od contains too much sugar. Sugar always makes their flesh
soft and flabby.

4. During the first two months the baby should be fed every two hours
during the day, and two or three times during the night, but no more. Ten
or eleven feedings for twenty-four hours are all a child will bear and
remain healthy. At three months the child may be fed every three hours
instead of every two.

5. Children can be taught regular habits by being fed and put to sleep at
the same time every day and evening. Nervous diseases are caused by
irregular hours of sleep and diet, and the use of soothing medicines.

6. A child five or six months old should not be fed during the night--from
nine in the evening until six or seven in the morning, as overfeeding
causes most of the wakefulness and nervousness of children during the
night.

7. If a child vomits soon after taking the bottle, and there is an
appearance of undigested food in the stool, it is a sign of overfeeding. If
a large part of the bottle has been vomited, avoid the next bottle at
regular time and pass over one bottle. If the child is nursing the same
principles apply.

8. If a child empties its bottle and sucks vigorously its fingers after the
bottle is emptied, it is very evident that the child is not fed enough, and
should have its food gradually increased.

9. Give the baby a little cold water several times a day.

* * * * *

INFANTILE CONVULSIONS.

DEFINITION.--An infantile convulsion corresponds to a chill in an adult,
and is the most common brain affection among children.

CAUSES.--Anything that irritates the nervous system may cause convulsions
in the child, as teething, indigestible food, worms, dropsy of the brain,
hereditary constitution, or they may be the accompanying symptom in nearly
all the {309} acute diseases of children, or when the eruption is
suppressed in eruptive diseases.

SYMPTOMS.--In case of convulsions of a child parents usually become
frightened, and very rarely do the things that should be done in order to
afford relief. The child, previous to the fit, is usually irritable, and
the twitching of the muscles of the face may be noticed, or it may come on
suddenly without warning. The child becomes insensible, clenches its hands
tightly, lips turn blue, and the eyes become fixed, usually frothing from
the mouth with head turned back. The convulsion generally lasts two or
three minutes; sometimes, however, as lo