OUR BABIES

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 19953, 10 November 1934, Page 10

OUR BABIES

BY HYGEIA 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 .” NEW FOODS For the Baby Between Twelve and Fifteen Months From twelve months onwards greater variety is necessary in the baby’s diet, and this will be appreciated if during the previous three months training has been carried out along the lines indicated in the two preceding articles. The question arises of exactly what new foods are suitable between 12 and 15 months. We will deal with this by taking the new foods in the order in which it is usually best and easiest to introduce them. First, however, you understand that you continue as before to give cereal jellies, increasing the

! proportion of unstrained porridge bit Jby bit. Continue also to give twicebaked bread, crusts, crisp toast, and stale bread. It is most at the midday meal that new foods are introduced and baby may have either baked apple pulp or a few ounces of broth at this meal round about his first birthday. Baked Apple—To prepare, bake the apple in its skin, and press the pulp through a wire sieve, unless, of course, it happens to be absolutely fine and fluffy. Add a few grains of sugar (or honey for preference) if the apple is tart. Give only a teaspoonful at first j and gradually increase to one or two I tablespoonfuls. Serve nice and warm I with a few tablespoonfuls of top milk lor thin cream. Needless to say, raw ripe apple should be continued as desj cribed last week, or introduced if not j already started. i Prune Pulp.—As an alternative to

apple the pureed pulp of stewed prunes may be given, also with a little top milk or thin cream.

Broth.—Vegetable milk broth or vegetablemutton broth are perhaps the most usual broths for this period. At first strain the broth clear. After a few days add some of the pulp by pressing the vegetables cooked in the broth a wire sieve. All sorts of vegetables, both roots and greens, should be cooked in the broth, also barley or rice. This applies whether mutton stock is used or not. Clear meat broth contains very little nourishment, but all vegetables contain mineral and other elements which are absolutely essential for health. Mutton stock is not an essential basis for broth, but if to the vegetables puree is added an equal quantity of milk a palatable and nourishing broth results, and makes for variety in the child’s diet. Start by giving one tablespoonful and increasing to five or six tablespoonfuls.

Vegetables.—Baby’s taste and digestion have by now become accustomed to vegetables served in broth, and the next step is to introduce them separately. Spinach, cauliflower, carrot, and floury potatoes are the best vegetables to use at this early stage. Potatoes should be baked in their skin, and other vegetables should be cooked in as little water as possible and in the least time possible. Press the pulp through a fine sieve and serve warm with a dab of butter or a few teaspoonfuls of meat gravy. Occasionally a little parsley sauce may be served with the vegetables. (Be sure and save the red gravy which drips from the family roast of meat as it is carved—not the gravy made in the roasting pan with flour, when the flour is often insufficiently cooked.) Start with a tablespoonful of vegetable, increasing gadually as the child grows accustomed to the new taste.

Milk Puddings.—Well-cooked milk puddings may be given now, alone or with apple or prune pulp. Ground rice, semolina, and junket are the best. Later in this period sago may be given occasionally for a change, but avoid giving cornflour, which is pure starch. Eggs.—Eggs need to be introduced cautiously, and it is not as a rule advisable to give egg until towards the end of this period. Begin by giving a small portion of the yolk. Baby may thus be accustomed to the new flavour before egg becomes a regular part of his diet. Work up to about half the yolk with stale white breadcrumbs and vegetables, given two or three times a week at the midday meal. A little of the white may be added later. The digestibility of eggs largely depends on the method of cooking. Coddling or light poaching is the best. To coddle, place the egg in water which is boiling fast and cover the pan. Immediately remove from the stove and stand aside for five to seven minutes. The white will then be lightly set. Quantity of Milk.—The average baby may start this period on a mixture consisting of about 220 z of milk and Boz of water, with the addition of one tablespoonful of Karilac and three teaspoonfuls of Plunket Emulsion. During this time, provided, of course, that baby is taking an adequate and varied diet, the day’s milk mixture may be gradually simplified till baby is having cow’s milk and water only—2ooz (one pint) of

cow's milk and soz water. The milk should always be properly scalded.

Number of Feeds.—Four feeds a day are quite sufficient from the end of the first year. Give baby a drink of his milk mixture on waking—6oz to Boz. It is usually best to give breakfast from 8.30 to 9 a.m., dinner about 1 o’clock, and tea about 5 p.m.; but, of course, the actual times will be fixed to suit the habits of the individual household. Regularity is essential whatever the hours chosen.

The early morning milk drink may be discontinued as soon as the child takes sufficient milk at the three meals —that is, a pint. A drink of water or diluted fruit juice may be then substituted, breakfast being made the first meal of the day. Always give the milk drink at the end of the meal, not during the meal. Orange or other fresh fruit should be given once a day, also drinks of water between meals.