Seborrhea

A brownish-gray scale that develops on the heads of babies whose mothers are afraid they will hurt them by a too vigorous use of the washcloth. The disease is due to lack of cleanliness. If baby's head is kept clean from birth, the skin secretions will not dry and form into an unsightly scale on the head.

Treatment.--When the dry scale has formed white Vaseline be used, after the scalp has been thoroughly washed, using any mild soap and soft water. For every use, from birth to deaths I know of no better soap than Ivory. Most toilet soaps are irritating and have little to recommend them except smell; and there are odors that make children irritable. Irritation or overstimulation of the olfactory (smell) nerves produces enervation--the first step on the way to developing illhealth.

Keep baby clean and free from all odors, agreeable and disagreeable. Perfume often covers an odor of warning, and too often camouflages the "great unwashed."

Keep the baby clean inside and out by watching the bowel movements. When curds appear in the bowel movement, reduce the amount of milk until digestion is perfect. A disagreeable odor from the bowel movements means too much food; cut it down. Keep baby free from signs of overfeeding, and then you can say to calamity-mongers and peddlers of cod-liver oil: "My baby will not develop any disease no, not rickets."

Rickets come from feeding beyond the digestive power, and curds in the stools, bad odors, and scales on the scalp are warnings.