In her article, "Why My Children Are Healthy," author Phyllis Browne describes what she would do if her child were considered "delicate." "I should have seen that they were well clothed and well shod, that their little arms and legs and chests were thoroughly covered, that they were regularly bathed, and that they had plenty of plain, wholesome, nourishing food, and then I should have let them take their chance of the breezes blowing upon them... they would not have been weakly long." In short, she believes, a "delicate" child is too often that way due to coddling. She then tells of a mother attempting to feed her infant a herring; when confronted, the angry mother exclaims that she should know how to raise children, for she'd buried eight already. A fellow traveler suggests that it might soon be nine! Given that today's child-care pendulum swings between "helicopter parents" and mothers who try to feed their infants take-out burgers, one can only think that in some respects not much has changed...

Treatment of Infants (Peterson's, 1858)

Nursing Children (Godey's, 1860)

Mother's Department [Children's Health] (Peterson's, 1872)

Health for Town Children (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1876)

Fresh air is essential for health, this author argues - but one reason town children get so little of it is that they are overly fashionably dressed compared to country children.

Why My Children Are Healthy, by Phillis Browne (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1876)

Mother's Department: Medical Botany (monthly column) (Peterson's, 1879)

Food and Medicine for Children (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1881)

My Experiences of Hospital Children (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1881)

[Vaccinations] How Baby Was Saved, by Phillis Browne (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1881)

The Common Deformities of Children: Their Causes and Treatment (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1882)

Rheumatism in the Young, by "Medicus"* (Girl's Own Paper, 1885)

The Children's Scourge (Whooping Cough) (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1886)

A Few Questions Asked and Answered, by "Medicus"* (Girl's Own Paper, 1886)

A Healthy Nursery (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1887)

Baby's Diseases: Incidental to Teething, by Janet E. Ruutz-Rees (Demorest, 1888)

Baby's Diseases: Convulsions (Demorest, 1888)

Is the School Healthy? (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1888)

How to Keep Children Well and Happy (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1889)

Nursery Accidents, and What to Do for Them (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1889)

Stammering and Stuttering (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1889)

An excellent article written by a person who suffers from the condition, with good advice on how (and how not) to help stammerers and stutterers, particularly in childhood.

Our Delicate Child, by Charlotte Mason (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1890)

Nursery Accidents (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1892)

The Little Misses Miserable, by "Medicus"* (Girl's Own Paper, 1893)

Tips on rearing delicate children.

Myra and Kate: The Lesson Their Story Teaches, by "Medicus"* (Girl's Own Paper, 1893)

The Prevention of Blindness in Infants, by Swan M. Burnett, MD (Century Magazine, 1893A)

Spectacled Schoolboys, by Ernest Hart (Atlantic Monthly, 1893)

An article urging the increase of eye exams and corrective lenses for young people.

The Public Milk-Supply, by H.W. Conn (Century Magazine, 1894B)

On the value of pasteurizing milk, particularly for children.

Be Warned in Time! Or, Walking the Hospital with "The New Doctor," by "The New Doctor" (Girl's Own Paper, 1898)

The warning is about the serious consequences that can arise from neglecting a seemingly trifling "ear affection" -- a problem that will surely resonate with parents today!

Indigestion, by "The New Doctor" (Girl's Own Paper, 1898)

Another grim statistic: "The majority of deaths under a year old is due to wrong feeding." The author goes on to note, "Some people have the most extraordinary notions of the value of infants' lives; some do not consider the death of a baby as anything serious!"

A Happy Healthy Girlhood, by "Medicus"* (Girl's Own Paper, 1899)

Will She Grow Out of It? by "Medicus"* (Girl's Own Paper, 1899)

On some childhood ailments.

*"Medicus" was the pen-name of Gordon Stables, M.D., R.N., health columnist for The Girl's Own Paper. Read the complete collection of Medicus Columns from 1881-1902 in chronological order.