CHAPTER V.
HOW TO DRESS INFANTS.
FASHION has far too long been permitted to hold absolute sway over the layette, and it is more than time that some radical change should be made in this respect. If the problem to be solved in clothing infants were how best to keep them cold, fetter their movements, check their excretions, and render them generally uncomfortable, no better plan could be adopted than that at present in fashion. But the reverse of all this is what is required in accordance with the laws of health and growth.
Clothing should be warm, but not heavy; it should allow free transpiration, so that the breathing action of the skin may not be impaired, and it should be absorbent of moisture. All these conditions are fulfilled by wool; but the exactly opposite characteristics are possessed by those cotton and linen materials of which infants' clothing is, on the present system, chiefly constructed. Further, clothing must not hinder any of the natural or acquired movements of the body.
