Regard,
however, must always be had to the state of the weather; and to a damp
condition of the atmosphere the infant should never be exposed, as it
is one of the most powerful exciting causes of consumptive disease. The
nurse-maid, too, should not be allowed to loiter and linger about, thus
exposing the infant unnecessarily, and for an undue length of time;
this is generally the source of all the evils which accrue from taking
the babe into the open air.
[FN#17] Sir James Clark on Consumption.
Exercise, also, like air, is essentially important to the health of
the infant. Its first exercise, of course, will be in the nurse's arms.
After a month or two, when it begins to sleep less during the day, it
will delight to roll and kick about on the sofa: it will thus use its
limbs freely; and this, with carrying out into the open air, is all
the exercise it requires at this period. By and by, however, the child
will make its first attempts to walk. Now it is important that none of
the many plans which have been devised to teach a child to walk, should
be adopted--the go-cart, leading-strings, etc.; their tendency is
mischievous; and flatness of the chest, confined lungs, distorted
spine, and deformed legs, are so many evils which often originate in
such practices.
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