meet their needs
and help them to take what they have and make it just as near like the
ideal nursery as possible.


THE SEPARATE NURSERY

The nursery should be a quiet room with a south or southwesterly
exposure. The bathroom should adjoin or at least be near. A
screened-in porch is very desirable.

Draperies that cannot be washed, and upholstered furniture, do not
belong in the baby's room. A hardwood floor is better than a carpet or
matting; while a few light-weight rugs, easily cleaned, are advisable.
Enameled walls are easily washed and are, therefore, preferable to
wall paper or other dressings.

The windows should be well screened, for by far the greatest dangers
to which the baby is exposed, are flies and mosquitoes--carriers of
filth and disease. Flies, mosquitoes, cockroaches, bed bugs, cats,
dogs, lice, and mice are all disease carriers and must therefore be
kept out of baby's room.


NURSERY EQUIPMENT

At each window should be found dark shades, and if curtains are
desired they should be of an easily washable material, such as mull,
swiss, lawn, voile, or scrim. The hardwood floor may be covered where
necessary with easily handled rugs which should be aired daily. The
other necessary articles of furniture are a crib of enameled iron
whose bedding will be described elsewhere in this chapter, a chest for
baby's clothes and other necessary supplies, a screen or two, a low
table and a low rocker, a small clothes rack on which to air the
clothes at night, a pair of scales, and a medicine chest placed high
on the wall.

If the room will conveniently admit it, a couch will add greatly to
the mother's comfort; and, if possible, it should be of leather
upholstery; otherwise, it should possess a washable cover, for all
articles that promote the accumulation of dust are not to be allowed
in the nursery. In these early weeks and months baby will not benefit
from pictures or other wall decorations, and so let him have clean
walls that are easily washed and quickly dusted.

The necessities for baby's personal care are:

Talcum powder.
Castile soap.
Soft wash cloths.
Soft linen towels.
Bottle of plain vaseline.
Boracic acid, oz. IV (Saturated Solution).
Olive oil.
Sterile cotton balls in covered glass jar.
Safety pins of different sizes.
Hot water bag with flannel cover.
Baby scales.
Drying frames for shirt and stockings.


BABY'S BED

Since the days of Solomon, accidents have occurred where mother and
babe have occupied the same bed. Not only is there the ever-present
danger of smothering the babe, but there are also many other reasons
why a baby should have its own bed. The constant tendency to nurse it
too often and the possibility of the bed clothing shutting off the
fresh air supply, are in and of themselves sufficient reasons for
having a separate bed for baby.

The first bed is usually a basinet--a wicker basket with high
sides--with or without a hood. A suitable washable lining and outside
drape present a neat as well as sanitary appearance. The mattress of
the basinet is usually a folded clean comfort slipped into a pillow
slip; this is to be preferred to a feather pillow, as it is cooler and
in every way better for the babe.

Drapes about the head of the basinet are not only often in the way,
shutting out air, etc., but they also gather dust and are unsanitary.
Screens are movable--they may be used or put away at will--and are,
therefore, very convenient about the nursery.

The basinet may be dispensed with entirely if the sides of the
enameled crib are lined to cut off draughts and the babe is properly
supported by pillows. After the baby is four to six months of age it
is transferred to the crib. The basinet has an advantage over the crib
during those early weeks in that its high sides protect the babe from
draughts, and the comforts and blankets can be more easily tucked
about the little fellow to keep him warm. The sides should not extend
more than four inches above the lying position of the child.


THE CRIB

The enameled iron crib should be provided with a woven-wire mattress,
over which is placed a mattress; hair is best as a filling for the
mattress, wool next, and cotton last. Over the mattress should be
placed a rubber sheet, and over all a folded sheet.

A pillow of hair or down is not to be discarded; for recent
investigation has shown that the pillow favors nasal drainage, while
lying flat encourages the retaining of mucus in the nose and nasal
chambers--the sinuses. The pillow slip should be of linen texture.

During the winter a folded soft blanket over the rubber sheet
increases both softness and warmth. No top sheet is used during the
first months, particularly if the first months are the winter months.
The baby is wrapped loosely in a light weight clean blanket or shawl,
and other blankets--as many as the season demands are tucked about the
child. These blankets should be aired daily, and the one next to the
baby changed, aired, or washed very often.

[Illustration: Fig. 7. Making the Sleeping Blanket]


THE SLEEPING BLANKET

To prevent baby from becoming uncovered the sleeping blanket has been
devised. The blanket is folded and stitched in such a way as
completely to envelop the sleeping babe, and at the same time afford
the utmost freedom (Fig. 7). The babe may turn as often as he desires,
but cannot possibly uncover himself. Bed clothes fasteners are also
used--an elastic tape being securely fastened to the head posts and
then by means of clamps or safety pins attachment is made to the
blankets on either side. The elasticity allows considerable freedom to
the child in turning (See Fig. 8).


NURSERY HEATING AND VENTILATION

The subject of ventilation has been so fully discussed by the authors
in another work that we refer the reader to _The Science of Living, or
the Art of Keeping Well_.

For the first two or three weeks the nursery temperature should be
maintained at seventy degrees Fahrenheit by day and from sixty degrees
to sixty-five degrees by night. In the third week the day temperature
should be sixty-eight degrees Fahrenheit measured by a thermometer
hanging three feet from the floor. After three months the night
temperature may go as low as fifty-five degrees Fahrenheit, and after
the first year it may go as low as forty-five degrees.

The heating of the nursery is usually controlled by the general
heating plant, and no matter what system of heating is maintained,
humidifiers must be used, the necessity for which is doubled when the
system is that of the hot-air furnace.

These shallow pans of water with large wick evaporating surfaces will
evaporate from three to four quarts during the twenty-four hours. The
humidity should be fifty throughout the seasons of artificial heating.

Many colds may be entirely avoided by the use of humidifiers or
evaporators. The open grate is one of the very best means of nursery
heating. Gas and oil heaters should not be depended upon for nursery
heat. Only in an emergency should they be used at all, and the
electric heater is by far the best device for such occasions.

[Illustration: Fig. 8. In the Sleeping Blanket]


BABY'S CORNER IN MOTHER'S ROOM

It is probably a conservative estimate to say that ninety-five per
cent of all the babies occupy a corner of mother's and father's
bedroom for the first two or three years. And believing this estimate
to be correct, it is advisable to give the matter some consideration.
To begin with, a lot of the non-essentials, ruffles and fluffles of
the average bedroom, must go. The good father's chiffonier may have to
be put in the bath room; heavy floor coverings must be discarded, to
be replaced by one or two small, light-weight rugs; wall decorations
and the usual bric-a-brac of dressers, tables, etc., should be
carefully packed away. In fact, there should be nothing in the room
save the parents' bed, dresser (several drawers of which must be
devoted to baby's necessities), table, low rocker, a stool, baby's bed
and a good big generous screen, made out of a large clothes horse
enameled white and filled with washable swiss.

Window draperies must be taken down and packed away, while they are
replaced with simple muslin which can go to the laundry twice a month.
If it be within the means of the family purse, it is well to renovate
the walls just prior to the advent of the little stranger.

And now the baby's bed is placed in the corner most protected from
draughts and the glare of the sunlight. If it can be so arranged that
baby looks away from the light, and not at it, we are guarding it from
defective vision in the future.


CRIB SUBSTITUTES

Many a beautiful artistic creation so much admired in this world is
found to be, on closer inspection, a very ordinary thing which has
received an artistic touch; and so, many convenient, sanitary, and
beautiful cribs are fashioned from market baskets fastened to tops of
small tables whose legs are sawed off a bit; from soap boxes fastened
to a frame, and from clothes baskets. A can of white enamel, a paint
brush and the deft hand of a merry, cheery-hearted expectant mother
can work almost miracles. Remember, please, that all draperies must be
washable and attached with thumb tacks so as to admit of easy and
frequent visits to the laundry.

A medium-sized clothes basket will take care of our baby for four or
five months. The same general plan for the mattress and bedding is
followed as before described.


EXTRA HEAT TO THE CRIB

If necessary--and it usually is, especially during the winter
months--a hot-water bottle may be placed underneath the bedding on top
of the mattress. This insures a steady, mild, uniform warmth and it
not only saves the baby from the danger of being burned, but it also
obviates the temporary overheating of the child which usually occurs
when the bottle is placed inside the bed, next to the baby. If the bed
is properly made--the blankets coming from under the babe up and
over--there is little or no need for extra heat for well babies after
the first month.


LIGHTING BABY'S ROOM

If electric lighting is not an equipment of the home neither gas or
oil lamps should be allowed to burn in the room for long periods. For
emergency night lighting a well-protected wax candle should be used.
However, don't go to sleep and allow a candle to burn unprotected as
did one tired, exhausted mother. The father, suddenly aroused from his
sleep, saw a large flame caused by the overturning of a wax candle
into a box of candles, while the lace drapery of the basinet was
within a few inches of the flame and the baby just beyond. Grabbing a
pillow he smothered the flames and saved baby and all.


FRESH AIR

Plenty of fresh air and lots of sunshine should enter baby's room. The
large screen amply shields from draughts, and when thus protected
there need be no unnecessary concern about cool fresh air, especially
after two or three months, as it is invigorating and prevents
"catching cold." Warm, stuffy air is devitalizing and even during the
early weeks when the fresh air must be warm, an electric fan should be
advantageously placed so that many times each day the warm fresh air
may be put in motion without creating a harmful draught.

Warm stuffy air makes babies liable to catch cold when taken out into
the open.

Throw open the windows several times each day and completely change
the air of baby's room. In the absence of the large screen, a wooden
board five or six inches high is fitted into the opening made by
raising the lower window sash. Then as the upper sash is lowered the
impure air readily escapes while fresh air is admitted.


THE BATH EQUIPMENT

Make early preparations for bathing the baby in the easiest possible
manner; in fact, the young mother should seek to attend to all her
duties--the family, the home, and the baby--in the easiest way. For
the administration of a bath during the early months, a table is
needed, protected by oilcloth on which is placed a roomy bathtub with
a folded turkish towel on the bottom for baby to sit on. In addition
to the tub, have:

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