Trifling Ailments of the Baby
No child passes its babyhood without days of indisposition, no matter how well cared for. These ailing times are usually due to overfeeding, to exposure to cold, or to excitement. If the baby is nursed, some indiscretion of the mother may induce in the child a serious disturbance. The baby has a mercurial temperament, and it doesn’t take much rise and fall in the domestic thermometer to register changes in the child. Let the mother get excitedly angry, and then sit down to nurse her little one, and in nine cases out of ten the child will be seriously affected. Convulsions and fatal illness have resulted from such an indiscretion. When the mother is overheated, she should not nurse her child until she is restored to a natural condition. Carelessness in the choice of her own food will react upon the child. While she should not pamper it by too much self-denial, and need not, if she keeps within a sensible range of wholesome, nourishing food, yet pronounced acids, like vinegar or lemon juice, and such indigestible substances as pickles, corned beef, cabbage, sauerkraut, etc., should be avoided. The sensible mother should be the authority in her child’s care. How much or how little the child shall be tossed about and fondled when it should be quietly resting, is for her to say; and she should pronounce unmistakably against any disturbance of its rest-time. Taking babies out in the evening, and subjecting them to the excitement of crowds and of unnatural homes, is a pernicious habit, and can not be too carefully avoided. A quiet, restful childhood will go far toward making a happy, healthy baby, that will be a comfort to itself and all the household and friends. On the other hand, a disturbed child will bring fretfulness and discomfort. The old notion that a teething baby must necessarily be fretful and troublesome is a false one. If the stomach is in a good condition, there need be little trouble at this time. The child is developing in every way at teething time, and needs healthy digestion to nourish it properly. This, carefully attended to, will make the teething months a natural time, and robbed of the discomfort which so often attends this period. If the child is bottle-fed, indispositions must be traced to some carelessness in its food, or if milk is used, to some fault in the dairy. A change of food for a few days may be the only thing needed. The breast-fed baby gets a change in the mother’s varied diet; and a change, for an artificially fed child, will often work wonders. Give another food for a few days. A gruel made by cooking oatmeal thoroughly, straining, adding cream and a little salt, will often be a welcome change to the child. The white of an egg, well beaten and added to water, is sometimes well received. After a few feedings with one of these, the babe will return to its usual food and thrive. Avoid beginning the pernicious practise of giving the little one “a taste” of everything on the table. If it is not brought to the table, it will not expect it. Bowel disturbances may be due to a cold or to the food, and if the child is taken off its regular diet, and fed sparingly on barley water or a weak preparation of malted milk for a day or two, the bowels will in most instances be corrected without the aid of medicine in a well-cared-for, healthy child. These slight ailments need little medication. Very early in its life, accustom the babe to outdoor air; this will be a strong ally in preserving its health. Take it outdoors daily; and if the weather is warm enough, let its naps be taken in the open,—on a sheltered porch, where the sun streams in, or in a protected angle of the house, where it will drink in health and happiness every day of its life. Give the child plenty of cool water daily. Many children suffer from the lack of this life-giving fluid. A high fever may be induced by a cold, by faults in diet, or by simply overloading the stomach. Withholding a feeding or two, and giving plenty of cool water, will usually be all that is needed. A cold in the head is relieved by cleansing the nose frequently, and applying vaseline outside and inside. Feed sparingly for a day or two. A cold on the lungs should call for a physician at once, as delay is dangerous when the lungs are invaded. Don’t be a fussy mother. Constant anxiety, and fretting and worrying over every little change, make one unfit to care properly for a child, either well or sick. Calmness and common sense will take you through these trying times successfully.—American Motherhood.