OUR BABIES

Waipawa Mail, Volume LXV, Issue 64, 26 July 1937, Page 1

OUR BABIES

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 preceding article. 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 by bit. Continue also to give twice-baked beard, crusts, toast, and stale bread. It is mostly at the mid-day 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 bis 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 he 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, and gradually increase to one or two tablespoonfuls. Serve nice and warm, with a few teaspoonfuls of top milk or thin cream. Needless to say raw, ripe apple should be continued as described last week, or introduced if not already started.

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 vegetable mutton 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 through a wive 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, hut if to the vegetable 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 tablespoon, and increase to five or six tablespoons. Vegetables.—Baby’s taste and digestion have by now become accustomed to vegetables served m 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 he baked m their skin, and other vegetables should be cooked in as little water as possible, and in the least time possible. I ress 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 may bo served with the vegetables (Be sure to 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 Hour is often insufficiently cooked). Start with a tablespoonfnl ot vegetable, increasing gradually as the child grows accustomed to the new Milk Puddings. —-Well-cooked milk puddings may he given now, alone or with apple or prune pulp. Ground rice semolina, and junket are the. Pest Later in this period sago may be o-iven occasionally for a change, but "avoid cornflour, which is pure starch. , . . , . , jjVgs. During this period mtro-

duce coddled egg'. Begin cautiously by giving a small portion of the yolk, thus accustoming baby to the new flavor, before egg becomes a regular part of his diet. Work up to about half the yolk, with stale white bread crumbs and vegetables, given two or three times a week at the mid-day 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 fire, 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 containing about 2‘2oz. of milk and Boz. of water, with the addition of one tablespoon 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 cows’ milk and water only—2ooz. (one pint) of cows’ milk and soz. of 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 ami., 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 remainder of the individual household. Regularity is essential whatever the hours chosen. The early morning 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 then be substituted —breakfast being the fruit meal of the day. Orange or other fresh fruit should be given once a day, also drinks of water between the meals.