Proper method.—The process of weaning should be a very slow one. No definite day should be fixed for it. Little by little, from week to week, the amount of spoon-food is to be increased and the nursing lessened—being first given up at night. The breast should never be suddenly denied to a child unaccustomed to artificial food, but be displaced by degrees, by the bottle and the spoon. This gradual change will neither fret the child nor annoy the mother, as sudden weaning always does.
The infant may begin to be accustomed to artificial food at the age of four months. At first, only diluted cow's milk should be given it occasionally between the times of nursing. In a tumbler one-third full of water dissolve a tea-spoonful of sugar of milk; add to the sweetened water an equal quantity of fresh cow's milk; then, if the child's stools are at all green, mix with this two tea-spoonfuls of lime water. Instead of pure water, barley-water made in the usual way, and boiled to the consistency of milk, may be employed in this preparation—being added, while still warm, to an equal amount of milk. Or, toast-water may be substituted as a diluter of the milk. Cow's milk should not be boiled, if it can be preserved in any other way. As the infant advances in months, some solid food may be allowed. After six months, pap, made with stale bread and tops and bottoms, is proper once or twice a day. Beef-tea, made according to the recipe we have given, and chicken, lamb, or mutton broth, may now also be occasionally taken. As the quantity of milk diminishes towards the close of the first year, the spoon-food should be resorted to more frequently to supply the want. Solid food ought not to be given before the child is a year old.
The breasts usually cause little trouble when the weaning is performed in the gradual manner which has been recommended. The mother should during this time drink as little as possible, refrain from stimulating food, and take occasionally a little cream of tartar, citrate of magnesia, or a seidlitz powder. If the breasts continue to fill with milk, they should not be drawn. The 'drying up of the milk' may be facilitated by gently rubbing the breasts several times a day with camphorated oil, made by dissolving over the fire, in a saucer of sweet oil, as much camphor as it will take up. Tea made from the marshmallow has also been recommended for this purpose.
TEETHING.
The period at which the teeth first make their appearance is not a fixed one. It varies considerably even within the limits of perfect health. It may be said, as a rule, that the babe begins to cut its teeth at the age of six or seven months. Quite frequently, however, the first teeth appear as early as the fourth month, or are delayed until the eighth. In some instances children come into the world with their teeth already cut. This is said to have been the case with Louis XIV. and with Mirabeau. King Richard the Third is another example. Shakspeare makes the Duke of York refer to this circumstance in these words:
'Marry, they say my uncle grew so fast,
That he could gnaw a crust at two hours old:
'Twas two full years ere I could get a tooth.'
It does not follow that children whose teeth show themselves early, will have, therefore, a quicker general development. Such cases are merely instances of irregularity in the time of dentition, and carry with them no particular significance. Irregularities in regard to the order in which the teeth are cut are also of frequent occurrence.
While, therefore, it cannot be maintained that all healthy children cut their teeth in a certain regular order and time, yet it is certain that those children who follow the general rule which prevails in this respect, suffer least from the difficulties and effects of dentition. As all mothers desire to know at what time they may expect the teeth, we will state the rule of their development in the great majority of cases.
The lower teeth generally precede those of the upper jaw by two to three months.
The twenty milk-teeth usually appear in the five following groups:—