YOUR CHILDREN'S FOOD

Ladies' Mirror, Volume 4, Issue 6, 1 December 1925, Page 32

YOUR CHILDREN'S FOOD

TS 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. The 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 bottle undoubtedly 90 per cent, of the women who are able to bear children are able to nurse them. And the quality of mother's 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." The 'Best Cjfoodfor '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 i« 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 breast 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 zvatcr 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 about 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 MOTHERS 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 F\(ew Foods NEW foods, suitable for children T 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.