TO put automation and babies in the same sentence seems to foreshadow the invention of a robot mother. But this is not so: today automation is the key to the dilemma of many highly-qualified young mothers who wish to keep one foot in their professions while, Spock in hand, they bring up their babies themselves.
For too long now it has been assumed that it is right for a mother to pay for each hour of pleasure she gets from her baby with an hour of cleaning, washing, ironing, scrubbing, or sterilizing. It is also too often assumed that automation means expensive machinery and elaborate gadgets. In fact it is an attitude of mind, a way of using resources (time as well as machinery) that will give a woman freedom for, say, four hours' brainwork a day.
The laborious business of washing and ironing for a baby is automated, for instance, not only by choosing the right washing machine but the right baby clothes as well.
There is no doubt that for anyone who wants the washing to be done while she concentrates on something else, the only machine to choose is a fully automatic one with as good a drying performance as she can afford. The cheapest machine like this so far costs 79 guineas. Generally speaking, the more expensive the machine, the better it dries. If drying space is a real problem, it may also be worth considering investing an additional 50 guineas in a tumbler-drier which will get things bone dry.
OUTDATED
The right baby-clothes are far more of a problem to find, as anyone knows who has been brave enough to walk into a baby shop and demand a complete layette that will go into the washing machine. A good many baby shops still seem to thrive on romantic illusions about babies and almost invariably display traditional garments in all their royal lacey finery. (Even if a few are in nylon or Terylene or other drip-dry fibre they still tend to bear the ominous legend: "Hand-wash in lukewarm water. . .")
Friends and relatives unless given firm guidance, post off more drawerfuls of hand-washing. In addition there is the legacy of combating cold, damp, draughty houses which manifests itself in an atavistic belief in wool which means yet more careful washing. Still not enough woollens are treated with shrink-resistant processes.
However, with up-to-date heating one can safely ignore this and take some hints from across the Atlantic where baby-clothes and washing machines are made for each other. It is a pity their enchanting knitted cotton nighties and dresses are not available over here, but another invention which does away with the need for nighties or dresses has arrived: this is the stretchy all-in-one garment that covers a baby from neck to toe.
THE BEST TYPE
There are various makes; some are imported, some (like Babygro) are made over here; some have a smooth finish, others resemble fine terry towelling; all do up the front with poppers and the best pop up each leg as well, which makes changing beautifully unfussy. Although manufacturers do not specifically advise it, in practice these garments survive the washing machine satisfactorily. Since the largest will fit babies weighing 30lb., they solve the clothes problem until the baby is ready for toddler's clothes.
Underneath this garment a cotton vest is usually sufficient. In winter, however, one needs to be very strong minded and confident of one's heating to abandon the knitted cardigan or sweater. This means searching for patterns which resemble grown-up "golfers" rather than the traditional matinee jackets. All knitted things, whether wool or synthetic, stay softest if they are washed and rinsed by hand and then spun-dried in the machine-although some do survive the coolest washing programme.
Much washing of blankets, shawls, and sleeping bags can be avoided if towels are substituted wherever possible. A baby can be wrapped in, sat on, fed in, laid on, and mopped up with a towel; some hospitals even use towels instead of blankets. Cotton towelling is so practical where babies are concerned that it is worth considering towelling dressing-gowns for oneself.
With an automatic machine and a preparation like Nappisan, nappy washing can become a quick and painless routine. This is when the machine that delivers clean nappies bone-dry comes into its own. All the same some people feel a Nappy Service is worth budgeting for: 11s, 6d. a week is the minimum charged in central London for three collections of up to 42 nappies a week. Alternatively disposable nappies can be used. Whatever one does, a great deal of unnecessary washing is saved if the baby also wears plastic pants-fortunately no longer deemed unhealthy.
For that other great time-consuming chore - washing, preparing and sterilizing the feeds - automation lags far behind the beautiful system Nature provides for the mother who breast-feeds successfully. However, there are some short-cuts that simplify bottle-feeding. The first is to copy hospitals and make all the day's feeds in one batch, storing them in the refrigerator and heating them when needed.
Apart from saving valuable minutes before each feed (minutes which seem like eternities to the poor baby) wholesale mixing can sometimes be passed off as a man's job. Sterilizing is so much simpler with Milton than by boiling that it is worth the extra cost. The new plastic bottles with screw-tops and wide necks have certain advantages over the traditional glass ones. Not only neater and lighter and easier to clean, plastic bottles are also squeezable, so that blocked teats no longer call for sterilized needles: a squeeze or two creates enough pressure to remove the blockage.
ALL-ROUND GAIN
An electric bottle-warmer is useful too and for the night feeds can be plugged into a point in the nursery or bedroom.
When an infant begins a mixed diet, there are few women who scorn the excellent tins and jars of baby foods now available. Apart from the enormous variety which it would be expensive to provide otherwise, the labours of rendering spinach into a creamy puree, chicken into a nourishing broth or beef-steak into an essence are never really appreciated by a young baby.
Automation, approached like this, does not lead to abdicating in favour of a robot mother. Rather the reverse: for by using automation to cut down the time-consuming and unrewarding chores, the mother gives herself more time to do the things that are important to her baby. Her bonus is that she also gives herself time to do the other things important to her. This is not self-indulgence: neither the professions nor the country can afford to waste the training and resulting skills that such a woman possesses.
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