The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1913-11-14
Little Talks. on Babyology
BY Anna seese Richardson Director Of the Better Babies
Bureau Of the Womans Home Companion.
WEAVING THE BABY.
WeanInQ Che Baby.

event to every mother. However
short or long 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 degree and gradually baby will
grow from her toward the sterner
things Of life.
ed on her breast milk, there is al
ways more or less fear of substituting
artificial food for that which nature
has SO generously and safely sup
Piled. For this reason weaving
should be a gradual process. not
abrupt, unless emergencies demand
sudden weaving.
Such emergencies include acute
illness on the part of the mother,
fever, tuberculosis, serious kidney at
/ fections, nervous breakdown,
|anemia 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, but the baby at six
months or more suddenly begins to
lose weight and to develop symptoms
lof retarded physical development
4 These symptoms are:
+ !. Excessive vomiting, with loss OF
weight or no increase Of weight for
two weeks or more.
2. A persistent diarrhea, with loss
Iof weight or no increase Of weight for
two weeks or more.
|, If there is progressive gain In
weight, however, loose bowels are not
, q danger signal.
8. Steady loss of weight extending
, over period of three weeks or more
: lin spite of the fact that otherwise the
I child seems normal.
! From this 1t will be seen that the
baby should be weighed regularly
j. In fact pair of scales has taken the
t place OF the soothing syrup Or para
a goric bottle in the modern nursery
They are the Indicator of baby's con
!, dition. From these variations II
!, weight. causes Of illness are traced
d The illness is not drugged nor tn
it small protesting voice of the sicl
y baby silenced by narcotics.
When any such emergency arises
?. the process of weaving must be shol
y ard quick Generally a trained nilrs
'e or a firm, intelligent and patier
"a member of the family must take tn
baby away from the sick mother. |
as 1 suggested in the third article {
this series. the baby has learned
rk take an occasional bottle of modifie
20 milk, the task of weaving will
frightened If he has not been traine
to do this, then the process of wea
en- ing is trying to both mother al
re nurse.
The cylindrical bottle described
an earlier talk should be filled wi
~ modified milk and then set in a pan
~ hot water until the milk reaches VIII
is known as body temperature. TIL
is tested by dropping little on d
'ss forearm, never putting the nipple
- the adults mouth and tasting t
milk AS the baby drinks slow
the bottle may be encased in wool
I, bag or knitted cover to hold the he
'ns The hole in the nipple should be lar
~ enough for the milk to run out east
When baby under eight months
weaned, 1t is safest to start him
o. modified milk, that is, milk dilut
=. with water and sugar.
- At ten months, both breast-fed a
oottle-fed babies should be prepar
gradually. for weaving: A baby nj
do. months old In good physical conditi
Eel. may be taught to drink from a G.
~ At first only modified milk is sery
Gle. 70 nm inns way anu ~ snlail
lions. Next comes milk combir
avs with thin oatmeal or barley grl
nm Then soft cereals may be fed with
ofspoon, and finally stale bread, soft
uar- ed in warm milk. These soft 70,
however, should not be served
quantity, just occasionally as an
ills. ternate with the breast milk or MI
attic fled bottle milk. They are the 81
nigh nal. gentle preparation for the fl
,dar weaving at twelve months. It is
good for either mother or child
nurse the baby exclusively after
r1ty twelfth month. In fact it should
GER weaned completely at about this ii
'and or the mother becomes anemic
man the baby no longer gains in wei;
anu while Its muscles become flabby.
The weaving of bottle-fed bah,
no less serious than that of the bre
ines fed baby. At fourteen months,
~ bottle fed baby should be hay
an three bottles a day and two meals
49, soft food. At sixteen months. the
.am, shifts to three daily meals of
food and a bottle at 10 o'clock
eighteen, the bottle is laid as