This, of course, must depend both upon the strength of the child, and upon the health of the parent; on an average, nine months is the proper time. If the mother be delicate, it may be found necessary to wean the infant at six months; or if he be weak, or labouring under any disease, it may be well to continue suckling him for twelve months; but after that time, the breast will do him more harm than good, and will, moreover, injure the mother's health, and may, if she be so predisposed, excite consumption.
41. How would you recommend a mother to act when, she weans her child?
She ought, as the word signifies, do it gradually—that is to say, she should, by degrees, give him less and less of the breast, and more and more of artificial food; at length, she must only suckle him at night; and lastly, it would be well for the mother either to send him away, or to leave him at home, and, for a few days, to go away herself.
A good plan is, for the nurse-maid to have a half-pint bottle of new milk—which has been previously boiled [Footnote: The previous boiling of the milk will prevent the warmth of the bed turning the milk sour, which it otherwise would do.]—in the bed, so as to give a little to him in lieu of the breast. The warmth of the body will keep the milk of a proper temperature, and will supersede the use of lamps, of candle-frames, and of other troublesome contrivances.
42. While a mother is weaning her infant, and after she have weaned him, what ought to be his diet?
Any one of the foods recommended in answer to question 34.
43. If a child be suffering severely from "wind," is there any objection to the addition of a small quantity either of gin or of peppermint to his food to disperse it?
It is a murderous practice to add either gin or peppermint of the shops (which is oil of peppermint dissolved in spirits) to his food. Many children have, by such a practice, been made puny and delicate, and have gradually dropped into an untimely grave. An infant who is kept, for the first five or six months, entirely to the breast—more especially if the mother be careful in her own diet—seldom suffers from "wind;" those, on the contrary, who have much or improper food, [Footnote: For the first five or six months never, if you can possibly avoid it, give artificial food to an infant who is sucking. There is nothing, in the generality of cases, that agrees, for the first few months, like the mother's milk alone.] suffer severely.
Care in feeding, then, is the grand preventative of "wind;" but if, notwithstanding all your precautions, the child be troubled with flatulence, the remedies recommended under the head of Flatulence will generally answer the purpose.
44. Have you any remarks to make on sugar for sweetening a baby's food?