supply the place of the shirt during the night, may be of calico in the
summer, and of flannel in the winter.

The collar and wristbands of this night dress should be loose; and the
whole garment should be large and long. No article of dress should ever
press upon our bodies, so as in the least to impede the circulation; and
for this reason it is, that writers on physical education have inveighed
so much against cravats, straps, garters, &c. This caution, so important
to all, is doubly so to young mothers, on whom devolves the management
of the tender infant.

When the child has been perspiring freely during the evening, just
before he is undressed, or when he has just been subjected to the warm
bath, it may be well to use a little care in undressing and exchanging
clothes, to prevent taking cold;--though it should ever be remembered,
that those children who are managed on a rational system will bear
slight exposures with far more safety, than they who have been managed
at random--sometimes, indeed, with great tenderness, but at others,
wholly neglected.

SEC. 7. _Posture of the Body._

In early infancy, children who are not stuffed rather than fed, may
occasionally be permitted to sleep on their backs, especially if they
incline to do so. But it will be well to encourage them to sleep on one
side, as soon as you can without great inconvenience.

The right side, as a general rule, is preferable; because the stomach,
which lies towards the left side, is thus left uncompressed, and
digestion undisturbed. I would not, however, require a child to lie
always on the right side, but would occasionally change his position,
lest he should become unable to sleep at all, except in a particular
manner.

I have said elsewhere, that the head ought to be a little raised,
especially if the child is liable to diseases of the brain. But this
remark, rather hastily thrown out, requires explanation.

There is so much blood sent by the heart to the head and upper parts of
the system of infants, as to predispose those parts, especially the
brain, to disease. In a horizontal position of the body, there is more
blood sent to the brain than when the body is erect. This will show the
reader, at once, that if the infant is peculiarly exposed to diseases
of the brain--and it certainly is so--he ought to remain in a horizontal
posture as little as possible, except during sleep; and that even then
it is desirable to make his bed in such a