The complete Indian housekeeper & cook

For weaning : every mother who has brought up a family has some particular food she weans by ; it would therefore be better for obvious reasons not to dictate or lay down the law as to any particular food. Chavasse gives a list of foods in his "Advice to a Mother," which contains on the whole some good advice. The only point to be urged is that in India, certainly, where diarrhoea and dysentery prevail so much amongst children, the author’s experience is that till the first set of teeth are through no broth whatever should be given. After nine months a farinaceous food may be given once a day with the spoon, the evening bottle of milk being still continued. At this stage, too, a crust or biscuit may be allowed, and gradually, month by month, the farinaceous food may be increased. Wean the child as soon after the year as possible. This gradual weaning saves much trouble, for the mother can wean the child herself in a night with perhaps one fit of crying, or perhaps not even that. After the child is weaned no bottle or food whatever should be given during the night, The child will sleep till early morning. If it be proved beyond a doubt that the mother cannot nurse, a dhaee or wet-nurse should be procured. . . The bottle is unsatisfactory without constant supervision. As wet-nurses, none are better than the Cashmiri women at Amritsar, although the Agra have got a great name. The former are very amiable, get very fond of their charges, are simple in their ideas and unsophisticated, and not so grasping in their expectations. It is a great mistake to change the dhaee s- habits beyond insisting on personal cleanli- Housekeeper and Cook ness and frequent change of clothes. The simpler and more familiar the food she gets, the better she will digest it, and the better will be her nourishment for the child. To bring a very poor woman into one’s house, feed her with baker’s bread and meat, tea and milk ad libitum, whilst taking the toil oft’ her hands, will bring on indigestion, and consequently green motions in the babe. Within limits she should be allowed to see her friends, and she should not be treated as if she were merely an animated bottle. Four complete suits of clothing are necessary for her, which consist of trousers, petticoat, chuddar, and coat. Of these last, however, there should be some extra, so as to allow a clean coat on every morning after her bath. In addition, a warm loose coat to be worn over her other, or, as some prefer, two warm flannel ones, which can be worn under the cotton one, and washed every week, and a native lohee or shawl for a wrap is required. She will also need a ruzdee (wadded quilt), a blanket and bolster pillow, and a string charpoij, which is cleaner to sleep on than the floor. When the child has to be nursed at night, it should, Avhen taken from its mother, be wrapped in a shawl or blanket, and care should be taken that it takes all it wants before going off to sleep again. Native women suckle their children constantly; the dhaee will need to be taught only to nurse the child at regular intervals. Three plates or vessels are also provided, a large round plate on which her ordinary rice and dal, &c., are placed when cooked, and shown to the mistress, a basin about the size of an ordinary slop basin, and a lota which has a spout, in which her drinking water, tea, etc., are kept.