Advice to a Mother on the Management of Her Children Part 2

If a babe does not wear a cap in the day, it is not at all necessary that he should wear one at night. He will sleep more comfortably without one, and it will be better for his health. Moreover, night-caps injure both the thickness and beauty of the hair.

27. _Have you any remarks to make on the clothing of an infant, when, in the winter time, he is sent out for exercise_?

Be sure that he is well wrapped up. He ought to have under his cloak a knitted worsted spencer, which should b.u.t.ton behind, and if the weather be very cold, a shawl over all, and, provided it be dry above, and the wind be not in the east or in the north-east, he may then brave the weather. He will then come from his walk refreshed and strengthened, for cold air is an invigorating tonic. In a subsequent Conversation I will indicate the proper age at which a child should be first sent out to take exercise in the open air.

28. _At what age ought an infant "to be shortened?"_

This, of course, will depend upon the season. In the summer, the right time "for shortening a babe," as it is called, is at the end of two months, in the winter, at the end of three months. But if the right time for "shortening" a child should happen to be in the spring, let it be deferred until the end of May. The English springs are very trying and treacherous, and sometimes, in April the weather is almost as cold, and the wind as biting as in winter. It is treacherous, for the sun is hot, and the wind, which is at this time of the year frequently easterly, is keen and cutting I should far prefer "to shorten" a child in the winter than in the early spring.

DIET

29. _Are you an advocate for putting a baby to the breast soon after birth, or for waiting, as many do, until the third day_?

The infant ought to be put to the bosom soon after birth, the interest, both of the mother and of the child demands it. It will be advisable to wait three or four hours, that the mother may recover from her fatigue, and, then, the babe must be put to the breast. If this be done, he will generally take the nipple with avidity.

It might be said, at so early a period that there is no milk in the bosom; but such is not usually the case. There generally is a _little_ from the very beginning, which acts on the baby's bowels like a dose of purgative medicine, and appears to be intended by nature to cleanse the system. But, provided there be no milk at first, the very act of sucking not only gives the child a notion, but, at the same time, causes a draught (as it is usually called) in the breast, and enables the milk to flow easily.

Of course, if there be no milk in the bosom--the babe having been applied once or twice to determine the fact--then you must wait for a few hours before applying him again to the nipple, that is to say, until the milk be secreted.

An infant, who, for two or three days, is kept from the breast, and who is fed upon gruel, generally becomes feeble, and frequently, at the end of that time, will not take the nipple at all. Besides, there is a thick cream (similar to the biestings of a cow), which, if not drawn out by the child, may cause inflammation and gathering of the bosom, and, consequently, great suffering to the mother. Moreover, placing him _early_ to the breast, moderates the severity of the mother's after pains, and lessens the risk of her flooding. A new-born babe must _not_ have gruel given to him, as it disorders the bowels, causes a disinclination to suck, and thus makes him feeble.

30. _If an infant show any disinclination to suck, or if he appear unable to apply his tongue to the nipple, what ought to be done_?

Immediately call the attention of the medical man to the fact, in order that he may ascertain whether he be tongue-tied. If he be, the simple operation of dividing the bridle of the tongue will remedy the defect, and will cause him to take the nipple with ease and comfort.

31. _Provided there be not milk AT FIRST, what ought then to be done_?

Wait with patience; the child (if the mother have no milk) will not, for at least twelve hours, require artificial food. In the generality of instances, then, artificial food is not at all necessary; but if it should be needed, one-third of new milk and two-thirds of warm water, slightly sweetened with loaf sugar (or with brown sugar, if the babe's bowels have not been opened), should be given, in small quant.i.ties at a time, every four hours, until the milk be secreted, and then it must be discontinued. The infant ought to be put to the nipple every four hours, but not oftener, until he be able to find nourishment.

If after the application of the child for a few times, he is unable to find nourishment, then it will be necessary to wait until the milk be secreted. As soon as it is secreted, he must be applied with great regularity, _alternately_ to each breast.

I say _alternately_ to each breast. _This is most important advice_. Sometimes a child, for some inexplicable reason, prefers one breast to the other, and the mother, to save a little contention, concedes the point, and allows him to have his own way. And what is frequently the consequence?--a gathered breast!

We frequently hear of a babe having no notion of sucking. This "no notion" may generally be traced to bad management, to stuffing him with food, and thus giving him a disinclination to take the nipple at all.

32. _How often should a mother suckle her infant_?

A mother generally suckles her baby too often, having him almost constantly at the breast. This practice is injurious both to parent and to child. The stomach requires repose as much as any other part of the body; and how can it have if it be constantly loaded with breast-milk? For the first month, he ought to be suckled, about every hour and a half; for the second month, every two hours,--gradually increasing, as he becomes older, the distance of time between, until at length he has it about every four hours.

If a baby were suckled at stated periods, he would only look for the bosom at those times, and be satisfied. A mother is frequently in the habit of giving the child the breast every time he cries, regardless of the cause. The cause too frequently is that he has been too often suckled--his stomach has been overloaded, the little fellow is consequently in pain, and he gives utterance to it by cries. How absurd is such a practice! We may as well endeavour to put out a fire by feeding it with fuel. An infant ought to be accustomed to regularity in everything, in times for sucking, for sleeping, &c. No children thrive so well as those who are thus early taught.

33. _Where the mother is MODERATELY strong, do you advise that the infant should have any other food than the breast_?

Artificial food must not, for the first five or six months, be given, if the parent be _moderately_ strong, of course, if she be feeble, a _little_ food will be necessary. Many delicate women enjoy better health whilst ambling than at any other period of their lives.

It may be well, where artificial food, in addition to the mother's own milk, is needed, and before giving any farinaceous food whatever (for farinaceous food until a child is six or seven months old is injurious), to give, through a feeding bottle, every night and morning, in addition to the mother's breast of milk, the following _Milk-Water-and Sugar-of Milk Food_--

Fresh milk, from ONE cow, Warm water, of each a quarter of a pint, Sugar of milk one tea spoonful

The sugar of milk should first be dissolved in the warm water, and then the fresh milk _unboiled_ should be mixed with it. The sweetening of the above food with sugar-of-milk, instead of with lump sugar, makes the food more to resemble the mother's own milk. The infant will not, probably, at first take more than half of the above quant.i.ty at a time, even if he does so much as that but still the above are the proper proportions, and as he grows older, he will require the whole of it at a meal.

34. _What food, when a babe is six or seven months old, is the best subst.i.tute for a mother's milk?_

The food that suits one infant will not agree with another. (1) The one that I have found the most generally useful, is made as follows--Boil the crumb of bread for two hours in water, taking particular care that it does not burn, then add only a _little_ lump-sugar (or _brown_ sugar, if the bowels be costive), to make it palatable. When he is six or seven months old, mix a little new milk--the milk of ONE cow--with it gradually as he becomes older, increasing the quant.i.ty until it be nearly all milk, there being only enough water to boil the bread, the milk should be poured boiling hot on the bread. Sometimes the two milks--the mother's and the cow's milk--do not agree, when such is the case, let the milk be left out, both in this and in the foods following, and let the food be made with water, instead of with milk and water. In other respects, until the child is weaned, let it be made as above directed, when he is weaned, good fresh cow's milk MUST, as previously recommended, be used. (2) Or cut thin slices of bread into a basin, cover the bread with _cold_ water, place it in an oven for two hours to bake, take it out, beat the bread up with a fork, and then slightly sweeten it. This is an excellent food. (3) If the above should not agree with the infant (although, if properly made, they almost invariably do), "tous les-mois" may be given. [Footnote: "Tous les mois" is the starch obtained from the tuberous roots of various species of _canna_, and is imported from the West Indies. It is very similar to arrow root. I suppose it is called "tous les-mois," as it is good to be eaten all the year round.](4) Or Robb's Biscuits, as it is "among the best bread compounds made out of wheat-flour, and is almost always readily digested."--_Routh_.

(5) Another good food is the following--Take about a pound of flour put it in a cloth, tie it up tightly, place it a saucepanful of water, and let it boil for four or five hours, then take it out, peel off the outer rind, and the inside will be found quite dry, which grate. (6) Another way of preparing an infant's food, is to bake flour--biscuit flour--in a slow oven, until it be of a light fawn colour. Baked flour ought after it is baked, to be reduced, by means of a rolling pin, to a fine powder, and should then be kept in a covered tin, ready for use. (7) An excellent food for a baby is baked crumbs of bread. The manner of preparing it is as follows--Crumb some bread on a plate, put it a little distance from the fire to dry. When dry, rub the crumbs in a mortar, and reduce them to a fine powder, then pa.s.s them through a sieve. Having done which, put the crumbs of bread into a slow oven, and let them bake until they be of a light fawn colour. A small quant.i.ty either of the boiled, or of the baked flour, or of the baked crumb of bread, ought to be made into food, in the same way as gruel is made, and should then be slightly sweetened, according to the state of the bowels, either with lump or with brown sugar.

(8) Baked flour sometimes produces constipation, when such is the case, Mr. Appleton, of Budleigh Salterton, Devon, wisely recommends a mixture of baked flour, and prepared oatmeal, [Footnote: If there is any difficulty in obtaining _prepared_ oatmeal, Robinson's Scotch Oatmeal will answer equally as well.] in the proportion of two of the former and one of the latter. He says--"To avoid the constipating effects, I have always had mixed, before baking, one part of prepared oatmeal with two parts of flour, this compound I have found both nouris.h.i.+ng, and regulating to the bowels. One table-spoonful of it, mixed with a quarter of a pint of milk, or milk and water, when well boiled, flavoured and sweetened with white sugar, produces a thick, nouris.h.i.+ng, and delicious food for infants or invalids." He goes on to remark--"I know of no food, after repeated trials, that can be so strongly recommended by the profession to all mothers in the rearing of their infants, without or with the aid of the b.r.e.a.s.t.s, at the same time relieving them of much draining and dragging whilst nursing with an insufficiency of milk, as baked flour and oatmeal." [Footnote: _British Medical Journal_, Dec 18, 1858]

(9) A ninth food may be made with "Farinaceous Food for Infants, prepared by Hards of Dartford". If Hard's Farinaceous food produces costiveness--as it sometimes does--let it be mixed either with equal parts or with one third of Robinson's Scotch Oatmeal. The mixture of the two together makes a splendid food for a baby. (10) A tenth, and an excellent one, may be made with rusks, boiled for an hour in water, which ought then to be well beaten up, by means of a fork, and slightly sweetened with lump sugar. Great care should be taken to select good rusks, as few articles vary so much in quality. (11) An eleventh is--the top crust of a baker's loaf, boiled for an hour in water, and then moderately sweetened with lump sugar. If, at any time, the child's bowels should be costive, _raw_ must be subst.i.tuted for _lump_ sugar. (12) Another capital food for an infant is that made by Lemann's Biscuit Powder. [Footnote: Lemann's Biscuit Powder cannot be too strongly recommended--It is of the finest quality, and may be obtained of Lemann, Threadneedle Street, London. An extended and an extensive experience confirms me still more in the good opinion I have of this food.] (13) Or, Brown and Polson's Patent Corn Flour will be found suitable. Francatelli, the Queen's cook, in his recent valuable work, gives the following formula for making it--"To one dessert-spoonful of Brown and Polson, mixed with a winegla.s.sful of cold water, add half a pint of boiling water, stir over the fire for five minutes, sweeten lightly, and feed the baby, but if the infant is being brought up by the hand, this food should then be mixed with milk--not otherwise." (14) A fourteenth is Neaves' Farinaceous Food for Infants, which is a really good article of diet for a babe, it is not so binding to the bowels as many of the farinaceous foods are, which is a great recommendation.

(15) The following is a good and nouris.h.i.+ng food for a baby:--Soak for an hour, some _best_ rice in cold water; strain, and add fresh water to the rice; then let it simmer till it will pulp through a sieve; put the pulp and the water in a saucepan, with a lump or two of sugar, and again let it simmer for a quarter of an hour; a portion of this should be mixed with one-third of fresh milk, so as to make it of the consistence of good cream. This is an excellent food for weak bowels.

When the baby is six or seven months old, new milk should be added to any of the above articles of food, in a similar way to that recommended for boiled bread.

(16.) For a delicate infant, lentil powder, better known as Du Barry's "Ravalenta Arabica," is invaluable. It ought to be made into food, with new milk, in the same way that arrow-root is made, and should be moderately sweetened with loaf-sugar. Whatever food is selected ought to be given by means of a nursing bottle.

If a child's bowels be relaxed and weak, or if the motions be offensive, the milk _must_ be boiled, but not otherwise. The following (17) is a good food when an infant's bowels are weak and relaxed:--"Into five large spoonfuls of the purest water, rub smooth one dessert-spoonful of fine flour. Set over the fire five spoonfuls of new milk, and put two bits of sugar into it; the moment it boils, pour it into the flour and water, and stir it over a slow fire twenty minutes."

Where there is much emaciation, I have found (18) genuine arrow-root [Footnote: Genuine arrow-root, of first-rate quality, and at a reasonable price, may be obtained of H. M. Plumbe, arrow-root merchant, 8 Alie Place. Great Alie Street. Aldgate, London, E.] a very valuable article of food for an infant, as it contains a great deal of starch, which starch helps to form fat and to evolve caloric (heat)--both of which a poor emaciated chilly child stands so much in need of. It must be made with equal parts of water and of good fresh milk, and ought to be slightly sweetened with loaf sugar; a small pinch of table salt should be added to it.

Arrow-root will not, as milk will, give bone and muscle; but it will give--what is very needful to a delicate child--fat and warmth. Arrow-root, as it is princ.i.p.ally composed of starch, comes under the same category as cream, b.u.t.ter, sugar, oil, and fat. Arrowroot, then, should always be given with new milk (mixed with one-half of water); it will then fulfil, to perfection, the exigencies of nouris.h.i.+ng, of warming, and fattening the child's body.

New milk, composed in due proportions as it is, of cream and of skim milk--the very acme of perfection--is the only food, _which of itself alone,_ will nourish and warm and fatten. It is, for a child, _par excellence,_ the food of foods!

Arrow-root, and all other farinaceous foods are, for a child, only supplemental to milk--new milk being, for the young, the staple food of all other kinds of foods whatever.

But bear in mind, _and let there be no mistake about it,_ that farinaceous food, be it what it may, until the child be six or seven months old, until, indeed, he _begin_ to cut his teeth, is not suitable for a child; until then, _The Milk-water-salt-and-sugar Food_ (see page 29) is usually, if he be a dry-nursed child, the best artificial food for him.

I have given you a large and well-tried infant's dietary to chose from, as it is sometimes difficult to fix on one that will suit; but, remember, if you find one of the above to agree, keep to it, as a babe requires a simplicity in food--a child a greater variety.

Let me, in this place, insist upon the necessity of great care and attention being observed in the preparation of any of the above articles of diet. A babe's stomach is very delicate, and will revolt at either ill-made, or lumpy, or burnt food. Great care ought to be observed as to the cleanliness of the cooking utensils. The above directions require the strict supervision of the mother.

Broths have been recommended, but, for my own part, I think that, for a _young_ infant, they are objectionable; they are apt to turn acid on the stomach, and to cause flatulence and sickness, they, sometimes, disorder the bowels and induce griping and purging.

Whatever artificial food is used ought to be given by means of a bottle, not only as it is a more natural way than any other of feeding a baby, as it causes him to suck as though he were drawing it from the mother's b.r.e.a.s.t.s, but as the act of sucking causes the salivary glands to press out their contents, which materially a.s.sist digestion.

Moreover, it seems to satisfy and comfort him more than it otherwise would do.

One of the best, if not _the best_ feeding bottle I have yet seen, is that made by Morgan Brothers, 21 Bow Lane, London. It is called "The Anglo-French Feeding Bottle" S Maw, of 11 Aldersgate Street, London, has also brought out an excellent one--"The Fountain Infant's Feeding Bottle" Another good one is "Mather's Infant's Feeding Bottle" Either of these three will answer the purpose admirably. I cannot speak in terms too highly of these valuable inventions.

The food ought to be of the consistence of good cream, and should be made fresh and fresh. It ought to be given milk warm. Attention must be paid to the cleanliness of the vessel, and care should be taken that the milk be that of ONE cow, [Footnote: I consider it to be of immense importance to the infant, that the milk be had from ONE cow. A writer in the _Medical Times and Gazette_ speaking on this subject, makes the following sensible remarks--"I do not know if a practice common among French ladies when they do not nurse, has obtained the attention among ourselves which it seems to me to deserve. When the infant is to be fed with cow milk that from various cows is submitted to examination by the medical man and if possible, tried on some child, and when the milk of any cow has been chosen, no other milk is ever suffered to enter the child's lips for a French lady would as soon offer to her infant's mouth the b.r.e.a.s.t.s of half a dozen wet-nurses in the day, as mix together the milk of various cows, which must differ, even as the animals themselves, in its const.i.tuent qualities. Great attention is also paid to the pasture, or other food of the cow thus appropriated."] and that it be new and of good quality, for if not it will turn acid and sour, and disorder the stomach, and will thus cause either flatulence or looseness of the bowels, or perhaps convulsions. The only way to be sure of having it from _one_ cow, is (if you have not a cow of your own), to have the milk from a _respectable_ cow keeper, and to have it brought to your house in a can of your own (the London milk cans being the best for the purpose). The better plan is to have two cans, and to have the milk fresh and fresh every night and morning. The cans, after each time of using, ought to be scalded out, and, once a week the can should be filled with _cold_ water, and the water should be allowed to remain in it until the can be again required.

Very little sugar should be used in the food, as much sugar weakens the digestion. A small pinch of table-salt ought to be added to whatever food is given, as "the best savour is salt." Salt is most wholesome--it strengthens and a.s.sists digestion, prevents the formation of worms, and, in small quant.i.ties, may with advantage be given (if artificial food be used) to the youngest baby.

35. _Where it is found to be absolutely necessary to give an infant artificial food_ WHILST SUCKLING, _how often ought he to be fed_?

Not oftener than twice during the twenty four hours, and then only in _small_ quant.i.ties at a time, as the stomach requires rest, and at the same time, can manage to digest a little food better than it can a great deal. Let me again urge upon you the importance, if it be at all practicable, of keeping the child _entirely_ to the breast for the first five or six months of his existence. Remember there is no _real_ subst.i.tute for a mother's milk, there is no food so well adapted to his stomach, there is no diet equal to it in developing muscle, in making bone, or in producing that beautiful plump rounded contour of the limbs, there is nothing like a mother's milk _alone_ in making a child contented and happy, in laying the foundation of a healthy const.i.tution, in preparing the body for a long life, in giving him tone to resist disease, or in causing him to cut his teeth easily and well, in short, _the mothers milk is the greatest temporal blessing an infant can possess_.