American Woman's Home: Or, Principles of Domestic Science;: Being a Guide to the Formation and Maintenance of Economical, Healthful, Beautiful, and Christian HomesStowe, Harriet Beecher
Religion
American Woman's Home: Or, Principles of Domestic Science;: Being a Guide to the Formation and Maintenance of Economical, Healthful, Beautiful, and Christian Homes
Stowe, Harriet Beecher
Home economics
After it is a month or two old, take an infant out to walk, or ride,
in a little wagon, every fair and warm day; but be very careful that
its feet, and every part of its body, are kept warm; and be sure that
its eyes are well protected from the light. Weak eyes, and sometimes
blindness, are caused by neglecting this precaution. Keep the head of
an infant cool, never allowing too warm bonnets, nor permitting it to
sink into soft pillows when asleep. Keeping an infant's head too warm
very much increases nervous irritability; and this is the reason why
medical men forbid the use of caps for infants. But the head of an
infant should, especially while sleeping, be protected from draughts
of air, and from getting cold.
Be very careful of the skin of an infant, as nothing tends so
effectually to prevent disease. For this end, it should be washed all
over every morning, and then gentle friction should be applied with
the hand, to the back, stomach, bowels, and limbs. The head should be
thoroughly washed every day, and then brushed with a soft hair-brush,
or combed with a fine comb. If, by neglect, dirt accumulates under the
hair, apply with the finger the yolk of an egg, and then the fine comb
will remove it all, without any trouble.
Dress the infant so that it will be always warm, but not so as to cause
perspiration. Be sure and keep its feet _always_ warm; and for this
often warm them at a fire, and use long dresses. Keep the neck and arms
covered. For this purpose, wrappers, open in front, made high in the
neck, with long sleeves, to put on over the frock, are now very
fashionable.
It is better for both mother and child, that it should not sleep on
the mother's arm at night, unless the weather be extremely cold. This
practice keeps the child too warm, and leads it to seek food too
frequently. A child should ordinarily take nourishment but twice in
the night. A crib beside the mother, with plenty of warm and light
covering, is best for the child; but the mother must be sure that it
is always kept warm.
Never cover a child's head, so that it will inhale the air of its own
lungs. In very warm weather, especially in cities, great pains should
be taken to find fresh and cool air by rides and sailing. Walks in a
public square in the cool of the morning, and frequent excursions in
ferry or steamboats, would often save a long bill for medical
attendance.
In hot nights, the windows should be kept open, and the infant laid
on a mattress, or on folded blankets. A bit of straw matting, laid
over a feather bed and covered with the under sheet, makes a very cool
bed for an infant.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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