Health Care for Children

Bath Time & Fever Cures
 
Bathing Basics
 
Old Advice: Babies need daily baths.

New Advice: It’s not necessary to bathe an infant more than two or three times a week, as long as you wash her face, hands, and bottom in between full baths. If your baby enjoys baths and you choose to bathe her every day, however, use soap only on the face, hands, and bottom. Using soap all over the body will dry out her skin.

Fighting Fever
 
Old Advice: When infants are feverish, give them baby aspirin and rub them down with alcohol to cool their skin.

New Advice: Never give a baby (or any child under 18) aspirin, because it increases the risk of Reye’s syndrome, a potentially fatal disorder that can occur in children recovering from a viral illness. Use acetaminophen or ibuprofen instead. “Alcohol is counterproductive to bringing down a fever because it evaporates on the skin, causing a baby to shiver, which actually generates more heat,” Dr. Grunbaum says.

Sleeping
 
Shhh, The Baby’s Sleeping
 
Old Advice: Babies need absolute silence to sleep well.

New Advice: It’s good for babies to learn to sleep through the whir of a vacuum cleaner, the sound of the TV, or the chatter of an older sibling. In fact, after nine months in the womb, babies are already conditioned to sleep with background noise, so it may be easier for them to sleep with white noise around them.

Sleeping Safely
 
Old Advice: Put your infant to bed on her tummy, said doctors, who worried that babies could inhale and choke on mucus or vomit while sleeping on their back.

New Advice: Babies are not more likely to choke when sleeping on their back, but they are at higher risk of SIDS while sleeping on their stomach. Doctors aren’t sure why, but they believe that sleeping facedown may place excess pressure on the diaphragm or force babies to rebreathe exhaled air, which is low in oxygen.

Crib Caution
 
Old Advice: Babies should sleep on pillows and under quilts, just as adults do.

New Advice: The American Academy of Pediatrics advises removing all pillows, blankets, sheepskins, stuffed toys, and loose bedding and bumpers from cribs because they may increase the baby’s risk of SIDS.