Chinese Pediatrics
Babies are generally breast-fed because neither cow’s milk nor goat’s milk is acceptable to the Chinese. Sometimes, children are nursed for as long as 4 or 5 years. However, the practice is now varying as more women are working.
Since early time the Chinese have known about and practiced immuniza- tion against smallpox. A child was inoculated with the live virus from the crust of a pustule from a smallpox victim. The crust was ground into a powder, and this powder was subsequently blown into the nose of the healthy child through the lumen of a small tube. If the child was healthy, he or she did not generally develop a full-blown case of smallpox but, instead, acquired immunity to this dreaded disease (Wallnöfer & von Rottauscher, 1972).
Box 10–1 presents an overview of Ayurvedic Medicine.