Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 75, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 March 1910 — SCIENTIFIC BABY RAISING. [ARTICLE]

SCIENTIFIC BABY RAISING.

licewa Atteadias College-Bred Mother's Method of Reerlug Bey. “Scientific babies” are not necessarily prodigies, neither are college women, m many writers have averred, sot qualified to be good mother*. The experience of Mrs. William Noyes, a

college graduate, with her son Leon*' ard, now 2 years old, disproves both these thories and furnishes a-new Ult of* thought in the raising of children for mothers of all classes, says Van Norden’s Magazine. It proves, too, that science is casting out and uprooting superstitious methods and Is leading the mother to forego her selfish pride for the Infant’s sake and that ultimately means a better and stronger citizenship. Leonard Noyes was not clad, to begin with, in the filmy draperies with which mothers delight to clothe their children. He ares never rocked or sung to sleep; he was never cuddled or shown off to an admiring company; and kissing was left entirely out at his scheme of life. His mother had all the maternal instincts, but science declares that these manifestations of affection are harmful to an infant’s nervous organization and she banished them all—for the child’s sake. To begin with, Mrs. Noyes, before Leonard’s birth, made a layette so dlffrent from the ordinary one as to- be revolutionary, being composed of loose, knitted* cotton garments which would not intSrefers with either Ms circulation or his freedom of movement. His crib not s cradle —was s plain wicker basket, Hght enough to be carried from one place to another and small enough to be placed on a window sill. Soon after the child’s birth the mother began to keep a record, similar to those kept by nurses, of his treatment and his behavior under it. She registered each of the natural func* tlone, and every rash or pimple, each cold or fever, each nap or spell of crying went down Into her book. At regular Intervals she entered his weight and measurements and made observations on his muscular and mental development. Convinced that too little rather than too much food would be of moot benefit, she reduced his meals to six a day. Just enough and not too much, was her motto. At 2 months Leonard weighed 12 pounds—one and a hqlf pounds above the average established by Dr. L. Emmett Holt, the famous child specialist. At 3 months he was two and seven-tenths pounds above t.be average. From the first months he was systematically exercised, first by massage. Later, holding him by the feet, the mother began by letting Mm bend himself backward on her knee till his head bung down to the floor and he supported his body by the muscles of hia feet and legs. When he began to take notice Mrs. Noyes fastened a wooden rod across his basket and he entertained himself by pulling himself up to a sitting position by its aid. The “average” babies observed by Holt do not bold up their heads until the third or fourth month. Leonard held up his in the third week. Holt’s babies do not laugh until the third or fourth month. Leonard laughed in Ms twelfth week. Holt’s babies do not reach for objects until the fifth to the seventh month. Leonard grabbed tor a pair of scales In his fifteenth week. In his twentieth weak he began pulling himself up to the sitting, position by the rod fastened across his basket; in his twenty-seventh to pull Mmsel’f up to his feet and stand alone, in his thirty-third he began to walk. Everything that affected the health or demeanor of the boy was noted on a chart such as hospital nhrses heep, and this record when consulted proved to be an lnfalliable guide In case of a recurrence of the symptoms.