View report page

25
given once or twice a day, and later cornflour, oatmeal, boiled rice,
and other farinaceous food may be gradually introduced into the diet
During the passing of the second year, as the teeth develop, gravy,
broth, and finally meat may be given for dinner, but milk should form
half the child's diet till it is four years old. Avoid the habit of
allowing young children to share their parents' food. Take the
trouble of making wholesome food specially for them, and do not ruin
their stomachs and risk their lives by giving them tea, intoxicating
drink, beef, &c.
6. Fresh Air and Exercise.—Nobody will drink dirty water,
but few appear to mind breathing dirty air. Babies and young
children suffer more than grown persons from badly-ventilated
houses. They are tenderer and pass the greater part of their time in the
house. Keep your windows a little open at the top, and in the day
time as wide open as possible. Remember that bad air is worse than
cold air. Never keep slops or dirt of any kind inside your house a
minute longer than is necessary.
Take your children out for a walk every fine day. A walk will
do both mother and child far more good than gossiping to a neighbour
and playing in the street. Avoid taking children out at night or in
wet cold weather.
7. Sleep.—Don't accustom your baby to be rocked or nursed to
sleep, or to sleep in your arms.
Fresh air makes sleep more healthful. The air cannot be fresh if
the bed clothes are dirty. Young children in bed with their parents
may be injured or even smothered by getting wholly beneath the bed
clothes, and the smell of a mother's milk-stained shift always makes a
baby restless or fretty. Make baby a little bed for itself. Sleep
comes naturally to a healthy child. Wakefulness means illness.
During teething, when the baby is irritable and restless, never use
soothing syrups, sleeping draughts, laudanum, &c.; a little patience
will overcome the wakefulness, and the baby will be far better in the
morning than if drugged to sleep.