Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1878-08-16
A Plea for the Babies.

| NIX. EDlTOR.-We are now IN the
midst of that season Of the year when
our little ones are most liable to fail in
health, and be taken by death from us.
This fact, as we shall attempt to show,
is Of itself proof of a great want of
knowledge in the rearing of the young.
Instead of being the sickly season, our
summer weather should conduce to the
health Of infant children. Science
teaches that much of the vital power or
energy of the system, is, during cold
weather, exhausted by sustaining the
temperature of the body. This func-
ton is, of course, much more easily per-
formed during warm weather, thus re-
lieving, in degree, the system of one
OF its most important duties. 1t is not
the high temperature Of the atmosphere
which produces the harmful results,
but the ill-adjusted conditions, and
careless or IGNORANT management Of
children, during the hot season. The
sudden lowering of bodily temperature,
producing a recession of the secretions
from the surface, is the one great cause
or source of sickness in infants. The
clothing should be most carefully ad-
justed to the changes of the surround
ing atmospheric temperature. Not
one mother or nurse in hundred, prop
erly attends to this prime duty. The
great, respiratory system is excessively
taxed to keep the temperature of the
body even, and should for this reason
be stimulated by frequent bathing. The
promotion of cleanliness, while an i'm
portant benefit resulting from the free
use Of water, is by no means its greatest
advantage The millions of glands and
ducts demand the benefit resulting from
friction, and the stimulating effects of
natures great stimulant-water. The
water used should be graduated to the
special case or occasion. If the surface
is unnaturally cold, the water should be
warm or tepid and vice versa. In fact,
water is nearly everything to child,
especially as an agent to preserve the
health OF the system, and also, in COM
petent hands, to restore the same when
lost. The next great cause or source of
illness in children. is the highly injuri-
Gus practice of feeding them artificial
food before nature warrants the same.
We say nothing now of the use of i'm
proper food, which is another phase of
the subject, but refer to the act Of feed
ing itself. 1t is safe to say that no
greater, or more injurious mistake, in
connection with the care Of infants, ex-
lists, than this matter of stuffing or feed
ing infant children. It is source Of
the most profound wonder, why intelli-
gent people should be so blind to prin-
ciple which nature so clearly teaches
and defines. No solid food should en-
ter the mouth of child until it is pro-
vided with suitable teeth to masticate
the same. This period, of course, in a
degree. varies, but one year is an early
age to venture upon placing grain Of
artificial food in the mouth of a child.
Nature all around us, corroborates this
simple but almost universally violated
truth. The writer is acquainted with
instances in which not grain of nutri-
ment, save that furnished by nature
through the mother, was employed, I'M
til the children were Is months Of age.
These children never experienced mo-
ment's pain known as colicky, and in
stead of making night hideous and the
day scene of torment by their cries,
were what all children should and may
be, daily poem Of existence and bless
ing But the little one, sitting in its
high-chair at the table, reaches out, and
puts to its mouth whatever may be
within its reach, and instinctively tries
to chew the same. At once the indulg-
ent papa or mother says, baby is hun
cry, give it something" The child
would use arsenic in the same manner,
and so far as liking or wanting it goes
to prove the necessity of indulgence, it
should have it, and, in reality, needs
it just as much. In the animal king
dom death, in early life-except from
accidents almost unknown. In man
infancy is the period of special peril,
thus reversing the evident design of ma
ture. This sad fact has no necessity
for it's existence. Were infants intelli-
gently cared for, there would be little
more occasion for anxiety as to their
health than is entertained by the farm
er for his cattle, or other animal young.
If the objection to this strong state
ment should be held to lie in the fact of
danger from unavoidable contagious dis
ease, we should effect that with the
greater protection enjoyed by children.
The world is Swallowed by preventible
mourning, and our cemeteries sadly
dotted by the victims of unconscious,
but none the less potent ignorance. If
words or pen will aid in removing this
shadow, let them not be withheld.