BABY'S DIGESTION.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XVIII, Issue XXIV, 12 June 1897, Page 750

BABY'S DIGESTION.

Very few babies can digest undiluted cow’s milk. It forms into hard curds which the delicate stomach cannot break up. By adding the necessary water the proper proportion of fat in the milk is diminished, and this must be restored by putting in cream. The reaction of the milk that is the baby’s natural food is alkaline, that of the cow is acid, so we add lime water to neutralize it. It is also deficient in sugar. These requirements are combined in the formula of a celebrated physician, which is called cream food, and is composed of two tablespoonfuls of cream, one of milk, one of lime water and three of milk sugar water. The milk sugar water is made by dissolving half an ounce of sugar of milk, a dry white powder that may be purchased at any apothecary’s shop, in half a pint of boiled water. These proportions are for a very young baby. As the child grows older the quantity of milk is gradually increased. Barley seems to have the power to prevent the cow’s milk from coagulating into such a firm curd as it forms when given alone, and may be tried if the cream food does not agree with the baby. To make it, wash four tablespoonfuls of pearl barley and boil in one quart of water for two hours. Strain, add a little salt, and use it to dilute the milk, instead of milk sugar water, adding a pinch of dry sugar of milk. Sometimes, in spite of the most careful preparation of the food, the baby seems unable to digest it. Peptonizing, or predigesting the milk before it is given, must then be tried. The albumin of the milk is converted into peptones by this process, thus saving the stomach a part of the work that must be accomplished before the food can be absorbed to nourish the body. Different preparations of pepsin or pancreatin may be purchased for the purpose. The proportion is five grains of pancreatic extract and fifteen grains of bicarbonate of soda to each pint of milk, or milk and cream mixed in the proportion recommended in cream food. Dissolve the pancreatin and soda in four tablespoonfuls of warm water. Stir this into the milk, put it in a covered jar, and let it stand in a vessel of water at iijdeg. Fahrenheit for about half an hour. It should be tasted from time to time, and removed the instant a trace of bitterness is perceived, putting it on ice or bringing 't to the boil to stop the process. In preparing the food the milk must be diluted with milk sugar water or barley water, about one-half or more, according to the age of the baby. It is often difficult to find the exact proportion that will agree with the individual baby, and the strength of the food must be varied until it is found. The use of peptonised milk should be continued ouly until the child is able to digest milk as ordinarily prepared. In discontinuing it the pancreatic extract and soda may be mixed with the milk, and the food placed on the ice without lieing heated for a few feedings, thus making the change a gradual one.