The Eugenic Marriage Volume II Part 9

The cause of stomach trouble in a baby a few days old, fed exclusively on mother's milk, is invariably to be found in the quality of the milk.

The quality of the mother's milk may be affected in a number of ways which will render it unfit for the baby. For example, if the mother for any reason becomes sick, and has a high fever shortly after confinement, it will affect her milk and render it unfit temporarily.

If the mother worries or becomes highly nervous during the first few days of her baby's life, she will so affect her milk as to render it unfit for baby. If a baby is fed for a number of days after its birth by its mother, and it should prove afterward that she has not enough milk to continue feeding it, and has finally to put it on artificial food, the baby will most likely have acquired slight stomach ailments that may be troublesome for some time, because in this case both the quality and the quant.i.ty were no doubt wrong. Constipation in the mother will also cause trouble. The child will develop colic and extreme irritability until the mother's condition is relieved.

Each of these conditions affecting the milk of the nursing mother usually demands a change of food for the baby, and the subst.i.tution of the proper artificial food will invariably immediately correct the trouble. In some cases, however, the quality of the mother's milk is not dependent upon a temporary temperamental condition, but is caused by errors in diet, or conduct, or both. The milk of a physically tired, worn-out mother, is not good, no matter whether the exhaustion is caused by actual physical labor or by the exactions of a strenuous social programme. The milk of a mother who persists in eating irregularly, or who willfully caters to an appet.i.te which craves the rich, highly seasoned articles of diet, or who attempts to satisfy a legitimate hunger by drinking large quant.i.ties of stale tea or coffee and eating bread, is unfit for her baby.

These cases are amenable to the proper treatment, which of course means, that the mother must change her conduct if at fault, and live strictly upon the diet prescribed elsewhere for nursing mothers.

If these troubles occur in babies who have been fed exclusively upon artificial food, an entire change of food is frequently necessary.

FRESH AIR FOR BABY

Baby's first journey out of doors depends upon so many contingencies that no specific age can be given when it would be perfectly safe to take it.

First, the weather and season of the year should be considered. The baby should not be taken out at all when it is wet, or foggy, or very humid; nor when it is extremely cold.

Second, the vigor or vitality of the individual child must be considered. Some children can safely be taken out if the weather is propitious when two weeks old, others cannot be taken out without risk until they are two months old, regardless of the weather conditions. If a child is robust at birth, and nurses well, and increases in weight from the beginning, he can be taken out when he is two weeks old while the sun shines during the middle of the day. If a child is small and puny when born, and begins to have nursing troubles from the beginning, does not increase in weight, is fretting, and crying, and sleeps spasmodically, it would be unsafe to take it out before the sixth week unless it is at a season of the year which would justify exposure to the sunshine.

The question of suitable clothing will be important, and will decide the advisability as to when the baby should go out. Every baby should be dressed in wool weather is not too distinctly bad. Remember always to [Transcriber's note: words missing in text] from neck to ankles. Its head should be warmly clad. Dressed thus and well wrapped in blankets, a healthy child is ready for an out-door trip at any time, if the [Transcriber's note: words missing in text] have plenty of blankets below the child as well as above it, if it is in a baby carriage. In very cold weather the child should be buried in blankets, and a hot water bottle can be wrapped in near his feet. Great care must be taken that the water in the bottle is not too hot, and that it does not actually touch the skin. No matter how many or how few blankets are used, the face should be exposed directly to the fresh air. When the air is very gusty, or high, a light veil can be laid over the face, but never at any other time.

AIR BATHS FOR BABIES.--Babies necessarily require plenty of exercise and plenty of fresh air, as has been pointed out. It is a splendid custom to allow the baby to lie naked after his bath for half an hour. If the room is comfortably warm, select a spot that is free from draughts, and lay the baby on a pillow or two and let him kick and coo. In the sun by the window, his head and especially the eyes shaded from the direct rays of the sun, is an excellent place in the summer time. The influence of the direct sun rays on the little naked body is conducive to good st.u.r.dy health, good nerves, and sound sleep.

CHAPTER XVIII

BABY'S GOOD AND BAD HABITS. FOOD FORMULAS

Baby's Bed--The Proper Way to Lay Baby in Bed--Baby Should Sleep by Itself--How Long Should a Baby Sleep--Why a Baby Cries--The Habitual Crier--The Habit of Feeding Baby Every Time it Cries--The Habit of Walking the Floor with Baby Every Time it Cries--Jouncing, or Hobbling Baby--Baby Needs Water to Drink--The Evil Habit of Kissing Baby--Establishing Toilet Habits--Baby's Comforter--What can be Done to Lessen the Evil Effects of the Comforter Habit--Beef Juice--Beef Juice by the Cold Process--Mutton Broth--Mutton Broth with Cornstarch or Arrowroot--Chicken, Veal, and Beef Broths--Sc.r.a.ped Beef or Meat Pulp--Junket or Curds and Whey--Whey--Barley Water--Barley Water Gruel or Barley Jelly--Rice, Wheat or Oat Water--Imperial Granum--Alb.u.men Water--Dried Bread--Coddled Egg.

BABY'S BED

THE PROPER WAY TO LAY BABY IN ITS BED.--The baby should be accustomed to sleep by itself from the day of its birth. Mothers have been known to smother their babies during sleep. The mother may pull the bed-clothing over the baby's head during the night and thus deprive it fresh air. A mother is much more apt to nurse her baby regularly and to do it more efficiently, if she is compelled to get up to do it. If she occupies the same bed with baby, she may fall asleep while nursing him; the baby consequently nurses too long, fills his stomach too full, and soon develops indigestion and colic in addition to acquiring a very bad habit.

For the first few weeks an ordinary basket arrangement is all that is necessary. As soon as the baby begins to move around it should have a regular baby crib, so that possible accidents may be avoided.

When the baby is placed in bed after a feeding, it should be laid upon its back, being tilted slightly toward its right side. By placing a soft, small pillow, under its left side, the baby will rest more on its right side, which is the proper position. The reason of this is because the liver of a child grows quicker and larger than any other organ, and it is on the right side. By placing the child on this side, it prevents the heavy liver from sagging over on the little full stomach. If the child were laid on its left side, the liver would crowd the full stomach and embarra.s.s the heart, and cause pain and restlessness. Frequently a change of position fully to the right side, when a child has been restless or crying, and especially if it has been lying on its back, will at once relieve it and allow it to go to sleep again. It is the knowledge of these little things that count in babyhood.

HOW LONG SHOULD A BABY SLEEP?--A perfectly healthy baby should sleep, while very young, eighteen or twenty hours out of the twenty-four. As it grows older it will sleep less. It should have, and nothing should interfere with its having, two sound naps every day,--one in the forenoon after its bath, and the other in the afternoon. When four or five months old, it should also sleep from 7 P. M. until 10 P. M., then it should be fed and allowed to sleep until morning. It has been aptly said, that, "a child might easily overeat, but he practically never oversleeps." During the second year a child should sleep twelve hours at night, and about two hours during the day. The twelve-hour night rest should be continued until the child is six years of age. The practice of taking a nap at noon is a very good one, and it should be encouraged as long as possible. It can usually be kept up until the child begins school life. The strenuous activity of childhood, makes some such rest highly desirable, and the result will necessarily be a stronger body, a better disposition, and firmer nerves than otherwise. The practice of retiring early should be strictly enforced during childhood. Children of two years of age, should retire at 6:30 P. M., or at latest at 7 P. M., those from three to five years, may remain up an additional hour. At thirteen or fourteen the regular bedtime should be at 8:30 P. M. There is no justification for the late hours which growing children are allowed to keep, especially in large cities.

Regular sleep is largely a matter of habit, and if the infant is started right, with suitable feedings, given at definite times, followed by the proper periods of sleep, but little trouble will be experienced with sleeplessness. When sleep is disturbed and broken, it means bad habits, unsuitable food, minor forms of indigestion, or positive illness of some kind. Sleep is absolutely essential in infancy and all through childhood for purposes of growth. It is wrong to permit a child to sleep too much during the day; it will become a habit, and it will not sleep well during the night as a consequence. In order to prevent or break this habit, the child should be kept in a well-lighted room and should be amused and entertained so as to keep it awake. The nap during the middle of the day is an exceedingly important factor in keeping the average child in good physical condition. It is a valuable adjunct in preventing, and in treating, nervousness in children. Children who are anemic should be encouraged to sleep long and freely in well-aired rooms.

WHY A BABY CRIES.--As has been stated, every healthy baby should cry for half an hour each day. Nature suggests, demands this as an essential exercise. Muscular movements involving a greater part of the whole body accompany the act of crying and furnish this necessary exercise. It is of great importance to an adequate and uniform development of the lungs; deep breathing is necessary to l.u.s.ty crying, hence the lungs are expanded and the blood renewed and oxygenated. Crying is also of material aid in moving the baby's bowels. Babies in perfect health will, however, cry under any of the following circ.u.mstances, and doubtless under circ.u.mstances of lesser importance and frequency when frightened or uncomfortable from hunger or position, soiled napkins, inflamed b.u.t.tocks, earache, pain, from heat or cold, unsuitable clothing, and during difficult bowel movement, when displeased or angry. Children slightly but painfully ill may cry incessantly for an hour or two. Thus, with intestinal colic, when the cry is loud and continuous until the child is relieved or until he falls asleep from exhaustion.

The healthy, well trained child seldom causes trouble; it is the rule for it to be happy and good natured in its own way.

THE HABITUAL CRIER.--If a child becomes a habitual crier, it is because it is uncomfortable and unhappy. There are restless, often vigorous, crying, whining infants, and the trouble, as a rule, is in the intestinal tract. Badly managed, "spoiled babies" cry from inattention, and when left alone. If they are taken up and talked to, the crying ceases, thus proving that it was not pain or discomfort that was causing the crying. In the case of the habitual crier we try to find out the cause of the bowel trouble and cure it; the spoiled infant we discipline rigidly, or leave it alone if its parents prefer that kind of baby.

THE HABIT OF FEEDING BABY EVERY TIME IT CRIES.--The habit of regular feeding will, if persisted in and successfully established, render advice on this subject unnecessary. So also will the explanation of the evil of overfeeding have its effect on mothers. Apart from these reasons, however, the habit of feeding baby every time it cries is a pernicious one, and no doubt the mother, who will be striving to faithfully follow instructions, will have to overcome the advice of meddling friends who will regard it as a cruelty to allow the baby to cry. Do not give in to these busy-bodies; insist on attending to your own affairs, but be absolutely sure baby is not crying for a just cause.

A child can only cry; that is its only language, but it cries for many things other than the nipple or the bottle. Examine it carefully,--a wet diaper a pin, an uncomfortable position, a drink of water, any of these may be the cause.

It is just as essential that a child should cry as that it should sleep.

Every healthy child should cry for twenty or thirty minutes every twenty-four hours. Nature calls for this as an exercise in order to develop the lungs; therefore, if there is no just cause for the crying you must regard it as a necessary evil, even if you look upon it as a domestic affliction.

THE HABIT OF WALKING THE FLOOR WITH BABY EVERY TIME IT CRIES.--This is another habit that is indulged in to the sorrow and ridicule of the race. If you are a victim of this habit, you have yourself to blame. It is a matter of education, or habit, pure and simple, and, like all bad habits, it is difficult to break away from. In the preceding paragraph, you have been told that when baby wants something, or is uncomfortable, it employs the language nature gave it,--it cries. No child ever cried to be walked up and down the floor in the dead of the night. Begin at the beginning, when it first cries, find out why it is crying. Offer it a little water if it is not feeding time. Examine its diaper and if soiled change it. It may be overdressed and consequently hot, perspiring, and uncomfortable; change its position. Find out if any pin is open and hurting it; loosen the binder so it can breathe easily. If it is a colicky child follow the instructions given in the treatment of colic. Be patient the first few nights, and be thorough, because you may discover why it cries and each discovery will help you next time. If you discover something wrong, some reasonable excuse for the crying, does it not prove the folly of walking the floor? If it wants a drink of water, or if its diaper is wet, how is walking the floor going to cure it, or how can you expect the baby to stop crying when you so unjustly construe its reasonable and its only way of asking a favor? If walking the floor stops its crying, it stops it by exhausting the child, not by relieving it of its little ailment.

JOUNCING OR HOBBLING BABY.--This is another habit that should be frowned upon. So many persons are addicted to this form of baby torture, that it is astonishing more immediate harm does not result from it. Be particularly careful not to indulge in it, or permit anyone else to do it immediately after feeding. If you form the habit of putting baby down at once after each feeding, as you have been instructed to do, the opportunity to jounce it will not exist. A little reasoning will clearly convince you that to subject a baby to violent exercise when its stomach is full would interrupt digestion and so shake the full stomach hat it would distend it and cause indigestion. You would not think of exercising yourself after a meal; why exercise a baby?

BABY NEEDS WATER TO DRINK.--Boil a quant.i.ty of water each morning, put in a clean bottle, and keep in a cool place. Give the baby some, three or four times daily between feedings. One teaspoonful is enough to begin with, and as it grows older it will take more. It may not always take the water but it will take what it wants, and it needs some every day; it is therefore your duty, inasmuch as baby cannot ask for it, to offer it regularly each day as part of your daily routine.

KISSING

A child should never be kissed on the mouth by anyone, not even its own parents.

Kissing should not be allowed among children. If any kissing is done it should be on the brow, never on the mouth, hands, or fingers.

Many diseases are carried by this pernicious habit, and you cannot afford to have baby's health jeopardized by this promiscuous and unnecessary liberty.

ESTABLISHING TOILET HABITS

When baby reaches the age of three months, a regular systemized effort should be made to educate it to "habits of cleanliness." Nothing can be done in this direction previous to this age, as a child at that period of its life is scarcely conscious of the natural functions of its body.

Each time a baby, after the third month, is making an effort to move its bowels, the nurse or mother should go to it as it lies in its crib, and talk to it by making a certain sound or say a certain word--whichever word or words you want to educate your child to say, when it wants to move its bowels. By constant attention and effort in this direction, a child with quick perception and initiative will soon a.s.sociate the sound and the function, and it will begin to make the sound when the function is about to be performed. As soon as it begins to make this sound, if prior to the act of moving the bowels, the child should be immediately taken up and held on a chamber, into which some hot water has been put, and encouraged to relieve itself, the nurse or mother still repeating the sound, or word, or words.

Having successfully accomplished this programme a number of times, the child should be encouraged and petted every time it gives a satisfactory warning, and discouraged and reproved every time it wets or soils its napkin. A little later, say about six months, the child should be held on the chamber at a certain time each morning and evening, thus encouraging it to move its bowels regularly twice daily. The careful carrying out of a scheme such as the above will establish regular, cleanly habits, and will to a very large extent guard against constipation in the future.

BABY'S COMFORTER.--The discovery and introduction of the comforter or rubber teat was an unfortunate episode in someone's life. By the careless, conscienceless nurse, or thoughtless mother, it is regarded as a real comfort and blessing. Any temporary comfort, however, which the nurse or mother may enjoy as a result of its use, is at the expense of the health of the child. Its use is a serious reflection upon the good intention and intelligence of the mother who permits her child to use one. It is a bad habit from every viewpoint possible. In order that mothers, open to conviction and capable of reasoning, may appreciate the character of the harm done by the use of the comforter, we will briefly record these conditions:

1st. The constant sucking pulls upon the delicate structures of the mouth and throat, and so impairs the health tone of these structures that they become flaccid and feebly nourished. This to a certain degree causes adenoids, enlarged tonsils, loose palate and weak throat, with the constant tendency to winter colds and coughs, and to catarrh.

2nd. It causes an excessive flow of saliva. Saliva should only be stimulated previous to stomach digestion. By causing an excessive flow of saliva into an empty stomach, the digestive powers are interfered with, and seriously weakened. Stomach trouble, and consequently intestinal disease, may therefore be caused by the seemingly innocent comforter.

3rd. A constantly used comforter always causes disease of the mouth.

Mucous erosions, canker sores, little ulcers, etc., are produced in this way.

4th. The use of the comforter makes it impossible to put the child to sleep, or even to leave it alone, without first placing it in its mouth.

5th. To stifle a baby's cry, by pushing the comforter into its mouth, is as bad as giving it chloroform to mask a serious and dangerous pain. If may have a just reason for crying, as is explained elsewhere, and if that reason is not searched for and found, it may mean serious trouble later.

6th. Actual deformities of the mouth are produced by constant use of the comforter. The continuous sucking affects the gums, pushes them out of shape and position, and the teeth as a consequence come at wrong angles, thus causing unsightly deformities, which last throughout the life of the child.

7th. The worst fault of the comforter is to be found in its uncleanliness. We are quite satisfied that the use of the comforter will be legislated against one of these days. If preventive medicine means anything, it must certainly reckon with the comforter in the very near future. Have you ever watched your baby suck on its comforter? If you have, you must have noted the tireless energy with which it works its tiny jaws and tongue. Suddenly the comforter slips from the little mouth and baby begins to cry, attracting the attention of the mother, or nurse, or little sister, who promptly, recognizing the trouble, pounces on the offending comforter, which has fallen to the floor, and with a perfunctory wipe replaces it in baby's mouth. It is done just as we have written it, many thousand times, and yet the problem of infant mortality is represented as a vexatious mystery. The newspapers solicit charitable aid, and write eloquent appeals regarding the necessity of sending a few babies to the seash.o.r.e in the summer time or to supply a few with ice during the hot spells. A hundred other energetic enthusiasts send forth their laudable effort to raise the standard of child hygiene, yet the manufacturers of the comforter, and the ignorant mother and nurse who use it, do more harm in one day than all the honest effort of these combined forces can neutralize in a year.