10. A child should have all the water it desires to drink, but it is
decidedly the best to boil the water first, and allow it to cool. All
the impurities and disease germs are thereby destroyed. This one thing
alone will add greatly to the health and vigor of the child.
11. Where there is a tendency to bowel disorder, a little gum arabic,
rice, or barley may be boiled with the drinking water.
12. If the child uses a bottle it should be kept absolutely clean.
It is best to have two or three bottles, so that one will always be
perfectly clean and fresh.
13. The nipple should be of black or pure rubber, and not of the white
or vulcanized rubber; it should fit over the top of the bottle. No
tubes should ever be used; it is impossible to keep them clean.
14. When the rubber becomes coated, a little coarse salt will clean
it.
15. Babies should be fed at regular times. They should also be put to
sleep at regular hours. Regularity is one of the best safeguards to
health.
16. Milk for babies and children should be from healthy cows. Milk
from different cows varies, and it is always better for a child
to have milk from the same cow. A farrow cow's milk is preferable,
especially if the child is not very strong.
17. Many of the prepared foods advertised for children are of little
benefit. A few may be good, but what is good for one child may not be
for another. So it must be simply a matter of experiment if any of the
advertised foods are used.
18. It is a physiological fact that an infant is always healthier
and better to sleep alone. It gets better air and is not liable to
suffocation.
19. A healthy child should never be fed in less than two hours from
the last time they finished before, gradually lengthening the time
as it grows older. At 4 months 3-1/2 or 4 hours; at 5 months a healthy
child will be better if given nothing in the night except, perhaps, a
little water.