EXERCISE.

74. _Do you recommend exercise in the open air for a baby? and if so,
how soon after birth_?

I am a great advocate for his having exercise in the open air. "The
infant in arms makes known its desire for fresh air, by restlessness,
it cries, for it cannot speak its wants, is taken abroad and is
quiet."

The age at which he ought to commence taking exercise will, of course,
depend upon the season and upon the weather. If it be summer, and the
weather be fine, he should he carried in the open air, a week or a
fortnight after birth, but if it be winter, he ought not on any
account to be taken out under the month, and not even then, unless the
weather be mild for the season, and it be the middle of the day. At
the end of two months he should breathe the open air more
frequently. And after the expiration of three months, he ought to be
carried out _every day_, even if it be wet under foot, provided it be
fine above, and the wind be neither in an easterly nor in a
north-easterly direction. By doing so we shall make him strong and
hearty, and give the skin that mottled appearance which is so
characteristic of health. He must, of course, be well clothed.

I cannot help expressing my disapprobation of the practice of
smothering up an infant's face with a handkerchief, with a veil or
with any other covering, when he is taken out into the air. If his
face be so muffled up, he may as well remain at home, as under such
circumstances, it is impossible for him to receive any benefit from