OUR BABIES

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 144779, 8 September 1915, Page 5

OUR BABIES

By HYGEIAI Published under the auspices of the Society for the Health of Women and Children. . “It is wiser to put up a fence at the top of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom. FOOD. —Continued. Wo hope that after what has been said in the preceding articles on Milk none of our readers will have any doubt as to the best food for, the rearing of young babies. No other form of nourishment can compare with milk drawn fresh and pure direct from the mother s We showed how the milk of each mammal is specially designed for the young of the particular species; and if a baby has tho misfortune to be deprived of .its birthright, the milk used as a substitute ought to be so modified that it will approach as nearly as possible to human milk.

The recipes for modifying Cow’s Milk, to make it suitable for a baby, are given in the Government pamphlet “Baby's First Month,’’ and also in the society’s book, “Feeding and Care of Baby” (pages 23 and 25); therefore they need not be repeated here. Advice and instructions with regard to natural and artificial feeding are given in “Feeding and Care of Baby.” This book should be in the hands of all those who are entrusted with the care of infants. We have been asked to draw up a short summary with regard to the feeding of a normal, healthy child in the first two years of life. X give the following merely to remind the mother of some addition or change which ought to be made at a particular month. She is supposed to have read and studied the society’s hook, and we shall refer to the pages dealing with tho various points so that she may be able to look them up without trouble. All references iu the summary are to the book, “Feeding and Care of Baby.”, SUMMARY. First Few Days.—Follow carefully and intelligently the instructions on pages 6 and 7 and 29. From Third Day On.—Mother’s Milk or properly adjusted and graded Humanised Milk every three hours in the daytime. Give no night feeding, and six feedings only in the 24 hours. (See nagos 34 and 35). At Three or Four Months. —If baby is artificially fed, n change may be made to Humanised Milk No ; 11. (See page 25.) Every artificiallyled baby should receive some fresh fruit juice daily. (Page 40.) At Four Months.—Commence fourhourly feedings—i.e., , feed five times in 24 hours. (Page 34.) At Six Months.—Baby should be given a bone to gnaw at, in order to give exercise to month, jaws, tongue, and develoning teeth. (Page 38). At Nine Months.—Give baby crust or toast, or “pulled bread,” which has been slowly crisped in the oven, before giving milk. Give this first at one, and later at two or more feedings. This must form part of the meal, but a reasonable time should bo allowed so that baby may take it slowly, say, 10 or 15 minutes. On the other hand, it is a groat mistake to get baby into tho bad habit of dawdling unduly. Tho mother must be warned against allowing any form of food except at the appointed time. “Never feed between meals.” If baby is artificially fed, Soz. of Oat-jelly or Barley-jelly may now bo mixed with tho day’s supply of food: or loz. may be given plain by spoon, first at one feeding and later at two of the feedings at which no bread is given—the remainder of the jolly being mixed with the milk. (Page 38.) If baby, is fed naturally, the same quantity of oat or barley jelly should be introduced at this time, and baby ought to bo gradually weaned. (Page 15.) At Ten Months.—The feeding should be somewhat as follows: Mix 30oz. of Humanised Milk No. 11. and lOoz. of Cow’s Milk. At 6 a.m.—Give Boz. of mixed milk, with which 2oz. of oat jelly has been blended. At 10 a.m.—Give a crust about 10 minutes before feeding time, and Soz. of tho mixed milk. At 2 p.m.—Give crust 10 minutes before tho hour, then loz. of oat jelly by spoon, and Soz. of the mixed milk. At 6 p.m.—Same as 10 a.m. At 10 p.m.—Same as 6 a.m.

This is only approximate. Some babies may be able to get more food from tho crusts than others, and then they would not need, quite so much milk or oat jelly, while others would need more, Tho following table shows approximately tho quantities of Humanised Milk, Cow’s Milk, and Cereal Jelly required from nine to eighteen months;— Human- Oat Jelly ised __ or No. of Milk. New Barley FeedMonth. No. 11. Milk. Jelly, ings. Ozs. Ozs. Ozs.

Warning.—As the baby comes to take more starchy or cereal food, don’t fail te replace more and more of the Humanised Milk with pure Cow’s Milk, as shown in the table. Mothers and even nurses have been knowp te keep on using only Humanised Milk at this stage, and by so dojng have deprived the baby of its duo proportion of fleshforming material. After Eleven Months.—A thin scraping of butter may be, spread on bread or toast and given instead of the crust. If baby will not take enough dry food tho meal may he completed by bread or toast over which some of the milk, made hot, has been poured. N.B.—Dry food should bo given first, and if enough is taken no’“mush” should bo allowed. Once habituate a baby to “pap-feeding” and he will become too lazy te make ’ his jaws and salivary glands work for a living. No baby should be left alone with a crust, on'account of tho risk of choking. , Fruit juice should be given daily.

jYear tn Fifteen Months (Pages 47 and 48).—Decrease the daily allowance of milk, and give more solid food. (See table above.) At the third moal introduce some chicken or mutton broth, thickened with a little ground rice or semolina. The rice or semolina mav be given in the form of wcllboiled milk pudding, as a variation. A small quantity of baked apple, slightly sweetened and, with a little cream, may be given occasionally at the third meal. RAW RIPE APPLE. If good ripe apples of the right sort are procurable—the kind of eating apples which readily break down into a soft, pliable pulp when rubbed off with the little teeth, lips, and gums—not the kind that remain in tough, elusive lumps—we may begin to allow baby a little uncooked apple at any time between 12 and 15 months of age. However, .it must be clearly understood that, while raw fruit is wholesome and beneficial in infancy, if great care is taken and the baby is properly trained to chew and break down this form of food, only harm can result if the mother is careless and allows the child to bolt such material, swallowing lumps of it instead of acquiring the invaluable habit of thorough mastication. A properly-trained baby enjoys thorough mastication, and, once tho good habit is soundly established, the baby tends not to let anything pass his throat that is not fit to swallow. (This article will be finished next week.)

Tenth 35 5 3 0 Eleventh ... ,30 10 . o Twelfth 20 15 7 5 Thirteenth 15 15 10 5 Fifteenth 10 15 10 5 Eighteenth 0 20 10 4