During
this training process a child may cry, at first, a great deal; but for
a healthy child, this use of the lungs does no harm and tends rather
to strengthen than to injure them, unless it becomes exceedingly
violent. A child who is trained to lie or sit and amuse itself, is
happier than one who is carried and tended a great deal, and thus
rendered restless and uneasy when not so indulged.
The most critical period in the life of an infant is that of dentition
or teething, especially at the early stages. An adult has thirty-two
teeth, but young children have only twenty, which gradually loosen and
are followed by the permanent teeth. When the child has ten teeth on
each jaw, all that are added are the permanent set, which should be
carefully preserved; this caution is needful, as sometimes decay in
the first double teeth of the second set are supposed to be of the
transient set, and are so neglected, or are removed instead of being
preserved by plugging. When the first teeth rise so as to press against
the gums, there is always more or less inflammation, causing nervous
fretfulness, and the impulse to put everything into the mouth.
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