FEEDING AND CARE OF INFANTS 777 



from suckling the child. Placing the child early to 

 the breast is one of the best means of preventing '' gath- 

 ered breast" and securing a plentiful supply of milk. 

 The practice that many people have of taking young 

 children to the table and feeding them bits of almost 

 everj^thing on the table cannot be too strongly discoun- 

 tenanced. 



8. As a general rule, menstruation and pregnancy, 

 either of which may occur during nursing, are likely 

 to affect the child injuriously, and demand weaning. 

 As a general rule, a woman should discontinue nurs- 

 ing upon the occurrence of conception or pregnancy. 

 Three lives may be affected injuriously by a neglect 

 of this rule. 



9. In the warm season of the year special care must 

 be taken of children that have been weaned or that have 

 been raised on the bottle, to avoid feeding sour milk 

 or milk that has become slightly changed by standing. 

 In very hot weather, milk sometimes begins to sour in 

 a very short time. This is especially the case when 

 milk pans or cans have not been cleansed as thoroughly 

 as they should be. If either the mother or nurse in 

 charge of an infant would obtain a ' ' test paper, ' ' which 

 can be found at any drug store, and always test the 

 child's milk when there is any possibility of its being 

 sour, many cases of illness and death would be pre- 

 vented. The process of testing is a very simple one, 

 it only being necessary to observe that when the milk 

 is acid the blue paper will be turned red, and when it 

 is sweet, no change will occur. 



10. Another danger to which children are exposed 

 is the use of milk which has been poisoned by standing 

 in pans made of tin adulterated with lead. This danger 

 is now becoming quite a serious one. Infants are more 



