h clothing, or want of fresh air in the sleeping room.
4. Interference with breathing due to obstruction from large tonsils
or adenoids. These cause great restlessness and lead a child to assume
many different postures during sleep, often lying upon the face or
upon the hands and knees.
5. Chronic pains or frequently recurring night pains may be causes of
disordered sleep, when a child wakes with a sudden sharp cry. In
infants this is most often due to scurvy, sometimes to syphilis. In
older children it may be the earliest symptom of disease of the hip or
spine.
6. Sleeplessness and disturbed sleep are frequent whenever the general
condition falls much below a healthy standard; e.g., in infants who
are not thriving and in children suffering from marked anaemia.
_How are children who sleep too little, or whose sleep is constantly
disturbed, to be treated?_
Never by the use of soothing sirups or other medicines. Successful
treatment consists in the discovery and removal of the cause.
_Do children ever sleep too much?_
It is doubtful if healthy children ever do. Excessive sleep is an
important symptom of some diseases of the brain. Otherwise it seldom
if ever occurs unless soothing sirups or other drugs have been given.
EXERCISE
_Is exercise important for infants?_
It is as necessary for them as for older children.
_How is it obtained?_
A young baby gets its exercise by screaming, waving its arms, kicking,
etc. The clothing should not be so tight as to make these movements
impossible. At least twice a day the infant should be allowed for
fifteen or twenty minutes the free use of its limbs by permitting it
to lie upon a bed in a warm room, with all clothing except the shirt,
stockings, and napkin removed. Later, when in short clothes, the baby
may be put upon a thick blanket or quilt laid upon the floor, and be
allowed to tumble about at will. A nursery fence two feet high, made
to surround a mattress, is an excellent device and makes a convenient
box stall for the young animal, where it can learn to use both its
arms and legs without the danger of injury. Only by exercise such as
this do the muscles have an opportunity to develop properly.
THE CRY
_When is crying useful?_
In the newly born infant the cry expands the lungs, and it is
necessary that it should be repeated for a few minutes every day in
order to keep them well expanded.
_How much crying is normal for a very young baby?_
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