Searchlights on Health: Light on Dark Corners Part 40

6. THE CLOTHING OF THE INFANT.--The clothing of the infant should be light, soft and _perfectly_ loose. A soft flannel band is necessary _only_ until the navel is healed. Afterwards discard bands entirely if you wish your babe to be happy and well. Make the dresses "Mother Hubbard"--Put on first a soft woolen s.h.i.+rt, then prepare the flannel skirts to hang from the neck like a slip. Make one kind with sleeves and one just like it without sleeves, then white muslin skirts (if they are desired), all the same way.

Then baby is ready for any weather. In intense heat simply put on the one flannel slip with sleeves, leaving off the s.h.i.+rt. In Spring and Fall the s.h.i.+rt and skirt with no sleeves. In cold weather s.h.i.+rt and both skirts.

These garments can be all put on at once, thus making the process of dressing very quick and easy. These are the most approved modern styles for dressing infants, and with long cashmere stockings pinned to the diapers the little feet are free to kick with no old-fas.h.i.+oned pinning blanket to torture the naturally active, healthy child, and r.e.t.a.r.d its development. If tight bands are an injury to grown people, then in the name of pity emanc.i.p.ate the poor little infant from their torture!

7. THE DIAPER.--Diapers should be of soft linen, and great care should be exercised not to pin them too tightly. Never dry them, but always wash them thoroughly before being used again.

8. The band need not be worn after the navel has healed so that it requires no dressing, as it serves no purpose save to keep in place the dressing of the navel. The child's body should be kept thoroughly warm around the chest, bowels and feet. Give the heart and lungs plenty of room to heave.

9. The proper time for shortening the clothes is about three months in Summer and six months in Winter. {306}

10. INFANT BATHING.--The first week of a child's life it should not be entirely stripped and washed. It is too exhausting. After a child is over a week old it should be bathed every day; after a child is three weeks old it may be put in the water and supported with one hand while it is being washed with the other. Never, however, allow it to remain too long in the water. From ten to twenty minutes is the limit. Use Pears' soap or castile soap, and with a sponge wipe quickly, or use a soft towel.

NURSING.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

1. The new-born infant requires only the mother's milk. The true mother will nurse her child if it is a possibility. The infant will thrive better and have many more chances for life.

2. The mother's milk is the natural food, and nothing can fully take its place. It needs no feeding for the first few days as it was commonly deemed necessary a few years ago. The secretions in the mother's breast are sufficient.

3. ARTIFICIAL FOOD.--Tokology says: "The best artificial food is cream reduced and sweetened with sugar of milk. a.n.a.lysis shows that human milk contains more cream and sugar and less casein than the milk of animals.

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4. Milk should form the basis of all preparations of food. If the milk is too strong, indigestion will follow, and the child will lose instead of gaining strength.

WEANING.--The weaning of the child depends much upon the strength and condition of the mother. If it does not occur in hot weather, from nine to twelve months is as long as any child should be nursed.

FOOD IN WEANING.--Infants cry a great deal during weaning, but a few days of patient perseverance will overcome all difficulties. Give the child purely a milk diet, Graham bread, milk crackers and milk, or a little milk thickened with boiled rice, a little jelly, apple sauce, etc., may be safely used. Cracked wheat, oatmeal, wheat germ, or anything of that kind thoroughly cooked and served with a little cream and sugar, is an excellent food.

MILK DRAWN FROM THE b.r.e.a.s.t.s.--If the mother suffers considerably from the milk gathering in the breast after weaning the child, withdraw it by taking a bottle that holds about a pint or a quart, putting a piece of cloth wrung out in warm water around the bottle, then fill it with boiling water, pour the water out and apply the bottle to the breast, and the bottle cooling will form a vacuum and will withdraw the milk into the bottle. This is one of the best methods now in use.

RETURN OF THE MENSES.--If the menses return while the mother is nursing, the child should at once be weaned, for the mother's milk no longer contains sufficient nourishment. In case the mother should become pregnant while the child is nursing it should at once be weaned, or serious results will follow to the health of the child. A mother's milk is no longer sufficiently rich to nourish the child or keep it in good health.

CARE OF THE BOTTLE.--If the child is fed on the bottle, great care should be taken in keeping it absolutely clean. Never use white rubber nipples. A plain form of bottle with a black rubber nipple is preferable.

CHILDREN should not be permitted to come to the table until two years of age.

CHAFING.--One of the best remedies is powdered lycopodium; apply it every time the babe is cleaned; but first wash with pure castile soap; Pears'

soap is also good. A preparation of oxide of zinc is also highly recommended. Chafing sometimes results from an acid condition of the stomach; in that case give a few doses of castoria.

COLIC.--If an infant is seriously troubled with colic, there is nothing better than camomile or catnip tea. Procure the leaves and make tea and give it as warm as the babe can bear.

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FEEDING INFANTS.

1. The best food for infants is mother's milk; next best is cow's milk.

Cow's milk contains about three times as much curd and one-half as much sugar, and it should be reduced with two parts of water.

2. In feeding cow's milk there is too little cream and too little sugar, and there is no doubt no better preparation than Mellin's food to mix it with (according to directions).

3. Children being fed on food lacking fat generally have their teeth come late; their muscles will be flabby and bones soft. Children will be too fat when their food contains too much sugar. Sugar always makes their flesh soft and flabby.

4. During the first two months the baby should be fed every two hours during the day, and two or three times during the night, but no more. Ten or eleven feedings for twenty-four hours are all a child will bear and remain healthy. At three months the child may be fed every three hours instead of every two.

5. Children can be taught regular habits by being fed and put to sleep at the same time every day and evening. Nervous diseases are caused by irregular hours of sleep and diet, and the use of soothing medicines.

6. A child five or six months old should not be fed during the night--from nine in the evening until six or seven in the morning, as overfeeding causes most of the wakefulness and nervousness of children during the night.

7. If a child vomits soon after taking the bottle, and there is an appearance of undigested food in the stool, it is a sign of overfeeding. If a large part of the bottle has been vomited, avoid the next bottle at regular time and pa.s.s over one bottle. If the child is nursing the same principles apply.

8. If a child empties its bottle and sucks vigorously its fingers after the bottle is emptied, it is very evident that the child is not fed enough, and should have its food gradually increased.

9. Give the baby a little cold water several times a day.

INFANTILE CONVULSIONS.

DEFINITION.--An infantile convulsion corresponds to a chill in an adult, and is the most common brain affection among children.

CAUSES.--Anything that irritates the nervous system may cause convulsions in the child, as teething, indigestible food, worms, dropsy of the brain, hereditary const.i.tution, or they may be the accompanying symptom in nearly all the {309} acute diseases of children, or when the eruption is suppressed in eruptive diseases.

SYMPTOMS.--In case of convulsions of a child parents usually become frightened, and very rarely do the things that should be done in order to afford relief. The child, previous to the fit, is usually irritable, and the twitching of the muscles of the face may be noticed, or it may come on suddenly without warning. The child becomes insensible, clenches its hands tightly, lips turn blue, and the eyes become fixed, usually frothing from the mouth with head turned back. The convulsion generally lasts two or three minutes; sometimes, however, as long as ten or fifteen minutes, but rarely.

REMEDY.--Give the child a warm bath and rub gently. Clothes wrung out of cold water and applied to the lower and back part of the head and plenty of fresh air will usually relieve the convulsion. Be sure and loosen the clothing around the child's neck. After the convulsion is over, give the child a few doses of pota.s.sic bromide, and an injection of castor oil if the abdomen is swollen. Pota.s.sic bromide should be kept in the house, to use in case of necessity.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

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Pains and Ills in Nursing.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The City Hospital.--A Homeless and Friendless Mother.]

1. SORE NIPPLES.--If a lady, during the latter few months of her pregnancy, were to adopt "means to harden the nipples," sore nipples during the period of suckling would not be so prevalent as they are.

2. CAUSE.--A sore nipple is frequently produced by the injudicious custom of allowing the child to have the nipple {311} almost constantly in his mouth. Another frequent cause of a sore nipple is from the babe having the canker. Another cause of a sore nipple is from the mother, after the babe has been sucking, putting up the nipple wet. She, therefore, ought always to dry the nipple, not by rubbing, but by dabbing it with a soft cambric or lawn handkerchief, or with a piece of soft linen rag--one or the other of which ought always to be at hand--every time directly after the child has done sucking, and just before applying any of the following powders or lotions to the nipple.

3. REMEDIES.--One of the best remedies for a sore nipple is the following powder:

Take of--Borax, one drachm; Powdered Starch, seven drachms.