The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1913-10-14
Little Talks on Babyology
By Anna Steee Richardson Director Of the Better Babies
Bureau of the Womans Home Companion


tummy. We think so long as Baby
has milk and nothing else, he is safe
MIX, even mothers milk, needs watch
Ing and Babyology tells you how to dc
| it.
| The feeding Of the baby begins be
| fore 1t Is born. The condition of the
newborn baby's stomach is largely de-
termined by the condition of the mo-
ther's stomach before he comes into
the world. That is why the eMectant
mother should guard her diet and her
digestion so carefully during the prec-
1ous months before the baby comes.
Any pronounced digestive trouble is
communicated to the baby directly
ana 1t comes into the world lily equip
PED Tor Its first months struggle for
existence. The vast majority Of ba.
Dies who die during their first year,
ole of inanition, mal-assimilation OF
rood, indigestion and summer-complant
The mother can start her baby right
py Keeping her own digestion in the
pest OF condition. Some mothers, in
the spirit of self-sacrifice, serve at
Table the choicest food to their grow.
ing children, their Woodworking hus.
bands and sons. No expectant moth.
er should deny herself the nourish-
| ment required to sustain her own
| strength and that of the little child so
soon to be ushered into the world.
The natural, the best food for the
new born babe is mothers milk. And
th7 Creator has given the average
woman strength to nourish her child
IN this natural way. Sometimes, di-
rectly after the baby's. birth, the moth
er IS very weak, then well-meaning but
interfering relatives and advisers
urge her to ween the baby at once.
When with little patience, the supply
OF milk would be ample Unless the
mother is anemic or suffering from
constitutional or acute disease, the
baby will thrive best on mothers milk.
And the ability to nurse the baby until
safe time for weaving can be en-
couraged by careful attention to tie
mothers diet
A we'll balanced diet, made up from
variety of foods which the mother
Graves will nourish both mother and
child
Meat that is easily digested like
chicken, beef and lamb, is better than
pork and veal. Fish may be occasion
ally substituted for meat and eggs are
desirable if they do not create bilious
condition. Green vegetables and fresh
or stewed fruits the mother should
have in quantity On the other hand,
she should avoid excuses tn diet,
Whether this be tea, coffee, sweets or
pastries. Light desserts do no harm,
but rich pies and buildings that keep
the mother awake at night will have
precisely the same effect on the baby.
No young mother should listen to
what doctors call "old women's tales
bad advice about extremes In diet. At
one OF. the contests, heard young
mother say that she was drinking NAL.
to make her milk more nourishing fof
the baby. And how she did hate that
malt. 1t nauseated her every time she
drank it.
When the doctors told her anything
which nauseated her would effect the
baby in the same way, she was actual
ly relieved. Yet she had been forcing
herself to drink the malt, because an
elderly neighbor had told her what
wonders it had done for other women.
Doctors, not neighbors, should be con-
suited in these problems of Babyology.
Another woman told me that she
didn't see Yhy her baby could not re
tain her milk 1t curdled on his stom-
ach. And she assured me quite sol.
EMMY that she never ate anything
acid. She did love pickles and salads
and lemonade, but her nurse had told
her she must not eat sour things while
she nursed the baby. heard the SEN
sible doctor in charge of that contest
tell her to go right along home and
make herself a good fresh salad and
eat it up to the last leaf of lettuce.
Her digestion craved acid, and her