If a babe does not wear a cap in the day, it is not at all necessary that he should wear one at night. He will sleep more comfortably without one, and it will be better for his health. Moreover, night-caps injure both the thickness and the beauty of the hair.
27. Have you any remarks to make on the clothing of an infant, when, in the winter time, he is sent out for exercise?
Be sure that he is well wrapped up. He ought to have under his cloak a knitted worsted spencer, which should button behind; and if the weather be very cold, a shawl over all; and, provided it be dry above, and the wind be not in the east or in the northeast, he may then brave the weather. He will then come from his walk refreshed and strengthened, for cold air is an invigorating tonic. In a subsequent conversation I will indicate the proper age at which a child should be first sent out to take exercise in the open air.
28. At what age ought an infant “to be shortened?”
This, of course, will depend upon the season. In the summer, the right time “for shortening a babe,” as it is called, is at the end of two months; in the winter, at the end of three months. But if the right time for “shortening” a child should happen to be in the spring, let it be deferred until the end of May. The English springs are very trying and treacherous; and sometimes, in April, the weather is almost as cold, and the wind as biting, as in winter. It is treacherous, for the sun is hot, and the wind, which is at this time of the year frequently easterly, is keen and cutting. I should far prefer “to shorten” a child in the winter than in the early spring.
DIET.
29. Are you an advocate for putting a baby to the breast soon after birth, or for waiting, as many do, until the third day?
The infant ought to be put to the breast soon after birth; the interest, both of the mother and of the child, demands it. It will be advisable to wait three or four hours, that the mother may recover from her fatigue; and then the babe must be put to the breast. If this be done, he will generally take the nipple with avidity.
It might be said that at so early a period there is no milk in the breast; but such is not usually the case. There generally is a little from the very beginning; which acts on the baby’s bowels like a dose of purgative medicine, and appears to be intended by nature to cleanse the system. But, provided there be no milk at first, the very act of sucking not only gives the child a notion, but, at the same time, causes a draught (as it is usually called) in the breast, and enables the milk to flow easily.
Of course, if there be no milk in the breast—the babe having been applied once or twice to determine the fact—then you must wait for a few hours before applying him again to the nipple, that is to say, until the milk be secreted.