The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1897-02-13
INFANCY AND CHILDHOOD.
Regularity In the habit of Sleeping and
Eating Should Be Cultivated.

Regularity in the Habit of Sleeping and
Eating Should Be Cultivated.
! The popular notion that the second
summer is the most precarious time OF
e. child's existence is absolutely dis
| proved by all statistics. Four times as
| many children die in the first year OF
| life as in the second, and with each
months existence normal child's hold
on life is strengthened. If a baby is
steadily deteriorating in physical con-
dition the second summer is OF course
more dangerous than the first; but if.
as the result of proper care, the child
is following in all its powers and pro
portions the more natural rule of accel.
Grated growth manifested throughout
the whole animal kingdom, the second
summer finds it's chances OF life and OF
freedom from disease very much more
favorable than they were during the
first year. During the second half OF
the first year mother should in no wise
relax her vigilance in the care Of her
baby; although II the first half has
been judiciousIy used, the increased Vi
tality, the greater powers of endurance,
and the establishment of the regular
habit of sleep will permit her to main
tain an equal degree of caution while
devoting to the work less time and eff
fort.
Teething is a natural operation, and
ought to take place in a. child as easily
and as normally as in other young ami
mails, which at worst suffer but few
days irritation of the gums, and re-
fuse few of the usual feelings rather
than endure the discomfort caused by
mastication. If baby is accustomed tc
awake at all hours of the night, and ia
sleep at any hour Of the day time, then
even the slight irritation Of teething in
terrupts Or altogether prevents its
sleeping. But if it has during several
months slept soundly all night and
mapped regularly each day. the habit
viii have become too strong to be
broken by any slight pain. In one case
the restless child grows weaker day by
day for want Of adequate sleep; in the
other, the rested child. even though
iteething, grows stronger every day, be.
cause still enjoying it's regular amount
of sleep.
The same principle applies to food.
A child that is injudiciously fed
throughout the night and given nour-
ishment irregularly whenever it cries
throughout the day, suffers in conse-
quence from impairment of its di-
gestiye powers, and becomes suscepti- |
bic to germ-infection throughout the
mucous lining of the alimentary canal |
Such child, while it suffers from chron. |
ic hunger caused by the craving of the
general system for adequate nour;sh. |
ment, yet never at one time experiences |
the wholesome acute hunger of normal |
health, and therefore, when teething |
refuses food or consumes it
so voraciously that each feeding only !
serves to aggravate the stomach trouble |
already existing. Its flesh, already toe
white and soft from malnutrition, now 4
wastes away so readily as TO convince I
the mother more firmly than ever that
teething is disease" The diseased |
condition in reality existed previously.
and the soft white fat was, to more ex.
perienced eyes, one of its manifesto.
tions. When a really well-fed and we'll.
nourished child begins to teethe. habit |
induces it to take due amount of food,
even though the nipple does hurt the
sore gum, or the piece of bread does
touch the tender spot over the pricl1ing
tooth. The child, in short, must eat, be-
cause its hunger is so acute and habit so
Bazaar.