The Young Mother

3. Material of dress. Flannel-its uses. Cleanliness. Cotton-silk-linen.-SEC. 4. Quantity of dress. Power of habit. Anecdote. Begin right. Change. Dampness.-SEC. 5. Caps-their evils. Going bare-h

.-SEC. 11. Dress of girls-should be loos

nst cold; 3. To defend our bodies and limbs from injury. There is one more

r keep in mind the above principles. The form, fashion, material, application, and quantity

ces such a variety of items, that it will be more convenient, both

Swathing

. "It is swathed," says he, "its head is fixed, its legs are stretched out at full length, and its arms placed straight down by the side of its body. In this manner

ully applicable to the condition of infants in the United States. The good sense of the community nowhere permits us to transform a beautiful babe quite into an Eg

of great importance, where there is any tendency to a rupture at this part of the body-a tendency which very often exists in feeble children. And withou

urses in this country greatly err in this respect, and suppose that the more tightly a bandage is drawn, the better. It should be firm, but yet gently yielding;

he bandage as to produce pain and uneasiness, and sometimes severe colic. Nay, worse evils than even this have been known to arise. When a child sneezes, or coughs, or cries, the abdomen should naturally yield gently; but if it is so conf

n body and limbs, and especially its muscles, or moving powers, shall be developed by exercise. Confine an arm or a leg, even in a child of ten years of age, and

weaken the one set of muscles; if you keep it bent, you weaken the other. This weakness may become so great that the limb will be rendered useless. There are cases on record-well authenti

ith their nails, and of pinning the clothes round their feet, are therefore highly reprehensible. Better that they should even occasionally scratch themselves with their nails, than that they should be made the victims of injurious restraint. Who would think of tying up or muffling the

an additional motive for giving the little stranger entire freedom in the land whither he has so recently arrived, especiall

Form of

down the following general directions, to which, in cold weather, there can be but one poss

rfection in fine flannel; and I recommend that the only clothing, for the first month or six weeks, be a square piece of flannel, large enough to involve fully and overlap the whole of the babe, with the exception of the head, which should be left totally uncovered. This wrapper should be fixed by a button near

ccompany the dressing and undressing of almost every child. No chafings from friction, moreover, can occur; and as the insensible perspiration is in this way promoted over the whole surface of the body, th

r they are prepared to receive and profit by advice at once rational and physiological. Still I cannot help hoping that I shall succeed in persu

ange inconsistency in the conduct of mothers and nurses, who, while they are so exceedingly tender towards the infant in some points as to injure it by their kindness, are yet almost insens

tain extent; but there will always be unavoidable occasions enough for crying to promote health, even after we have done all we can in the way o

ng to galling pressure, or some external injury, than to any inward cause." This same writer adds, that he has known a child which was "seized with convulsion fi

; all of which must be as loose as possible; and before the infant begins to crawl about much, the latter should be long, for the salve of covering the feet and legs. At four or five years of

especially the chest. But as this work of torture is sometimes begun almost from the cradle, and as prevention is better than c

rlook the subject is, that they do not understand the structure and motion

those curious instruments of motion, is used, provided it is not over-exerted, the more vigorous it is. Bind up an arm, or a hand, or a foot, and keep it bound for twelve hours of the day for ma

be evaded. More than this; if you bind some parts of the body tightly, so as to compress them as much as you can without producing actual pain, you will find that the part not only ceases to grow, but actually dwindles away. I have seen this tried again and again. Even the solid parts

and come to their full and natural size under pressure, even though the pressure should be slight? Mu

ng the full and undisturbed action of the lungs. They get no higher ideas of the motion of the chest, than what is connected with bending the body forward and backward, from right to left, &c. They know that, if dressed too tightly,

is bending of the whole body is performed by the muscles of the back, and not those of the chest. The latter have very little to do

le outward, especially towards the fore part. The breast bone not only rises, but swings forward a little, like a pendulum.

too wide nor too rigid seems to correspond to the supporting spine, and to

a pendulum, in order to make it swing backwards and forwards more easily. We might almost as well say that the elbow ought to be made firm, to correspond with the shoulders, and thus become advocates for letting the stays or bandages enclose the arm above the elbow, and fasten it firmly to the side.

ecessary to refer them to the chapter on Ventilation, in which I trus

? As they advance in life, have they not more chronic diseases? Are not their chests smaller and weaker? And as the doctrine that if one member suffers, all the other members suffer with it, is not less true in physiology than in morals, do we not find other organs besides the lungs weakened? Surgeons

commended to read the following remarks from th

If she is to be married to a man who has discharged, despatched, or lost a former wife, the shackles which the former wife wore are put on the new bride's limbs, and she is fed till they are filled up to a proper thickness. The food used for this custom worthy of t

may; but there are customs not ver

of gold and silver, perhaps, but of wood-but instead of being put on loosely, and causing the body or limbs to fill them, they are made to compress the body in the outset; and as the size of the latter diminish

3. Ma

pecially for children who are not yet able to run about freely in the open air. The advantages of an

le and equable irritation, and promoting perspiration and every other func

ooling effects of evaporation, when

teadier temperature on the surface than any other known substance. The importanc

we no longer wish to retain the heat of the body by the clothing, then all flannel should be removed at once, and linen should be substituted; taking ca

or even linen, because it will absorb a great deal of fluid, especially the matter of perspiration, which, if long retained, is believed to ferment, and produce unhealthy, if not poisonous gases. For this reason, too, flannel for c

rity of constitution, flannel will produce eruptions on the skin, which are very troublesome. Whenever th

ticular about its looseness and quantity, I should prefer, as I have already intimated, to have very young

other kind of clothing. Secondly, cotton is so liable to take fire, that its use in the nursery and among little children seems very hazardous. Thirdly,

open air, I would gradually lay aside the use of all flannel, even in winter. Great attention, however, must be paid to the quantity. The parent who, guided by this rule, should keep on her child the same amount of flannel, and of the same thickness, from January to Jun

4. Qu

me climate, possessing constitutions nearly alike, and following similar occupati

t, and pantaloons, and boots, in the coldest weather. He never, unless it be on

drawers, and cravat; and seldom goes out, in cold weather, without mittens and an overcoat. He is not a whit

y individual may accustom himself to much or little clothing. A

e need no clothing at all. They relate the story of the Scythian and Alexander. Alexander asked the former how he could go without clothes in such a cold climate

Most of the other animals, even in hot climates, are furnished with a hairy covering from the first; and in cold climates, the Author of their being has even provided them with an increase of clothing for the winter. Their fur, on the approach of cold weather

own ingenuity, for a great many of his wants, instead of furnishing him with instinct to direct him, so in relation to dress. And even if it could be proved that dress were naturally unnecessary, with referen

to dress. But although we should always keep a little too cool rather than a little too warm, it is by no means desirable to be co

a little more. It is a generally received opinion, however, that mankind frequently, at least in this country, eat about twice as mu

as assigned. It has already been more than intimated, that if the nursery be kept in a proper temperature, a single loose piece of dress is, for some time, all that is required. In pursuance o

are obvious reasons why it should be so. This, then, if a fact, is one of the strongest reasons in favor of

to vary our dress three or four times a day. Some cry out against this practice as dangerous, but I have never found it so. I have known persons who made it a constant practice; and I never found that they sustained any injury from it, except th

5.

unnecessary for me to dwell a single moment on the subject. But as the practice still pre

period carried to the head; that in consequence of this, the head is proportionably hotter than in adults; and that from this source arises the te

at than a thick head of hair does when they are older, yet they are less able to bear it. The truth is, that nature

r than till the hair is grown. The general apology for their use after this period, and indeed in most

arely attack the scalp; catarrh, snuffles, and other similar complaints, and above all, dropsy in the head, seldom show themsel

the children in the pictures of Titian and Raffaelle would be improved by having their heads covered with caps, instead of the silken curls-the adornment of nature-which cluster round their smiling faces. If th

and if it did, all the dress in the world could not affect it in the least, except to retard the growth of the bones, which, in due time, ought to close up the space; and this effect, anything which keeps the head

Hats and

warm. But if it is a great mistake in adults to wear thic

should be kept as cool as possible; and absolutely dangerous to cover it too warmly. At a later period, however, the dange

rfectly safe, either in childhood or age; except in the sunshine or in the storm. There may be-there probably is-some danger in going without hat or bonnet

&c. of constitution,-if these individuals, I say, were wholly to escape disease, through life, or if they were to be so much more free from it, and live to an age so much greater than others as to constitute a striking and obvious difference in their favor, we might then safely argue that the prac

ears, after our constitutions have been broken up by error and vice, without effecting anything more than to keep us from actually sinking at once. Indeed, in most cases we ought not to expect more.] subject to as many diseases as those around them with

direct rays of the summer sun, or to the rain. And as we cannot always foresee when and where these exposures will arise, and as it is believed that these c

s I have said before, too hot. What should be substituted, I am unable to determine; but until something can be supplied, which would not be half so oppressive as our common wool hats, I should

vering for

the head in superabundance, and keeps up in it an undue degree of heat, just in the same proportion is it sent to the feet in too small a quantity, leaving these parts liable to cold.

but I prefer to have them short, unless long ones can be used without garters. Everything in the shape of a garter or ligature roun

o any part of the body, but the contrary, so no one was ever made more tender by being kept moderately warm. Excess of heat, like excess of cold, will

shall show in another place that wet clothes should be frequently changed

they otherwise would. If it were best for children that they should learn to walk as early as possible, the last objection might have weight. But it seems

de, or any other thick leather. The soles are the most important part. These will defend the feet against pins, needles, and such other sharp substances as are usually found on the floor; and the upper

et occasionally, provided he is soon supplied with dry stockings again; but it is hazardous for either children or adults to go too long in wet stockings, and especially to sit long in them, after they have been using much ac

8.

casionally been known to penetrate the body and the joints of the limbs. So many of these dreadful accidents occur, and where no accident happens, so much pa

ted by Dr. Dewees in his own family, as mentioned in his work

e folds kept in their places by properly adjusting the body of the petticoat: so far not a pin is used. The diaper requires one, but this should be of a large size, and made to serve the double purpose of holding t

y be admitted to ensure the well-sitting of the 'frock' waist in front;-this last pin, however, is applied exte

metimes its distress was so great that nothing but large doses of laudanum, sufficient to stupify it, could afford the least relief. At last a tumor was discovered by the attending physician, near one of the bones on which we sit, and a needle was extracted two inches long. The needle had been put in its clothes,

inted with it, from using needles in infants' clothes. Happy would it be, if, in banishing needles, they

Remain

road; which is, that by suffering them to remain wet and cold, we harden the constitution. The fi

, it hence follows, that wet diapers are not injurious. But this is a mistake. Every time an infant is allowed to remain wet, we not only endanger its taking cold, but expose it to excoriations of the skin, if not to se

t is troublesome to wash so often. Everything is in a certain sense troublesome. Everything in this world, which is worth having, is the result of toil. No

upon us, I shall speak elsewhere; as well as of the evil of su

arks on the

nd childhood of both sexes is injurious. And as every mother has the control of these things, I have thought it

he stiff stock." And his remarks are nearly as applicable to this country as to England. The consequences of this preposterous method of dressing

reventing the blood from freely passing out of the head, but, by constantly pressing on the numerous and complex muscles of the neck, at this period of lif

nd when is there so appropriate a time for setting it aside, as before we began

except in cold weather, is objectionable; but

ve quoted, referred to, was probably the tight boot, worn to prevent the foot from being large and unseemly; b

d trussed up for the spit; unable to look down, or turn their heads, on account of a thick stock, or two or three cravats piled on the top of each oth

r your children's minds which the Author of their nature designed. At the least, you can prevent it for a time-the most important period, too-

n the Dres

. The whole dress should, as much as possible, hang loosely from the shoulders, without pressing on the body, or any part of it. This, I say, is the grand poin

oys. The greater delicacy of the female frame requires that the surface of the body should

overing every part of their trunk, many portions of the female frame, and especially many parts of their limbs

ared at by some, and laughed at by others. All this, too, without speaking of going out of warm concert rooms, theatres, ball rooms and lecture rooms, into the night air, or out of school rooms and churches, to walk home with

ngs, the stomach, digestion, absorption, circulation and perspiration, are all hindered. And even so far as the various internal organs of the body are active, they act at a great disadvantage. The blood which they

nal organs, and what remains is so loaded with carbon, which the lungs ought but cannot discharge, that her skin has a leaden hue; her teeth chatter; her very heart is c