2031. Time-Table.

The Time of Taking Food is not a matter of indifference; very young infants make an exception; for, as their consumption of vital power is more rapid, they may be more frequently indulged with aliment.

2032. Regularity.

It is, however, advisable to accustom even them to a certain regularity, so as to allow them their victuals at stated periods of the day; for it has been observed that those children which are fed indiscriminately through the whole day, are subject to debility and disease. The stomach should be allowed to recover its tone, and to collect the juices necessary for digestion, before it is supplied with a new portion of food.

2033. Daily Diet.

The following Order of giving Food to children has been found proper, and conducive to their health:--After rising in the morning, suppose about six o'clock, a moderate portion of lukewarm milk, with well baked bread, which should by no means be new; at nine o'clock, bread with some fruit, or, if fruit be scarce, a small quant.i.ty of fresh b.u.t.ter; about twelve o'clock, the dinner, of a sufficient quant.i.ty; between four and five o'clock, some bread with fruit, or, in winter, some preserve as a subst.i.tute for fruit.

2034. Tea.

On this Occasion, Children should be allowed to eat till they are satisfied, without surfeiting themselves, that they may not crave for a heavy supper, which disturbs their rest, and is productive of bad humours: lastly, about seven o'clock they may be permitted a light supper, consisting either of milk, soup, fruit, or boiled vegetables and the like, but neither meat nor mealy dishes, nor any article of food which produces flatulency; in short, they ought then to eat but little, and remain awake at least for an hour after it.

2035. Bread.

It has often been contended that Bread is hurtful to children; but this applies only to new bread, or such as is not sufficiently baked; for instance, nothing can be more hurtful or oppressive than rolls, m.u.f.fins, and crumpets. Good wheaten bread, especially that baked by the aerated process, is extremely proper during the first years of infancy; but that made of whole wheat meal, or wheat flour from which the bran has not been eliminated is, perhaps, more conducive to health after the age of childhood.

2036. Drink.

With respect to Drink, physicians are decidedly against giving it to children in large quant.i.ties, and at irregular periods, whether it consists of the mother's milk, or any other equally mild liquid.

2037. Improper.

It is improper and pernicious to keep infants continually at the breast; and it would be less hurtful, nay, even judicious, to let them cry for a few nights, rather than to fill them incessantly with milk, which readily turns sour on the stomach, weakens the digestive organs, and ultimately generates scrofulous affections.

2038. Liquids.

In the latter part of the First Year, pure water, milk-and-water, or toast-and-water may occasionally be given. On no account should a young child be permitted to taste beer or wine, unless specially ordered by a medical man. Those parents who accustom their children to drink water only, bestow on them a fortune, the value and importance of which will be sensibly felt through life.

2039. Drinking with Meals.

Many Children acquire a Habit of Drinking during their meals; it would be more conducive to digestion if they were accustomed to drink only after having made a meal. This salutary rule is too often neglected, though it is certain that innundations of the stomach, during the mastication and maceration of the food, not only vitiate digestion, but they may be attended with other bad consequences; as cold drink, when brought in contact with the teeth previously heated, may easily occasion cracks or c.h.i.n.ks in these useful bones, and pave the way for their carious dissolution.

2040. Crying.

If we Inquire into the Cause which produces the crying of infants, we shall find that it seldom originates from pain, or uncomfortable sensations, for those who are apt to imagine that such causes must _always_ operate on the body of an infant, are egregiously mistaken; inasmuch as they conceive that the physical condition, together with the method of expressing sensations, is the same in infants and adults.

2041. Difference.

It requires, however, no demonstration to prove that the state of the former is essentially different from that of the latter.

2042. Power.

In the First Year of Infancy, many expressions of the tender organs are to be considered only as efforts of manifestations of power.

2043. Exertions.

We observe, for instance, that a child, as soon as it is undressed, or disenc.u.mbered from swaddling clothes, moves its arms and legs, and often makes a variety of strong exertions; yet no reasonable person would suppose that such attempts arise from a preternatural or oppressive state of the little agent.

2044. Exercise.

It is therefore equally absurd to draw an unfavourable inference from every inarticulate cry; because, in most instances, these vociferating sounds imply the effort which children necessarily make to display the strength of their lungs, and exercise the organs of respiration.

[HASTE MAKES WASTE.]

2045. Functions.

Nature has wisely ordained that by these very efforts the power and utility of functions so essential to life should be developed, and rendered more perfect with every inspiration.

2046. Development of the Breast.

Hence it follows, that those over-anxious parents or nurses, who continually endeavour to prevent infants crying do them a material injury; for, by such imprudent management, their children seldom or never acquire a perfect form of the breast, while the foundation is laid in the pectoral vessels for obstructions and other diseases.

2047. Independent.

Independently of any particular causes, the cries of children, with regard to their general effects, are highly beneficial and necessary.

2048. Sole Exercises.

In the First Period of Life, such exertions are almost the only exercises of the infant; thus the circulation of the blood, and all the other fluids, is rendered more uniform; digestion, nutrition, and the growth of the body are thereby promoted; and the different secretions, together with the very important office of the skin, or insensible perspiration, are duly performed.

2049. Extremely Improper.

It is Extremely Improper to consider every noise of an infant as a claim upon our a.s.sistance, and to intrude either food or drink, with a view to satisfy its supposed wants. By such injudicious conduct, children readily acquire the injurious habit of demanding nutriment at improper times, and without necessity; their digestion becomes impaired; and consequently, at this early age, the whole ma.s.s of the fluids is gradually corrupted.

2050. Cold.