The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1913-11-23

Weaving her first baby is a dread
| event to every mother. However
short or long a period she has nursed
him, she is loath to deny herself the
ecstacy Of feeling her child draw on
/ her for nourishment and strength, the
| pressure of the little head against her
breast. the clinging of moist lips, the
reaching out of helpless little fingers.
Once baby is weaned she knows that
| she will feel this joy to a lesser de-
| gree and gradually baby will grow
| from her toward the sterner things OF
! life.
Then, too, when the baby has thrived
on breast milk, there is always more
i or less fear of substituting artificial
food for that which Nature has so
generously and safely supplied. For
! this reason weaving should be
gradual process, not abrupt, unless
| emergencies demand sudden weaving.
Such emergencies include acute ILL
ness on the part of the mother, fever,
tuberculosis, serious kidneys affec-
tions, nervous breakdown, anernia or
progressive loss Of weight In the
| mother. In such cases the baby must
be weaned at once. Again, there are
instances where the mother seems
well, the baby at six months or more
suddenly begins to lose weight and to
develop symptoms of retarded physical
development These symptoms are:
1. Excessive vomiting, with loss OF
weight or no increase of weight for
two weeks or more.
2. persistent diarrhea, with loss
of weight or no increase of weight for
two weeks or more.
If there is a progressive gain in
weight, however, loose bowels are not
danger-sfgnaA.
3. Steady loss of weight extending
over a period of three weeks or more,
in spite of the fact that otherwise the
child seems normal.
From this it will be seen that the
baby should be weighed regularly. In
fact a pair of scales has taken the
place of the soothing syrup or pare
gorio bottle in the modern nursery
They are the indicator of baby's con-
dition From these variations in
weight, causes of illness are traced.
The illness is not drugged nor the
small protesting voice Of the sick
baby silenced by narcotics.
When any such emergency arises,
the process of weaving must be short
and quick Generally a trained nurse
or a firm, intelligent and patient
member of the family must take the
baby away from the sick mother. If,
as suggested in the third article of
TINS SG0eS, the DaDy mas l0dIued 10
take an occasional bottle of modified
milk, the task of weaving will be
lightened. If he has not been trained
to do this, then the process of wean-
ing is trying to both mother and
nurse.
The cylindrical bottle described in
an earlier talk should be filled with |
modified milk and then set in a pan
of hot water until the milk reaches |
1
This is tested by dropping little on
the forearm. never by putting the nip
pie to the adults mouth and tasting
the milk. AS the baby drinks slowly, |
the bottle may be encased in a wood |
en- bag, or knitted cover to hold the
heat. The hole in the nipple should be
large enough for the milk to run out
easily.
When a baby under eight months Is |
weaned it is safest to start him on |
modified milk, that is, milk diluted |
with water and sugar.
At ten months, both breast-fed and |
bottle fed babies should be prepared |
gradually for weaving. A baby nine |
months old in good physical condi- |
ton may be taught to drink from a
cup. At first only modified milk is
served to him this way and in small |
portions Next comes milk combined |
with thin oatmeal or barley Cruel. |
Then soft cereals may be fed with a |
spoon, and finally stale bread, soft |
ened in warm milk. These soft foods /
however, should not be served in guam
tfty, just occasionally as an alternate /
with the breast milk or modified bot
tie milk. They are the gradual, gen
tie preparation for the final weaving
at twelve months. 1t is not good for
either mother or child to nurse the
baby exclusively after the twelfth
month. In fact it should be weaned |
completely at about this time, or the
mother becomes anernic and the baby
no longer gains in weight, while its
muscles become habby.
The weaving of a bottle-fed baby is
no less serious than that of the breast
fed baby. At fourteen months, the