Babies Then & Now

When the Government Printing Office gets a request for "the book," with 20-c-^ enclosed, its clerks know just what is meant. Out goes another copy of the Children's Bureau booklet, Infant Care. Last week, this Government super-seller (more than 28 million copies sold) went into a new edition, its ninth since 1914. The new edition reverses a lot of the advice in the first.

Most striking is the about-face on feeding. In 1914, mothers were sternly enjoined that babies were to be fed at three-hour intervals for six months. In 1951: "Letting a baby have a chance to develop a feeding rhythm of his own takes more judgment than feeding him at set intervals. But it's much easier than having an unhappy baby ... A baby's hunger is the best clock to go by." Also down the drain are the old, rigid schedules of toilet training.

The wisdom of 1914 noted that "the milk of each animal ... is especially adapted to the requirements of the young of that species." This alone was supposed to convince every mother that she must nurse her child. As of 1951: "It is the spirit in which you feed your baby that counts, rather than the particular kind of milk he gets."

The 1914 baby had his sleeves pinned down over the fingers to prevent thumbsucking. Nowadays: "Sucking is the first way a baby gets pleasure. So when he is tired, or hungry, or doesn't have anything interesting to watch or to do, he may try to get a little pleasure out of his thumb or fingers. Sucking is a poor substitute for being held, or talked to, or fed; but it is better than nothing."

As late as 1945, Infant Care expressed fear that babies might smother in their cribs. Now it notes that this is most unusual: sudden deaths are generally the result of a runaway infection.

In the new edition, Infant Care for the first time offers advice on babysitters. Besides giving the sitter a feeding and changing schedule, and a telephone number where they can be reached, parents should first introduce the sitter to any baby over four months old: "The terror a baby may feel when he is old enough to tell people apart and wakes to find himself with a stranger is something no child should be exposed to."

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