At this period the mother is called on, by religious and moral obligation, as well as by the ties of natural affection, to suckle her infant: no doubt could be entertained of her immediate assent to so powerful an impulse, if uninfluenced by her friends or relatives. It cannot be denied, that she may be disqualified for the office by various maladies, by an incipient phthisis, by a scorbutic or scrofulous taint, by hysterical or nervous affections, &c. However, the fitness or unfitness of the mother for this endearing office, should be determined by the attending physician. There are many instances recorded of women who had been extremely delicate and sickly previous to their first confinement, becoming afterwards healthy and robust. On the contrary, there are several histories of other women, who previously had enjoyed good health, suffering from counteracting the regular process of nature. The flow of the milk being checked, undue determinations have taken place to the chest or head, and in some cases proved fatal. In the bowels of children at the time of their birth, there is an accumulation of what is called "the meconium." For whatever purpose it was intended before the birth of the child, it would become injurious were it afterwards suffered to remain. Nature has provided the means for its removal, by giving to the new milk an aperient quality. Therefore it is advisable to wait, even to the third day, for the appearance of the milk, rather than attempt to remove the meconium by castor oil, or any other mild aperient medicine. The coats of the child's stomach and bowels are so extremely tender and irritable, that the mildest purgative will give pain, and disorder the health of the infant. By waiting for the milk, relief is obtained by the means nature has provided, without the slightest inconvenience. 837. _Clothing._--The clothing for children cannot be too simple: it should be so formed as to admit of being easily and quickly changed, free from all bandages or pins, and secured only by tape. Shoes or stockings may be dispensed with, until the child begins to use its legs, as they keep the feet wet and unpleasant, unless changed every hour. The child left to itself, will soon begin to enjoy the use and freedom of its limbs.