ITS PREVENTION.--Whenever there is found to exist in a family a
predisposition to this malady, one or more children having suffered
from it, a mother must make up her mind, and in the strictest sense of
the word, to be the guardian of the health of any child she may
subsequently give birth to. And not only during the period of infancy,
but during that of childhood also, must she continue the same careful
and vigilant superintendence.
The infant must be brought up on the breast, and if the mother is not
of a decidedly healthy and robust constitution, she must obtain a
wet-nurse possessing such qualifications. The breast-milk, and nothing
beside, must form the nutriment of the child for at least nine months;
and if the infant is delicate or strumous, it will be prudent to
continue it even six months longer. When the period arrives for the
substitution of artificial food, it must be carefully selected; it must
be appropriate to the advancing age of the child; nutritious and
unirritating. Good air and daily exercise, and the bath or sponging,
are of much importance; in short, all those general measures which have
a tendency to promote and maintain the tone and general health of the
system, and thus induce a vigorous and healthy constitution, and to
which reference has been so fully made in the first chapter of this
work, must be strictly regarded and followed out by the parent.
Pages:
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240