In any case it must be done for several months; with most children for two or three years; with some, throughout childhood, for with them the slightest deviation from established rules is sure to provoke a relapse.
Is not medicine useful?
It is undoubtedly of assistance for the relief of some symptoms, but the essential thing is proper feeding, without which nothing permanent can be accomplished.
[ GENERAL RULES TO BE OBSERVED IN FEEDING ]
Bad habits of eating are readily acquired but difficult to break.
Young children should not be allowed to play with their food, nor should the habit be formed of amusing or diverting them while eating, because by these means more food is taken.
Older children should not be permitted to make an entire meal of one thing, no matter how proper this may be.
Children, who are allowed to have their own way in matters of eating are very likely to be badly trained in other respects; while those who have been properly trained in matters of eating can usually be easily trained to do anything else that is important.
Learning to eat proper things in a proper way forms therefore a large part of a child's early education. If careful training in these matters is begun at the outset and continued, the results will well repay the time and effort required.
Whether the child feeds himself or is fed by the nurse, the following rules should be observed: