Infant Care

Scope Note

Care of routine bodily needs; cleaning; dealing with excreta; clothing and swaddling; provisions for sleep (e.g., cradles, cribs); playing with infants (e.g., fondling, dandling, rocking, crooning); emotional care (e.g., distracting techniques, methods of soothing, guarding against emotional upsets); watching and tending; special dangers ascribed to period of infancy; protection from real and supernatural dangers; hygienic and therapeutic measures; methods of holding and carrying infants (e.g., on back, astride hip); distribution of care among members of the family; institutionalized care (e.g., nurseries); etc.