Advice to a Mother on the Management of Her Children

Part I.--Infancy

Infant and suckling.--I. SAMUEL A rose with all its sweetest leaves yet folded.--BYRON. Man's breathing Miniature!--COLERIDGE.

PRELIMINARY CONVERSATION

1. I wish to consult you on many subjects appertaining to the management and the care of children; will you favour me with your advice and counsel?

I shall be happy to accede to your request, and to give you the fruits of my experience in the clearest manner I am able, and in the simplest language I can command--freed from all technicalities. I will endeavour to guide you in the management of the health of your offspring;--I will describe to you the symptoms of the diseases of children;--I will warn you of approaching danger, in order that you may promptly apply for medical assistance before disease has gained too firm a footing;--I will give you the treatment on the moment; of some of their more pressing illnesses--when medical aid cannot at once be procured, and where delay may be death;--I will instruct you, in case of accidents, on the immediate employment of remedies--where procrastination may be dangerous;--I will tell you how a sick child should be nursed, and how a sick-room ought to be managed;--I I will use my best energy to banish injurious practices from the nursery;--I will treat of the means to prevent disease where it be possible;--I will show you the way to preserve the health of the healthy,--and how to strengthen the delicate;--and will strive to make a medical man's task more agreeable to himself,--and more beneficial to his patient,--by dispelling errors and prejudices, and by proving the importance of your strictly adhering to his rules. If I can accomplish any of these objects, I shall be amply repaid by the pleasing satisfaction that I have been of some little service to the rising generation.

2. Then you consider it important that I should be made acquainted with, and be well informed upon, the subjects you have just named?

Certainly! I deem it to be your imperative duty to study the subjects well. The proper management of children is a vital question,--a mother's question,--and the most important that can be brought under the consideration of a parent; and, strange to say, it is one that has been more neglected than any other. How many mothers undertake--the responsible management of children without previous instruction, or without forethought; they undertake it, as though it may be learned either by intuition or by instinct, or by affection. The consequence is, that frequently they are in a sea of trouble and uncertainty, tossing about without either rule or compass; until, too often, their hopes and treasures are shipwrecked and lost.

The care and management, and consequently the health and future well-doing of the child, principally devolve upon the mother, "for it is the mother after all that has most to do with the making or marring of the man." [Footnote: Good Words, Dr W. Lindsay Alexander, March 1861.] Dr Guthrie justly remarks that--"Moses might have never been the man he was unless he had been nursed by his own mother. How many celebrated men have owed their greatness and their goodness to a mother's training!" Napoleon owed much to his mother. "'The fate of a child,' said Napoleon, 'is always the work of his mother;' and this extraordinary man took pleasure in repeating, that to his mother he owed his elevation. All history confirms this opinion..." The character of the mother influences the children more than that of the father, because it is more exposed to their daily, hourly observation.--Woman's Mission.

I am not overstating the importance of the subject in hand when I say, that a child is the most valuable treasure in the world, that "he is the precious gift of God," that he is the source of a mother's greatest and purest enjoyment, that he is the strongest bond of affection between her and her husband, and that

"A babe in a house is a well-spring of pleasure, A messenger of peace and love."--Tupper,

I have, in the writing of the following pages, had one object constantly in view--namely, health--

"That salt of life, which does to all a relish give, Its standing pleasure, and intrinsic wealth, The body's virtue, and the soul's good fortune--health."

If the following pages insist on the importance of one of a mother's duties more than another it is this,--that the mother herself look well into everything appertaining to the management of her own child.

Blessed is that mother among mothers of whom it can be said, that "she hath done what she could" for her child--for his welfare, for his happiness, for his health!

For if a mother hath not "done what she could for her child"--mentally, morally, and physically--woe betide the unfortunate little creature;--better had it been for him had he never been born!

ABLUTION

3. Is a new-born infant, for the first time, to be washed in warm or in cold water?

It is not an uncommon plan to use cold water from the first, under the impression of its strengthening the child. This appears to be a cruel and barbarous practice, and is likely to have a contrary tendency. Moreover, it frequently produces either inflammation of the eyes, or stuffing of the nose, or inflammation of the lungs, or looseness of the bowels. Although I do not approve of cold water, we ought not to run into an opposite extreme, as hot water would weaken and enervate the babe, and thus would predispose him to disease. Luke warm rain water will be the best to wash him with. This, if it be summer, should have its temperature gradually lowered, until it be quite cold, if it be winter, a dash of warm water ought still to be added, to take oft the chill [Footnote: A nursery basin (Wedgwoode make is considered the best), holding either six or eight quarts of water, and which will be sufficiently large to hold the whole body of the child. The baton is generally fitted into a wooden frame which will raise it to a convenient height for the washing of the baby.] (By thermometer = 90 to 92 degrees.)

It will be necessary to use soap--Castile soap being the best for the purpose--it being less irritating to the skin than the ordinary soap. Care should be taken that it does not get into the eyes, as it may produce either inflammation or smarting of those organs.

If the skin be delicate, or if there be any excoriation or "breaking-out" on the skin, then glycerine soap, instead of the Castile soap, ought to be used.

4. At what age do you recommend a mother to commence washing her infant either in the tub, or in the nursery basin?

As soon as the navel string comes away [Footnote: Sir Charles Locock strongly recommends that an infant should be washed in a tub from the very commencement. He says,--"All those that I superintend begin with a tub."--Letter to the Author.] Do not be afraid of water,--and that in plenty,--as it is one of the best strengtheners to a child's constitution. How many infants suffer, for the want of water from excoriation!

5. Which do you prefer--flannel or sponge--to wash a child with?

A piece of flannel is, for the first part of the washing very useful--that is to say, to use with the soap, and to loosen the dirt and the perspiration; but for the finishing-up process, a sponge--a large sponge--is superior to flannel, to wash all away, and to complete the bathing. A sponge cleanses and gets into all the nooks, corners, and crevices of the skin. Besides, sponge, to finish up with, is softer and more agreeable to the tender skin of a babe than flannel. Moreover, a sponge holds more water than flannel, and thus enables you to stream the water more effectually over him. A large sponge will act Like a miniature shower bath, and will thus brace and strengthen him.

6. To prevent a new-born babe from catching cold, is it necessary to wash his head with brandy?

It is not necessary. The idea that it will prevent cold is erroneous, as the rapid evaporation of heat which the brandy causes is more likely to give than to prevent cold.

7. Ought that tenacious, paste like substance, adhering to the skin of a new-born babe, to be washed off at the first dressing?

It should, provided it be done with a soft sponge and with care. If there be any difficulty in removing the substance, gently rub it, by means of a flannel, [Footnote: Mrs Baines (who has written so much and so well on the Management of Children), in a Letter to the Author, recommends flannel to be used in the first washing of an infant, which flannel ought afterwards to be burned; and that the sponge should be only used to complete the process, to clear off what the flannel had already loosened. She also recommends that every child should have his own sponge, each of which should have a particular distinguishing mark upon it, as she considers the promiscuous use of the same sponge to be a frequent cause of ophthalmia (inflammation of the eyes). The sponges cannot be kept too clean.] either with a little lard, or fresh butter, or sweet-oil. After the parts have been well smeared and gently rubbed with the lard, or oil, or butter, let all be washed off together, and be thoroughly cleansed away, by means of a sponge and soap and warm water, and then, to complete the process, gently put him in for a minute or two in his tub. If this paste like substance be allowed to remain on the skin, it might produce either an excoriation, or a "breaking-out" Besides, it is impossible, if that tenacious substance be allowed to remain on it, for the skin to perform its proper functions.

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