tion of the mother's health, which through sleepless nights
would of course be soon deranged, and the infant would also suffer from
the influence which such deranged health would have upon the milk.

When a month or six weeks has elapsed, the child, if healthy, may
sleep alone in a cradle or cot, care being taken that it has a
sufficiency of clothing, that the room in which it is placed is
sufficiently warm, viz. 60 degrees, and the position of the cot itself
is not such as to be exposed to currents of cold air. It is essentially
necessary to attend to these points, since the faculty of producing
heat, and consequently the power of maintaining the temperature, is
less during sleep than at any other time, and therefore exposure to
cold is especially injurious. It is but too frequently the case that
inflammation of some internal organ will occur under such
circumstances, without the true source of the disease ever being
suspected. Here, however, a frequent error must be guarded against,--
that of covering up the infant in its cot with too much clothing
throwing over its face the muslin handkerchief--and, last of all,
drawing the drapery of the bed closely together. The object is to keep
the infant sufficiently warm with pure air; it therefore ought to have
free access to its mouth, and the atmosphere of the whole room should
be kept sufficiently warm to allow the child to breathe it freely: in
winter, therefore, there must always be a fire in the nursery.

The child up to two years old, at least, should sleep upon a feather
bed, for the reasons referred to above. The pillow, however, after the
sixth month, should be made of horsehair; for at this time teething
commences, and it is highly important that the head should be kept cool.

DURING CHILDHOOD.--Up to the third or fourth year the child should be
permitted to sleep for an hour or so before its dinner. After this time
it may gradually be discontinued; but it must be recollected, that
during the whole period of childhood more sleep is required than in
adult age. The child, therefore, should be put to rest every evening
between seven and eight; and if it be in health it will sleep soundly
until the following morning. No definite rule, however, can be laid
down in reference to the number of hours of sleep to be allowed; for
one will require more or less than another.[FN#16] Regularity as to
the time of going to rest is the chief point to attend to; permit
nothing to