The band or binder may be of fine, soft flannel or of knitted wool. In either case it should extend from the brim of the pelvis or hip bones to the lower ribs. The flannel band should be five inches wide and twenty inches long, or long enough to go a little more than around the abdomen; it should be cut on the bias to secure elasticity, should be unhemmed, and must be fixed in position by basting, not by safety-pins. This band is to be preferred during the first three weeks of life, for the purpose of holding the dressing of the cord in place, and to protect the navel before it is perfectly healed. After the cord has fallen off and the navel is quite normal, a binder serves merely to prevent abdominal chilling, and it is much better to discard the flannel band and substitute a knitted binder; this should be worn until the eighteenth or twentieth month, and sometimes, if the child be subject to intestinal indigestion, until the fourth year or even longer. "Knit Abdominal Bands" can be purchased in the shops or any woman who is apt with her knitting-needles can make one, and the product has the advantages of being readily applied and of keeping its position without the aid of either strings or pins.*

Several bands are required to be on hand at the same time for the sake of proper cleanliness, and, as they should be worn well into the second year, it is necessary to replace them, set by set, as the growth of the child demands.

The body clothing is usually composed of three separate pieces: a shirt, a petticoat and an outside dress or "slip." The shirt should be long enough to extend from the neck to the lowest part of the trunk: and have sleeves reaching to the wrists. It may be made of merino or of soft worsted yarn. In either case it should fit comfortably, be open from top to bottom in front, and be fastened by buttons, with a tape at the neck. The petticoat must be long enough to extend from the waist to six or eight inches below the feet. The proper material for the skirt is light, white flannel. This is gathered at the top into a muslin band, which must be deep enough to reach from the hips to the arm pits, and wide enough to lap over considerably at the back; it is fastened by basting or very carefully adjusted small safety-pins. The overwidth is to allow for increase in size.

* Formula for Crochetted Baby-band. - Single zephyr in ridge stitch, that is, half stitch, in which, going back and forth, only the back half of the stitches in the lower row are picked up. Begin on a chain of fifty and crochet forty-eight ridges, hence ninety-six rows. Join by a row of tight stitches or by sewing. Finish off at bottom by a row of plain stitches and at top by a picot-edging (five chains and a tight stitch back into the first). - "Babyhood," Vol. III, p. 33. 6

An equally good waist can be made with arm-holes and buttoned in the back.

The dress or slip is made of fine cambric, cut in one piece, opening well at the back that it may be readily slipped on and off.

Another, and I think a preferable outfit, consists, also, of three garments. The first or under garment, made of soft, white flannel, is long enough to extend from the neck to ten inches below the feet - about twenty-five inches in total measurement - with wide arm-holes. All the seams must be smooth, and the hem at the neck turned outward. The next garment, cut in the same way, but one-half inch larger, and five inches longer, is made of muslin. The slip is also cut Princess, has long sleeves, a longer skirt than either of the other garments, and all are fastened behind by small buttons.

When dressing the infant these three coverings are put together, sleeve fitting to sleeve, and the whole drawn over the little one's feet, then buttoned behind, and the process is complete.

The advantages of the last method of dressing are -

1. Perfect freedom to the organs contained within the chest, abdomen and pelvis.

2. Suspension of the clothing from the shoulders.

3. Saving of time to the mother and fatigue to the infant in the process of dressing.

4. A uniform covering of the whole body.

So much for the day clothing. At night the dress should consist of the flannel and the outer garment.

In the foregoing, my intention has been to lay special stress upon the advantage of holding the garments in place by tape or buttons rather than by pins, and it should be noticed that a baby may be completely dressed with but one pin in its clothing, namely, that fastening the napkin. This, which is allowed only for the sake of convenience, must be a safety-pin, the ordinary pointed pin being an abomination in the nursery.

It is hardly necessary to say that, for the sake of cleanliness, an abundant supply of body clothing should be at hand; a mother, particularly, must recognize that "cleanliness is next to godliness," and provide accordingly. Let her remember, too, that fresh clothing must be thoroughly aired or dried before it is put upon the infant.

Sometimes, to keep the body clothes dry, a piece of thin rubber cloth is placed over the napkin; this does nothing but harm, for it overheats the parts, and when the diaper is wet with urine, makes a poultice of it, and thus macerates the skin and causes irritating and painful excoriation.

At the age of six months in summer and of eight months in winter, provided, in both cases, the health be good, the clothing may be shortened. This change introduces several important questions, namely, the covering of the legs and knees, and the selection of shoes and stockings.

The shortening process makes no change in the body clothing except that the skirts end a short distance below the knees, at about the point to which an ordinary shoe top comes; this, of course, practically leaves the legs, from the top of a short stocking to the lower edge of the napkin, exposed. As already hinted, it is necessary for the health of the infant to keep this comparatively large surface protected, except, perhaps, during a few extremely hot days in midsummer. There are two ways of accomplishing this: either by drawers or by stockings long enough to extend from the feet to the napkin, to which they may be attached by safety-pins or ordinary fasteners. The best drawers are those made in two pieces, one for each leg, as shown in Fig. 12.