Better babies and their careRichardson, Anna Steese
Science
Better babies and their care
Richardson, Anna Steese
Infants -- Care; Infants -- Health and hygiene
At ten months the child is taking modified milk in these proportions:
Thirteen ounces of plain milk.
One heaping tablespoonful of Dextri-Maltose.
Six ounces of thin gruel; no water.
Milk thus modified can be given to the child until it is one year old.
Between the first and the seventh month the increase in the amount of
cow’s milk and the decrease in the amount of boiled water will depend
entirely upon the condition of the child’s digestion. After the first
month the increase in cow’s milk should be made quite gradually, and
several days should be permitted to elapse after each change, to watch
the effect upon the digestion.
The child himself furnishes a pretty fair indication of when the
strength of the food should be increased. If he drains the bottle
rapidly and cries when it is taken from him, or if he begins to fret
anywhere from an hour to half an hour before his feeding time, and if
he constantly sucks his fingers in hungry fashion, either the quantity
of the food or its strength must be increased.
If the food is already too rich for the child, this is shown by
indigestion, vomiting, diarrhea, or constipation. The increase in the
strength of the formulas should be at the rate of half an ounce or
less in three days or more for about a month after artificial feeding
begins; then a greater amount of time should be permitted to elapse.
The increase in quantity should be at the rate of a quarter of an ounce
at each feeding, made at intervals of four to seven days, according to
the growth and appetite of the child. It will be noticed that there
is a more rapid increase during the first month of the child’s life
than at any other time. This is because exquisite care must be taken
to start the child on the most delicate form of artificial food. Then,
if modified milk does agree with the infant, it thrives and demands
artificial food of increasing strength, precisely as the mother’s
milk gains in strength as she gains in health and energy after her
confinement.
It will be recalled that mother’s milk up to the fourth or fifth day
is practically sweetened water on which the baby thrives. The child’s
digestion is not injured when the flow of mother’s milk is suddenly
established and becomes rich. In planning the diet for a bottle-fed
baby, those who have given the matter study follow as closely as
possible the rules laid down by nature in supplying breast milk.
These are the simplest and most reliable of formulas with plain milk as
the foundation.
The use of cream and top milk in the place of plain milk seems to be
purely a matter of difference of opinion between medical authorities.
If the top milk is used, the quantity of boiled water used in modifying
it must be greater, and gruels are added at a much later date.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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