“Attention should also be called to the fact that the time mentioned as the interval for feeding at different ages, does not apply to the whole twenty-four hours.  Even during the first week, the child is expected to skip two feedings during the night, making the interval four hours instead of two.  By the end of the second month, the interval between the feedings at night becomes six hours, and at the end of the ninth month, six and one half hours.

“From personal observation we judge that in many cases children will do equally well if allowed a longer interval between feedings at night.  The plan of feeding five times daily instead of six, may be begun at as early an age as six months in many instances.”

MANNER OF FEEDING ARTIFICIAL FOODS.—­All artificial foods are best fed with a teaspoon, as by this method liability to over-feeding and danger from unclean utensils are likely to be avoided.  If a nursing-bottle is used, it should be of clear flint glass so that the slightest foulness may be easily detected, and one simple in construction, which can be completely taken apart for cleaning.  Those furnished with conical black rubber caps are the best.  Each time after using, such a bottle should have the cap removed, and both bottle and cap should be thoroughly cleansed, first with cold water, and then with warm water in which soda has been dissolved in the proportion of a teaspoonful to a pint of water.  They should then be kept immersed in weak soda solution until again needed, when both bottle and cap should be thoroughly rinsed in clean boiled water before they are used.  Neglect to observe these precautions is one of the frequent causes of stomach disturbances in young children.  It is well to keep two bottles for feeding, using them alternately.

DIET FOR OLDER CHILDREN.—­No solid food or table-feeding of any kind should be given to a child until it has the larger share of its first, or milk teeth.  Even then it must not be supposed that because a child has acquired its teeth, it may partake of all kinds of food with impunity.  It is quite customary for mothers to permit their little ones to sit at the family table and be treated to bits of everything upon the bill of fare, apparently looking upon them as miniature grown people, with digestive ability equal to persons of mature growth, but simply lacking in, stomach capacity to dispose of as much as older members of the family.  The digestive apparatus of a child differs so greatly from that of an adult in its anatomical structure and in the character and amount of the digestive fluids, that it is by no means proper to allow a child to eat all kinds of wholesome foods which a healthy adult stomach can consume with impunity, to say nothing of the rich, highly seasoned viands, sweetmeats, and epicurean dishes which seldom fail to form some part of the bill of fare.  It is true that many children are endowed with so much constitutional vigor that they do live and seemingly thrive, notwithstanding