<P> Although it is not required, many parents and godparents choose to dress the baby in a white gown called a christening gown for the baptism ceremony . Christening gowns often become treasured keepsakes that are used by many other children in the family and handed down from generation to generation . Traditionally, this gown is white or slightly off white and made with much lace, trim and intricate detail . In the past, a gown was used for both boys and girls; in the present day it has become more common to dress children in a baptismal outfit . Also normally made of white fabric, the outfit consists of a romper with a vest or other accessories . These clothes are often kept as a memento after the ceremony . </P> <P> It is a naval tradition to baptise children using the ship's bell as a baptismal font and to engrave the child's name on the bell afterwards . Tracking down and searching for an individual's name on a specific bell from a ship may be a difficult and time - consuming task . Christening information from the bells held by the Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt Museum has been entered into a searchable data archive that is accessible to any interested web site visitors . </P> <P> Scholars disagree on the date when infant baptism was first practiced . Some believe that 1st - century Christians did not practice it, noting the lack of any explicit evidence of paedobaptism . Others, noting the lack of any explicit evidence of exclusion of paedobaptism, believe that they did, understanding biblical references to individuals "and (her) household" being baptised (Acts 16: 15, Acts 16: 31--33, 1 Corinthians 1: 16) as well as "the promise to you and your children" (Acts 2: 39) as including young children . </P> <P> The earliest extra-biblical directions for baptism, which occur in the Didache (c. 100), are taken to be about baptism of adults, since they require fasting by the person to be baptised . However, inscriptions dating back to the 2nd century which refer to young children as "children of God" may indicate that Christians customarily baptised infants too . The earliest reference to infant baptism was by Irenaeus (c. 130--202) in his work Against Heresies . Due to its reference to Eleutherus as the current bishop of Rome, the work is usually dated c. 180 . Irenaeus speaks of children being "born again to God ." This reference has been described as "obscure ." Three passages by Origen (185--c. 254) mention infant baptism as traditional and customary . While Tertullian writing c. 198--203 advises the postponement of baptism of little children and the unmarried, he mentions that it was customary to baptise infants, with sponsors speaking on their behalf . The Apostolic Tradition, sometimes attributed to Hippolytus of Rome (died 235), describes how to perform the ceremony of baptism; it states that children were baptised first, and if any of them could not answer for themselves, their parents or someone else from their family was to answer for them . </P>

When did the practice of infant baptism begin
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