CHILDREN THEIR HEALTH AND HAPPINESS BY DR. J. H. TILDEN
CHILDREN THEIR HEALTH AND HAPPINESS BY DR. J. H. TILDEN CHILDREN THEIR HEALTH AND HAPPINESS A Ready Reference Book for Mothers Who Desire to Know How to Bring Up Their Children In Health BY DR. J. H. TILDEN COPYRIGHT 1928 BY J. H. TILDEN Denver, Colorado (This book first appeared at the Soil and Health Library, an important source of books on holistic agriculture, holistic health, self-sufficient living, and personal development) FOREWORD INTRODUCTION Care of Prospective Mothers During Pregnancy General Care of Children CARE AT BIRTH WHEN BABY BEGINS TO NOTICE BABYHOOD TO FULL MATURITY Feeding Birth to Maturity IF NURSING FIRST TO FOURTH MONTH FOURTH MONTH TO ONE YEAR WEANING ARTIFICIAL FEEDING FIRST YEAR SECOND YEAR FIRST SIX MONTHS SECOND YEAR LAST SIX MONTHS THIRD YEAR FOURTH YEAR (three years of age ) TO SCHOOL AGE SCHOOL AGE BREAD AND MILK FOR CHILDREN NOT AN IDEAL FOOD--OFTEN A POISON LOST APPETITE Diseases of Children--So-Called INHERITING DISEASE INDIGESTION IN BABIES INDIGESTION IN CHILDREN UNDER 10 YEARS OF AGE CONSTIPATION IN BABIES GRINDING TEETH APPENDICITIS GASTRO-ENTERITIS AND COLONITIS CHOLERA INFANTUM RICKETS--RACHITIS (RA-KI-TIS) PARASITIC DISEASES WORMS SNIFFLES--COLDS--CORYZA SORE THROAT TONSILITIS EARACHE CROUP CATARRHAL--SIMPLE AND SEPTIC OR DIPHTHERITIC ERUPTIVE DISEASES EXANTHEMATOUS OR ERUPTIVE FEVERS Measles, Scarlatina, Diphtheria, varicella (Chicken-pox), Variola (Smallpox), Typhoid Fever. MUMPS PNEUMONIA--BRONCHITIS INFANTILE PARALYSIS ENURESIS NOCTURNAL BED-WETTING IS A LIGHT FORM OF NEUROSIS IN CHILDREN CHOREA--ST. VITUS DANCE PRICKLY HEAT CEREBRO-SPINAL MENINGITIS OR SPOTTED FEVER PETIT MAL A LIGHT FORM OF EPILEPSY SEBORRHEA--A SCALP DISEASE OF BABIES--DANDRUFF ECZEMA HIVES HERNIA DISEASES OF THE GENITAL ORGANS CIRCUMCISION VULVITIS AND VAGINITIS VACCINATION CONVULSIONS KISSING THE BABY IS CRYING INJURIOUS? HOLDING THE BREATH PACIFIERS FOREWORD THE laws of nature--or God, if you please--have been broken before disease manifests. Disease is a crisis, which means an effort on the part of the body to eliminate pent-up toxins. It is a systematic house-cleaning, and would not be necessary if irrational living had not brought on enervation, checking elimination and causing Toxemia. I must declare that there is no logic--absolutely no common-sense--in breaking every law of nature, as conventional civilization does, and, when retribution comes, endeavor to sidestep the consequences by getting under the cover of cure or prevention, which in no wise corrects outlawry or its penalty. Thinking people can know, if they want to, that disease is not what medical science teaches--namely, symptom-complexes caused by extraneous influences--and that it may not be prevented or cured by vaccines or serums. Disease, so-called, is nature's way of curing. A cold is elimination of toxin. To stop the symptoms means to stop elimination, which means forcing the organism to retain the toxins and gradually grow a larger toleration, until life is overwhelmed by a so-called acute disease or a chronic organic disease, which may end in the destruction of some important organ, or life itself. Disease is auto-house-cleaning, and all the treatment necessary is rest of body and mind. So-called treatment or curative measures are positively obstructive. Isn't it a fact that immunity to disease is natural? Man breaks down his immunity by building Toxemia and a cesspool under his diaphragm The only reason why people are ever sick is because their resistance is broken down. I say broken-down resistance advisedly; for if people who are subject to so-called epidemics are educated into proper living--proper care of their bodies--and they then live accordingly, they rise above the so-called disease-producing influences. INTRODUCTION TOXEMIA is the basic cause of all diseases. To prevent Toxemia, avoid enervation in children. Of all the nerve-destroying influences to which children are subjected, the most pernicious are those that cause fear--fear of failing in school; the displeasure of teacher and parents; stupid scolding by parents, whose only excuse is grouchiness from their own torpid livers, brought on them from eating bacon, eggs, liver, hot bread, and coffee for breakfast, or some other as vicious indulgence, which causes domestic bickering. Unhappy homes are a constant menace to the health of children. Parents should spare children an exhibition of their venom. Standing at the head of the list of causes of enervation in children is Fear. We as a people overlook the real menaces to health, and teach bacteriology, infection, contagion, etc. And, to immunize against these so-called influences, we vaccinate and contaminate the blood of children, thereby adding an ally to Toxemia and fear, to break down resistance still further. Just why the profession reasons so grotesquely concerning health, diseases, and their causes and treatment, is beyond understanding. The most obvious truth should be that 100 per cent health is all the immunization which an animal or a man needs. This being true, why not "get down to brass tacks," discard our rag-baby delusions concerning germs, contagions, infections, etc., and be taught by the obvious--namely, that health is the normal state, and that any influence that lowers nerve-energy lowers the health standard? Germs cannot be a cause, because they are ubiquitous--ever-present. If they are the cause of disease, no one would ever reach the state called health. So-called epidemics, contagions, and infections do not influence normal, healthy children. Who are the children that make up the sick list? They are found in homes where discontent, scolding, complaining, nervousness, loud voices, sharp rebukes, threatenings, fault-finding, disputes, arguing, castigating, are the daily routine. Real love and kindness are crowded out. Everyone is grouchy, and there appears to be a rivalry in seeing who can make the most cutting retorts. No care is given to eating, and little to the proper preparation of food. The best food will disagree when temper, irritation, and grouch prevail. Unpoised parents always have nervous children. Such homes have much use for doctors--medical men who talk of germs, pure milk, vaccine, serum, contagion, and a lot of inane bunk on that order, but not a word concerning the pure milk of human kindness, love, and sympathy. Fear in the homes and schools is the cause of about all the so-called diseases that belabor health officers and cause them to issue their bulls ordering vaccination, quarantine, tonsillotomy, tests, etc., etc. Fear enervates; Toxemia follows; after which any old so-called disease may start. Then complicate it by "regular treatment," and "say, boy!" you are in line for any unusual usual disease. That children are made sick by fear is not strange when we think of how fear is taught to children by parents and teachers, and then followed up by three professions--preachers, doctors, and lawyers; the latter enforcing the mandates of the doctors. The bogy devil and hell have gone out of fashion, but have been supplanted by the fear of germs and the dreadful diseases they cause, and the more dreadful brews concocted to scare away microscopic witches. These various usurpers of nervous energy are worthy an illuminating essay each; for all play a part in the denaturing of man, and by building enervation, lay the foundation for all so-called diseases by causing retention of toxin in the blood. When enervation is produced, elimination is checked, and Toxemia is established; then deterioration of the organism begins, subtilely at first, manifesting on organs most stressed by use and abuse, showing up as functional derangements, which subside, to recur at longer or shorter intervals, until organic change (pathology) is established. Lack of harmony in the homes is one of the most constant causes of enervation followed by Toxemia, and then the diseases "peculiar to children." Children suffer from this cause. Even the infant is made sick by the mother's milk, when the latter is irritated by the domestic infelicities occurring daily. Mothers are often subjected to the bestiality of sensual husbands, which prenatally curses the child; and the pernicious influence often remains throughout its life. Read Tilden's "Toxemia Explained." Care of Prospective Mothers During Pregnancy PROSPECTIVE mothers should hold in their consciousness the ideals on the lines of which they would have their children evolve. A passive wish will not etch into the nervous system of the prospective child a formative desire--the mother must live her desires. Honesty must be lived--not simply paying debts agreed upon, but doing unto others as she would have others do unto her. This commandment, which is the foundation of ethics, is acted upon perfunctorily and ostentatiously by convention; but there is no soul-building force in it, and the mothers who would transmit ideal traits to their children must live them. In the performance of this function they may fool their neighbors, their friends, and their God; but they cannot fool the laws of biology--the laws of their being. The grasping merchant prince transmits kleptomania to his beautiful daughter; the sins committed in secret are declared from the housetops; the tippling mother transmits dipsomania to her son; and the lustful parents stamp nymphomania on the daughter and libertinism on the son. The reckless disregard for law and order that is racing rampant throughout the world is the materialization of the unholy practices etched into the plastic nervous system of children by parents. Mothers, would you have your children normal, self-controlled, and happy? Then you must be. Do you want to have a normal--which is an easy--labor, and be able to nurse your child? Then live normally; avoid gluttony; control your emotion; learn to be poised; study (not read) "Toxemia Explained," and the "Cook Book." Cultivate the study and thinking habits. Enlarge your vocabulary by daily reference to a good dictionary. We cannot without words learn to think--stamp ideal habits on our children. We shall not need prohibition and other stupid laws when the mothers of our country cease to be food-drunkards and sensualists. Fathers who are unwilling to do their part in the betterment of the coming race should not assume the responsibility. Men and women must know more concerning their influence in shaping the lives of their children. Excesses of parents dull, and even inhibit, the moral development of children. Moral idiots are begotten in lust and conventional drunkenness. If the race is deteriorating, the fault lies in the habits and daily doings of parents. If a mother wishes to have an obedient child--one that is sensible and lovable--she should live a sensible and lovable and obedient life herself, practicing self-control continually. If a mother would have a normal child, she must live a normal life. Exercise.--All through pregnancy the tensing exercises, as given in my book, "Toxemia Explained," should be practiced daily. For the first few months, all the exercises may be used. As time goes on, the exercising may be a little less vigorous, selecting those exercises which do not bring much strain on the abdomen. A limited amount of walking, housework, etc., may be carried on, always being careful about overstraining when lifting. Bathing.--During this period the body should be kept particularly clean by giving the skin plenty of attention, so as to keep the skin-circulation as active as possible and elimination perfect. A warm sponge-bath should be taken, either night or morning, a thorough dry-towel rubbing should be given at night, or vice versa. Once a week the sponge-bath may be replaced with a hot-tub soap and water-bath, being careful not to soak the body too long in hot water. Hot-water bathing is enervating. Douches.--If there is any leucorrhea, or any other discharge from the vagina, a douche should be taken each night before retiring, until it has subsided. Use quite warm water, with a tablespoonful of salt to the gallon of water. Enemas.--If the bowels fail to move during the day, before retiring at night use a small enema of a pint of water. Put it into the bowels, allow it to remain for a short time, and then solicit a movement. If no results are obtained, do not worry--just let the bowels alone. If they do not move during the next day, repeat the enema at night. Kidneys.--At least once a month, from the beginning of pregnancy, the urine should be examined by someone qualified to do so, to ascertain that all is well and no albumin is showing in the urine. Corsets.--If a proper amount of exercise is taken regularly before pregnancy, and the ligaments and muscles of the abdomen and pelvis are so strengthened, very little support will be necessary. It is better to have as little binding as possible; but, if a support is necessary, there are some well-fitting maternity corsets on the market which are a great help. Supports are not necessary when eating and exercise are correct in amount. Eating Habits.--The mother should not change her habits of eating during this period, except to see that she does not overeat. The breakfast should be light--merely a little fruit, such as apples, pears, oranges, grapefruit, berries, or any fresh fruit, according to season. At noon, have a vegetable soup, prepared according to the directions given in the "Cook Book." Follow this with a good big combination salad. At night, have the regulation Tilden dinners: meat one day, with two cooked, non-starch vegetables and a combination salad; the alternate days, a decidedly starchy food in place of the meat, with the vegetables and salad. All fancy foods, such as pies, cakes, and desserts of all kinds, should be sidestepped. Just live as simply as possible. Prospective mothers should watch their weight during pregnancy. Just before confinement a woman should not weigh more than ten pounds above her regular weight. At the beginning of pregnancy the increase in weight should be very little and the gain very gradual. If the weight increases too rapidly, the intake of food should be cut down, so as to hold the weight down. Mothers should not follow the custom of eating for two, building excess weight, and suffer from the symptom-complexes of swollen limbs, varicose veins, kidney burden, Toxemia, surgery, enlarged womb, uterine catarrh, misplacements, fibroid tumor, and, in ten to twenty years, uterine cancer, etc. Children born of such parents develop into mediocre human animals. Their most characteristic inherited tendencies are appetite and passion. They mature early, and their sex-complex drives them into lust and every excess that gives a thrill. They soon bring on pronounced enervation and imperfect elimination, establishing chronic Toxemia, after which the organism subtilely builds organic disease. The tubercular diathesis builds pulmonary tuberculosis, after going through all the preliminary crises of Toxemia--namely, all the so-called catarrhal diseases. The mind and nervous system have their symptom-complexes. The glandular--the ductless and duct glands--have their share of composite derangement wished on them by Toxemia, occupation, and habits. A child born of a gluttonous mother may die of childbirth injuries, or subsequent so-called diseases caused by disagreeing mother's milk or the hazards of post-natal readjustment What is meant by post-natal readjustment is that a plethoric infant (a fat baby) will continue obese, and come to a premature end unless he is properly reduced. To do so requires much time Readjusting means proper food and exercise, continuing over a period long enough for the cell-tissue to be biologically educated out of its hydropic habit. Obesity is a disease, and, as in the case of all so-called diseases, when the cause is removed nature must have time to return to the normal. Few fat people have the self-control to live in a manner, and for a sufficient length of time, for nature to get back to the normal. The same is true of all those suffering from all other so-called diseases. Should the fat boy live to maturity, his reproductive function will lack virility; and should he reproduce, the progeny would lack virility and vitality, and would die early. Most children of this type die within the second year, or suffer with digestive derangements, lose weight, become underweight from malnutrition, and continue throughout a life of thirty to seventy years of semi-invalidism. Fat babies are prone to die of diseases "peculiar to children." They do not bear up well under the so-called contagious diseases. Morning Sickness.--Morning sickness is nature's punishment for past sins committed. Prospective mothers who have morning sickness have abused their privilege in all lines. They have sought pleasure to excess, have danced too much, and have imprudently cooled the body after being heated, by sitting in a draft, drinking too much water or soda-fountain beverages, or chilling the stomach too frequently with ices; and in their every-day lives they have eaten too much, too frequently, and of improper food combinations, and neglected to masticate and insalivate starchy foods properly. Instead of eating a reasonable amount morning, noon, and night, many have eaten five times a day, and sometimes oftener. The human body has its limitations, and everyone should try to learn what they are, and then respect them. The commonest drunkenness is food-drunkenness. Physical and mental pleasures enjoyed to excess are a form of drunkenness, and sooner or later bring on enervation. Those who are enervated fail to eliminate the waste-products of the body as fast as necessary, and toxins are retained in the system, bringing on what I define as Toxemia. People in this state are in line for catching colds, coughing, and having the lighter forms of so-called diseases, such as colds, headache, sore throat lasting a few days, fits of indigestion, constipation, and other so-called diseases. A young woman getting married, after bringing on this state of her organism, is almost invariably troubled with morning sickness, because in all such cases there is a gastro-intestinal indigestion, if not catarrhal inflammation. A sensitive, catarrhal stomach is the commonest derangement of people who ordinarily pass as normal or healthy. Pregnancy in such subjects is accompanied by an extraordinary state of the stomach, which is called morning sickness--often it is an all-day sickness. These subjects continue abusing themselves with irregular eating and imprudent eating, which aggravates the so-called morning sickness. Those troubled with morning sickness should fast a reasonable length of time, and, when indulging in food, they should take a little fruit for breakfast. If fruit irritates the stomach, or the stomach rebels by becoming nauseated, this feeling should pass off before any more food is taken. If the discomfort lasts during the foreno… truncated (230,403 more characters in archive)