Don't Leave Your Child Unattended in a Car Safety Seat
Children should never be left alone in or around a car whether they are in their car safety seats or not. Any of the following can happen when a child is left alone in or around a vehicle:
The temperature in a vehicle can reach a deadly level in minutes, and the child can die of heat stroke.
She can be strangled by power windows, sunroofs or accessories.
She can knock the vehicle into gear, setting it in motion.
She can be backed over when the vehicle backs up.
Don't leave your baby unattended in a car safety seat outside of the vehicle either. When your baby falls asleep in her car safety seat, it can be tempting to bring her inside and leave her alone in the seat, but this can be unsafe. Your baby can fall out of the seat, or the seat can fall over. The best place for your baby to sleep is on her back in a safe crib.
WHAT TO DO WHEN YOUR KIDS CRY ?
Crying is a physiological process in the life of a baby.All normal babies cry to communicate with others.Sine they can't express their feelings in words crying is the only way for communication. If any uncomfortable feeling comes they simply cry.Normally babies cry in situations like hunger,wetting,too heat or cold,tight cloaths,pain ect. Some kids need the presence of somebody otherwise will cry simply.Crying without any cause is habitual in some babies. Eventhough crying is considered as normal it may worry the family members.Since the reasons for crying ranges from simple causes to serious causes it should not be ignored and hence exact cause has to be identified and managed accordingly.
The following are some points which should be considered while dealing with a crying baby.
1, It is dangerous to shake the baby vigorously.
2,Tight clothes can cause irritation hence it should be removed.
3,If the room is hot put the fan on and open the windows.
4,If the nappy is wet remove it and after cleaning the parts make it dry with a soft towel.
5,Pat her back or stroke her head slowly and let her here your soothing sound.
6,Give breast milk and make her quiet.
7,If the climate is cold cover her in soft towel.
8,Rock her gently in your arms and walk slowly in the room.
9,Take a music making doll and let her listen.
10,Try a pacifier or help her for thumb sucking.
11,If no response change her position.
12,Walk outdoors with her.
13,Put her on the cradle and rock gently.
14,If no response ask somebody to carry the baby.
Even after all these steps the baby goes on crying see for the following signs.
( Probable cause is given after every sign)
1,Press her abdomen gently,she may twist or resist you:---Colic
2,Pull her ear gently she may become worse or push your hands away:---Earache.
3,Feel her temperature with the back of your hands:--Fever due to any infection.
4,Examine the skin from head to foot:--Eru
The following are some points which should be considered while dealing with a crying baby.
1, It is dangerous to shake the baby vigorously.
2,Tight clothes can cause irritation hence it should be removed.
3,If the room is hot put the fan on and open the windows.
4,If the nappy is wet remove it and after cleaning the parts make it dry with a soft towel.
5,Pat her back or stroke her head slowly and let her here your soothing sound.
6,Give breast milk and make her quiet.
7,If the climate is cold cover her in soft towel.
8,Rock her gently in your arms and walk slowly in the room.
9,Take a music making doll and let her listen.
10,Try a pacifier or help her for thumb sucking.
11,If no response change her position.
12,Walk outdoors with her.
13,Put her on the cradle and rock gently.
14,If no response ask somebody to carry the baby.
Even after all these steps the baby goes on crying see for the following signs.
( Probable cause is given after every sign)
1,Press her abdomen gently,she may twist or resist you:---Colic
2,Pull her ear gently she may become worse or push your hands away:---Earache.
3,Feel her temperature with the back of your hands:--Fever due to any infection.
4,Examine the skin from head to foot:--Eru
SUITABLE CLOTHING FOR CHILDREN
During infancy.
--------------
Infants are very susceptible of the impressions of cold; a proper regard, therefore, to a suitable clothing of the body, is imperative to their enjoyment of health. Unfortunately, an opinion is prevalent in society, that the tender child has naturally a great power of generating heat and resisting cold; and from this popular error has arisen the most fatal results. This opinion has been much strengthened by the insidious manner in which cold operates on the frame, the injurious effects not being always manifest during or immediately after its application, so that but too frequently the fatal result is traced to a wrong source, or the infant sinks under the action of an unknown cause.
The power of generating heat in warm-blooded animals is at its minimum at birth, and increases successively to adult age; young animals, instead of being warmer than adults, are generally a degree or two colder, and part with their heat more readily; facts which cannot be too generally known. They show how absurd must be the folly of that system of "hardening" the constitution (to which reference has been before made), which induces the parent to plunge the tender and delicate child into the cold bath at all seasons of the year, and freely expose it to the cold, cutting currents of an easterly wind, with the lightest clothing.
The principles which ought to guide a parent in clothing her infant are as follows:
The material and quantity of the clothes should be such as to preserve a sufficient proportion of warmth to the body, regulated therefore by the season of the year, and the delicacy or strength of the infant's constitution. In effecting this, however, the parent must guard against the too common practice of enveloping the child in innumerable folds of warm clothing, and keeping it constantly confined to very hot and close rooms; thus running into the opposite extreme to that to which I have just alluded: for nothing tends so much to enfeeble the constitution, to induce disease, and render the skin highly susceptible to the impression of cold; and thus to produce those very ailments which it is the chief intention to guard against.
In their make they should be so arranged as to put no restrictions to the free movements of all parts of the child's body; and so loose and easy as to permit the insensible perspiration to have a free exit, instead of being confined to and absorbed by the clothes, and held in contact with the skin, till it gives rise to irritation.
In their quality they should be such as not to irritate the delicate skin of the child. In infancy, therefore, flannel is rather too rough, but is desirable as the child grows older, as it gives a gentle stimulus to the skin, and maintains health.
In its construction the dress should be so simple as to admit of being quickly put on, since dressing is irksome to the infant, causing it to cry, and exciting as much mental irritation as it is capable of feeling. Pins should be wholly dispensed with, their use being hazardous through the carelessness of nurses, and even through the ordinary movements of the infant itself.
The clothing must be changed daily. It is eminently conducive to good health that a complete change of dress should be made every day. If this is not done, washing will, in a great measure, fail in its object, especially in insuring freedom from skin diseases.
During childhood.
----------------
The clothing of the child should possess the same properties as that of infancy. It should afford due warmth, be of such materials as do not irritate the skin, and so made as to occasion no unnatural constriction.
In reference to due warmth, it may be well again to repeat, that too little clothing is frequently productive of the most sudden attacks of active disease; and that children who are thus exposed with thin clothing in a climate so variable as ours are the frequent subjects of croup, and other dangerous affections of the air- passages and lungs. On the other hand, it must not be forgotten, that too warm clothing is a source of disease, sometimes even of the same diseases which originate in exposure to cold, and often renders the frame more susceptible of the impressions of cold, especially of cold air taken into the lungs. Regulate the clothing, then, according to the season; resume the winter dress early; lay it aside late; for it is in spring and autumn that the vicissitudes in our climate are greatest, and congestive and inflammatory complaints most common.
With regard to material (as was before observed), the skin will at this age bear flannel next to it; and it is now not only proper, but necessary. It may be put off with advantage during the night, and cotton maybe substituted during the summer, the flannel being resumed early in the autumn. If from very great delicacy of constitution it proves too irritating to the skin, fine fleecy hosiery will in general be easily endured, and will greatly conduce to the preservation of health.
It is highly important that the clothes of the boy should be so made that no restraints shall be put on the movements of the body or limbs, nor injurious pressure made on his waist or chest. All his muscles ought to have full liberty to act, as their free exercise promotes both their growth and activity, and thus insures the regularity and efficiency of the several functions to which these muscles are subservient.
The same remarks apply with equal force to the dress of the girl; and happily, during childhood, at least, no distinction is made in this matter between the sexes. Not so, however, when the girl is about to emerge from this period of life; a system of dress is then adopted which has the most pernicious effects upon her health, and the development of the body, the employment of tight stays, which impede the free and full action of the respiratory organs, being only one of the many restrictions and injurious practices from which in latter years they are thus doomed to suffer so severely.
For more information, visit www.baby-tips.com
--------------
Infants are very susceptible of the impressions of cold; a proper regard, therefore, to a suitable clothing of the body, is imperative to their enjoyment of health. Unfortunately, an opinion is prevalent in society, that the tender child has naturally a great power of generating heat and resisting cold; and from this popular error has arisen the most fatal results. This opinion has been much strengthened by the insidious manner in which cold operates on the frame, the injurious effects not being always manifest during or immediately after its application, so that but too frequently the fatal result is traced to a wrong source, or the infant sinks under the action of an unknown cause.
The power of generating heat in warm-blooded animals is at its minimum at birth, and increases successively to adult age; young animals, instead of being warmer than adults, are generally a degree or two colder, and part with their heat more readily; facts which cannot be too generally known. They show how absurd must be the folly of that system of "hardening" the constitution (to which reference has been before made), which induces the parent to plunge the tender and delicate child into the cold bath at all seasons of the year, and freely expose it to the cold, cutting currents of an easterly wind, with the lightest clothing.
The principles which ought to guide a parent in clothing her infant are as follows:
The material and quantity of the clothes should be such as to preserve a sufficient proportion of warmth to the body, regulated therefore by the season of the year, and the delicacy or strength of the infant's constitution. In effecting this, however, the parent must guard against the too common practice of enveloping the child in innumerable folds of warm clothing, and keeping it constantly confined to very hot and close rooms; thus running into the opposite extreme to that to which I have just alluded: for nothing tends so much to enfeeble the constitution, to induce disease, and render the skin highly susceptible to the impression of cold; and thus to produce those very ailments which it is the chief intention to guard against.
In their make they should be so arranged as to put no restrictions to the free movements of all parts of the child's body; and so loose and easy as to permit the insensible perspiration to have a free exit, instead of being confined to and absorbed by the clothes, and held in contact with the skin, till it gives rise to irritation.
In their quality they should be such as not to irritate the delicate skin of the child. In infancy, therefore, flannel is rather too rough, but is desirable as the child grows older, as it gives a gentle stimulus to the skin, and maintains health.
In its construction the dress should be so simple as to admit of being quickly put on, since dressing is irksome to the infant, causing it to cry, and exciting as much mental irritation as it is capable of feeling. Pins should be wholly dispensed with, their use being hazardous through the carelessness of nurses, and even through the ordinary movements of the infant itself.
The clothing must be changed daily. It is eminently conducive to good health that a complete change of dress should be made every day. If this is not done, washing will, in a great measure, fail in its object, especially in insuring freedom from skin diseases.
During childhood.
----------------
The clothing of the child should possess the same properties as that of infancy. It should afford due warmth, be of such materials as do not irritate the skin, and so made as to occasion no unnatural constriction.
In reference to due warmth, it may be well again to repeat, that too little clothing is frequently productive of the most sudden attacks of active disease; and that children who are thus exposed with thin clothing in a climate so variable as ours are the frequent subjects of croup, and other dangerous affections of the air- passages and lungs. On the other hand, it must not be forgotten, that too warm clothing is a source of disease, sometimes even of the same diseases which originate in exposure to cold, and often renders the frame more susceptible of the impressions of cold, especially of cold air taken into the lungs. Regulate the clothing, then, according to the season; resume the winter dress early; lay it aside late; for it is in spring and autumn that the vicissitudes in our climate are greatest, and congestive and inflammatory complaints most common.
With regard to material (as was before observed), the skin will at this age bear flannel next to it; and it is now not only proper, but necessary. It may be put off with advantage during the night, and cotton maybe substituted during the summer, the flannel being resumed early in the autumn. If from very great delicacy of constitution it proves too irritating to the skin, fine fleecy hosiery will in general be easily endured, and will greatly conduce to the preservation of health.
It is highly important that the clothes of the boy should be so made that no restraints shall be put on the movements of the body or limbs, nor injurious pressure made on his waist or chest. All his muscles ought to have full liberty to act, as their free exercise promotes both their growth and activity, and thus insures the regularity and efficiency of the several functions to which these muscles are subservient.
The same remarks apply with equal force to the dress of the girl; and happily, during childhood, at least, no distinction is made in this matter between the sexes. Not so, however, when the girl is about to emerge from this period of life; a system of dress is then adopted which has the most pernicious effects upon her health, and the development of the body, the employment of tight stays, which impede the free and full action of the respiratory organs, being only one of the many restrictions and injurious practices from which in latter years they are thus doomed to suffer so severely.
For more information, visit www.baby-tips.com
ARTIFICIAL DIET FOR INFANTS.
It should be as like the breast-milk as possible. This is obtained by a mixture of cow's milk, water, and sugar, in the following proportions.
Fresh cow's milk, two thirds; Boiling water, or thin barley water, one third; Loaf sugar, a sufficient quantity to sweeten.
This is the best diet that can be used for the first six months, after which some farinaceous food may be combined.
In early infancy, mothers are too much in the habit of giving thick gruel, panada, biscuit-powder, and such matters, thinking that a diet of a lighter kind will not nourish. This is a mistake; for these preparations are much too solid; they overload the stomach, and cause indigestion, flatulence, and griping.
These create a necessity for purgative medicines and carminatives, which again weaken digestion, and, by unnatural irritation, perpetuate the evils which render them necessary.
Thus many infants are kept in a continual round of repletion, indigestion, and purging, with the administration of cordials and narcotics, who, if their diet were in quantity and quality suited to their digestive powers, would need no aid from physic or physicians.
In preparing this diet, it is highly important to obtain pure milk, not previously skimmed, or mixed with water; and in warm weather just taken from the cow. It should not be mixed with the water or sugar until wanted, and not more made than will be taken by the child at the time, for it must be prepared fresh at every meal. It is best not to heat the milk over the fire, but let the water be in a boiling state when mixed with it, and thus given to the infant tepid or lukewarm.
As the infant advances in age, the proportion of milk may be gradually increased; this is necessary after the second month, when three parts of milk to one of water may be allowed.
But there must be no change in the kind of diet if the health of the child is good, and its appearance perceptibly improving. Nothing is more absurd than the notion, that in early life children require a variety of food; only one kind of food is prepared by nature, and it is impossible to transgress this law without marked injury.
There are two ways by the spoon, and by the nursing-bottle.
The first ought never to be employed at this period, inasmuch as the power of digestion in infants is very weak, and their food is designed by nature to be taken very slowly into the stomach, being procured from the breast by the act of sucking, in which act a great quantity of saliva is secreted, and being poured into the mouth, mixes with the milk, and is swallowed with it.
This process of nature, then, should be emulated as far as possible; and food (for this purpose) should be imbibed by suction from a nursing-bottle: it is thus obtained slowly, and the suction employed secures the mixture of a due quantity of saliva, which has a highly important influence on digestion.
Whatever kind of bottle or teat is used, however, it must never be forgotten that cleanliness is absolutely essential to the success of this plan of rearing children.
Te quantity of food to be given at each meal ust be regulated by the age of the child, and its digestive power. A little experience will soon enable a careful and observing mother to determine this point. As the child grows older the quantity of course must be increased.
The chief error in rearing the young is overfeeding; and a most serious one it is; but which may be easily avoided by the parent pursuing a systematic plan with regard to the hours of feeding, and then only yielding to the indications of appetite, and administering the food slowly, in small quantities at a time.
This is the only way effectually to prevent indigestion, and bowel complaints, and the irritable condition of the nervous system, so common in infancy, and secure to the infant healthy nutrition, and consequent strength of constitution. As has been well observed, "Nature never intended the infant's stomach to be converted into a receptacle for laxatives, carminatives, antacids, stimulants, and astringents; and when these become necessary, we may rest assured that there is something faulty in our management, however perfect it may seem to ourselves."
The frequency of giving food must be determined, as a general rule, by allowing such an interval between each meal as will insure the digestion of the previous quantity; and this may be fixed at about every three or four hours. If this rule be departed from, and the child receives a fresh supply of food every hour or so, time will not be given for the digestion of the previous quantity, and as a consequence of this process being interrupted, the food passing on into the bowel undigested, will there ferment and become sour, will inevitably produce cholic and purging, and in no way contribute to the nourishment of the child.
The posture of the child when fed:- It is important to attend to this. It must not receive its meals lying; the head should be raised on the nurse's arm, the most natural position, and one in which there will be no danger of the food going the wrong way, as it is called. After each meal the little one should be put into its cot, or repose on its mother's knee, for at least half an hour. This is essential for the process of digestion, as exercise is important at other times for the promotion of health.
As soon as the child has got any teeth, and about this period one or two will make their appearance, solid farinaceous matter boiled in water, beaten through a sieve, and mixed with a small quantity of milk, may be employed. Or tops and bottoms, steeped in hot water, with the addition of fresh milk and loaf sugar to sweeten. And the child may now, for the first time, be fed with a spoon.
When one or two of the large grinding teeth have appeared, the same food may be continued, but need not be passed through a sieve. Beef tea and chicken broth may occasionally be added; and, as an introduction to the use of a more completely animal diet, a portion, now and then, of a soft boiled egg; by and by a small bread pudding, made with one egg in it, may be taken as the dinner meal.
Nothing is more common than for parents during this period to give their children animal food. This is a great error. "To feed an infant with animal food before it has teeth proper for masticating it, shows a total disregard to the plain indications of nature, in withholding such teeth till the system requires their assistance to masticate solid food. And the method of grating and pounding meat, as a substitute for chewing, may be well suited to the toothless octogenarian, whose stomach is capable of digesting it; but the stomach of a young child is not adapted to the digestion of such food, and will be disordered by it.
It cannot reasonably be maintained that a child's mouth without teeth, and that of an adult, furnished with the teeth of carnivorous and graminivorous animals, are designed by the Creator for the same sort of food. If the mastication of solid food, whether animal or vegetable, and a due admixture of saliva, be necessary for digestion, then solid food cannot be proper, when there is no power of mastication. If it is swallowed in large masses it cannot be masticated at all, and will have but a small chance of being digested; and in an undigested state it will prove injurious to the stomach and to the other organs concerned in digestion, by forming unnatural compounds. The practice of giving solid food to a toothless child, is not less absurd, than to expect corn to be ground where there is no apparatus for grinding it. That which would be considered as an evidence of idiotism or insanity in the last instance, is defended and practised in the former. If, on the other hand, to obviate this evil, the solid matter, whether animal or vegetable, be previously broken into small masses, the infant will instantly swallow it, but it will be unmixed with saliva. Yet in every day's observation it will be seen, that children are so fed in their most tender age; and it is not wonderful that present evils are by this means produced, and the foundation laid for future disease."
The diet pointed out, then, is to be continued until the second year. Great care, however, is necessary in its management; for this period of infancy is ushered in by the process of teething, which is commonly connected with more or less of disorder of the system. Any error, therefore, in diet or regimen is now to be most carefully avoided.
It is true that the infant, who is of a sound and healthy constitution, in whom, therefore, the powers of life are energetic, and who up to this time has been nursed upon the breast of its parent, and now commences an artificial diet for the first time, disorder is scarcely perceptible, unless from the operation of very efficient causes.
Not so, however, with the child who from the first hour of its birth has been nourished upon artificial food. Teething under such circumstances is always attended with more or less of disturbance of the frame, and disease of the most dangerous character but too frequently ensues.
It is at this age, too, that all infectious and eruptive fevers are most prevalent; worms often begin to form, and diarrhoea, thrush, rickets, cutaneous eruptions, etc. manifest themselves, and the foundation of strumous disease is originated or developed. A judicious management of diet will prevent some of these complaints, and mitigate the violence of others when they occur.
Fresh cow's milk, two thirds; Boiling water, or thin barley water, one third; Loaf sugar, a sufficient quantity to sweeten.
This is the best diet that can be used for the first six months, after which some farinaceous food may be combined.
In early infancy, mothers are too much in the habit of giving thick gruel, panada, biscuit-powder, and such matters, thinking that a diet of a lighter kind will not nourish. This is a mistake; for these preparations are much too solid; they overload the stomach, and cause indigestion, flatulence, and griping.
These create a necessity for purgative medicines and carminatives, which again weaken digestion, and, by unnatural irritation, perpetuate the evils which render them necessary.
Thus many infants are kept in a continual round of repletion, indigestion, and purging, with the administration of cordials and narcotics, who, if their diet were in quantity and quality suited to their digestive powers, would need no aid from physic or physicians.
In preparing this diet, it is highly important to obtain pure milk, not previously skimmed, or mixed with water; and in warm weather just taken from the cow. It should not be mixed with the water or sugar until wanted, and not more made than will be taken by the child at the time, for it must be prepared fresh at every meal. It is best not to heat the milk over the fire, but let the water be in a boiling state when mixed with it, and thus given to the infant tepid or lukewarm.
As the infant advances in age, the proportion of milk may be gradually increased; this is necessary after the second month, when three parts of milk to one of water may be allowed.
But there must be no change in the kind of diet if the health of the child is good, and its appearance perceptibly improving. Nothing is more absurd than the notion, that in early life children require a variety of food; only one kind of food is prepared by nature, and it is impossible to transgress this law without marked injury.
There are two ways by the spoon, and by the nursing-bottle.
The first ought never to be employed at this period, inasmuch as the power of digestion in infants is very weak, and their food is designed by nature to be taken very slowly into the stomach, being procured from the breast by the act of sucking, in which act a great quantity of saliva is secreted, and being poured into the mouth, mixes with the milk, and is swallowed with it.
This process of nature, then, should be emulated as far as possible; and food (for this purpose) should be imbibed by suction from a nursing-bottle: it is thus obtained slowly, and the suction employed secures the mixture of a due quantity of saliva, which has a highly important influence on digestion.
Whatever kind of bottle or teat is used, however, it must never be forgotten that cleanliness is absolutely essential to the success of this plan of rearing children.
Te quantity of food to be given at each meal ust be regulated by the age of the child, and its digestive power. A little experience will soon enable a careful and observing mother to determine this point. As the child grows older the quantity of course must be increased.
The chief error in rearing the young is overfeeding; and a most serious one it is; but which may be easily avoided by the parent pursuing a systematic plan with regard to the hours of feeding, and then only yielding to the indications of appetite, and administering the food slowly, in small quantities at a time.
This is the only way effectually to prevent indigestion, and bowel complaints, and the irritable condition of the nervous system, so common in infancy, and secure to the infant healthy nutrition, and consequent strength of constitution. As has been well observed, "Nature never intended the infant's stomach to be converted into a receptacle for laxatives, carminatives, antacids, stimulants, and astringents; and when these become necessary, we may rest assured that there is something faulty in our management, however perfect it may seem to ourselves."
The frequency of giving food must be determined, as a general rule, by allowing such an interval between each meal as will insure the digestion of the previous quantity; and this may be fixed at about every three or four hours. If this rule be departed from, and the child receives a fresh supply of food every hour or so, time will not be given for the digestion of the previous quantity, and as a consequence of this process being interrupted, the food passing on into the bowel undigested, will there ferment and become sour, will inevitably produce cholic and purging, and in no way contribute to the nourishment of the child.
The posture of the child when fed:- It is important to attend to this. It must not receive its meals lying; the head should be raised on the nurse's arm, the most natural position, and one in which there will be no danger of the food going the wrong way, as it is called. After each meal the little one should be put into its cot, or repose on its mother's knee, for at least half an hour. This is essential for the process of digestion, as exercise is important at other times for the promotion of health.
As soon as the child has got any teeth, and about this period one or two will make their appearance, solid farinaceous matter boiled in water, beaten through a sieve, and mixed with a small quantity of milk, may be employed. Or tops and bottoms, steeped in hot water, with the addition of fresh milk and loaf sugar to sweeten. And the child may now, for the first time, be fed with a spoon.
When one or two of the large grinding teeth have appeared, the same food may be continued, but need not be passed through a sieve. Beef tea and chicken broth may occasionally be added; and, as an introduction to the use of a more completely animal diet, a portion, now and then, of a soft boiled egg; by and by a small bread pudding, made with one egg in it, may be taken as the dinner meal.
Nothing is more common than for parents during this period to give their children animal food. This is a great error. "To feed an infant with animal food before it has teeth proper for masticating it, shows a total disregard to the plain indications of nature, in withholding such teeth till the system requires their assistance to masticate solid food. And the method of grating and pounding meat, as a substitute for chewing, may be well suited to the toothless octogenarian, whose stomach is capable of digesting it; but the stomach of a young child is not adapted to the digestion of such food, and will be disordered by it.
It cannot reasonably be maintained that a child's mouth without teeth, and that of an adult, furnished with the teeth of carnivorous and graminivorous animals, are designed by the Creator for the same sort of food. If the mastication of solid food, whether animal or vegetable, and a due admixture of saliva, be necessary for digestion, then solid food cannot be proper, when there is no power of mastication. If it is swallowed in large masses it cannot be masticated at all, and will have but a small chance of being digested; and in an undigested state it will prove injurious to the stomach and to the other organs concerned in digestion, by forming unnatural compounds. The practice of giving solid food to a toothless child, is not less absurd, than to expect corn to be ground where there is no apparatus for grinding it. That which would be considered as an evidence of idiotism or insanity in the last instance, is defended and practised in the former. If, on the other hand, to obviate this evil, the solid matter, whether animal or vegetable, be previously broken into small masses, the infant will instantly swallow it, but it will be unmixed with saliva. Yet in every day's observation it will be seen, that children are so fed in their most tender age; and it is not wonderful that present evils are by this means produced, and the foundation laid for future disease."
The diet pointed out, then, is to be continued until the second year. Great care, however, is necessary in its management; for this period of infancy is ushered in by the process of teething, which is commonly connected with more or less of disorder of the system. Any error, therefore, in diet or regimen is now to be most carefully avoided.
It is true that the infant, who is of a sound and healthy constitution, in whom, therefore, the powers of life are energetic, and who up to this time has been nursed upon the breast of its parent, and now commences an artificial diet for the first time, disorder is scarcely perceptible, unless from the operation of very efficient causes.
Not so, however, with the child who from the first hour of its birth has been nourished upon artificial food. Teething under such circumstances is always attended with more or less of disturbance of the frame, and disease of the most dangerous character but too frequently ensues.
It is at this age, too, that all infectious and eruptive fevers are most prevalent; worms often begin to form, and diarrhoea, thrush, rickets, cutaneous eruptions, etc. manifest themselves, and the foundation of strumous disease is originated or developed. A judicious management of diet will prevent some of these complaints, and mitigate the violence of others when they occur.
BATHING AND CLEANLINESS DURING INFANCY AND CHILDHOOD.
During infancy.
---------------
Cleanliness is essential to the infant's health. The principal points to which especial attention must be paid by the parent for this purpose are the following:
At first the infant should be washed daily with warm water; and a bath every night, for the purpose of thoroughly cleaning the body, is highly necessary.
To bathe a delicate infant of a few days or even weeks old in cold water with a view "to harden" the constitution (as it is called), is the most effectual way to undermine its health and entail future disease.
By degrees, however, the water with which it is sponged in the morning should be made tepid, the evening bath being continued warm enough to be grateful to the feelings.
A few months having passed by, the temperature of the water may be gradually lowered until cold is employed, with which it may be either sponged or even plunged into it, every morning during summer.
If plunged into cold water, however, it must be kept in but a minute; for at this period, especially, the impression of cold continued for any considerable time depresses the vital energies, and prevents that healthy glow on the surface which usually follows the momentary and brief action of cold, and upon which its usefulness depends.
With some children, indeed, there is such extreme delicacy and deficient reaction as to render the cold bath hazardous; no warm glow over the surface takes place when its use inevitably does harm: its effects, therefore, must be carefully watched.
The surface of the skin should always be carefully and thoroughly rubbed dry with flannel, indeed, more than dry, for the skin should be warmed and stimulated by the assiduous gentle friction made use of. For this process of washing and drying must not be done languidly, but briskly and expeditiously; and will then be found to be one of the most effectual means of strengthening the infant. It is especially necessary carefully to dry the arm-pits, groins, and nates; and if the child is very fat, it will be well to dust over these parts with hair-powder or starch: this prevents excoriations and sores, which are frequently very troublesome. Soap is only required to those parts of the body which are exposed to the reception of dirt.
During childhood.
----------------
When this period arrives, or shortly after, bathing is but too frequently left off; the hands and face of the child are kept clean, and with this the nurse is satisfied; the daily ablution of the whole body, however, is still necessary, not only for the preservation of cleanliness, but because it promotes in a high degree the health of the child.
A child of a vigorous constitution and robust health, as he rises from his bed refreshed and active by his night's repose, should be put into the shower-bath, or, if this excites and alarms him too much, must be sponged from head to foot with salt water. If the weather be very cold, the water may be made slightly tepid, but if his constitution will bear it, the water should be cold throughout the year. Then the body should be speedily dried, and hastily but well rubbed with a somewhat coarse towel, and the clothes put on without any unnecessary delay. This should be done every morning of the child's life.
If such a child is at the sea-side, advantage should be taken of this circumstance, and seabathing should be substituted. The best time is two or three hours after breakfast; but he must not be fatigued beforehand, for if so, the cold bath cannot be used without danger. Care must be taken that he does not remain in too long, as the animal heat will be lowered below the proper degree, which would be most injurious. In boys of a feeble constitution, great mischief is often produced in this way. It is a matter also of great consequence in bathing children that they should not be terrified by the immersion, and every precaution should be taken to prevent this. The healthy and robust boy, too, should early be taught to swim, whenever this is practicable, for it is attended with the most beneficial effects; it is a most invigorating exercise, and the cold bath thus becomes doubly serviceable.
If a child is of a delicate and strumous constitution, the cold bath during the summer is one of the best tonics that can be employed; and if living on the coast, sea-bathing will be found of singular benefit. The effects, however, of sea-bathing upon such a constitution must be particularly watched, for unless it is succeeded by a glow, a feeling of increased strength, and a keen appetite, it will do no good, and ought at once to be abandoned for the warm or tepid bath. The opinion that warm baths generally relax and weaken, is erroneous; for in this case, as in all cases when properly employed, they would give tone and vigour to the whole system; in fact, the tepid bath is to this child what the cold bath is to the more robust.
In conclusion: if the bath in any shape cannot from circumstances be obtained, then cold saltwater sponging must be used daily, and all the year round, so long as the proper reaction or glow follows its use; but when this is not the case, and this will generally occur, if the child is delicate and the weather cold, tepid vinegar and water, or tepid salt water, must be substituted.
---------------
Cleanliness is essential to the infant's health. The principal points to which especial attention must be paid by the parent for this purpose are the following:
At first the infant should be washed daily with warm water; and a bath every night, for the purpose of thoroughly cleaning the body, is highly necessary.
To bathe a delicate infant of a few days or even weeks old in cold water with a view "to harden" the constitution (as it is called), is the most effectual way to undermine its health and entail future disease.
By degrees, however, the water with which it is sponged in the morning should be made tepid, the evening bath being continued warm enough to be grateful to the feelings.
A few months having passed by, the temperature of the water may be gradually lowered until cold is employed, with which it may be either sponged or even plunged into it, every morning during summer.
If plunged into cold water, however, it must be kept in but a minute; for at this period, especially, the impression of cold continued for any considerable time depresses the vital energies, and prevents that healthy glow on the surface which usually follows the momentary and brief action of cold, and upon which its usefulness depends.
With some children, indeed, there is such extreme delicacy and deficient reaction as to render the cold bath hazardous; no warm glow over the surface takes place when its use inevitably does harm: its effects, therefore, must be carefully watched.
The surface of the skin should always be carefully and thoroughly rubbed dry with flannel, indeed, more than dry, for the skin should be warmed and stimulated by the assiduous gentle friction made use of. For this process of washing and drying must not be done languidly, but briskly and expeditiously; and will then be found to be one of the most effectual means of strengthening the infant. It is especially necessary carefully to dry the arm-pits, groins, and nates; and if the child is very fat, it will be well to dust over these parts with hair-powder or starch: this prevents excoriations and sores, which are frequently very troublesome. Soap is only required to those parts of the body which are exposed to the reception of dirt.
During childhood.
----------------
When this period arrives, or shortly after, bathing is but too frequently left off; the hands and face of the child are kept clean, and with this the nurse is satisfied; the daily ablution of the whole body, however, is still necessary, not only for the preservation of cleanliness, but because it promotes in a high degree the health of the child.
A child of a vigorous constitution and robust health, as he rises from his bed refreshed and active by his night's repose, should be put into the shower-bath, or, if this excites and alarms him too much, must be sponged from head to foot with salt water. If the weather be very cold, the water may be made slightly tepid, but if his constitution will bear it, the water should be cold throughout the year. Then the body should be speedily dried, and hastily but well rubbed with a somewhat coarse towel, and the clothes put on without any unnecessary delay. This should be done every morning of the child's life.
If such a child is at the sea-side, advantage should be taken of this circumstance, and seabathing should be substituted. The best time is two or three hours after breakfast; but he must not be fatigued beforehand, for if so, the cold bath cannot be used without danger. Care must be taken that he does not remain in too long, as the animal heat will be lowered below the proper degree, which would be most injurious. In boys of a feeble constitution, great mischief is often produced in this way. It is a matter also of great consequence in bathing children that they should not be terrified by the immersion, and every precaution should be taken to prevent this. The healthy and robust boy, too, should early be taught to swim, whenever this is practicable, for it is attended with the most beneficial effects; it is a most invigorating exercise, and the cold bath thus becomes doubly serviceable.
If a child is of a delicate and strumous constitution, the cold bath during the summer is one of the best tonics that can be employed; and if living on the coast, sea-bathing will be found of singular benefit. The effects, however, of sea-bathing upon such a constitution must be particularly watched, for unless it is succeeded by a glow, a feeling of increased strength, and a keen appetite, it will do no good, and ought at once to be abandoned for the warm or tepid bath. The opinion that warm baths generally relax and weaken, is erroneous; for in this case, as in all cases when properly employed, they would give tone and vigour to the whole system; in fact, the tepid bath is to this child what the cold bath is to the more robust.
In conclusion: if the bath in any shape cannot from circumstances be obtained, then cold saltwater sponging must be used daily, and all the year round, so long as the proper reaction or glow follows its use; but when this is not the case, and this will generally occur, if the child is delicate and the weather cold, tepid vinegar and water, or tepid salt water, must be substituted.
Tips for the safety of your baby
TIPS FOR THE SAFETY OF KIDS
What should we do ?
1, Always keep the baby neat and clean.
2, Cut the nails properly with utmost care.
3, Wet nappy should be removed and parts should be cleaned with soap.
4, Take care of the genitals because fungal infection is common in that area. Parts should be kept dry.
5,Care of the scalp is very important.Fungal infections, dermatitis ect can be prevented by proper cleaning.
6,Tight dress can cause irritation, hence dress should be loose and should allow entry of air.
7,Room should have sufficient light and ventilation.It should be free from dust and insects.
8,Seperate bed preferably water proof is needed for kids .It should be arranged near mother's bed.
9, Always keep some music making toys near the baby.
10, While carrying the baby support the head with hand.Since the neck muscles are weak sudden fall of head can be dangerous.
11, Mothers milk is the best nutrition for the baby,it also gives emotional attachment.Breast milk should be given as per the babies need preferably in mother sitting position.Proper cleaning of nipple is also necessary.Mother should take good nutritious diet throughout lactating period.
12, If there is some contraindication for breast feeding cows milk can be given.Feeding bottle should be cleaned with warm water and should be kept dry till next use.
13, Cows milk should be boiled and cooled.Some diseases like bovine tuberculosis,brucellosis ect spread through raw milk.
14, Some children are allergic to some substances like food,milk,dress,cosmetics ect.. Try to find out the material causing allergy and avoid such things.
15, Mosquito nets should be used regularly.Diseases like malaria,dengue ,filariasis,yellow fever and ect spread through mosquito bites. Mosquito bite can also produce skin eruptions with some allergic reactions.It also disturbes sound sleep.
16, A calm atmosphere should be maintained for a good sleep.Compared to adults infants need more sleep.It is said that growth hormone secretion is activated during sleep.
17, Growth developement,behavioral developement,motor developement,personal social developement,language developement ect should be noted down in relation to age.
However parents need not be over anxious because slight variations are seen from individual to individual.
18,Assessment of growth by measuring height and weight is necessary.
19, In the early months of life infant may defecate after every feed.Proper toilet training should be given when the infant grows.The infant can be placed on the toilet seat by the age of ten months.
20, The toilet seat (potty seat) should be cleaned with antiseptic liquid before and after use.
It should not be shared by other children.
21, If the baby shows some signs of distress like excessive crying,convulsions,fever with rigor,stiffness of neck,frequent vomiting and diarrhoea,bluish discolouration of the body,difficult breathing with grunting, ect pay attention and consult your doctor.
22,A first aid box should be kept in the room ,which should contain sterile cotton,dressing materials,antiseptic lotion and ointment and forceps.Seperate book should be maintained to note down the phone numbers of doctors, ambulance,police ect.
23,Child's medicines should be kept in seperate box.Information regarding dose and mode of administration should be written in a paper and affixed on the box.
24, while driving keep the baby in seperate seat belt.
25, When you are going out with the baby keep an identity card with your phone number and address inside his small pocket.
26, When the infant starts walking always accompany him to prevent a fall and injuries thereby.
27, In emergencies take the first aid measures and take the victim to nearby hospital.
Choking :--The baby may swallow some solid objects and cause obstruction. Immediately make the baby to lie on the abdomen in head low position and press the abdomen backwards and towards the chest. Stroking the upper back is also useful.
If no result call a trained person to take the material with the help of forceps.
Accidental poisoning:-- Try to takeout the poisonous substance and induce vomiting (except kerosine & acids). Wash the body with water to reduce absorption through skin.Identify the pioson and take the victim to the hospital.
Burns:--First of all remove the source of heat and put clean cold water on the wound.
Cool the wound with cold water for at least 10 minutes.this minimizes scarring in severe cases.
Burned clothes should not be removed immediately.
Cover the wound with sterile cotton and take to nearby hospital.
Wounds :--Clean the wound with clean water and stop the bleeding by compressing,raising the wound above the level of heart or use a tourniquet to compress blood vessels. Then dress the wound with sterile cotton and bandage and consult a doctor.
Drowning in bath tub:--Take the baby immediately and keep in head low position ,press the abdomen gentely or give a mouth to mouth sucking till the air way is clear.
Give mouth to mouth breathing and cardiac massage and take the victim to the hospital.
Electric shock:--Stop the source of current. Then observe the victim,if no breathing give mouth to mouth breath along with cardiac massage and take to the hospital.
28, And the last but not the least, give your child maximum care, love and support to make him healthy and happy for ever.
What should we not do?
1,Never shake the baby, it can cause damage to the brain or even the shaken baby syndrome.
2,Don't keep any small articles near the baby .
3,Sharp pointed articles like pen, pencil, ect should not be given to kids.
4,Avoid entry of water in to the ear while giving a bath.
5,Food should not be given forcibly when the baby is crying or coughing continuously.
6,Do not overfeed the baby.
Read more interesting articles Here
What should we do ?
1, Always keep the baby neat and clean.
2, Cut the nails properly with utmost care.
3, Wet nappy should be removed and parts should be cleaned with soap.
4, Take care of the genitals because fungal infection is common in that area. Parts should be kept dry.
5,Care of the scalp is very important.Fungal infections, dermatitis ect can be prevented by proper cleaning.
6,Tight dress can cause irritation, hence dress should be loose and should allow entry of air.
7,Room should have sufficient light and ventilation.It should be free from dust and insects.
8,Seperate bed preferably water proof is needed for kids .It should be arranged near mother's bed.
9, Always keep some music making toys near the baby.
10, While carrying the baby support the head with hand.Since the neck muscles are weak sudden fall of head can be dangerous.
11, Mothers milk is the best nutrition for the baby,it also gives emotional attachment.Breast milk should be given as per the babies need preferably in mother sitting position.Proper cleaning of nipple is also necessary.Mother should take good nutritious diet throughout lactating period.
12, If there is some contraindication for breast feeding cows milk can be given.Feeding bottle should be cleaned with warm water and should be kept dry till next use.
13, Cows milk should be boiled and cooled.Some diseases like bovine tuberculosis,brucellosis ect spread through raw milk.
14, Some children are allergic to some substances like food,milk,dress,cosmetics ect.. Try to find out the material causing allergy and avoid such things.
15, Mosquito nets should be used regularly.Diseases like malaria,dengue ,filariasis,yellow fever and ect spread through mosquito bites. Mosquito bite can also produce skin eruptions with some allergic reactions.It also disturbes sound sleep.
16, A calm atmosphere should be maintained for a good sleep.Compared to adults infants need more sleep.It is said that growth hormone secretion is activated during sleep.
17, Growth developement,behavioral developement,motor developement,personal social developement,language developement ect should be noted down in relation to age.
However parents need not be over anxious because slight variations are seen from individual to individual.
18,Assessment of growth by measuring height and weight is necessary.
19, In the early months of life infant may defecate after every feed.Proper toilet training should be given when the infant grows.The infant can be placed on the toilet seat by the age of ten months.
20, The toilet seat (potty seat) should be cleaned with antiseptic liquid before and after use.
It should not be shared by other children.
21, If the baby shows some signs of distress like excessive crying,convulsions,fever with rigor,stiffness of neck,frequent vomiting and diarrhoea,bluish discolouration of the body,difficult breathing with grunting, ect pay attention and consult your doctor.
22,A first aid box should be kept in the room ,which should contain sterile cotton,dressing materials,antiseptic lotion and ointment and forceps.Seperate book should be maintained to note down the phone numbers of doctors, ambulance,police ect.
23,Child's medicines should be kept in seperate box.Information regarding dose and mode of administration should be written in a paper and affixed on the box.
24, while driving keep the baby in seperate seat belt.
25, When you are going out with the baby keep an identity card with your phone number and address inside his small pocket.
26, When the infant starts walking always accompany him to prevent a fall and injuries thereby.
27, In emergencies take the first aid measures and take the victim to nearby hospital.
Choking :--The baby may swallow some solid objects and cause obstruction. Immediately make the baby to lie on the abdomen in head low position and press the abdomen backwards and towards the chest. Stroking the upper back is also useful.
If no result call a trained person to take the material with the help of forceps.
Accidental poisoning:-- Try to takeout the poisonous substance and induce vomiting (except kerosine & acids). Wash the body with water to reduce absorption through skin.Identify the pioson and take the victim to the hospital.
Burns:--First of all remove the source of heat and put clean cold water on the wound.
Cool the wound with cold water for at least 10 minutes.this minimizes scarring in severe cases.
Burned clothes should not be removed immediately.
Cover the wound with sterile cotton and take to nearby hospital.
Wounds :--Clean the wound with clean water and stop the bleeding by compressing,raising the wound above the level of heart or use a tourniquet to compress blood vessels. Then dress the wound with sterile cotton and bandage and consult a doctor.
Drowning in bath tub:--Take the baby immediately and keep in head low position ,press the abdomen gentely or give a mouth to mouth sucking till the air way is clear.
Give mouth to mouth breathing and cardiac massage and take the victim to the hospital.
Electric shock:--Stop the source of current. Then observe the victim,if no breathing give mouth to mouth breath along with cardiac massage and take to the hospital.
28, And the last but not the least, give your child maximum care, love and support to make him healthy and happy for ever.
What should we not do?
1,Never shake the baby, it can cause damage to the brain or even the shaken baby syndrome.
2,Don't keep any small articles near the baby .
3,Sharp pointed articles like pen, pencil, ect should not be given to kids.
4,Avoid entry of water in to the ear while giving a bath.
5,Food should not be given forcibly when the baby is crying or coughing continuously.
6,Do not overfeed the baby.
Read more interesting articles Here
Exposure of infants to open air
The respiration of pure air is at all times, and under all circumstances, indispensable to the health of the infant.
The nursery therefore should be large, well ventilated, in an elevated part of the house, and so situated that it has a constant supply of air and light.
For the same reasons, the room in which the infant sleeps should be large, and the air frequently renewed; nothing is so prejudicial to its health as sleeping in an impure and heated atmosphere.
So thick curtains closely round the bed is something you should avoid.
They are only useful when they protect the infant from any draught of cold air.
The proper time for taking the infant into the open air must, of course, be determined by the season of the year, and the state of the weather.
A delicate infant born late in the autumn will not generally derive advantage from being carried into the open air, in this climate, till the succeeding spring; and if the rooms in which he is kept are large, often changed, and well ventilated, he will not suffer from the confinement.
Probably,the infant will escape from catarrhal affections, which are so often the consequence of the injudicious exposure of infants to a cold and humid atmosphere.
If, however, the child is strong and healthy, no opportunity should be lost of taking it into the open air at stated periods, experience daily proving that it has the most invigorating and vivifying influence upon the system.
Just be sure to keep your baby warm enough when you expose the infant to open air.
www.baby-tips.com
The nursery therefore should be large, well ventilated, in an elevated part of the house, and so situated that it has a constant supply of air and light.
For the same reasons, the room in which the infant sleeps should be large, and the air frequently renewed; nothing is so prejudicial to its health as sleeping in an impure and heated atmosphere.
So thick curtains closely round the bed is something you should avoid.
They are only useful when they protect the infant from any draught of cold air.
The proper time for taking the infant into the open air must, of course, be determined by the season of the year, and the state of the weather.
A delicate infant born late in the autumn will not generally derive advantage from being carried into the open air, in this climate, till the succeeding spring; and if the rooms in which he is kept are large, often changed, and well ventilated, he will not suffer from the confinement.
Probably,the infant will escape from catarrhal affections, which are so often the consequence of the injudicious exposure of infants to a cold and humid atmosphere.
If, however, the child is strong and healthy, no opportunity should be lost of taking it into the open air at stated periods, experience daily proving that it has the most invigorating and vivifying influence upon the system.
Just be sure to keep your baby warm enough when you expose the infant to open air.
www.baby-tips.com
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