Page:Scouting for girls, adapted from Girl guiding.djvu/206

192 So he should have a daily bath. The temperature for his bath should range from 80° to 98° and you should be able to read the bath thermometer as well as the room thermometer. Before you undress Baby get together everything that you will need for the bath and dressing; your hand basin of warm water, soap, soft wash cloths and towels, comb and brush, etc., and his clothes laid out in the order in which you will put them on.

It is handier as well as safer to begin baby laid on a table or bed rather than on your lap. He should of course have under him a soft towel or canton flannel. First wash his head carefully and rub it dry gently. Do the outer parts of his ears and let no water get inside them. The nose may be cleaned with a bit of cotton rolled to a point and the nails should be carefully cleaned. Then put him gently in the tub. Some people soap the baby first, and a soapy little baby wiggles, so hold him very firmly and comfortably, supporting his head all the time he is kicking and splashing in the tub. After you lift him out be careful to dry all the creases in his little body. It is perfectly proper for a baby to cry as much as twenty minutes every day till he begins to talk, and he may take his bath time for doing it, so don't scold him. A baby can be kept sweet and clean by a daily sponge bath.

Food

The baby needs proper food to build up his body. Milk is his only food for the first months of his life and even up to three years he takes mostly milk.

For the first eight or nine months of a baby's life