Solution Manual for Childhood Voyages in Development

5th Edition by Rathus ISBN 1133956475

9781133956471
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CHAPTER 4
Birth and the Newborn Baby: In the New World

CHAPTER LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. Explain Braxton-Hicks contractions as well as how the fetus may initiate the labor process.

2. Describe the three stages of childbirth and the significant characteristics of each.

3. Compare and contrast the various methods of childbirth.

4. Describe the most common birth problems as well as the indicators and consequences of prematurity.

5. Describe the postpartum period, including postpartum blues, postpartum depression, and postpartum

mood disorders with “psychotic features.”

6. Discuss newborn health assessment as well as the sensory characteristics and primary reflexes of

newborns.

7. Explain supporting evidence for newborns’ learning through classical and operant conditioning.

8. Describe waking and sleeping cycles of newborns as well as REM and non-REM sleep.

9. Discuss possible causes and risk factors associated with sudden infant death syndrome.

10. Discuss the latest findings on causes of SIDS and ways to lessen the risk of SIDS.

CHAPTER OVERVIEW

This chapter covers childbirth and the characteristics of the newborn human infant. Childbirth preparation
and procedures (e.g., medicated versus prepared childbirth, hypnosis and biofeedback, and the Lamaze
method) and their physical and social/emotional impact on the parents and baby are discussed. Both

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normal deliveries and high-risk deliveries are examined (including C-sections and infant oxygen
deprivation), and the problems with infants born prematurely or with low birth weight are highlighted.
Maternal depression and parent-infant bonding in the postpartum period are overviewed. Then, infants’
assessments for signs of problems at birth are presented as is a look at newborn reflexes. The sensory and
learning abilities of newborns, infant states (sleep-wake and crying) are examined. The chapter ends with a
look at sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

CHAPTER OUTLINE

I. Countdown…
A. Just Before the Beginning of Childbirth
1. Term is the period between conception and birth.
2. Dropping, or lightening, occurs as the head of fetus settles in the mother’s pelvis.
3. Braxton-Hicks contractions may be experienced as early as 6th month and serve to strengthen
uterine muscles.
4. Some women experience blood spotting in vaginal secretions a day or so before labor, and 1 in
10 will experience a rush of amniotic fluid from vagina. The beginning of labor may be
signaled by indigestion, diarrhea, ache in small of back, and abdominal cramps.
5. The placenta and uterus secretes prostaglandins to excite uterus muscles, which causes
contractions. As labor progresses, oxytocin is released to stimulate contractions powerful
enough to expel the fetus.
6. Neonate is the term used for a newborn child.
II. The Stages of Childbirth
A. The First Stage
1. Uterine contractions efface and dilate cervix to about 10 cm (4 in.). This is the process
responsible for most of the pain during childbirth.
2. The first stage lasts longer in first-time moms (from a few hours to more than a day) than on
subsequent births. Contractions increase in strength, frequency, and regularity during this
stage.
3. Some mothers are prepped (have pubic hair shaved and an enema) to reduce the likelihood of
infection upon delivery, but many women find this degrading.
4. Fetal monitoring to measure the baby’s heart rate and mother’s contractions may occur. If it is
necessary to speed up delivery, forceps or vacuum extraction tube may be used.
5. This stage ends after transition, which takes about 30 minutes and occurs as the head of fetus
moves into vagina.
B. The Second Stage
1. This stage begins when the baby appears at opening of the birth canal and ends with the birth of
the baby. This stage takes between a few minutes and a few hours and may transpire in a
delivery room.
2. Crowning occurs once the baby’s head begins to emerge from birth canal. At this point, an
episiotomy may be performed to prevent random tearing of the mother, although this
procedure is controversial and used less frequently than in the past.

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3. Once the baby’s head emerges from the mother, mucus is suctioned from the baby’s mouth to
clear its passageway for breathing. After birth, the umbilical cord is clamped and severed. It
will typically dry up and fall off in a few days, resulting in the belly button.
4. In a hospital setting, newborns may be removed from their mothers immediately after birth to
be footprinted, fitted with an ID bracelet, given antibiotic ointment or drops to prevent eye
infection, and given vitamin K injections.
C. Observing Children, Understanding Ourselves: Birth
D. The Third Stage
1. The final stage lasts from minutes to an hour or more as the placenta separates from the wall of
the uterus and is expelled. Bleeding is normal during this process.
2. The obstetrician will stitch the episiotomy, if one was performed.
II. Methods of Childbirth
A. Methods
1. Throughout history and across the world, many women use midwives to support them through
labor and delivery.
B. Anesthesia
1. General anesthesia, which puts the mother to sleep, may cause short-term disruptions of
patterns of sleep and wakefulness on the infant, but there are no long-term effects on the
child.
2. Local anesthetics can be used to numb the mother’s external genitalia (prudendal block) or the
entire region below the waist (epidural block) without putting the mother to sleep. This may
result in minor depressive effects on neonates shortly after birth, but the effects do not linger.
C. Hypnosis and Biofeedback
1. “Hypnobirthing” helps mothers in labor focus on relaxing scenes and decrease muscle tension.
2. Seems to help during early labor, but overall benefits have not been established.
D. Prepared Childbirth
1. The Lamaze method teaches women breathing and relaxation exercises to lessen fear and pain
during childbirth.
2. A coach, often the mother’s partner, aids the mother in the delivery room and provides social
support to mother during labor.
3. Women with doulas (experienced female companions who provide continuous emotional
support during labor) have shorter labors than those without doulas.
E. Cesarean Section
1. C-sections describe abdominal surgery to deliver an infant. Today, the incision (bikini cut) into
the abdomen is typically just below the pubic hair line so that scarring is not noticeable. In
2011, 33% of births were C-section, which is a rise from 21% in 1996.
2. Physicians prefer C-section to vaginal delivery if the mother’s pelvis is small, the baby is too
large, the baby is in distress or breech, the mother is too weak or fatigued to complete labor,
or to avoid the transmission of STIs from mother to infant.
F. Homebirth
1. While most U.S. women give birth in a hospital, home delivery can be a safe option for
uncomplicated births.
III. Birth Problems
A. Oxygen Deprivation
1. Anoxia is lack of oxygen and hypoxia is less oxygen than is needed.

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2. Prenatal oxygen deprivation may be caused by maternal disorders such as diabetes, and can
impair the development of the central nervous system and result in psychological disorders.
3. Oxygen deprivation at birth may be caused by a compressed umbilical cord (sometimes the
result of a breech presentation) or an immature respiratory system. It can lead to problems in
learning and memory and cause health problems such as early-onset schizophrenia and
cerebral palsy.
B. Preterm and Low-Birth-Weight Infants
1. Premature (preterm) babies are born before 37 weeks gestation (normal is 40 weeks); low-birth-
weight babies weigh less than 5.5 pounds, and small-for-dates babies weigh less than 5.5
pounds but are born at full-term.
2. There are risks associated with being born prematurely and with low birth weight: increased
chance of infant mortality, delayed neurological development (i.e., poorer performance
throughout school years), and delayed motor development (i.e., walking). However, preschool
experience can foster cognitive and social development in these children.
3. Premature babies are relatively thin, have a covering of fine, downy hair (lanugo), and an oily,
white substance on skin (vernix). Their muscles are immature and may not be able to support
normal sucking and breathing.
4. Some babies born before 36 weeks suffer from respiratory distress syndrome, in which the
walls of the air sacs in their lungs stick together and may result in irregular breathing or a
stoppage of breathing, and hence death. Injecting women who are at risk for delivering
preterm babies with corticosteroids helps develop the lungs and reduces the risk of this
syndrome.
5. Preterm babies usually remain in hospital incubators after birth until they are mature enough to
eat and breathe on their own.
6. A Closer Look--Diversity: Maternal and Child Mortality around the World. Maternal
mortality ranges in countries around the world. Greece has the lowest mortality range at
1:31,800 (deaths: births), and Afghanistan was highest at 1:11. Factors influencing this rate
include the presence of trained professionals during birth, female education, and the position
of women in the country’s culture.
7. Parents often do not treat preterm infants as well as full-term infants, possibly because they are
less attractive than full-term babies and have high-pitched, grating cries. However, preterm
children who are reared in attentive and responsive homes fare better cognitively and socially
than those without this supportive environment.
8. Interventions that stimulate preterm infants, such as massage therapy and kangaroo care, have
beneficial outcomes.
IV. The Postpartum Period
A. Maternal Depression
1. The “baby blues” occur in about 70% of new mothers and typically last for about 10 days and
are characterized by periods of tearfulness, sadness, and irritability. They are likely triggered
by hormonal changes.
2. Postpartum depression (PPD) a major depressive disorder, begins about one month after
delivery and may linger for weeks/months, and occurs in as many as 1 in 5-10 new mothers.
This may affect the mother-infant relationship.
3. Very rarely, women with PPD may show psychotic features such as delusional thoughts about
harming their infant.
4. Women with PPD may profit from social support, counseling, and/or drugs.

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B. Bonding
1. Although research in the 1970s suggested that the hours after birth were a “maternal sensitive
period” in which bonding should occur, researchers now believe that extended early contact is
not essential for adequate bonding.
2. An Australian study found that new fathers seek out information on father-newborn bonding on
the internet.
2. A Closer Look--Research: Have We Found the Daddy Hormones? Increased levels of oxytocin
and vasopressin increase behaviors of caring, monogamy, and protecting young in meadow
voles. Could this work in humans as well?
3. Father-newborn bonding is affected by the father’s relationship with the mother, the father’s
own psychological well-being, and participation in infant caregiving.

V. Characteristics of Neonates
A. Assessing the Health of Neonates
1. Infants are assessed using the Apgar scale, for which they can earn 2 points for each of the
following: appearance or color, pulse, grimace, activity level, and respiratory effort. Scores of
7 or above indicate no danger, while scores of below 4 indicate critical condition.
2. The Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS) is based on motor behavior,
response to stress, adaptive behavior, and control of physiological state, and is used to screen
for possible neurological problems.
3. The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Network Neurobehavioral Scale (NNNS) is used to
assess parent-child interactions for at-risk infants, especially those exposed to prenatal
parental substance abuse. More effective parenting techniques are suggested as a part of this
assessment.
B. Reflexes
1. Reflexes are simple, unlearned stereotypical responses, elicited by certain types of stimulation.
They are a reflection of an infant’s neural functioning. Many have survival value and will
later transition into voluntary behavior (i.e., swimming reflex, rooting reflex, sucking
reflex). The absence of certain reflexes may indicate neurological damage.
2. Infants also have the Moro reflex (back arches, legs and arms are flung out and then brought
back toward chest into a hugging motion in response to a startle), the grasping reflex, the
stepping reflex, the Babinski reflex (fans toes in response to stroking foot), and tonic-neck
reflex (fencing position).
3. Observing Children, Understanding Ourselves: Reflex Development in Infancy
C. Sensory Capabilities
1. The neonate’s visual acuity is approximately 20/600, meaning they best see objects 7 to 9
inches from their eyes. Although they lack peripheral vision of older children, they are able to
visually track movement within one day of birth. Neonates show little or no visual
accommodation, and convergence does not occur until they are 6 or 7 weeks old.
2. Full-color vision emerges around 4 months of age. Colors vary in intensity, saturation, and
hue. Cells in the brain that perceive color are rods and cones.
3. A Closer Look--Research: Studying Visual Acuity in Neonates: How Well Can They See?
Frantz’s “Looking Chamber” allowed researchers to measure how long an infant fixated on a
particular object. Babies prefer stripes to blobs, and will spend more time looking at stripes
than blobs. Visual acuity can be determined by noting how far apart black bars can be placed
before they are perceived as a gray, uninteresting blob to infants.

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4. Normal neonates can hear quite well and respond to sounds of different amplitude and pitch.
They also show preference for their mother’s voice.
5. Smell is also well developed at birth, and infants demonstrate aversion for noxious and
preference for pleasant odors. They can also recognize familiar odors, such as their mother’s
breast milk and body odor.
6. Neonates also appear sensitive to different tastes and demonstrate the expected facial
expressions to basic tastes. Infants prefer sweet tastes.
7. Neonates are sensitive to touch and to pain. Although it was once thought that infants were less
sensitive to pain than older children, health professionals now recommend that babies be
given anesthetics if they are going to undergo painful procedures.

D. Learning: Really Early Childhood “Education”

1. Neonates are capable of learning via classical conditioning (i.e., blinking in response to tone
previously paired with puff of air) and operant conditioning (i.e., increasing sucking in
response to sound of mother’s voice).
2. Observing Children, Understanding Ourselves: “Early Learning”. Even young infants are
capable of learning. This video shows habituation and what type of behaviors infants can and
do learn.
E. Sleeping and Waking
1. Neonates sleep an average of 16 hours in a day; however, this is distributed across night and
day in roughly six cycles of waking and sleeping that are divided into rapid eye movement
(REM) and non-rapid eye movement sleep. Babies typically do not sleep through the night
until between 6-12 months of age.
2. Studies of sleep stages are monitored through electrocenphalographs (EEGs).
3. Neonates spend 50% of their sleep time in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep; this percentage
rapidly declines as babies mature. It is thought that REM sleep stimulates the brain to spur
normal neurological development.
4. Infant crying expresses response to discomfort or pain and functions to signal caregivers.
Parents typically learn to distinguish cries of hunger, pain, and anger. There are often peaks
of crying in late afternoon and early evening for infants.
5. The sound of infant crying triggers physiological response in others. Several methods can
soothe a crying infant: physical contact with the caregiver, giving them something to suck,
sweet solutions, patting, caressing, rocking, and speaking to them in soft voice.
VI. Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)
A. In SIDS, which is the most common cause of death in infancy, a healthy baby goes to sleep and is
then found dead at a later time, with no signs the baby struggled or was in pain.
B. Risk factors associated with SIDS include sleeping on stomach, sleeping in a bed with parents or
soft pillows and mattresses, being male, being between 2-4 months of age, being premature, being
African- American, being put to sleep on their stomachs or sides, being bottle-fed, and having a
mother who is a teenager, smoker, drug user, and/or of low socioeconomic status.
C. Although the causes of SIDS are unclear, a recent study conducted through Children’s Hospital
Boston suggests that the medulla (involved in breathing) may be involved.
D. Parents can follow the suggestions from the American Academy of Pediatrics to decrease the risk
of SIDS.

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ANSWER KEY: TRUTH OR FICTION?

1. The fetus signals the mother when it is ready to be born.

TRUE. The pituitary and adrenal glands of the fetus may trigger labor by secreting hormones.
(Norwitz et al., 1999)
2. After birth, babies are held upside down and slapped on the buttocks to stimulate independent
breathing.
FALSE. Mucus is suctioned from the baby’s mouth as soon as the head emerges from the birth canal,
to clear the passageway for breathing from any obstructions.
3. The way that the umbilical cord is cut determines whether the baby’s belly button will be an “innie” or
an “outie.”
FALSE. Your belly button status is unrelated to the methods of your obstetrician.
4. Women who give birth according to the Lamaze method do not experience pain.
FALSE. Women who use the Lamaze method apparently report less pain and ask for less medication
when others, such as their partner, are present.
5. In the United States, nearly 3 of every 10 births (29%) are by Cesarean section.
TRUE. Compared to 1965, when 1 in 20 births was a C-section, today, 3 in 10 births in the United
States are by Cesarean section.
6. It is abnormal to feel depressed following childbirth.
FALSE. The “baby blues” affect most women in the weeks after delivery.
7. Parents must have extended early contact with their newborn children if adequate bonding is to take
place.
FALSE. Most researchers view the hours after birth as just one element in a complex and prolonged
bonding process.
8. More children die from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) than from cancer, heart disease,
pneumonia, child abuse, HIV/AIDS, cystic fibrosis, and muscular dystrophy combined.
TRUE. SIDS is a disorder of infancy that apparently strikes while the baby is sleeping.

IDEAS FOR INSTRUCTION

I. Countdown…
A. Key Terms
term oxytocin episiotomy
Braxton-Hicks neonate transition
contractions efface
prostaglandins dilate

B. Lecture Expanders
Episiotomy Rates Are Still High in Many Parts of the World
Many prominent public health and medical professional organizations recommend that the episiotomy
be used restrictively, NOT routinely in all vaginal births (i.e., World Health Organization, American
College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Federal Department of Health in Canada, Royal College
of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in the United Kingdom, Maternal and Neonatal Health, a USAID
organization, etc.). However, the frequency at which episiotomies are performed does not seem to
reflect this recommendation in many countries, especially in Central and South America and Asia.
Data from 1993-1998 revealed that over 90% of first-time mothers received an episiotomy in most
countries from this region, including Guatemala, Ecuador, Chili, Uruguay, Dominican Republic, Peru,
Brazil, Honduras, Paraguay, and Bolivia. Although rates are lower in North America and Europe,

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some feel that efforts should still be made to lower the rates (Graham, Carroli, Davies, & Medves,
2005).
Graham, I. D., Carroli, G., Davies, C., & Medves, J.M. (2005). Episiotomy rates around the world:
An update. Birth, 32(3), 219-223.

C. Classroom Activities and Demonstrations

The baby is coming!
Many first time parents worry about how and when they know that labor has begun. In class have the
students generate a list of symptoms that signal early labor, including symptoms that may be
considered false labor. Identify what physiological processes initiate these symptoms.

Birth on the Web

There are some interesting birth simulation videos posted on the web including You Tube. Be sure and
check these out before viewing in class! Most are quite informative and easy to understand but be
selective. It’s always best to develop a list of questions of “look fors” as students view these video clips.

D. Student Projects
Lessons in Observation: Birth
Ask students to visit the premium website (register/purchase access at www.cengage.com/login) to view
the video “Birth.” Below are the video narration and the application questions with answers on Birth.
Video Narration: About to give birth, this mother is well into the second stage of labor – pushing and
delivery of the baby. Contractions have become longer, stronger, and more frequent. This stage of labor,
which lasts approximately one hour, is shorter than the first stage, which may take from 12 to 14 hours or
longer in first pregnancies. After laboring for more than 9 hours, Lee gives birth to a healthy baby boy,
Carter.
The appearance of a newborn does not fit most people’s definition of “cute baby.” There are many
variations in normal appearance that may include a misshapen head, flat nose, swollen genitals, and acne –
most of these are temporary. Weighing in at 8 pounds and 19 inches long, bow-legged, wrinkled, red,
screaming, and covered in vernix, Carter represents the typical newborn.
The APGAR is used by healthcare providers to quickly assess a newborn’s overall physical condition.
Newborns are rated at 1 minute and 5 minutes after delivery on five distinct qualities: appearance, pulse,
grimace, activity, and respiration. For each category, the minimum score is 0, the maximum score is 2. The
baby’s score for each of the five categories are added together to get the final APGAR score.
Like Carter, most infants who are in good health score between 7 and 10 on the APGAR; infants scoring
in the 4 to 6 range are considered to be in fair condition but may need some special care such as suctioning
of the airways. Infants who score between 0 and 3 are typically non-responsive, limp, pale, and in need of
immediate life-saving efforts.
Application Questions and Answers:
1. In the video, Lee has her baby in a hospital setting, without fetal monitoring or anesthesia. What
are some other approaches to childbirth outlined in your text?
 Alternative birthing centers
 Home births
How might a high-risk pregnancy impact birthing choices?
 High-risk pregnancies are likely to require medical intervention and necessitate hospital
birth and access to neonatal intensive care unit
2. Lee was in labor for 9 hours with her first child, Carter. Is this typical?

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 Yes, her labor is of typical duration

If she has other children, is her labor experience likely to be similar or different? Why?
 Likely to be different
 Subsequent labors tend to be shorter
3. Lee and Dan were worried about the size of Carter’s testicles and his somewhat flattened facial
features. Discuss the newborn baby’s appearance and explain the likely duration of these
characteristics.
 The newborn baby’s appearance is not atypical
 Carter is average in size and weight, covered in blood and vernix, with flattened nose and
swollen genitals
 Appearance will change rapidly, as vernix and blood are removed and his body acclimates
following extreme pressure during the birthing experience
4. What does the acronym APGAR stand for?
 Appearance
 Pulse
 Grimace
 Activity
 Respiration
5. How is each of the five areas tested by the APGAR rated?
 Appearance, 0-2, based on color; blue or pale, 0; body pink, blue extremities, 1; completely
pink, 2
 Pulse, 0-2, based on heart rate; absent, 0; slow, <100 beats per minute, 1; >100 beats per
minute, 2
 Grimace, 0-2, based on reflex irritability; no response, 0; grimace or weak cry, 1; vigorous
cry, cough, sneeze, withdrawal, 2
 Activity, 0-2, based on muscle tone; flaccid or limp, 0; weak, 1; strong, active motion, 2
 Respiration, 0-2, based on respiratory effort; no response, 0; slow or irregular, 1; good, baby
is crying, 2.
Explain the APGAR score ratings in connection with good, fair, and poor condition.
 Good, a score of 7 or greater
 Fair, scores between 4 and 7, baby may need some medical attention such as oxygen to help
breathing or suctioning of the airways
 Poor, a score of 3 or less, indicates critical condition, the need for immediate life-saving
measures
6. What was Carter’s APGAR score?
 APGAR score was 8
Describe, in detail, how Dr. Shapiro arrived at this score.
 As described by Dr. Shapiro: activity or muscle tone is 1; color is 1, still a little bit blue;
good reflex; good cry; good breathing, heart rate 160 beats per minute
7. Why is this test performed twice, at 1 minute and at 5 minutes after birth?
 Many babies take some time, particularly after anesthesia, to turn completely pink and start
breathing on their own
8. Does the APGAR score predict the future health of a baby?
 APGAR score is medically useful; allows healthcare providers to quickly assess the
newborn’s physical condition; not designed to predict long-term health, behavior, or outcome

II. Methods of Childbirth

A. Key Terms

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midwife natural childbirth Cesarean section

anesthesia Lamaze method

B. Lecture Expanders
Hypnobirthing: Pros and Cons
Have students read the article on hypnobirthing, which is a method used to decrease the fear and pain
associated with childbirth. Discuss the pros and cons of this type of childbirth and how it differs from
other types of prepared childbirth.

Park, M. (2011, August 12). Hypnobirthing: Relax while giving birth? CNN.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/08/12/hypnobirth.pregnancy/index.html (Accessed September 3,
2012.)

C. Classroom Activities and Demonstrations

Create a Birth Plan
After discussing the many options for birth, have students pretend they (or their partner) are about to give
birth. Have them write out a detailed birth plan specifying how they would like to deliver their child. Do
they want to have a home birth? A hospital birth? Who will be present at the birth? Will anesthesia be
given? If so, immediately or only after labor for a certain period? Is a C-section an option?

Video Suggestions
Contemporary Childbirth (no year, Films for the Humanities and Social Sciences, 19 minutes). Shows
childbirth preparation, prenatal care, alternative birth methods, and complication-free delivery.

Birth Stories: Bab and Cheryl’s Deliveries (2001, Films for the Humanities and Social Sciences, 51
minutes). Discovery Channel Production.
Partners in Midwifery (1997, Films for the Humanities and Social Sciences, 25 minutes). Interviews with
midwives who collaborate with medical teams.

D. Student Projects
Opening Your Eyes to Alternative Birthing Options
Students often assume that the only way to give birth is in a hospital under the influence of anesthesia
since that is the cultural norm in the U.S. Have students write a short report comparing and contrasting two
non-hospital options for birthing (i.e., free-standing birthing center, home birth with a midwife, orgasmic
birth). Criteria for comparison may include cost, atmosphere, privacy, pre- and postnatal care options,
match with birthing plan, policies on medical interventions such as episiotomies, availability of tubs for
water births, separation of mother and infant, etc. Have students articulate which option they would prefer
for themselves or their partner and explain why they have made this choice.

Historical Perspectives on Childbirth

Have students interview various family members and friends about their childbirth experiences. If
possible, have them interview their mothers and grandmothers and/or members of different generations.
Compare and contrast childbirth practices based on several factors (medication, location, surgical
interventions, post-birth practices, etc.) What types of procedures were considered standard practice in the
past that are no longer used today? Discuss their findings in class.

III. Birth Problems

A. Key Terms
anoxia hypoxia schizophrenia

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breech presentation preterm respiratory distress syndrome

small for dates
lanugo
vernix

B. Lecture Expanders
Overcoming Risks of Prematurity and Poverty
This section outlined the many adverse risks that are associated with being born prematurely. However, it
is important for students to realize that being born premature does not doom the child to this fate. Aspects
of the preterm, low-birth-weight infant’s caregiving environment may buffer against these ill effects.
Several researchers (Bradley et al., 1994) studied the environments of 243 preterm and low-birth-weight
babies born into poverty (an added risk factor). Of these, only 26 were functioning at normal
developmental levels of health, growth, cognitive skills, and behavioral skills at age 3. These resilient
children differed from the lower functioning children in the number of protective factors in their
environments. The resilient children had three or more of the following: low density household (i.e.,
number of people/room), safe play area, acceptance, responsivity, variety, and learning materials (as
measured by the HOME inventory, which observes items in the home and parent-child interactions).
Bradley, R.H., Whiteside, L., Mundfrom, D. J., Casey, P.H., Kelleher, K.J., & Pope, S. K. (1994). Early
indications of resilience and their relation to experiences in the home environments of low
birthweight, premature children living in poverty. Child Development, 65, 346-360.

Massage Therapy in Preterm Infants

Tiffany Fields pioneered research into the benefits of massage. Numerous studies have shown that
massaging premature babies using moderate pressures for 15 minutes a day increases weight gain, and
hence speeds their release from the hospital. Yet, it is still unclear how massage can have this well-
documented effect. Recent experiments have ruled out two early hypotheses: massage led infants to
consume more calories or save more calories by sleeping more (Field, Diego, Hernandez-Reif, 2007).
Fields currently hypothesizes that the pressure of massage stimulates vagal activity, which in turn
facilitates the release of food absorption hormones (insulin) and increases gastric motility. This results in
more efficient food absorption and hence weight gain for premature infants.
Field, T., Diego, M., & Hernandez-Reif, M. (2007). Massage therapy research. Developmental Review,
27(1), 75-89.

C. Classroom Activities and Demonstrations

Video Suggestions
Caring for Premature Babies (no year, Films for the Humanities and Social Sciences, 19 minutes). Covers
preterm labor, problems of prematurity, and ethical issues around saving very-low-birthweight infants.

D. Student Projects
The State of Premature Births
The March of Dimes is a large, nonprofit organization whose mission is to “improve the health of babies
by preventing birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality.” This organization runs an up-to-date
website called PeriStats that offers free access to statistics on maternal and infant health data (March of
Dimes, 2012). This data is customizable for each state, and can be obtained in the form of tables, graphs,
and maps. Have your students use this website to report on the current rates of premature births in your
area (or of the student’s home state if you have a class population from many locals). Has the rate of
premature births dropped or risen in the past few years? How does this correspond with rates of maternal
prenatal care/smoking? How does this rate compare with other areas of the country?
March of Dimes Perintal Center (2012). PeriStats. Retrieved September 3, 2012 from
http://www.marchofdimes.com/peristats/Peristats.aspx

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 Chapter 4

IV. The Postpartum Period

A. Key Words
postpartum period postpartum depression (PPD) bonding

B. Lecture Expanders
Tom Cruise vs. Brooke Shields on Postpartum Depression
Some of your students may remember a war of words between scientologist and actor Tom Cruise and
actress Brooke Shields in 2005. Brooke Shields was very open about her use of Paxil and therapy to
combat the postpartum depression she experienced after delivering her first child in 2003. During a
controversial interview on the Today Show, host Matt Lauer asked Tom Cruise about his views on the
topic. Tom Cruise’s response:
The antidepressant, all it does is mask the problem. There’s ways, [with] vitamins and through
exercise and various things... I’m not saying that that isn’t real. That’s not what I’m saying. That’s an
alteration of what I’m saying. I’m saying that drugs aren’t the answer, these drugs are very dangerous.
They’re mind-altering, antipsychotic drugs. And there are ways of doing it without that so that we
don’t end up in a brave new world. The thing that I’m saying about Brooke is that there’s
misinformation, okay. And she doesn’t understand the history of psychiatry. She doesn’t understand in
the same way that you don’t understand it, Matt (Today, 2005).
Brooke Shields responded via an op-ed piece in the New York Times. In this short and interesting article,
she explains that the causes of postpartum depression are likely hormonal and calls for more attention for
this prevalent condition. She also discusses the feelings she had while suffering from postpartum. Students
may be interested in reading the Today show transcript and Brooke Shield’s article. Although the actors
have reconciled, their public debates did serve to draw attention to postpartum depression. Their words
may serve as a starting point for a discussion of the role of societal views on women’s reporting and
seeking treatment for this condition.
Shields, B. (2005, July 1). War of Words. New York Times. Retrieved August 27, 2007 from
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/01/opinion/01shields.html?ei=5090en=7189d307fdb5772dex=1277
8704 00.
Today. (2005, June 25). I’m passionate about life. Retrieved August 27, 2007 from
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8343367.

C. Classroom Activities and Demonstrations

Warning Signs of Postpartum Depression
Have your students use the text and the web to create a brochure for new parents explaining the warning
signs of postpartum depression. The brochure should also suggest ways to cope with this condition and
suggestions for treatment. One helpful resource may be the Postpartum Support International organization.
This can be done individually or in small groups.

D. Student Projects
Postpartum Psychosis
Postpartum psychosis is rare, but students may believe it is more common due to prominent cases in the
media (i.e., Andrea Yates drowned her five children). Have students research any of the prominent cases
involving this condition. Students should write a report including (1) the symptoms and frequency of this
condition, (2) a case study example, and conclude with (3) how the condition can be diagnosed and
treated.

What about the Fathers?

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 Chapter 4

Have students interview new fathers about their experiences during the wife’s pregnancy, during labor and
delivery, and during the postpartum period. What questions/concerns did they have during pregnancy,
about the birth process, and after their baby was born? How do these experiences compare with what the
text reports about new fathers? Discuss their findings in class.

V. Characteristics of Neonates
A. Key Words
APGAR scale stepping reflex hue
NBAS Babinski reflex rods
NNNS tonic-neck reflex cones
reflex visual acuity amplitude
neural visual accommodation pitch
rooting reflex convergence rapid eye movement sleep
Moro reflex intensity non-rapid eye movement sleep
grasping reflex saturation electroencephalograph

B. Lecture Expanders
“Ferberizing” Your Baby
Many exhausted and sleepless parents struggle to get their infants to sleep through the night. One popular,
but controversial, method is the Ferber method. This method was articulated by Dr. Richard Ferber, who is
Director of the Center for Pediatric Sleep Disorders at Children’s Hospital Boston. This is a method of
“progressive waiting,” although some have mislabeled it the “cry it out” method. Ferber recommends that
after a bedtime routine, parents put their infant into bed while the infant is drowsy, but still awake. The
goal of the method is to teach the child to soothe herself to sleep, without having to rely on a parent to
rock, feed, or otherwise intervene. If the child cries, the parent is encouraged to pat or verbally soothe the
infant (but not pick up the infant) after waiting for a specified interval (i.e., 5 minutes). The intervals
become progressively longer (Ferber, 2006). This method has been effective for many families (Reid,
Walter & O’Leary, 1999) and is appropriate for infants once they are 6 months old.
Opponents of this method feel it is too harsh and rigid. It is often difficult and heart-wrenching for parents
to allow their child to cry, even for just a few minutes, without rushing to comfort them. Some have even
suggested that not responding to the cries of an infant can leave emotional scars on the infant, who may
then feel insecure.
Ferber, R. (2006). Solve Your Child’s Sleep Problems: New, Revised, and Expanded Edition. New York,
NY: Simon & Schuster.
Reid, M.J., Walter, A.L., & O’Leary, S.G. (1999) Treatment of young children’s bedtime refusal and
nighttime wakings: a comparison of “standard” and graduated ignoring procedures. Journal of
Abnormal Child Psychology, 27(1), 5-16.

C. Classroom Activities and Demonstrations

Neonate Sensations and Perceptions
In the past, researchers underestimated the sensory and perceptual abilities of newborns. Based on the
information presented in this chapter, have students describe what a newborn may experience in the first
day of life (i.e., could hear voices and recognize mother’s voice, could see shapes far away and when held,
could see face).

Video Suggestions
The Newborn (no year, Films for the Humanities and Social Sciences, 23 minutes). Covers behavior of the
newborn for 10 days following birth, including reflexes and relations to developmental disorders.

53
 Chapter 4

Wonder Years: First Steps to Autonomy (1995, Films for the Humanities and Social Sciences, 25 minutes).
Prenatal development to first years: biological changes, psychological advances, relations to physical
surroundings, dangers of premature birth, postnatal maternal depression.

D. Student Projects
Lessons in Observation: The Newborn: Reflex Development
Ask students to visit WebTutor or the premium website (register/purchase access at
www.cengage.com/login) to view the video “Reflex Development.” Below are the video narration and the
application questions with answers on Reflex Development.
Video Narration: Reflexes like the Palmer grasp, stepping, Moro, and Babinski, are in-born, automatic
responses, nature’s toolkit to help an infant adapt to the world. Many reflexes, breathing, swallowing, and
sucking for example, have survival value. Other, mores primitive reflexes like the Moro and grasping are
considered leftovers from our evolutionary heritage. Survival reflexes usually become voluntary at some
point during the first year, while the primitive reflexes disappear.
Some reflexes are predominantly related to the nourishment of the infant. Here, in response to stroking at
the corner of Aiden’s mouth, we see the rooting reflex. One-week-old Aiden turns his head and opens his
mouth; he roots in the direction of the stroking. This helps the infant find the breast or bottle and begin
feeding. Sucking is another reflex that helps the infant find food. Aiden will instinctively suck on any
object that is placed in his mouth, including the doctor’s finger.
Some reflexes are predominantly related to the protection of the infant. Stroking the palm of Mackenzie’s
hand will cause her to close her hands and fingers in a grasp. The grasping reflex may be so strong that the
baby can support her own weight. The Moro, or startle, reflex, is seen when support for the head and neck
is suddenly lost, or in response to a loud noise or sudden movement. Here, 1-week-old Aiden throws his
arms out and back in response to the doctor’s sudden drop of his hands.
The Moro reflex, which should be fully present at birth, begins to disappear at around 5 months of age.
Guessipina, who is just 2 months old, has already begun to lose the Moro reflex. Absence of the Moro
reflex at birth or reappearance after the normal age of disappearance, at approximately 5 months, may
suggest damage to the central nervous system.
Some reflexes, such as the stepping reflex, are related to postural control. When held upright with her feet
just touching a flat surface, 2-and-a-1/2 week old Olivia appears to take steps and walk. This reflex, which
typically disappears at around 2 to 3 months of age, will not be seen again until Olivia learns to walk on
her own.
Reflexes are also used to identify normal brain activity. Absence, persistence beyond the normal time for
disappearance, or the reappearance of a reflex later in life is suggestive of significant neurological
problems. For example, the Babinski reflex, exhibited here by Olivia when the bottom of her foot is
stroked, causes the big toe to flex toward the top of the foot and the other toes to fan out. The Babinski is
normal in children under 2 years of age; after 2 years of age, the presence of the Babinski indicates
damage to the nerve paths connecting the spinal cord and the brain.

Application Questions and Answers:

1. What is a reflex?
 Genetically preprogrammed responses to certain stimuli
Using specific examples from the video, discuss the difference between primitive and survival
reflexes.
 Primitive reflexes, leftovers from our evolutionary heritage, e.g., Palmar, stepping, Moro,
Babinski, grasping; will disappear over time
 Survival reflexes, have adaptive value, e.g., breathing, swallowing, sucking; are permanent or
will become voluntary over time
How are survival reflexes adaptive for the infant?
 Protect the baby from harm

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 Chapter 4

 Allow baby’s basic needs to be met

 Promote bond between infant and caregiver
2. One-week-old Aiden exhibits two reflexes that are related to the nourishment of the infant. Describe
the reflexes exhibited by Aiden.
 Rooting reflex, turns head and opens his mouth when side of cheek is stroked
 Sucking reflex, automatically sucks on finger when inserted in mouth
What is the developmental course of each of these reflexes?
 Some survival reflexes are permanent, others become voluntary
3. Mackenzie and Aiden both exhibit reflexes that are thought to be related to the protection of the
infant. Describe the reflexes exhibited by Mackenzie and Aiden.
 Mackenzie exhibits the grasping reflex
 Aiden exhibits the Moro reflex
What is the developmental course of each of these reflexes?
 Grasping reflex becomes voluntary within first few months
 Moro reflex disappears within first few months
4. Olivia, who is 2-and-a-1/2 weeks old, exhibits the stepping reflex. How does Dr. Basow elicit this
reflex in Olivia?
 Holds Olivia upright so that bottoms of her feet touch top of examining table
 Touches top of her foot on side of table
What possible purpose does this reflex serve?
 May be related to postural control, a precursor of later voluntary behavior such as crawling or
walking
Is the stepping reflex indicative of a walking instinct? Why or why not?
 Infants who practice stepping reflex retain the reflex longer, walk earlier; practice can influence
development of walking, but component of many factors
 Walking involves complex combination of postural control, bone and muscle strength, changes in
body proportions, motivation
5. At approximately what age will the following reflexes disappear: grasping, Babinski, Moro, Palmar,
rooting, stepping, and sucking?
 Grasping or Palmar, Moro, and stepping disappear within first few months
 Babinski disappears within first year
 Survival reflexes, such as rooting and sucking, become voluntary during the first year
Will they be replaced by voluntary behavior? Why or why not?
 Some survival reflexes are permanent, others become voluntary
 Primitive reflexes disappear as the cerebral cortex matures
6. What important diagnostic purpose do reflexes serve? Specifically, what is indicated by the absence or
persistence of primitive reflexes beyond the normal time for disappearance? Cite two examples from
the video in your answer.
 Serve as indicators of an intact neurological system
 Moro absence or persistence beyond normal age for disappearance indicates damage to the CNS;
Babinski, if seen after 2 years of age, indicates damage to nerve path connecting spinal cord and
brain

Please Stop Crying!

New parents are often baffled as to how to soothe a crying baby with many opinions provided by well-
meaning family members and friends along with pediatricians and, of course, the internet. Have students
research reasons babies cry and what can be done to soothe them. Which of these techniques
would they recommend to new parents?

55
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
eternity with blood-stained hands.... I implore you, my lord, order my
chains to be broken before your death-hour comes,—permit yourself
to be moved by the most humble prayer of a man who has ever been
a loyal subject to the king.”
This letter bore date of December 1st; on December 4th, the
cardinal died. It is not known whether he ever saw it. After his death,
it came into the hands of those on whom the power now devolved,
and Dessault, far from gaining his release, was kept in the Bastille till
the year of 1692, after being a prisoner for sixty-one years. Such
remnant of life as may have remained to him, is one too forlorn and
dreary to contemplate.
And to this piteous appeal were added the sobs and frenzied
reproaches of Marion Delorme, who found access to the death-
chamber, just as the cardinal was about to receive the Viaticum.
A gentleman named de Saucourt was a slave to Ninon’s charms at
this time, causing a vast amount of envy among her friends. He was
a man of refinement and brilliant wit, so raved about by the ladies,
that Benserade composed this quatrain upon him—
“Contre se fier demon voyez vous aujourd’hui
Femme qui tienne?
Et toutes cependant sont contentes de lui,
Jusqu’ à la sienne.”

Ninon, however, was then suffering great distress of mind at the

terrible fate of Cinq-Mars, reproaching herself not a little for the light,
thoughtless way in which she had half encouraged Marion Delorme,
half warned her off from accepting the young man’s rash proposition
to make her his wife; for Marion had seriously consulted her in the
matter. It came to light after Cinq-Mars’ death that it was Gaston
d’Orléans himself who had in his possession the original of the treaty
with Olivarez, and he had had the baseness to hand this to
Laffemas, the infamous procureur-general and chief tool of
Richelieu, when the cardinal was bent on a man’s destruction.
Laffemas earned the distinction of being called the cardinal’s
hangman-in-chief. No one stretched out a finger to help the
Chevalier de Jars, whom Richelieu kept in the Bastille for two years,
on the charge of being in the secrets of Anne of Austria’s
connections with Spain. It was in vain that de Jars produced
absolute proof of his innocence, and Laffemas added insults and
threats to the interrogatory he subjected him to. Under a strong
guard, de Jars one Sunday obtained leave to attend Mass at St
Gervais, where he knew the wretched creature would be, and as he
was about to kneel at the altar to receive the communion, de Jars,
with a bound, sprang at him, seized him by his pourpoint, and
dragging him down the nave of the church, flung him outside the
door. “Away with thee!—away from here, cowardly hypocrite!” he
cried. “Do not soil this holy place with thy foul presence,” and the
poisonous reptile crawled away, while de Jars, turning to the
officiating priest, said—“And you, my father, did you not know to
whom you were about to give the Body of our Lord? To an iniquitous
judge—another Judas—an abomination!”
Finally de Jars obtained his release, and spent his later life in
peace and happiness, but not before he had been made to mount
the scaffold itself. As he was about to lay his head upon the block,
calmly defiant, Laffemas, who had got up the scene to terrify de Jars
into a confession, approached and besought him, in consideration of
the pardon he had brought him, to disclose all he knew; but he
received scant satisfaction on the point, since de Jars, according to
some authorities, persisted in his refusal and defiance of the
monster. According to another account, the suffering and tension of
mind he had endured temporarily deprived him of consciousness,
and for some days he lay in a state of exhaustion, from which he
only gradually recovered.
And those were but instances of the cardinal’s tyranny, and there
was so little his red robe had not covered, sufficiently at all events for
him to die in his bed. And the magnificent tomb, joint work of two
great artists, that covers the spot where he was laid in the church of
the Sorbonne, bears the recumbent statue of the cardinal, sustained
by Religion and weeping angels.
 Whether Louis, the king, shed any tears, is not specially recorded.
They could hardly, in any case, have been more than of the crocodile
kind; since he was so very visibly seen to smile more than once
during the passing away of his great minister. In the days when Vitry
relieved him of Concini by assassination, Louis thanked him warmly
for the service. “Now I am king, Vitry,” he said. But it had not been for
long, except in name; for he had only been free to become the slave
of Richelieu, and now his own life was ebbing fast away, not,
apparently, to his very great regret. Those last days were sorely
troubled at the thought of his mother, who had died in exile at
Cologne. He put the blame of this on Richelieu, and made all the
reparation now possible, by ordering prayers throughout the kingdom
for the repose of her soul. This seemed to bring him some
tranquillity, of mind. He loved music, and he composed for himself a
De Profundis to be chanted when his last hour should arrive. Seated
one day at the window of the Château of St Germains, he pointed
out the route which was best for the funeral cortège to follow, to
reach St Denis, and reminded of a turn of the road which was
awkward to pass, bidding care be taken to keep the hearse well in
hand.
The death of Richelieu in no way softened the strained relations
and conjugal coldness between the king and queen. On the day of
the child’s birth, Louis was about to leave the queen without
bestowing the embrace customary on such occasions, until he was
reminded of his omission, which only a stretch of courtesy might call
forgetfulness.
The little Louis, who was in his fifth year at the time of the king’s
death, does not seem greatly to have interested him or afforded him
any satisfaction; while the child rather shrank from him, notably when
he saw him in his night-cap. Then he broke into piercing screams of
terror. This the king laid, with all her other misdeeds, at the queen’s
door. He declared that she prompted the little boy to his objections.
It was a pitiable ending to a melancholy existence—inexpressibly
lonely, for in those last months, Anne left him entirely to himself.
Less desolate than the king, finding distraction for ennui in the
society of her ladies, and the gentlemen of her own little Court,
among whom Monsignor Giulio Mazarini figured ever more and more
prominently.
Previously to Richelieu’s death, the handsome, fascinating
Mazarin had been a constant frequenter of Ninon’s réunions; but
from these he soon withdrew almost entirely, in favour of the
dazzling metal to be found in the Louvre, for there it rang of
ambitions, which there was every chance of finding fully satisfied.
His first master-stroke was to set aside the late king’s will—which
constituted a counsel of regency, himself being chief of the counsel,
which he had himself recommended to Louis—making Anne regent,
with himself for prime-minister. The king was dead, Louis XIV. but a
small child, and for Mazarin it was “Long live the Queen!” while
Ninon found ample consolation in the devotion of her splendid hero,
Louis de Bourbon, the great Condé, Duc d’Enghien.
Hitherto love had been a fragile toy for her, hanging about her by
the lightest of chains made to be broken. For Condé, the sentiment
lay deeper, nourished by the breath of adulation surrounding him
when he returned, victorious over the Spaniards, from the field of
Rocroi; and she was fired to flames of admiration and of delight in
his distinguished presence. Handsome, amiable, gallant, to Ninon
and to France he was as a demigod.
 CHAPTER VIII

“Loving like a Madman”—A Great Transformation—The Unjust Tax—Parted

Lovers—A Gay Court, and A School for Scandal and Mazarin’s Policy—The
Regent’s Caprices—The King’s Upholsterer’s Young Son—The Théâtre
Illustre—The Company of Monsieur and Molière.

“A man of sense may love like a madman, but never like a fool.” It is
the dictum of François de la Rochefoucauld, and must have been
framed from his deep attachment to Condé’s sister, Madame de
Longueville, one of the most charming of the women of the great
world at that time, and bound by ties of close friendship with Ninon.
It was no one-sided love, no case of the one who loves, and the
one who merely consents to it; but mutual, and as passionate, as
certainly for a time the flame was pure, shining with a clear,
unflecked radiance.
Madame de Longueville, who was wedded to an old man, was
singularly fascinating, from her gentle manners and amiability. Her
face was not strictly beautiful, and bore traces of the smallpox, the
cruel scourge then of so many beautiful faces; her eyes were full of a
softened light, and she had the gift of a most sweet voice, while her
smile was gentle and irresistibly winning. The dreamy, romantic,
somewhat melancholy-natured de la Rochefoucauld’s heart was laid
at her feet in whole and undivided adoration. For their conscious
love, each strove against the temptation, she so earnestly, that she
shut herself away from all chance of so much as seeing him for a
little while. But Ninon slipped in with her philosophy. It was quite true,
she argued to Madame de Longueville, that there were grave
considerations to be respected—the indissoluble tie of marriage,
convenances to be observed—all these; but to hide herself away, to
refuse the unhappy prince the alleviation of gazing at her, of
exchanging a few fleeting words—no, it was monstrously absurd.
The very Platoniciens did not go such lengths. No, if complete
happiness could not be theirs, at least a smile, a glance, was
permitted; and Ninon’s counsel wound up with a suggestion to the
disconsolate prince, that he should try what a little note to the
woman he adored would effect, and he wrote—“Show yourself—be
beautiful, and at least let me admire you.”
And Ninon delivered the billet, and its effect was marvellous. It
conquered the young duchess’s natural timidity and retiring
disposition. She took courage; she assumed her rightful place in the
world; she appeared at the Louvre; she kept open house and gave
brilliant receptions; she took her seat on the tabouret of the
duchesses; her toilettes were magnificent; she shone brilliantly in
conversation, and began to take part in Court intrigues; ere long very
actively.
“With two lines of a man’s writing,” had said Mazarin’s great
predecessor, “I could condemn him”; and with two lines of that
magical pen of the Count de la Rochefoucauld, Madame de
Longueville became another woman. As in the matter of her warm
attachment to her lover, she was constant in her politics; while Louis
de Condé, all-conquering at Rocroi, yielded himself captive to the
charms of Ninon de L’Enclos—a veritable lion in love; not so blindly,
however, that he was insensible to the wrongs of the people, upon
whom a tax had been levied of a specially hateful kind. It was called
the Toisé, and was a revival of an old edict long fallen into
desuetude. To the Italian, d’Eméri, to whom Mazarin had entrusted
the control of public finances, was due its discovery and
resuscitation. This edict forbade the enlargement of the borders of
Paris, and as recently new buildings had been, and were being, in
course of construction far and wide, the owners of these were
threatened with confiscation of their materials, unless they
consented to pay for their newly-erected houses and other buildings,
a rate regulated by measurement of the size of them. This pressed
cruelly on the people. Loud murmurs were excited. The Parliament
expostulated, and the Toisé was withdrawn. It was the first stone
slung by the Fronde. Condé’s indignation was great; and one day, in
the rue St Antoine, he laid flat with his sword the body of some
wretched collector who had snatched away a child’s cradle from a
poor woman. His act gave great offence to the queen, who saw in it
defiance of Mazarin. Both at home and abroad, there was plenty
stirring to keep existence from stagnating; but for a few brief
delightful weeks the Duc d’Enghien sought retirement and tranquillity
in his château of Petit Chantilly, in company with Ninon, who left the
rue des Tournelles dwelling to take care of itself. It was the iniquitous
Toisé which broke in upon their content; for the queen sent for the
duke, to consult him in the emergency created by the cardinal
favourite.
After the Toisé prologue, however, the opening scenes of the
inglorious turmoil of the Fronde did not see Condé; for Austria once
more took up arms, and he lost not a moment in hastening to the
frontier. If it is indeed a fact that Ninon accompanied him thither in
the guise of a young aide-de-camp, mounted on a fiery charger, it
was but to re-enact her former exploits; and Ninon was nothing if not
daring. That her presence on the field of Nordlingen could have been
really anything but exceedingly encumbering, is more than
imaginable. At all events Condé soon begged her to return to Paris,
in order to go and console his sister, Madame de Longueville, who
had been summoned to attend his father, the Duc de Condé, in an
illness threatening to be fatal. Arrived at Paris, she found the sufferer
very much better, and writing to inform the Duc d’Enghien of this
pleasant intelligence, she begged to be allowed to return to him. The
duke, however, replied that it was hardly worth while; as he should
soon be back. To pass the tedium of his absence, Ninon resumed
her réunions, finding pleasant distraction in the society of her friends,
among which were two ladies distinguished for their birth and
undoubted talents, scarcely less than notorious, even in those days,
for their openly lax mode of life. One of these was Madame de la
Sablière, a notable member of the Hôtel de Rambouillet côtérie. A
really brilliant mathematician, she was at least equally skilful in the
science of love—so ardent a student, that one day her uncle, a grave
magistrate, scandalised out of all endurance at her ways,
remonstrated severely, reminding her that the beasts of the field
observed more order and seasonable regulation in their love-affairs.
“Ah, dear uncle,” said the gifted lady, “that is because they are
beasts.”
Madame de Chevreuse was the other specially chosen spirit of her
own sex Ninon now consorted with. After the death of Richelieu, who
had exiled her at the time of the Val de Grâce affair, she was allowed
to return to France, attended by the Abbé de Retz, Paul de Gondi,
whom Louis XIII., on his deathbed, had appointed coadjutor to the
new archbishopric of Paris. De Retz had himself aspired to the
archbishopric, and swore that he would obtain a cardinalate.
The Court was now brilliantly gay. The gloomy and sombre
atmosphere of Louis XIII. and of Richelieu’s day faded all in a
succession of balls and fêtes and every sort of festivity. Anne of
Austria enlarged the south side of the Louvre, and Grimaldi and
Romanelli adorned the chambers and galleries with their exquisite
skill. Poussin, whose friezes terminated the ends of the great gallery,
had had apartments assigned him in the Louvre, in order to carry on
his work with greater facility; but he had retired in displeasure at the
criticisms of his brother-artists, and went to Rome, where he spent
the rest of his life, leaving in Paris immortal memories of his genius,
among them the altarpiece for the chapel of St Germain en Laye,
and the mournful Arcadian Shepherd, “Et in Arcadia Ego.”
So the never-ending round of gaiety was set in motion by Mazarin,
and Anne of Austria was the regent. Anne, still handsome, and by
nature frivolous under her somewhat cold Spanish demeanour—
surely a born coquette, delighting in show and magnificence, none
the less that she had so long lived under repression. The queen,
apparently, was the reigning power; but it was the crafty prime-
minister who pulled the strings, and set the puppets dancing and
fiddling, and amorously intriguing, so that they should leave him to
carry on his politics, and mount to the heights of his ambition and
power in his own unhindered way. Unlike his great predecessor, he
was handsome, and good-natured in manner, and therefore an
ornament in those brilliant assemblies. Wrote St Evrémond—
“J’ai vu le temps de la bonne régence,
Temps où régnait une heureuse abondance,
Temps où la ville aussi bien que la cour
Ne respirait que les jeux et l’amour.
Une politique indulgente
De notre nature innocente
Favorisait tous les désirs
Tout dégoût semblait légitime;
La douce erreur ne s’appélait point crime,
Les vices délicats se nommait des plaisirs.”

Very pleasant and entertaining the world of society was then; and
seasoned as it was with even unusual spice of malice and spite,
scandal was rife. Among others, the stepmother of Madame de
Chevreuse, Madame de Montbazon, who was married to the old Duc
de Rohan, was a past-mistress in the gentle art of making mischief;
and where the material was insufficient, she manufactured it without
scruple. In this way she nearly succeeded in bringing a rift into the
love-harmonies of Henri de la Rochefoucauld and his adored
Madame de Longueville, by means of sheer, brazen lying, alleging
that certain letters of Madame de Longueville, which had been
found, had dropped from the pocket of Coligny. It was a pitiful
fabrication, and Madame de Montbazon—of whom de Retz, in his
Memoirs, says “I never saw any person showing in her vices less
respect for virtue”—did not come out of it with very flying colours, for
all her best efforts at effrontery, and she received an order from
Mazarin to retire to Tours. The letters, in effect, proved to be not
those of Madame de Longueville at all; and the pocket they dropped
out of, was not Coligny’s. It was altogether an affair of another pair of
lovers.
The embellishments of the Louvre were still not completed, before
the queen decided not to reside in it. She began to recall, rather
tardily it would seem, all the lugubrious memories of her past life
connected with the palace; and she established herself in the
magnificent Palais Royal—originally the Palais Cardinal.
In all those festivities, Ninon took prominent part. Ever
philosophical, she thus consoled herself for the prolonged absence
of the Duc d’Enghien, an absence which had, moreover, not
intensified the sentiments of adoration she at first conceived for him.
It was but Ninon’s way. She had begun to see small defects in the
case-armour of the perfection of her Mars. Her acquaintance with the
dead languages supplied her with the Latin proverb, “vir pilosus, aut
libidinum aut fortis.” “Now Esau was a hairy man,” and the Duc
d’Enghien was also vir pilosus, and Ninon taxed him with being a
greater warrior than an ardent wooer, and the passion cooled rapidly;
but the friendship and mutual liking ever remained.
Ninon employed Poquelin, upholsterer to the king, in the furnishing
of her elegant suite of apartments. His shop was in the rue St
Honoré, and there was born his son, Jean Baptiste, an intelligent,
rather delicate-looking little boy, whom he duly educated and trained
for his own trade. Young Jean Baptiste, however, fairly submissive
and obedient, was also very fond of reading and writing, the only two
acquirements his father thought necessary for assisting the chair and
table-making the boy’s future was destined for. Fortunately he had a
very kind grandfather who loved the drama, and sometimes he
would take little Jean Baptiste with him to see the performances at
The Hôtel Bourgogne. Poquelin père looked with distrust on these
excursions, thinking that he saw in the lad, as undoubtedly he did,
growing aversion to the upholstery vocation, and a fast developing
passion for tragedy and comedy—comedy very markedly—and the
boy’s delight in study and books generally, created a disturbance in
the good upholsterer’s mind, which culminated in distress, when it
became certain beyond all question, that young Jean’s liking was as
small for cabinet-making as it was unconquerable for literature. He
was at that time about fourteen years old, and he carried about with
him a small comedy he had composed called l’Amour Médecin,
which Ninon one day, when he came to assist his father at her
house, detected, rolled up under his arm. Won by her kind smiles,
young Poquelin was induced to allow her to look at it, and she, no
mean critic, saw such promise in it, that she showed it to Corneille—
who was then staying with her, pending the representation of The
Cid. Corneille warmly seconded her estimate of the boy’s promise of
unusual dramatic gifts; and after great demur, Poquelin yielded to the
good grandfather’s persuasions to send him to college. Several
helping hands, Ninon among them, contributed to the necessary
funds for this new career, and Jean Baptiste became a pupil of the
Jesuits at Clermont. There he studied for five years, in the same
class with Armand de Bourbon, Prince de Conti, the youngest
brother of Madame de Longueville, who promised Ninon the special
protection and friendship of Armand, and of the college preceptors, a
promise that was ever faithfully held by; and the celebrated teacher
Gassendi took him under his special care, with two other gifted lads
confided to him.
At the end of the five years, Jean Baptiste was forced to resume
his old occupation, on account of his father’s increasing infirmities.
But it was not for long. Richelieu’s love of letters, and of the drama
especially, brought him knowledge of young Poquelin’s talent, and
made the difficult way of literature easier for him; for the theatre was
beginning to flourish. There was no regular company of actors in
Paris until the coming of Corneille. Only a few of the “rogue and
vagabond” wearers of the sock and buskin came and went, selling
their plays, when they could find buyers, for some ten crowns
apiece. The comedies of Corneille caused the establishment of a
dramatic troupe in the city, and then it was that young Poquelin,
leaving the upholstery to the dogs, established a small company of
young men—“stage-struck” as the mockers were pleased to say, in
this instance guided however by the sterling judgment of Jean
Baptiste, truly dramatically gifted, in the Faubourg St Germain. They
called it the Illustrious Theatre—(l’Illustre Théâtre). So through the
years of the ignoble strife of the Fronde, when times were arid for
real literary talent, Poquelin acted and composed little comedies,
mainly for the provinces. Travelling with his company to Languedoc,
where the Prince de Conti happened to be staying on his estates,
Poquelin produced before him several of his pieces, afterwards
finding their world-wide renown, l’Étourdi, le Dépit Amoureux, and
others. The Prince de Conti introduced him to Monsieur, the only
brother of Louis XIV.; and in a short time there came a day of days
when the command of their Majesties reached the actor-manager, to
give a representation in the chamber of the Guards in the old Louvre.
After the performance of this long five-act piece, Poquelin—who had
followed the custom of the actors of his time, had taken another
name, and selected Molière—stepped to the front, and begged His
Majesty’s permission to play a short one-act piece. It was le Docteur
Amoureux. This is possibly the origin of the custom, still so
frequently observed, of the “Curtain-raiser.”
 POQUELIN DE MOLIERE
Coypel pinc. Ficquet Sculp.
To face page 100.

Now established at Paris, Molière’s company, which he styled the

Troupe de Monsieur, his patron, was accorded the Salle of the Palais
Royal, for the representation of his piece. It had been originally
constructed for the cardinal’s tragedy of Mirame, and “The chamber,”
says Voltaire, “for dramatic purposes, is as bad as the piece for
which it was built.”
 Molière had a very agreeable personality. He was a little above
medium height, well-built and of noble presence. His gait was
dignified, his nose and mouth were large, and his lips full; his
complexion was dark with black, thick eyebrows, and these he could
control to giving his face all sorts of comic expressions. His manner
was gentle, pleasing and kindly. He loved to speak, and when he
read his plays to his company, he liked them to bring their children,
so that he might study their ways and actions.
Molière, having the good or the ill fortune, as it may be, to become
such a distinguished public favourite, had his fair number of enemies
among his many friends. His chief detractors were, of course, to be
found among the bad authors and the great unacted; also the “unco’
guid” tried to sting him hard, and in a measure succeeded—as when
do they not when their poison is dropped upon sensitive natures?
But the warmth of the Sun-King’s admiration and patronage greatly
shielded him. His Majesty bestowed a canonry on his son.
Molière had a physician, Mauvilain. It was rather an unfortunate
name, and one day when he was dining with the king, Louis asked
him about him. “You have a doctor,” he said; “what does he do for
you?”
“Sire,” replied Molière, “we gossip together; he prescribes me
remedies; I do not take them—and I am cured.”
That Ninon was proud of the brilliant man she had so signally
helped to befriend as a lad, may well be conceived, and whenever a
new piece was produced, she was always there to witness it, in one
of the most honoured places reserved for her.
 CHAPTER IX

The Rift in the Lute—In the Vexin—The Miracle of the Gardener’s Cottage—Italian
Opera in Paris—Parted Lovers—“Ninum”—Scarron and Françoise d’Aubigné
—Treachery—A Journey to Naples—Masaniello—Renewing Acquaintances—
Mazarin’s Mandate.

Again victorious at Nordlingen, the Duc d’Enghien, now Prince de

Condé, for his father was now dead, returned to Paris—but not to
Ninon. She had given great offence to his family by permitting de la
Rochefoucauld and Madame de Longueville to meet at her house,
and Condé sternly reproached her for the indiscretion; hence the tie
between them was broken—perhaps merely a little sooner than
otherwise; for the distinction of winning the admiration of the hero of
the hour had played for Ninon a very powerful part in the liaison. And
after all, she preferred to receive homage more than to offer it; for
though she liked to ruffle it in masculine attire, she was a very
woman; and taking her heart back again, she permitted it to be
captured by the Marquis de Villarceaux, who had sued for long past.
Villarceaux was handsome and agreeable, but he had a serious
defect in Ninon’s eyes: he was fair, and a fat man or a fair man she
ordinarily found detestable. Still he was eloquent, and she allowed
herself to be persuaded to go and rusticate with him in the Vexin, as
the guest of a friend of the Marquis, Monsieur de Vicariville. This
gentleman found great pleasure in discoursing on philosophical
themes with Ninon, while Monsieur Villarceaux went out to amuse
himself in the neighbourhood, flitting from flower to flower, as ready
to converse with the maids as with the mistress.
In the course of a few days, visitors arrived at the château. One of
them was the Chevalier Villars Orondate, afterwards ambassador to
Spain, a man full of originality and humour. During his stay, he
rendered his host a signal service by the exercise of his quaint wit
and ingenuity. Monsieur de Vicariville’s château was reached by a
long, noble avenue, whose perspective would have been
incomparable, but for the intrusion of a miserable tumbledown
cottage just about midway.
Large sums had been offered when the avenue was made, to its
owner, whose name was Jérome, to sell his small holding; but he
flatly refused. His father had built the cottage, he had been born in it,
and desired to die in it when his time came, continuing meanwhile to
follow in it his trade, which was a tailor’s; and the eyesore had to be
left.
Orondate asked his host what he would give him if he got the
cottage removed within a week’s time.
“With Jérome’s consent, of course?” laughed Vicariville.
“That would not be required.”
“I would give you a hundred louis, gladly.”
“Money? For shame! It is for glory’s sake I would go to work—or at
all events for a kiss from Mademoiselle.”
Villarceaux demurred at this; but Ninon cheerfully agreed; and
going in search of the tailor, Orondate told him he wanted a
handsome suit made for Monsieur de Villarceaux, who was going to
Court with him. Was he capable of fulfilling the order? Certainly,
Jérome was as able to do it as the grandest tailor in Paris.
“Very good. I will give you a pistole a day, if you agree to come
and work in the château, never leaving off all day, and entirely under
my supervision. Your food will be all found for you; and you will be
paid on completion of the task.”
The tailor accepted the bargain with delight, and fell to work; while
Orondate caused a scrupulously exact plan of the cottage to be
made, with precise measurements of every thing in its interior, taking
note even of the position of each piece of furniture, and the smallest
object in the place. Then he had the entire cottage taken to pieces,
the walls knocked down, and the whole load of it transported to a
spot a little outside the avenue. There the skilful workmen he had
engaged, put it all together again, and all the smallest things back in
their places, not forgetting the good man’s little soup saucepan, and
the enclosing garden hedge.
The avenue, meanwhile, was carefully swept, and cleared of all
traces of the removal. Nothing remained to be seen of either the
cottage or the garden.
The tailor’s work being now completed, he received his
honorarium from Orondate, with a couple of louis in addition. Then
going home, well satisfied, towards nightfall he passed down the
avenue. It seemed rather long, yet he arrived at the end at last,
sooner than he quite expected. Returning, he came and went, came
and went, and could find his house nowhere. The poor man spent
the night in searching for it. The day broke, and shed light on the
avenue, but there was no cottage. Had the foul fiend been at work?
Reaching the outskirts of the park, he saw, just beyond the wall, a
house resembling his own. Rushing forward, he recognised his own
sheltering trees, the garden, the grass-plot, and the honeysuckle
hedge. The door faced him, and Jérome inserted the key in its lock.
It fell open smoothly. Going in, he found everything in its proper
place—only the table, instead of being bare, bore a smoking hot leg
of mutton, flanked by two bottles of wine.
The tailor crossed himself devoutly, convinced that he was
bewitched.
The leg of mutton, however, looked appetising, and Jérome was
hungry after his long nocturnal perambulations; he approached the
joint, and contemplated it with lessening repugnance. Then, fetching
his little holy-water brush, he sprinkled the mutton to see if it
disappeared; but it smoked on. It certainly had not been cooked in
the infernal regions. Jérome took heart therefore, and sat down to
dine.
 The authors of this curious transformation scene, concealed to
watch what would happen, waited till Jérome had well banqueted;
then they entered, and with bursts of laughter, asked him what he
thought of the sorcerers of the château?
Monsieur Orondate was paid the price he had asked, Monsieur
Vicariville gave Jérome the hundred louis his guest had declined,
and the tailor contented himself with pulling a grimace at the trick
which had been played him.[3]

It was Mazarin France had to thank for establishing in Paris,

musical Italian plays, in other words, Italian operas. From time to
time, since the days of Henri III., Italian dramatic singers had visited
Paris, finding no regular stage or fair opportunity for their beautiful
presentations. Mazarin, however, secured them the rights for these
at the Hôtel Bourgogne, and by one of the exercises of his wily
ingenuity, also contrived to win away from Charles II. Budeaud, the
musical leader of the Court-revels in London, as the conductor of the
Paris company.
Early in the winter, whose approach brought Ninon and everybody
back to Paris, invitations were issued for the performance of an
Italian opera on a magnificent scale, in the Palais Royal, and to
Ninon the invitation was sent by the Duc de Condé—who had
repented of his harsh estimate of her conduct—and finding his way
to her fauteuil in the course of the performance, the two made their
peace by mutual concessions. Meanwhile Condé had diplomatically
set several hundred leagues between the lovers, by pairing off
Madame de Longueville with her husband to Münster, while he
caused the Duc de la Rochefoucauld to be summoned to his duties
as governor of Poitou. Independently of the ardent but brief
attachment of Rocroi and Nordlingen days, the Duc de Condé
entertained sterling admiration and esteem for the qualities of Ninon,
and their friendship remained sincere through life.
 For three years Ninon came to Paris only at intervals; she
remained in the Vexin, with the erratic Marquis de Villarceaux for her
companion. Of a furiously jealous nature in regard to the object of his
affectionate consideration, he permitted himself a wide range. The
lawful wife he owned was, not unnaturally, jealous of Ninon, and
made her a constant subject of contention between them. One day
she requested the tutor of her little son to examine him before some
company she was entertaining, upon his recent classical studies.
“Quem habuit successorum Bellus, rex Assyriorum?” (“Who
succeeded Belus, King of the Assyrians?”) inquired the tutor, who
was no less a person than the Abbé Scarron.
“Ninum,” replied the little boy.
The word, so absolutely resembling Ninon, threw Madame de
Villarceaux into a furious rage. Scarron vainly endeavoured to
explain and justify himself. She would not listen. The answer, she
said, was quite enough for her; and Scarron was dismissed. It was a
cruel accident for him, crippled as he was, so utterly as not to be
able to stir from his wheel-chair. Bodily “a wretched log,” as he called
himself, intellectually more brilliant than ever, and in a human sense,
ever the same kindly, generous epicurean philosopher as of old,
“always” as he said, “unfortunate.” On the top of all his other troubles
he had fallen in love. Alas! for the poor prisoner of that wheeled-
chair, the helpless wreck of the ex-canon! Ninon found refuge in
silence as she stood before him where he had been carried in from
his coach. It was long since they had met, and her heart was full of
pity. The object of his affection, Scarron went on to tell her, was one
Françoise d’Aubigné, a native of Niort. “Ah, d’Aubigné,” interrupted
Ninon at last. “A Protestant then?” A Calvinist by birth, went on
Scarron, and reared in that teaching by an aunt who had adopted
her on the death of her parents; but the aunt died, and then a lady,
Madame de Neuillan, a friend of the Marquise de Villarceaux, had
taken her in hand. It was a misuse of words to call it befriending. It
was in this way Scarron had seen her, a charmingly pretty girl of
about seventeen.
 This Countess de Neuillan was a gorgon of virtue and principle,
and, as also a bigot of a Catholic, she had compelled Françoise to
become one. In return for all her tender care, Madame de Neuillan
imposed the most menial duties on the young girl, who was of
angelic disposition as well as beautiful. Her father had been the son
of the friend of Henri IV. More or less worthy as he might be
represented—de mortuis nil nisi bonum—he had died in prison,
guilty of no other crimes, perhaps, than being a Protestant; and so
his two children had been left cast in indigence upon the world. The
lot of Françoise in the house of Madame de Neuillan was deplorable,
and Scarron, as well as some other friends, had advised her to leave
her, and get her living by the work of her hands sooner than remain
in such dependence; and for twelve months past she had lodged in a
little street of a neighbouring faubourg, with her brother, a ne’er-do-
well; but still her brother; and her goodness to him was the only fault
Scarron had to find in the adorable Françoise. And Ninon’s generous
heart overflowed with sympathy for the young girl, and she took her
to her own home, and they were warm friends, living in the closest
ties of affection; and ere long the sweet, modest, gentle girl repaid
the kind friend’s goodness by winning her lover, Monsieur de
Villarceaux, away from her, and Ninon, who was sincerely attached
to him, felt the sting acutely. She taxed Françoise with the attempt,
which was quite successful, and refused to listen to any denial or
excuse, merely saying that they would have the field quite free to
themselves, as she was leaving on the following day for Naples. And
thither she went, taking the sea-journey from Marseilles. For
travelling companion, she had the Chevalier de Méri. This gentleman
who had been one of the guests of Monsieur Vicariville had a sister
who was married to a Spanish Grandee, to whom was promised the
viceroyalty of Naples.
Monsieur de Méri was in every way far more desirable as a
companion than the man she had left in the company of Françoise,
to whom she also entrusted the ménage in the rue des Tournelles,
only making the condition that she and Villarceaux should hold their
sweet converse exclusively in the “Yellow Chamber,” which was the