THE USE OF CONDENSED MILK IN THE NURSERY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2008, 18 August 1892, Page 44

THE USE OF CONDENSED MILK IN THE NURSERY.

Ucder tbe title of " How to feed a child on Condensed Milk," the Aogio Swiss Condensed Milk Company have issued a veiy readable little pamphlet from which we make the following extracts :—: —

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.

Children may suffer from over-feeding, or from being fed with food too rich and nutritive, no less than from receiving too little nourishment.

A mother's anxiety to do everything possible for her child often leads her to prepaie its food in so lich a form as to be iudigestible ; she then lays the blame on the food, though the fault really lies in her mode oi' using it. Too much food, or too rich food, may not always make a chilJ absolutely ill, t ut, only so much as is digest el nourishes, and it ii useless, and m?.y be t-.aunful, t > take ir.to the stomach rnor* than can bo c i>ily digested.

An infant ducb not need a fuquent change of diet, as mothers Borautimeg suppose: Nature designs milk for the youner, without cbarye. for eight or 10 motitl-b at least. AslvQg as a child thrives upon c .mlen^ed mill', or any c ther food, it is not advisable to expcr.irr.erit with any tLir.g else— not, at least, until tceihir gis ove-. But it the food in use does not 'agree with a child, either in one degree of strength or another, then something else should be tried.

Children, like growa people, may became ill in spite of the best of food ; for instance, a breast-fed child is never quite secure against diarrhoea, and all children, however fed, are particularly liable to this and other complaints during teething; a child's illness, therefore, should opt always, bo attributed to

its food. Even if the food is the cause, the fault generally lies in its having been improperly prepared or given at irregular intervals.

So-called weakness of the stomach is mere often due to irregular feeding than to any other cause. In nine cases out of 10 a weak stomach is a misused stomach. The process of digesting one meal should not be interrupted by taking another meal into tbe stomach.

Mothera and nurses who run for the feading bottle every time a child cries, are incompetent to take charge of infants.

A nurse who feeds a child while it ia lying on its back ought to be compelled to take her own food in the same position. An infant should bo held in an inclined position upon the left aim, not only while taking its food but for five or ten minutes afterwards.

Diarrhoea may be due to various causes ; as a rule it is well to treat it like indigestion, namely, by reducing the quantity of food, and even slightly reducing its strength. Continued constipation is usually a sign that tbe child will hear a little stronger food.

The following objections are made to the use of uncondensed milk for infants :—: —

1. It is difficult to obtain it pure.

2 Even if pure, it is impossible to have it in the same condition at ali hours of the day. Uncendensed milk is constantly undergoing changes, even before sournoss can be detected.

3. It has not fche uniformity of character that results from condensing the milk from hundreds of cows together. 4. Uncondensed milk from grass-fed cows is, under all circumstances, objectionable for infants, particularly during the rapid growth of grass from May to August. 5. Changing from the milk of hay-fed cows to that of grass-fed cows is often attended with serious results. This important point is not understood by one mother in a thousand, nor indeed by all doctors.

6. Cows in town dairies are often fed on brewers' grains and other substances which affect the quality of the milk.

7. TJncondensed milk readily absorbs impurities from the air, and may therefore serve as a medium for the transmission of disease. It is well known that epidemics of diphtheria and scarlet fever have been traced to the use of tainted milk.

Directions for preparing oondensed milk for infants :

As the amount of nourishment proper for one child may be too much or too little for another, a hard and fast rule cannot be laid down. The doctor or tho nurse must determine in each case the strengih and quantity of food to bo given, and the followit>g directions should only be regarded as approximate : —

For the first 4-8 hours afterbirth givo the child nothing but sweetened water ; for the next five days a half teaspoonful of condensed milk with eight teaspoonfuls of water every two hours, day and night.

Second week : Three-quarter teaspoonful of condensed milk with 12 teaspoonfuls of water every two hours, day and night. Third week : One teaspoonful of condensed milk with 16 teaspooufuls of water every two houis, day and night.

Fourth week ,- One and a-quarfcer teaspoonfuls of condensed milk with 18 teaspooufuls of water every two hours, day and night.

Second month : One and a-half teaspoonfuls of condensed milk with 21 teaspoonfuls of water every two hours by day and two to three hours at night.

Third month : Two teaspoonfuls of condensed milk to 24- teaspoonfuls of water every two hours by day and about once in three hours at night.

The spoon used for " measuring " condetised ruilk should not be dipped into the tin, but should be filled by pouring from another spoon.

If the use of condensed milk exclusively be continued btyond the third moatb, begin the fouith month with two to two and a-half teas-poonfuls oE milk to 24 teaspoon fnls of water, and gradually, duiing the fourth month, increabe the amount to three teaspoonfuls, with 24 to 26 teaspoonfu!s of water, or with as much as the child will take at one time. At this age you may begin feeding the child at longer intervals.

By the fifth month experience will umally show how to proceed, but aondensed milk for any child of any age should never be used richer than one part of milk to seven parts of water,

The milk should always be prepared immediately before u;<ing, and the greatest care must be taken to keep feeding bottles clean and sweet ; they should always be thoroughly rinsed out with hot water dhectly after b.'ing used.

Tbe water used should previously be boiled, and then cooled. In preparing tbe diluted milk do not boil it, but merely varm it to b'ocd heat — about lOOdeg Fahrenheit.