Advice to a Mother on the Management of Her ChildrenChavasse, Pye Henry
Science
Advice to a Mother on the Management of Her Children
Chavasse, Pye Henry
Child care; Children -- Health and hygiene; Infants -- Health and hygiene
The age at which he ought to commence taking exercise will, of course,
depend upon the season and upon the weather. If it be summer, and the
weather be fine, he should he carried in the open air, a week or a
fortnight after birth, but if it be winter, he ought not on any
account to be taken out under the month, and not even then, unless the
weather be mild for the season, and it be the middle of the day. At
the end of two months he should breathe the open air more
frequently. And after the expiration of three months, he ought to be
carried out _every day_, even if it be wet under foot, provided it be
fine above, and the wind be neither in an easterly nor in a
north-easterly direction. By doing so we shall make him strong and
hearty, and give the skin that mottled appearance which is so
characteristic of health. He must, of course, be well clothed.
I cannot help expressing my disapprobation of the practice of
smothering up an infant's face with a handkerchief, with a veil or
with any other covering, when he is taken out into the air. If his
face be so muffled up, he may as well remain at home, as under such
circumstances, it is impossible for him to receive any benefit from
the invigorating effects of the fresh air.
75. _Can you devise any method to induce a babe himself to take
exercise_?
He must be encouraged to use muscular exertion, and, for this purpose,
he ought to be frequently laid either upon a rug, or carpet, or the
floor. He will then stretch his limbs and kick about with perfect
glee. It is a pretty sight, to see a little fellow kicking and
sprawling on the floor. He crows with delight and thoroughly enjoys
himself. It strengthens his back, it enables him to stretch his limbs,
and to use his muscles, and is one of the best kinds of exercise a
very young child can take. While going through his performances his
diaper, if he wear one, should be unfastened, in order that he might
go through his exercises untrammelled. By adopting the above plan, the
babe quietly enjoys himself--his brain is not over excited by it; this
is an important consideration, for both mothers and nurses are apt to
rouse, and excite very young children to their manifest detriment. A
babe requires rest, and not excitement. How wrong it is, then, for
either a mother or a nurse to be exciting and rousing a new born
babe. It is most injurious and weakening to his brain. In the early
period of his existence his time ought to be almost entirely spent in
sleeping and in sucking!
76. _Do you approve of tossing an infant much about_?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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