INFANCY. 



The great and natural use of clothes is 

 for the purpose of warmth, and the looser 

 and softer the substance is by which this 

 warmth is communicateoMhe better- But, 

 amongst other refinements, that of giving 1 

 neatness to the attire of children has been 

 one productive of very great evils. To 

 brace and dress an infant forms a particu- 

 lar business, and thus the real intention of 

 clothing has been lost sight of.Besides their 

 tightness, children are also often hurt by 

 their quantity. After birth, a child is in 

 a sort of feverish state during the first 

 five or six days ; it should, therefore, be 

 kept cool, instead of being laid close to 

 the mother* who is commonly in the same 

 state, and fed, as both too frequently are, 

 with heating cordials, which add to their 

 uneasiness. 



Most of the deformities of children are 

 occasioned by improprieties in their dress. 

 An attempt to give neatness to the form 

 renders pressure necessary ; and where a 

 part is weak, and the pressure greater 

 than on the neighbouring parts, such part 

 will naturally yield to the impulse, and 

 deformity will ensue. Without entering 

 therefore into any criticism on the parti, 

 cular kinds of dress, all that is required 

 is, that the child be kept warm, and the 

 dress sit easy on every part. 



Sleep is at all times necessary to health ; 

 in infancy it is particularly so ; for the 

 stimuli of air and light alone are sufficient 

 to exhaust the system in an hour or two. 

 Yet order is one of the first laws of na- 

 ture ; and habit is its best foundation. 

 After the first few days, therefore, of 

 mere introduction to a new world, and a 

 new mode of existence, the periods of 

 sleep should submit to some degree of 

 regulation. An infant thatisallovved to sleep 

 through nearly the whole of the^day, will 

 usually be a very troublesome companion 

 to its mother through the whole of the 

 night. It has had more than a sufficiency 

 of rest, and cannot be made to sleep, till 

 it again becomes tired and exhausted. 

 Then comes the nurse, with her nostrums 

 and her lullabies ; her cradle, her cordi- 

 als, and her anodynes. The whole are 

 useless in a state of health, and many of 

 them most pernicious. The fault is all her 

 own ; it proceeds alone from a want of 

 regular periods of sleep and wakefulness. 



The situation of children requires at 

 first air of a moderately warm tempera- 

 ture ; after which they may be gradually 

 inured to a colder atmosphere, without 

 any danger to their health. Too much 

 warmth, however, is as prejudicial as the 



VOL. VI. 



opposite extreme, and the more to be 

 dreaded, as every time they are brought 

 to the open air they are exposed to the 

 danger of catching cold. But it is not 

 merely a cold air that is to be avoided, it 

 is air that is confined, and at the same 

 time loaded with moisture. A confined 

 dump air is the cause of many of the dis- 

 eases by which children are afflicted ; 

 and to this state of the atmosphere the 

 children of the poorej* classes are parti- 

 cularly exposed. Too much caution can- 

 not be used by parents in superintending 

 this part of the treatment of their off- 

 spring. When sent abroad, under the care 

 of servants, they are often kept too long 

 exposed to the inclemencies of the wea- 

 ther, and frequently allowed to sit or lie 

 on the damp ground ; or they are kept 

 carelessly in the arms of a servant, ex- 

 posed to a current of air, the consequnce 

 of which, when brought from the confine- 

 ment of a warm room, must be mischiev- 

 ous. To avoid the danger of cold, then, 

 much attention should be paid to the dress, 

 and not allow the period of their exposure 

 to be too long at a time. They should, 

 however, be carried out at least once a 

 day, when the weather permits, and that 

 generally about mid-day, and, if possible, 

 into fields, or squares, or other exposed 

 situations. 



The same caution that is necessary in 

 carrying them out should be applied to 

 the conduct within doors. The nursery 

 should be the largest and best aired room 

 in the house. When children sleep in a 

 cradle, they should not be wrapped up 

 too closely, particularly so, as they are 

 usually laid in with their clothes on. 

 Neither when they are further grown 

 should more than one child sleep in the 

 same bed. In short, the proper regula- 

 tion is, to keep the child as much as pos- 

 sible in one pure, equal temperature, 

 avoiding every thing that is damp and 

 unwholesome; and, if this equality of at- 

 mosphere cannot be preserved in our 

 own country, to take care at least, that the 

 transitions from heat to cold be not made 

 too suddenly ; by which attention, all the 

 evils arising from this source will be 

 avoided. 



Exercise is natural to man, and the de- 

 sire of it is coeval with existence ; nay, it 

 may be said to precede it ; for the mo- 

 tions of the child in the womb show, that 

 it is with difficulty retained in a passive 

 state. Infants, therefore, ought never to 

 be at rest but when alseep, and this mo- 

 tion is of the first importance; it will 



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