The Infant.
Embracing the First Year of the Child's Life.
The battle of life really begins as soon as the child is born. Its
cleanliness, its clothing, its temperature and its food are matters for
daily observance and care, as also are the light, sunshine and air which
it is to breathe. Opiates, soothing syrups and cordials, are to be
strictly avoided as being deleterious to health; proper sanitary
measures usually suffice to render all _dosing_ unnecessary. Spirituous
potions and lotions should be avoided as being contrary to the laws of
hygiene as well as for fear the child may learn to love and to become
addicted to their use later in life. Every organ of the body should be
carefully protected even at this early age, so that health may reign
supreme. Particular care and the utmost solicitude should be bestowed
upon the genital organs. No rubbing or handling of these parts should be
permitted under any pretense whatever--beyond what may be absolutely
necessary for cleanliness. The genital organs require just as much
watchful care, if not more, as the stomach, the eye, the ear, &c. I
regret to say that I have known some fathers to tickle the genital
organs of their infant boys until a complete erection of the little
penis ensued, which effect pleases the father as an evidence of a robust
boy. The evil effects of such a procedure are too manifest to require
dilating upon. Fathers take warning!
Nurses are known to quiet young children by gently exciting pleasurable
sensations about the genital organs both of males and females--practices
which are the most vicious and vice-begetting that can possibly be
invented. Many a young man and young woman has fallen to very low depths
from influences developed by these and similar means. Nurses should be
cautioned in this matter _and carefully watched too_, as even the least
suspected may (innocently perhaps) be guilty of this fault to save
themselves the trouble of quieting their charges in a proper way. Early
impressions upon these animal passions, as well as those made upon other
senses of the young, are very abiding. Mothers be watchful!
Great care should be exercised in the choice of a diaper for infants and
the material of which it is made. The diaper should fit easily about
the organs which it covers and protects, so as not to cause undue
heating or friction of the parts; and immediately after a babe has
soiled itself either with urine or from a motion of the bowels, it
should be made clean and dry at once to avoid any irritation that would
otherwise ensue upon these delicate parts. The material of which the
diaper is made should not be stiff or harsh, but very limp, soft and
pliable; nor should it be thick and bungling. There are great objections
to the use of oil-cloth, rubber or other impervious materials as they
prevent the escape of perspiration, urine, fecal matter, etc. As soon as
possible, say near the end of the first year, the child should be taught
to use its little chair-commode, thus dispensing with the diaper at an
early age. This is much better for the sexual organs, is more
comfortable for the child and is more healthy; it also favors a more
perfect development of the limbs and joints, the hip joints
particularly.