The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1881-09-29
Thn rooalnr Of Infants.

SO, and chemistry and physiology ex.
plain how II SUPPLIES all the elements
OF nourishmenl the human body needs.
Milk is got from various sources, buS
mothers milk is to be infinitely pre-
ierred for o young babe to all other
Kinds, and provided that the mother is
moderately strong it should be the only
food given until the first teeth are be-
ing cut, or until the infant is at least
three or four months old. For the first
month the infant should be put to the
breast every two hours, and after this
the interval should be increased by q
quarter of an hour every week, until at
length he has it about every four hours.
1t is important that the baby be fed
regularly, and the habit Of some moth
ers giving him the bosom every time he
cries cannot be too strongly condemned.
He cries, not because he is hungry, but,
because he is in pain; his stomach has
been overloaded; and to soothe his suf-
fering by Offering him the breast is as
absurd as trying to extinguish fire by
pouring oil upon it. A better plan is to
let him go without meal, put him into
warm bath, and give him little cold
water if thirsty. .
Diet for baby from three to six
months old. When the infant is three
or fout months old, and occasionally
before then, artificial food may be
necessary. If q good wet-hufse cahnot
be found, cows milk, condensed milk,
goats milk, ass's milk, ETC., are given;
but as the two first are more easily OBJ
tanned, they are mostly employed.
Cows milk should be pure and fresh,
and taken from one COW, if possible.
Mixed with sugar and water and pinch
OF salt, and given through clean
feeding bottle, it is valuable addition
to the mothers milk. It should be pre-
pared thus: Dissolve lump or two of
white sugar and small pinch of salt
In pint of warm water, and add to this
a pint of fresh, unboiled milk This
food is to be given night and morning,
but not oftener when the baby is be-
ing sucked as we'll If the abote food
the sugar or change the proportions to
two parts of water and one of milk. If
the milk purge violently or cause often
sive motions, boil it or put one or two
tablespoonfuls of limewater into each
bottle of food. In the case of delicate
infants, if you can get it, add table
spoonful of cream to each pint of milk.
When good cows milk cannot be OBJ.
taincd, condensed milk becomes valu-
able substitute.
Diet for baby over six months
When the infant is six or seven months
old farinaceous food may be given;
that is when he begins to cut his teeth,
for until that period it is advisable to
give him any farinaceous food. 1t will
only prove injurious, because, as DR..
". Roberts shows, the ferment in the
SALIVA Or spittle, which digests starchy
matters effectively, does not exist in
sufficient quantity until the infant is six
or seven months old.
The following are useful foods, any
one of which the mother can safely
adopt:
1. Boil the crumb of bread two hours
in water, taking care it does not burn
then add lump of sugar, pinch of
salt, and pour little new milk on it
while boiling hot 2. Cat thin slices
of bread into basin, cover the bread
with cold water, place in an oven to
bake when sufficiently baked take it
out, beat the bread up with fork,
slightly sweetcn and pour on milk. 3.
Baked flour. Bake some biscuit -four
in slow oven until it is of light
fawn color; reduce il with a rolling
pin to a fine powder, and keep it in a
tin ready for nee. Two tablespoonfuls
to half pint of milk boiled and sweet
ened. L. Boil teaspoonful of pow
dered barley (ground in coffee milI
with little salt in half pint of water
for fifteen minutes strain, mix with
half as much boiled milk, and add
lump of sugar. 5. Scotch oatmeal.
Prepare in the same way as -four. This
food is especially useful for regulating
the bowels when they have tendency
to become constipated. 6. Cocoa es-
sence, cocoa powder or cocoa nibs. Dis
solve teaspoonful Of either of the two
first in half pint of boiling milk and
water equal parts); of the nibs take
one ounce, and boil it in pint and
half of water for five hours, strain and
add new milk and sugar. Cocoa makes
an excellent food for thin and wasted
infants, who take it greedily, and soon
improve in health.
These foods are to be given lukewarm
through nursing bottle, which, with
the mouthpiece, should be kept in
bowl of water when not in use. In hot
weather test the food with small strip
of blue litmus paper, which can be OBJ
tanned at any chemists shop. If the
blue paper turns red, either make
fresh mess, or add small pinch OF
| baking soda to the food
Diet for an infant over year old.
When the child is fifteen to eighteen
months old, broths, the yolk of egg,
bread and gravy, or well-mashed potato
and gravy, may be given once day. If
allowed much sooner they are likely to
cause fatulence and sickness, and even
gripping and dialrhea. When he is two
years old small pieces of meat cut fine
may be introduced in his diet.
Weaning: When the baby is nine or
ten months old he ought to be weaned.
The way the mother can do this is by
gradually giving him moro artificial
food, and less and less of the breast, un-
til at length he has it only at night,
aud finally not at all. If the mothers
presence cause him to cry for it, she
should sleep in another room, or go
from home for few days. Where the
fant is delicate, weaving may be post
poned till he is twelve months old, but
to suckle him beyond that period is in
| furious both to mother and child
! ChTiStoUher Elliot. H. ID,