When, from unusual tenderness of the skin, the woollen material of the vest irritates or induces too much perspiration, spun cotton may be used; but I do not recommend this except in rare instances. When woollen materials irritate, it is generally because they are too coarse or too new; therefore, the softest and finest obtainable should be used. To make baby's vests no material could possibly be better than that cut from vests which have been worn out by its father, for he will have taken the roughness off them.
I have seen very nice garments for children knitted of fine wool; these have the advantage of stretching with every movement; they can be made like slips and worn between the vest and the robe in cold weather. I strongly deprecate the habit of dressing a child in thin clothes in cold weather, and then wrapping it up in a shawl, which cramps its movements, or keeping it near the fire, which makes it very liable to take cold directly it is in a cooler atmosphere.
Much mischief may be done by the excessive relaxation induced by children being clothed too warmly in hot weather. If, on the one hand, the child is bathed in perspiration, or, on the other, if the skin feels hot and dry, without your being able to account for this in any other way, you may conclude it is too warmly dressed. Rashes such as those, the popular names of which are "prickly heat," "red gown," and "red gum" may be caused by the use of over-warm clothes in the summer.
Infants' heads are generally kept too warm,
