A Book of Medical Discourses, in Two PartsCrumpler, Rebecca Lee
Science
A Book of Medical Discourses, in Two Parts
Crumpler, Rebecca Lee
Child care; Children -- Health and hygiene; Infants -- Care; Infants -- Health and hygiene; Women -- Health and hygiene
With meagre feeding a “bouncing fat boy” will soon present the
appearance of a wrinkled old man. And, too, the condition in which food
is presented to a child is equally as important as the quality and
quantity. It is impossible to rule the stomach of another; a spunky
child will resent the attempt some way, and at some time, even though it
be after the injury is irreparable. A uniformity in heating the milk or
food of any kind is very important. Hot things should never enter a
babe’s mouth. If milk is in the least sour, it is running a great risk
to try to sweeten it by adding soda, as some persons do, for
convenience.
The coarse habit of “stuffing” babes, to avoid frequent feeding of them,
should vanish like dew before the noonday sun; as it probably will,
under the management of educated mothers and nurses. The old-fashioned
way of compelling babes to suck a “sugar teat” or a piece of fat meat
rind for hours together to keep them quiet, is cheating, to say the
least. Our domestic fowls will eat meal, grain and vegetables when they
can get them. And if all supply of food is cut off, they may be seen to
pick, pick, day after day; this they will do if the ground is frozen and
bare. But are they getting food? Nay, they are only tasting, smelling,
and hunting for food.
Sucking a sugar teat or meat rind, like gum-chewing, tends to undermine
the natural vigor of the mind, by a waste of the fluids that are
intended to prepare the food for making pure blood.
A child can just as kindly be fed, changed, and laid quietly to rest; it
does not need patting or rocking.
Baby raising is made irksome by adults themselves. The feeding and
putting to sleep should be superintended by some competent person, as by
intrusting it to children, or even young girls, the feeding may be
imperfect. Many children scream with fright at the noise created to get
them to sleep.
Canned or otherwise prepared baby-food is quite uncertain, unless, in
the case of canned milk, particular pains is taken to have the water
hot, and the mass well dissolved; a large part will remain at the bottom
of the vessel. Again, as there is more than one brand of this article,
it is hard to find out which is the purest, as all are advertised to be
the best. Of course the largest firm will have the largest sales. Then
the price is not so convenient at all times, rather encouraging the
habit of rinsing the can; while all infants’ food should be prepared
fresh when wanted.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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