Care of the New-Born in the First Weeks of Life

In this paper I shall attempt to consider only the more important aspects of the care of the new-born in the first few weeks of life. No attempt will be made to cover the entire ground, but stress will be placed chiefly on subjects which have not been sufficiently emphasized in the past, such as physical care of the new-born, congenital defects and injuries, infection, hemorrhage and feeding. The physical care includes proper clothing, bathing, external temperature and the administration of fluids. New-born infants are apt to be kept in rooms in which too high a temperature is maintained. They frequently respond to too high an external temperature with fever, just as they respond with a subnormal temperature if they become chilled. Many an obscure fever in the new-born would be diagnosed if the room temperature were more carefully observed. The same applies to the clothing of the infant; chilling