YOUR CHILDREN’S FOOD

Ladies' Mirror, Volume 4, Issue 5, 2 November 1925, Page 70

YOUR CHILDREN’S FOOD

“IS YOUR BABY THRIVING? ARE YOU WORRIED ABOUT HIS HEALTH OR DIET ?” IF THESE PROBLEMS CONNECTED WITH YOUR CHILDREN’S WELFARE ARE TROUBLING YOU, DOUBTLESS YOU WILL PROFIT BY THE PRACTICAL ADVICE GIVEN IN THIS ARTICLE.

r I "'HE dyspeptic man, grey-faced, -*• sat in his easy chair and railed at Fate, failing to realise that not Fate but bad digestion was at the bottom of all his troubles. He had been born with as good a digestion as any man, but, like many others, he had never had the food Nature intended for him, because from birth he had been overfed on wrong foods. He would be considered a fool who expected a motor-car to run on paraffin, yet, almost from birth, the much more delicate human machine is subjected to even more senseless treatment. And once the digestive powers have been upset, once wrong habits of digestion have been formed, it is almost impossible to rectify matters later on. Many reasons are given for putting the baby on the bottlebut undoubtedly 99 per cent, of the women who are able to bear children are able to nurse them. And the quality of mothers’ milk is rarely to blame, as Dr. Ulysses Moore says in his book “The Nutrition of Mother and Child”: “No experiments have ever been published that breast milk is ever poor in quality.” CJ ‘Best Food Baby WHEN the child is properly fed he is less trouble and anxiety than a bottle-fed child. He is always bright and happy. When breast feeding does not agree it is therefore worth while to ascertain what is wrong in the method of feeding and adopt the right way rather than to put the child on patent food. Mothers should remember that even if the baby has not been on the breast for some time or even if former babies have not been nursed, it is still possible to get the breasts to function. But though every effort should be made to give the baby the only food that really supplies his needs, there are occasionally combinations of circumstances which make this impossible. Then the very best possible substitute must be chosen, and it is absolutely essential to work with your doctor to obtain a food that resembles human milk as closely as possible. After the age of three months it is a good plan to give both breastfed and bottle-fed babies orange juice each day. One other point must be remembered in the feeding of all babies. Milk is a food, not a drink. Babies, like everyone else, need water to drink. When a healthy baby cries at night a drink of water will pacify him, whereas a feed often gives him colic.

Weaning is a critical period. The child must pass from a fluid diet consisting of milk or a substitute to a mixed solid diet. He must learn to chew and swallow. He must acquire the taste for new things at altered times. Weaning should begin at nine months, should be accomplished very

gradually, and avoided while the baby is ill or teething or during the hottest part of the summer. Starting a Solid Diet TV/TOTHERS are puzzled by contrary directions that are given for feeding after weaning. They are told that baby must have soft, easily digestible foods. They are also told that baby must have foods upon which he can use his teeth and learn to chew. But these directions are not so contrary as they sound. Children should not have raw vegetables and salads, for instance, until they have learnt to chew properly at the age of about seven. Any pieces accidentally swallowed are most indigestible. Neither are many boiled vegetables suitable for children under four until they have been beaten through a sieve to form a puree. On the other hand, double-baked bread, often called “Zwieback,” or crusts, must be given from the time the child cuts his teeth. Thus he learns to use his teeth and, if occasionally he swallows a piece, no harm is done, for it turns soft in the stomach. A raw peeled apple is also good to give the teeth some work to do but this must be given zvhole. If a slice is given the child may bite a piece off and swallow it but from a whole apple he can take little more than juice and scrapings. Introducing dfefp Gfoods NEW foods suitable for children and introduced in small quantities so that the child may become accustomed to them gradually, should be commenced as early as possible after weaning. Many a mother lays up trouble for herself by waiting to begin vegetables, for instance, until baby is three years old and has formed pronounced likes and dislikes. If all suitable articles of diet had been introduced during the first months after weaning he would eat each dish as a matter of course, because he had learnt to eat it very early before he had too pronounced tastes.

Once the child is fully weaned, the question of feeding is simple, if the mother will follow certain cardinal rules.

First, the right food is essential. Fried foods, veal, salmon, eels, freshwater fish, mackerel and shell fish are absolutely forbidden for children under seven. So are high game, cold ham, hard-boiled eggs, new bread and cakes, all dried and potted meats, muffins and crumpets, and mushrooms. Coffee and tea, as everyone knows, are very bad for children. Of course, it is far wiser not to put these foods in the child’s way, and unless parents will restrict themselves to the simple diet of a child, it is better for the children’s meals to be served separately. Another rule is that the right foods must be prepared in the right way.

In the home the commonest error is over-cooking. Anyone who has eaten over-done cauliflower knows how nauseous it is; yet very often we set equally unpleasant dishes before our babies and then complain that they will not eat! Children ‘Variety T ACK of variety is another com--1 mon mistake in children’s diet. Nearly all the meats, first shredded and minced, but later when the child is older, cut into thin slices, are suitable for children when given in small quantities. Most vegetables are suitablethere are peas, boiled lettuce, cauliflower, asparagus, spinach, and carrots. If these are cooked and beaten through a sieve into a puree every three-year-old should have a half-cupful of one or other every day. Eggs can be served in a dozen different ways. They suit most children very well, but when they are found to upset a child they should never be given. Even traces of eggs in the food make such a child ill. Fruit should be given to children of all ages. Orange juice is first introduced at the age of three months, later on grape juice or the pulp of stewed fruit of an apple to suck; later still, mashed pears, bananas, peaches and so on. Strawberries and other acid fruits are not suitable for small children, and as it is difficult to strain off the tiny seeds from most berries they should not be given to children under seven. Sugar in the form of honey, sweets and jam are of high food value, but they must be given in small quantities and never on an empty stomach. Sweets should be given after and not before meals, and they must be pure and limited in amount. With all these articles of diet at her disposal, the mother should certainly be able to provide a varied diet for her children. As has been pointed out before, milk is a food, and not a drink. Children need plenty of water —a

quart a day is not too much for a child of fiveand liquid may also be given in the form of thin broth, but except in special circumstances, no child over fifteen months should have more than a pint of milk a day, including that in his puddings. Another rule worth remembering is, food must be given in the right quantities. Every child should be allowed the satisfaction of emptying his plate and asking for more. Medium helpings should be given so that the child can ask for a second; in this way he will eat less and relish his food better. forming ‘Regular Jfabits T> EGULARITY is another cardinal rule for feeding children. Three meals a day, served very punctually, so that regular habits of digestion may be formed, is quite enough for the child of five. It is very common to provide too many meals a day. The child’s digestion is then always overtaxed. But the feeding of children is never a complete success unless the child is happy. One often hears of children being fed quite scientifically, yet they do not thrive. On further inquiry it is almost always found that these children are lonely little creatures looked after by experts but cheated of their birthright of love and family happiness. This is where the mother scores over all the institutions in the worldshe is able to give each child the love he needs to make her scientific treatment a success. Digestion depends so much on psychology that without happiness there can be no health. Keep your children happy; make their meals joyous events of the day; let them laugh and chatter as much as they like, provided they do not dawdle over their meals. You will be surprised then how they will grow in health and beauty, and you will never begrudge the trouble you have taken to make meal-times a success.