Management
The Four Epochs of Woman's Life; a study in hygiene
It should be able to stand up by a chair by the tenth month, and be able to walk alone at the end of the first year. It is important that parents should know this, since not knowing what a normal baby ought to be able to do, cases of birth palsy, or even an attack of paralysis due to teething, are not infrequently overlooked, not only by the mother, but even by the doctor, who attributes the inability of the child to do what other children can do at this age simply to weakness, which the child will outgrow; and thus the time passes in which the most could be done to cure the child and to prevent the subsequent deformity.
A baby should not be forced to stand or walk; a very stout baby, on account of its weight, will stand up and walk much later than a slight one, the two being equally healthy. Or if a baby has been sick, it will feel no inclination to stand up. Naturally, a child creeps before it walks, and this develops the muscles of the lower limbs, so that they will support the weight of the child in standing. By prematurely forcing a child to stand up and walk, there is danger of causing bow-legs, as the bones of the legs are still weak; the child should be discouraged from standing up too much rather than encouraged to stand up more.
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