If the child is weaned slowly there should be no trouble with the breasts, but in the instance of sudden weaning the mother should restrict her liquids, put on a tight breast binder, and for a day or two should take a dose of a saline cathartic, which will assist in taking care of the liquids and thus decrease the secretion of milk.
NORMAL BOTTLE WEANING
If the bottle food is agreeing with the baby he should be allowed to use it up to the end of the first year when he will be given whole milk with possibly the addition of a little lime water. We see no reason why the child should give up his bottle during the second year unless other food is refused—unless he will not accept other food than from his bottle—and if you are convinced that he has formed the "bottle habit," then the milk should be put into a tiny cup or glass, and he should learn to sip it along with his solid foods; but if he takes his other foods without any hesitancy, then we know no reason why he should not take his milk in this comfortable manner from his bottle at least two or three feedings each day.
If you desire to wean him from his bottle, serve the first part of it with a spoon from a cup or glass and then give him the remainder in the bottle. The beautiful picture of a big, robust baby lying on his back, knees flexed, both hands holding his beloved bottle still lingers in my mind as one of the pleasant memories of my lad's babyhood days, and at the close of the second year, when the beloved bottle was left behind, I believe I missed something as well as did the lad.
I recall no difficulty with his taking the food from a cup. The success of all normal weanings is due entirely to the fact that it is done gradually and slowly, and under no circumstances should it be roughly and abruptly attempted—particularly in case of the bottle feeding.
TRAINING THE BOWELS AND BLADDER
Reference is made to this subject in another part of this book—where we went into the detail of keeping the daily record of these physiological occurrences—and it was found that the bowels moved and the bladder was emptied at about the same time each day. Any mother, caretaker, or nurse, who will take the time to keep a daily record of the hours of defecation and urination, will observe the time carefully and will catch the child on nearly every occasion before an accident occurs. Often as early as four months the bowels will move in an infant's chamber at regular times each day. The nurse or mother places this receptacle in her lap and holds the child gently and carefully upon it. A little later it can be made to sit on a special chair prepared for the purpose, and at eight or nine months by careful training the urination can be controlled, and by the end of the first year the diapers ought to be discontinued.
If the child has not learned to control the bladder by the age of two years, medical attention should be called to the fact and remedial measures instituted.
BABY'S SPEECH
The baby should begin to talk at one year. He early learns to say "mamma" and "papa," and gradually adds nouns to his vocabulary, so that at eighteen months the normal child should have a vocabulary of one hundred to one hundred and fifty words. As he nears the two-year mark, he has acquired a few simple verbs and he can possibly put three words together, such as, "Willie wants drink." Pronouns come in late, as we all recall that the young child usually speaks of himself by his own name.