OUR BABIES

Grey River Argus, 10 December 1938, Page 7

OUR BABIES

[By Hygeia.] Published under the auspices of the Royal New Zealand Society . for the Health of Women and Children (Plunket Society). ‘‘lt is wiser to put up a fence at the top of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom.” TRANSITIONAL FEEDING. The "transitional period” is the name we give to that period of baby s first year when the introduction of foods other than milk takes place. It is a stage of transition in many ways —transition from suckling to eating and chewing and drinking, from comparative inarticularity to possession of the powers of speech, from complete dependence to the joys of free locomotion.

From six months onwards rapid development takes place, both mentally and physically —so rapid indeed that we are apt to forget the “transition” in the accomplished fact. Nevertheless, all this development is a gradual merging from one stage to the next, and it is important to remember that baby’s digestive and nervous systems must be guarded from strain. It is well to keep the idea of “gradualness” in one’s mind. Remember the axiom, "Never make sudden changes.” So far tomed to dealing almost entirely with the digestive organs have been accusmilk,. water, and cod liver oil in some form, or his own mother s milK, which is exactly suited to his digestive capacity. Therefore there is a need for slow and steady education of the digestion, so that new and strange types of food will be assimilated without upset. Much digestive trouble at a later stage is due to the too sudden and too early introduction of a large variety of foods. Somewhat the same thing applies to the methods of taking food. Hitherto the baby has been accustomed to obtaining his food from the breast. He is accustomed to the comfort and warmth of his mother’s body and arms. Sudden weaning throws a strain on the nervous system as well as the digestion. Wise is the mother who has trained her baby to drink water or fruit juice or vegetable juice from a cup or spoon, as the few minutes spent daily on this task will have prepared her baby for the gradua change from sucking to drinking. The second half of the baby’s first year is supremely important from the point of view of education—the child is learning all the time. It is the bounden duty of the parents to see that he learns to do the right things in the right way. The foundations of character and good or bad mental health are laid down during his period no less surely than the foundation of purely physical health.

learning to eat. j To come back to practical consid-l eration of the question of food, al point which is often overlooked is the, fact that a properly graded milk mixture continues to supply all the essential food elements and by far the greatest" part of the actual nourishment during the first year. Food other than milk is of importance mainly to educate baby to the taste and feel and digestion of solid and semi-solid food. The essential thing is that he should learn how to eat. He should learn to eat from a spoon and drink from a cup, and, most important of all, should learn to chew his crusts and bones and to reject solid objects which he cannot reduce to pulp by biting, tearing, mouthing, and chewing. Once learnt, this lesson will stand him in good stead throughout his life, helping to protect him from indigestion, decayed teeth, and many other evils which come in the train of these two'. Also he will be much less likely to swallow foreign bodies from the floor. TYPES OF FOOD. Now the kind of foods to introduce and when to begin: Between six and seven months we. begin at the 10 a.m. feed with cereal jelly made from barley, oatmeal, or wheatmeal (commencing with barley, as it is the most bland of the cereals). The first day we give only ope' teaspoonful, and increase it daily up to one tablespoonful. At 2 p.m. give strained vegetable juice, one teaspoonful, increasing to two teaspoonfuls (that is the

strained juice of one or two cooked, vegetables, such as spinach, silvei, beet, or any green leafy vegetables,, carrot, or potato). This may replace an equal proportion of water in the baby’s mixture, but should be given at one' feeding and not mixed into the day’s total quantity. In introducing cereal foods plain coarSe oatmeal, well cooked and strained is the best and most nutritious, and should be regarded as the staple cereal. Do not resort to patent groats or other refined cereals, unless it is impossible ‘(not merely inconvenient) to cook coarse oatmeal properly. If oatmeal porridge is used for the family breakfast table so much the better. All you have to do is to make sure that baby’s portion has had an hour’s cooking, then press it through a. wire sieve. The jelly should be fairly stiff, so that when milk is added it does not mix in and make the jelly semi-liquid. One of the objects in giving it is to teach baby the feel of solid food, and you will defeat this purpose if the jelly is| thin and milky. Strain enough for one or two meals, and warm up as required. Whole wheatmeal is used in rne same way to give variety.

SEVEN TO EIGHT MONTHS. Cereal jelly at 10 a.m. feeding with a few teaspoonfuls of milk mixture over it. At 2 p.m. feeding give vegetable broth, increasing slowly to one tablespoonful. Introduce a little vegetable puree, one or two teaspoonfuls. As an alternative to this give sometimes at the 2 p.m. feeding the pulp of a baked apple, stewed prunes, or raisins, one or two teaspoonfuls. A baked crust may be given once daily, say before the 10 a.m. feeding, if the first tooth has made its appearance. ,

EIGHT TO NINE MONTHS. As for the previous month, increasing the cereal jelly to two tablespoonfuls and the vegetable broth or puree to two tablespoonfuls. Fruit pulp (apple, prune, or raisin), one to two teaspoonfuls. ’ Baked crust before the 10 a.m. feed. Next week we will continue this article, and take the baby on to the end of his first year. FOODS FROM NINE MONTHS TO ONE YEAR. By the time baby is nine months old he usually has one or two teeth, and others are ready to come tnrough in turn. So it is important to give hard foods on which he can gnaw and bite, so that his gums will have plenty of exercise and so bring good blood to them. Twice-baked bread is the best form of hard food.’ The loaf should be about one day old, and a slice about three-quarters of an inch thick should be cut in fingers and baked dry in a slow oven. Enough may be done for several days and kept in a well-shut tin. These home-made rusks are hard and yet not tough, and do not ’have the tendency to break off in the leathery, slippery lumps which make ordinary crusts dangerous. At the same time the baby should never be left alone with any kind of crust. If the gums are sore he may be able to eat the softer kinds of crusts, but as soon as possible teach him to eat twicebaked bread. In giving baby his crusts be prepared to spend 10 minutes or so at feeding time teaching baby how to eat the bread till he becomes expert. I stress the point that crusts should be given 10 minutes before the rest of the meal, as it is not the actual food value one should be concerned with, but the education of baby’s masticatory organs. Give one of these crusts before thp 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. feeds, and when he is taking therh well give one before the 2 p.m. meal. At about 11 months _give butter—about one or two teaspoonfuls each day. From nine to ten months the cereal jelly is increased from two to three tablespoonfuls and bone or vegetable broths to two tablespoonfuls.

HUMANISED MILK. Mothers often ask if it is necessary to make humanised milk after nine months or after baby is weaned. Without exception babies under one year should be weaned on to humanised milk, and every baby should continue to have part of the day’s allowance of milk “humanised” (or modified) until the end of the first year or later.

The additional sugar and fat used in making baby’s milk mixture is a necessary part of his diet. The small amount of mixed foods taken before a year do not make up for a lack o’f these ingredients in the food if the milk is given diluted without the addition of suitable sugars and fats. During the nine to 12 months period the properly modified milk is the most important part of his diet from the point of view of nutrition, whilst the various hard foods and' cereals are the most important from the point of view of education. Neither can replace the other. The child must have an adequate amount of milk and also daily lessons in chewing and eatihg if he is to come up to the mark by his first birthday. By the time baby is 12 months old he should be having the following as ( a typical day’s diet:—Milk, 240 z.; .< water, 6 oz.; Karilac, one tablespoonful and a-haJf; Kariol. four teaspoonfuls; about eight tablespoonfuls of cereal jelly divided into two lots—one at 10 a.m. and the other at 6 p.m.; bone oi - vegetable broth, three to four tablespoonfuls; apple or prune pulp, one to two tablespoonfuls; crusts, baked bread; butter, two teaspoonfuls; orange juice, two tablespoonfuls. By this you will see that his- total amount to drink has been decreased from 40oz. to 30oz. and the amounts of Karilac and Kariol very considerably decreased as the baby takes more and more thickened .foods. In this period, too, the number of feeds can be reduced from five to four—cutting out the 10 p.m. feed—when you are certain . tnat baby will take all his milk mixture , and other food well in four feeds. Next week we will carry on with the feeding of baby after he is a year old.