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The Care of Babies: Never

Never use cover Never put a baby to sleep on a feather pillow or lay it on a rubber cloth or oil cloth upon a bed. Such beds overheat the baby's back and head, so that when taken up it is wet with sweat, and very apt to take cold.

Provide a crib for the baby and let feather pillows. it sleep alone at night. Keep the bed and bed clothes scrupulously clean. Change them promptly if they become soiled. Cover the bed or crib with mosquito netting. only make the baby restless, but may with mosquito netting. Flies not communicate the germs of malaria, typhoid, or eases. be fed at its regular feeding time.

The prevailing opinion seems to be that the child should be allowed to awaken naturally, but that, if put down for its naps at regular hours and not handled or disturbed, it will regular habits of sleep which will not sleep about the same length of time each day and can thus be trained in feedings or turn night into day. Bainterfere with the regularity of its bies under three years of age should have regular two-hour naps morning and afternoon. Up to six months old they should have eighteen hours' sleep and thereafter at least twelve hours' they should have eighteen hours' sleep sleep at night, besides the daily naps.

Older children should have at least sleep at night, besides the daily naps. one nap during the day. The want of sufficient sleep is a very serious hindrance to the child's growth and of sufficient sleep is a very serious development. Get the baby into the habit of going to sleep without being held or rocked. This is much better habit of going to sleep without being for the baby and saves time for the mother or other members of the family. Lay the baby down in a suitable place and let it alone. Children often cry when put down to sleep.

If they are let alone and not handled If they are let alone and not handled and go to sleep. Don't fear that and go to sleep. Don't fear that crying. Don't keep a child at the breast or bottle while putting it to sleep. sleep. breast or bottle while putting it to awake don't get it into the habit of being held by its mother or other being held by its mother or other children. Most babies suffer because they are used to amuse older people children. Most babies suffer because about and excited when they need to rest or be quiet. Constant holding and passing from one arm to the other tend to make the baby fretful, cross and sick. No man or woman would like to be held, tossed ful, cross and sick. No man or other contagious dis--daily by a much larger person. This Sleep and Naps.-Let the baby sleep all it will. Authorities differ Sleep and Naps.-Let the baby as to whether or not a well child should be awakened from its nap to is just what frequently happens to the child. He likes to play by himself. Therefore, let him alone with some one to watch him, and don't handle him.

THE CARE OF BABIES or Quieting the Baby.-Never give a child soothing sirup to make him sleep. Such preparations contain some form of opium or other poisonous, habit-forming drugs. Don't let it suck a nipple, "comforter" or "pacifier." All artificial devices for quieting babies are harmful. Pacifiers often cause thrush or other infections of the mouth. Their use constant flow of saliva which interferes with digestion. They sometimes cause deformities of the mouth and teeth, and may lead to the habit of sucking the fingers.

They are wholly unnecessary and their use should be discontinued. causes a Standing and Walking. The free use of the muscles is essential to health even in early infancy. Do not swathe the baby's limbs so closely as to prevent their movements. Even in the early months it is a good plan, under proper conditions of warmth, to take off babies' outer wraps and let them kick. It is good for them. Do not encourage the baby to stand or try to teach it to walk. It will walk when it gets ready. The bones of an infant are plastic and if its weight is thrown upon them too soon there will be danger of bow-legs or other deformities. It is a mistake to encourage a child to stand or walk too early. Few babies can walk at twelve months and none should be allowed to do so.

BREAST FEEDING If you love your baby nurse it. Its chance for life will be nearly ten times greater than the chance of the bottle-fed baby. Nursing will also lay the foundations of a good constitution with which to resist the attacks of summer complaint, consumption, convulsions and rickets (bowlegs), and the contagious diseases of infancy. Children never fully recover from the effects of a lack of proper nourishment during the first few months of life. The chief advantage of breast feeding over bottle feeding is that breast milk is the cleanest milk obtainable. Taken directly from the maternal breast to the stomach of the infant the natural food of infancy is not exposed to anything that might contaminate or pollute it. Careful observation shows that it is not the hot weather itself that causes the high mortality among infants in summer, for breast-fed babies do not die excessively in hot weather. The difference is due to the freedom of breast milk from the micro-organisms, or germs in dirty cow's milk, which cause intestinal disease. Even the difference in the composition of breast milk and bot- The baby's birthright. tle milk seems to play a very minor rôle in the high summer death rate, because in the winter there is very little difference in the death rate as between breast-fed and bottle-fed babies.

There is no perfect substitute for mother's milk. The milk of the cow, goat, and other animals, condensed milk, and the artificial manufactured foods so widely advertised, are unnatural and unsatisfactory makeshifts. Even the milk of the wet nurse will not agree with the infant as well as that of its mother. All of these substitutes have been often analyzed and the difference between them and the natural food of infancy is clearly understood. The milk of the she ass and the mare most closely resemble that of women through their percentage of casein. Cow's milk comes next. Goat's milk holds only the fourth place. It has no advantage over cow's milk. Condensed milk contains too much sugar, and not enough fat. None of the manufactured foods most commonly used contain sufficient fat; some contain too much starch, others too much sugar. At times some of these substitutes may be used to advantage, but none of them can take the place of mother's milk, nor be safely used alone.

Almost every mother can nurse her baby if she will. Even though there is but little milk at first, don't become discouraged; be patient and try, try again. There are very few mothers whose breasts will not give sufficient milk if they will encourage the baby to suck. This keeps the milk flowing and increases the flow. Even though you feel weak, you can nurse the baby without danger to yourself.

Only a few serious diseases forbid nursing. If you are in doubt, consult your doctor. His advice is better than that of your neighbors or relatives.

Even though the breast milk is scanty, you should cherish it as you value your baby's life and health. A single swallow of such food is better than nothing. In such a case do not alternate the breast with the bottle feeding. This will tend to let the breasts dry up. Nurse regularly to the extent of the supply, and if required, immediately make up the shortage at each feeding from the bottle. or Care of the Nursing Mother.-A nursing mother must keep herself well in order to keep her baby well.