Are many children too thinly clad in the house?  Very few.  The usual mistake is excessive clothing and too warm rooms.  These cause them to take cold so easily.

GENERAL DRESSING FOR DIFFERENT SEASONS.

At night baby may have a warm sponge bath, a fresh band, shirt and skirt put on.  In the winter he should sleep in a flannel nightdress and this can be made with a drawing string or button on the bottom so that he cannot expose his feet.  In the summer he can wear a cotton night-dress and after the third month the skirt may be left off in very warm weather.  By the time baby has entered his second month he may wear simple little “Bishop” dresses instead of his plain slips.  At the end of the third month, the flannel band may be discarded, usually, and a ribbed knitted one used.  The band should be of wool in the winter, and of silk and wool in the summer.  It should be put over the child’s feet when he is being dressed each morning, and be changed for a fresh one at night, if possible.  If the baby is healthy he may begin going out in March, if the days are mild and there are no stormy cold winds.  Begin by letting him stay out one-half hour during the warmest part of the day, then one hour, etc.  When there is much melting snow he should not be taken out.  In cold weather the baby’s cap and cloak should be lined with flannel or lamb’s wool.  Woolen mittens should cover his hands.  A veil is not necessary.

Cap for Baby’s Ears.—­If baby’s ears stand out from his head a considerable distance, it can be corrected best when he is young.  A skeleton cap is made for this purpose.  This can be bought or the mother can make one out of thin lawn or pieces of broad tape.  It should fit snugly in order to do any good and be worn for some time.

Drooling.—­If the baby drools much he is apt to wet any little bib he may wear and take cold by having damp clothing next to his throat and chest.  Cut a piece of material now made (Linite, by Johnson & Johnson) in the shape of a bib, and bind with tape.  This can be worn underneath the bib.

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Short Clothes About the Fifth Month.—­Short clothes should be prepared for the baby’s wear at the beginning of the fifth month, and may consist of a shirt, knitted band with shoulder straps, flannel skirt made on a cotton waist, in summer or a flannel one for cold weather, and having a row of small flat buttons, on to which the white petticoat may be buttoned; a diaper, and a simple white dress.  For summer, white cotton stockings should always be worn, woolen ones in the winter; and they should be long enough so that they may be pinned to the diaper.  Moccasins or soft kid shoes should be the first kind worn.  At night a baby (in short clothes) should sleep in a shirt, band, diaper and a night-dress of cotton in summer, and flannel in winter.  The change to short dresses should not be made in very cold weather; and if the baby is born at such a time as to make it necessary, he may be put into short clothes as early as the end of his third or fourth month, rather than to wait until later and make the change in mid-winter.