How long does baby usually sleep at first?  About nine-tenths of the time.

How should his bed be prepared?  The mattress should be firm and soft, the pillow, of hair and very thin; you should change his position so as not to sleep always in the same position.

How many hours should baby sleep at six months?  About two-thirds of the time.

How long should the daily nap be continued?  Until about four years old.

How shall I put baby to sleep?  Darken the room and have quiet.  The child’s hunger should be satisfied and make him generally comfortable and lay him in the crib while still awake.

Can I rock him to sleep?  No.  It is a bad habit and, he will readily acquire it.  It will be hard to break, and besides it is useless and some times an injurious one.  The same may be said of sucking a rubber nipple or pacifier, and all other devices to put baby to sleep.

What principal things disturb baby’s sleep?  Quiet, peaceful sleep is a sign of perfect health, and disorders of sleep may be produced by almost anything that is wrong with the child.  Food and feeding cause disturbed sleep.  It may come from chronic indigestion due to improper food.  In bottle-fed babies it is often due to over-feeding.  In those who nurse it may be due to poor food and hunger.  Feeding three or four times during the night makes a restless baby.  It may also be due to nervous causes such as bad habits due to faulty training, as when the nursery is light and the baby is taken from its crib whenever it cries or wakes, or when contrivances for producing sleep have been used.  Any excitement in a nursing mother or child before sleeping time will cause wakefulness.  Romping play just before bedtime and fears aroused by stories and pictures are causes, and children who inherit a nervous constitution are special sufferers from this cause.  Cold feet, insufficient or too much clothing, want of pure fresh air in the sleeping room.  Tonsils or adenoids may interfere with breathing in older children.  Rousing a sleeping child from a good sound sleep, is a frequent cause of poor sleep.  If a pregnant woman keeps herself in as good condition as possible, not only physically, but also mentally, she will not be likely to have a nervous baby; and if a baby is not born nervous there is no reason, at all, why it should not sleep well, for sleep is then its most normal condition, nine-tenths of the time.  It will then depend upon the food and training it is given.  The training many babies receive is enough to make them poor sleepers.

[604 Mothers’ remedies ]

Unnecessary handling.—­Babies are wakened from sleep to show to friends who wish to see them at almost any and all hours.  They are handled, petted, and made restless.  Sleep is their normal condition and they ought to be given the opportunity nature demands.  They are only to be aroused from sleep for nurse, bathing and clothing, and immediately placed in their crib, covered comfortably and warmly with all light shut away from their eyes and quiet about them.  They will soon wake of their own accord for meals.