14.  SUPERSEDE THE NECESSITY OF TAKING PHYSIC.—­Let me again—­for it cannot be too urgently insisted upon—­strongly advise a nursing mother to use every means in the way of diet, etc., to supersede the necessity of taking physic (opening medicine), as the repetition of aperients injures, and that severely, both herself and child.  Moreover, the more opening medicine she swallows, the more she requires; so that if she once gets into the habit of regularly taking physic, the bowels will not act without them.  What a miserable existence to be always swallowing physic!

[Illustration:  HEALTHY YOUTH AND RIPE OLD AGE.]

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HOME LESSONS IN NURSING SICK CHILDREN.

1.  MISMANAGEMENT.—­Every doctor knows that a large share of the ills to which infancy is subject are directly traceable to mismanagement.  Troubles of the digestive system are, for the most part due to errors, either in the selection of the food or in the preparation of it.

2.  RESPIRATORY DISEASES.—­Respiratory diseases or the diseases of the throat and lungs have their origin, as a rule, in want of care and judgment in matters of clothing, bathing and exposure to cold and drafts.  A child should always be dressed to suit the existing temperature of the weather.

3.  NERVOUS DISEASES.—­Nervous diseases are often aggravated if not caused by over-stimulation of the brain, by irregular hours of sleep, or by the use of “soothing” medicines, or eating indigestible food.

4.  SKIN AFFECTIONS.—­Skin affections are generally due to want of proper care of the skin, to improper clothing or feeding, or to indiscriminate association with nurses and Children, who are the carriers of contagious diseases.

5.  PERMANENT INJURY.—­Permanent injury is often caused by lifting the child by one hand, allowing it to fall, permitting it to play with sharp instruments, etc.

6.  RULES AND PRINCIPLES.—­Every mother should understand the rules and principles of home nursing.  Children are very tender plants and the want of proper knowledge is often very disastrous if not fatal.  Study carefully and follow the principles and rules which are laid down in the different parts of this work on nursing and cooking for the sick.

7.  WHAT A MOTHER SHOULD KNOW: 

I. INFANT FEEDING.—­The care of milk, milk sterilization, care of bottles, preparation of commonly employed infant foods, the general principles of infant feeding, with rules as to quality and frequency.

  II.  BATHING.—­The daily bath; the use of hot, cold and mustard
  baths.

  III.  HYGIENE OF THE SKIN.  Care of the mouth, eyes and ears. 
  Ventilation, temperature, cleanliness, care of napkins, etc.

  IV.  TRAINING OF CHILDREN in proper bodily habits.  Simple means of
  treatment in sickness, etc.

8.  THE CRY OF THE SICK CHILD.—­The cry of the child is a language by which the character of its suffering to some extent may be ascertained.  The manner in which the cry is uttered, or the pitch and tone is generally a symptom of a certain kind of disease.