Walks and Drives for the Patient
Walking should be encouraged, within safe limits, for the benefit of the exercise, fresh air, sunlight and the mental diversion provided by a change of scene. Automobiling is excellent, also, but must not be long continued or tiresome, or without adequate protection against wind and cold. Special cushions will often be necessary at first. If walking is per¬mitted at all, the patient may be allowed out of the car for a while somewhere along the way for rest through change of position and for the exercise. More strenuous activities will come later, their nature and amount depending upon the prog¬ress, sex, age and natural strength of the individual.
NURSING CHILDREN.—The hygiene and care of infants and children are discussed in Volume IV (Sees. 4 and 5.), so need not be considered here. It should be kept in mind that the conditions of life during infancy and childhood are differ¬ent from those of adults or persons close to maturity and some features of nursing will need to be changed for the immature patients. Except in one’s immediate family, a nurse who may prove satisfactory for adults may not be at all suited for the care of children. In some measure, the present high mortality of infants and small children is doubtless due to poor nursing. When the nurse is the mother she is tempted to yield to the desire to give children things they should not have, or to take them in her arms, possibly to rock and weary them.