GENERAL TREATMENT OF INFANTS.
Children are given to parents only for a lifetime; it may be long, or it
may be very short; but to array them in fine linens, with bare neck and
arms, as has been and is now to a great extent the custom in many
refined communities, for public exhibition, is, it seems to me, a
questionable act of parental affection. Yet many do so, and boast, when
otherwise advised, of their ability to toughen. Mother, your child may
be only one of a hundred to survive such experiments; ninety-nine may
have been relieved by an early death.
I have looked upon the lifeless form of babes whose would-be friends had
failed to toughen, but had succeeded in contributing a bud to the garden
of the dead,—yea, shrouded just as they dressed them while living.
Thanks to our Heavenly Father, these cruel customs are fast declining;
and we may hope the day is not far distant when the feelings of the
tender infants will be better protected, and their bodies covered with
more comfortable material. We often see, and are expected to admire, pet
dogs on the streets, covered well with cloth, though supplied with
Nature’s garment. Should pet Carlo die, his loss is mourned as much as
that of many infants; in hundreds of cases, being borne to the cemetery
followed by a number of carriages and placed in a locality adorned with
monument and iron fence.
Too often babies are subjected to a variety of tortures unawares. They
are expected to endure, and remain perfectly quiet, with cold food, hot
food, cold air, hot air, clean clothes, dirty clothes, wet or dry
clothes, thin or thick clothes, wind, dust, light or darkness, noise or
quiet, scolding or caressing, squeezing, jolting and beating; finally
they endure what no man or woman would, from one week to two years old,
or till able to speak for deliverance. Previous to this time they could
only squirm and kick and cry, and then, being considered sick, would be
forced to take soothing drops or castor-oil. But now they can tell of
their little trials by some “sound word” or striking sign.
One part of the clothing of infants should not press, nor be more
thickly folded, than the other. Bands and straps should be made wide and
smooth. The belly-band should always be fastened on the side.
While travelling in steam-cars, coaches, etc., infants should lie down
as much as possible, as sitting upright and being jostled about is
liable to strain or injure for life some part of the unfinished spine;
and, too, it may bring on severe vomiting and purging. When a journey is
to be taken over a long route and the child is fed from a bottle, some
more solid food should be substituted; as the continual re-warming of
the milk, combined with the motion, renders it unfit for nourishment. It
is more frequently overfeeding and prolonged excitement that causes
children to fret so when travelling, than a want of their accustomed
food. A little finely-pounded, newly-corned, beef, and the compound
Graham cracker, is a convenient lunch to take on a journey, especially
in hot weather. This may be considered coarse fare for a babe two or
three months old; but properly given, could it be so injurious as
keeping them trotting, feeding on sweetened milk and water, alternating
with cookies or candies? which, as many can testify, is practised daily
on some of our routes of travel.
As a general thing, if babes are well fed and otherwise made comfortable
at every convenient interval, then allowed to lie quiet or sleep, one
will need no better company on a long journey. They soon get used to
changes if the change really is for their comfort.
Very young children have no more control over their eyes than they have
over their lungs; and by facing an open window, as they are frequently
allowed to do, often get some particle of dust in their eyes, causing
them to sob and fret for miles. Should they be old enough to rub the
eyes, the loving friend or guardian pronounces the cause of the
suffering sleepiness, or hunger. Then comes the old bottle; if the babe
doesn’t drink from it, the poor little one is rolled and trotted, and
sometimes slyly slapped, as a means of subduing the temper of the little
——. It will never do to tell what names such people call their own dear
flesh and blood.
Fanning is good pastime for some women, but it is no less injurious to
themselves than it is to infants, provided they apply it without regard
to the condition of the body. When children are too warm their wraps
should be adapted to the temperature; fanning can do more harm in a few
moments, than could be repaired in a month.
A lady, going visiting with her first heir, was asked to lay off her
babe’s wraps. “Oh,” said she, “there is no use in putting handsome wraps
on baby, if I am to take them off while visiting.” I may have said quite
enough to prove that exposing babes to the sudden changes of temperature
and atmosphere may be productive of a variety of stomach and intestinal
complaints at each season of the year. Even when precaution is exercised
there will be unguarded moments when the germ of disease will enter the
system; but those moments should be few. I have tried to prescribe
preventives as I go along which I know can be read and put up by almost
any housekeeper, whether she has graduated in Chemistry or not.
Extra caution should be exercised with small children in midsummer as
school vacations draw near, as then the older children are much depended
upon to care for the younger. It frequently happens that a child who has
been quite thrifty begins to fall back about vacation time.
“Dog-days,” they say, “give children cholera infantum,” when the truth
of the matter is, the accustomed food has been reduced both in quantity
and quality, and they are compelled to eat or suck candies, swallow
pieces of nuts, fruits, cakes, pickles, or anything the larger children
choose to give. “Baby must go to ride in the carriage;” yes, and remain
for hours without food, or, what is as bad, given milk to drink from a
bottle that has lain beside the warm body for hours. In fact, the child
thus treated may continue to pine, and really starve at the very time it
should have been more lavishly fed. The system of infants has to be
guarded at all times and in all places; but more especially in our New
England climate, where the atmosphere is so extremely varied. Even if a
child does suck the breast, it can be fed through the day, now on
oatmeal and milk, and again on plain Indian meal or flour pudding. By
these means, warmth is supplied to the blood, and strength to the nerves
and muscles.
I hope no one will understand me as advocating heat alone as a life
preserver, for I do not. It is heat alone that renders the systems of
many children so susceptible to colds. It is uniformity and moderation
in their whole management that I am trying to impress upon the minds of
all who may desire to profit thereby.