1916. Baby Week

In 1916, medical professionals and civic organizations across the country came together for "Baby Week", an effort to reduce infant mortality by improving parental education. At the time, an estimated 1 in 10 babies died before their first birthday. Local businesses hosted displays in shop windows, Boy Scouts distributed pamphlets on childcare (written by Dr. Penfield), and lectures (with visuals!) were given. The daily articles from the Danbury News-Times about Baby Week 1916 are collected in chapter II. The end of the week was marked by a lecture given by Dr. Annie Keeler, Mrs. Matilda Collins (the school nurse), and Miss Mary Brennan (the visiting nurse).

Dr. Keeler’s lecture was recorded in the Danbury News-Times article “How to Take Care of Baby: Dr. Annie Keeler, Mrs. Collins and Miss Brennan Give Valuable Points.” Highlights include advice on why babies cry (“Babies cry only from three causes. The first is hunger, because the baby is not satisfied. The second is pain in some form such as colic, rheumatism, earache or sore buttocks. The third is thirst, which is mistaken for hunger.”), the invention of an infant lungmoter (to force air into the lungs of asphyxiated babies), and disciplinary wisdom based on biblical texts. She believed that breast cancer could be caused by injury to the mother’s breast:

Be careful not to have the baby knead the breast. It is a direct cause of a cancer to the mother as it is a very subtle form of injury. If the baby is disposed to do that this, shake the head and say, ‘No, No.’ If he persists, slap his hands, shake the head and say ‘No, No, ’ but see that it obeys.

She was a firm believer in discipline and did not approve of the Montessori and Gary systems of education.

In Proverbs 23:15, we read. ‘Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child.’ Hence the need of training. In Proverbs 29:15, it reads: ’A child left to itself bringeth its mother to shame.’ Abraham Lincoln said that if he ever had a chance at slavery, he would hit it hard, and I want you to know that the word of God hits the Montessor and Gary systems hard.

She also emphasized that if the child was fed with a bottle, it was very important to use properly sterilized equipment.

The greatest number of deaths occur from bottle feeding. The feeding bottle and nipple should be washed in hot water and soda with a brush and thoroughly rinsed. It is the sour bottle that causes sore mouth and bowel trouble. Never use a stopple with a rubber or glass tube because it is impossible to sterilise them.

All the articles on Baby Week 1916 from the Danbury News-Times can be found in "Baby Week". The article "How To Take Care of Baby", in particular, follows a lecture Dr. Keeler gave on the subject.

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