The complete Indian housekeeper & cook

will rise in a body to contradict this, and tell melanclioly tales of children overlaid or suffocated, which may possibly happen if the motlier be intoxicated. The fact, however, remains that better sleep for both mother and child is obtained by this method. Nature shows that the little life needs Avarmth and cherishing, and the mother’s mind is at rest Avith her little one close to her. Smartly-trimmed bassinettes, no doubt, look very pretty, and the doctors urge the healthiness and advisability of a child sleeping alone, &c. &c. ; but those Avho follow him, instead of common sense, are up and doAvn half the night, neither mother nor child refreshed by sleep, both chilled, the one from getting up, the other from being taken ujx What about a hen and her chickens ? Where do they sleep ? _ Another thing to be remembered regarding feeding an infant, even with plenty of nourishment or Avith a Avet-nurse, is that the infant should be given the habit of takino- at least half a bottle once in tAventy-four hours, and this is best given at bedtime in the evening, to alloAv a little rest to the mother before the night. The Indian climate is too un- certain, and bodily ailments all too sudden, to trust to any one not failing. Should the mother or nurse’s supply fail through sickness or accident, the hottle can be continued and the child’s health will not suffer, as has often been the case Avhen the doctor’s advice— on no account to mix milks has been followed. The doctor is and should be the mother’s best friend ; but he is, after all, a man with chiefly book learning, science, and a knoAvledge of medicine. He looks on a patient merely in a scientific light, and little common everyday experiences are not in his Materia Medica. I he mother should prepare the hottle if possible herself and the proportions should ahvays be exactly the same, for some months at least. At first there should be one part milk and three parts Avater; such well-diluted milk beino- easier to digest, and richer food producing diarrhma or sick^ S ^ the T ™°ther’s milk, loaf rf 1 ‘ cmistipated, use raw sugar instead of leftVn fl ^ ® ^'’ashed by the mother, and not left to the a^,/a/i or miusolchee, as is sometimes done. Bottles should he rinsed at once if not convenient to wash them at L 1 62 The Complete Indian once. Later on they should be scalded, the tube being thoroughly cleaned and examined and put in a window in a fresh draught of air. Milk if kept should be placed in a scrupulously clean vessel, in an airy place, but it is best not left standing; and the time of giving the bottle should be regulated by the time the cows are milked. The milk should be taken from one cow, whose calf is about the same age as the child. A nursing mother should always be relieved of the child when he wakes, which is generally about 5 a.m. ; then she should have her chota hdzrce and go to sleep for an hour or so, when she will get up refreshed. The aijahy having had an undisturbed night’s rest in her house, should be always ready at this hour to take the child.