NEONATOLOGY ON THE WEB

On the Use of a Constant
Bath for New-Born Children

By F. Winckel
Archives of Pediatrics 2(2):108, Feb. 1885
Translated and abstracted from
Rev. Mens. des Mal. de l'Enf. [Lyon Medical],
December, 1884

Permanent baths are indicated for children.

  1. For those who are extremely feeble, between twenty-eight and thirty-six weeks of age.
  2. With those who are in a state of profound asphyxia in consequence of hemorrhages during accouchement, or from the cord after that event.
  3. In certain cutaneous afflictions, such as intertrigo, non-syphilitic pemphigus, sclerema, in diseases of the spinal cord, and after operations.
The author has had a bath specially constructed for this purpose, in which, with water at a temperature of 36 to 38 degrees C., even very restless children have been kept for several days in succession, being removed occasionally for a few minutes while the water was changed. He has found that they could both drink and sleep in the bath without apparent inconvenience. Three cases are narrated in which the experiment was carried out, one in a delicate child affected with intertrigo, another in an imperfectly developed twin, and another in a child who was profoundly asphyxiated when born, and was affected with ascites and partial atelectasis of the right lung.

The image is from Joseph De Lee's 1901 article " Infant Incubation, with the Presentation of a New Incubator and a Description of the System at the Chicago Lying-In Hospital", 1901.

Created 8/26/2006 / Last modified 8/26/2006
Copyright © 2006 Neonatology on the Web / webmaster@neonatology.net