OUR BABIES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23669, 29 November 1938, Page 16

OUR BABIES

By Oygeia

Published under the auspices of the Royal New Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children (Plunket Society). "It is wiser to put up a fence at the top of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom." TRANSITIONAI 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 pov/ers 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.' 7 So far the digestive organs have been accustomed to dealing almost entirely with milk, 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 gradual 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 fee that he learns to do the right things in the right way. The foundations of character and goo.d or bad mental health are laid down during this period no less surely than- the foundation of purely physical health. LEARNING TO EAT To come back to practical consideration of the question of food, a 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 thetrain 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 one teaspoonful, and increase it daily up to one tablespoonful. At 2 n.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, silver 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 the 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 l