The Care and Feeding of Children | Page 9

worry should be removed.

_Can constipation in a nursing infant be controlled through the mother's
milk?_
Only to a limited extent. It is important that the mother's bowels be
regular and her digestion good. An increase in the meat and milk of her
diet is sometimes beneficial.
WEANING
At what age should the child be weaned from the breast?
Usually weaning should be begun at nine or ten months by substituting
one feeding a day for one nursing, later two feedings, and thus
gradually the child is to be taken from the breast altogether.
What is the principal reason for weaning earlier?
The most important one is that the child is not thriving--not gaining in
weight and not progressing normally in its development. Serious illness
of the mother, or pregnancy, may make weaning necessary.
At what age should the weaning be completed?
Generally at one year. In summer it may sometimes be advisable to
nurse an infant a little longer rather than wean in warm weather; but
even then the dangers of weaning are much less than those of
continuing to nurse, as is so often done, after the milk has become very
scanty and poor in quality.
_When should a child who is weaned from the breast be taught to drink
from the cup, and when to take the bottle?_
If weaning is done as early as the eighth or ninth month it is better to
give the bottle; if from the tenth to the twelfth month the infant should
be taught to drink or be fed with a spoon.
How may some of the difficulties in weaning be overcome?
By feeding every nursing infant once a day or by giving it water

regularly from a feeding-bottle. It then becomes accustomed to the
bottle. This is a matter of great convenience during the whole period of
nursing when the mother or nurse is from necessity away from the child
for a few hours; when more feeding is required at weaning time the
child does not object.
When should a child be weaned from the bottle?
With children who are not ill, weaning from the bottle should
invariably be begun at the end of the first year, and after a child is
thirteen or fourteen months old the bottle should not be given except at
the night feeding.
_Is there any objection to the child's taking the bottle until it is two or
three years old?_
There are no advantages and some serious objections. Older children
often become so attached to the bottle that only with the greatest
difficulty can they be made to give it up. Frequently they will refuse all
solid food, and will take nothing except from the bottle so long as it is
given, and when finally at three or four years, it is taken away, they will
not touch milk during the rest of their childhood. The difficulty is here
that children form the "bottle habit." This habit is troublesome,
unnecessary, and should by all means be prevented. An exclusive diet
of milk for children of two or three years often results in anæmia and
malnutrition.
How should one train a child to do without the bottle?
This is usually very easy if it is begun at one year. The milk should be
poured into a tiny glass or cup and little by little the child is taught to
drink; at first only a small portion of the food is taken in this way, the
balance being given from the bottle; but in the course of a few weeks
the average infant learns to drink from a cup without difficulty, and all
the food can be so given.
If the child is two or more years old, the only effective means of
weaning from the bottle is through hunger. The bottle should be taken

away at once and entirely, and nothing allowed except milk from a cup
until the child takes this willingly. Sometimes a child will go an entire
day without food, occasionally as long as two days, but one should not
be alarmed on this account and yield. This is a matter of the child's will
and not of his digestion, and when once he has been conquered it is
seldom that any further trouble is experienced. As soon as a child has
learned to drink his milk from a cup, cereals and other solid foods may
gradually be added to the diet. The educational value of such training is
not the least important consideration.
_Can a baby just weaned take cow's milk of the same proportions as
one of the same age who has had cow's milk from birth?_
Very rarely; to give a baby who has had nothing but the breast from
birth, plain cow's milk, or even that milk which a bottle-fed baby