New Iberia enterprise and independent observer. (New Iberia, La.) 1902-1944, 1915-08-07
Care of the Baby in Summer.


WEAVING is the process by
which breast feeding is stopped
and another food given in its
place. 1t should be done grad
ually. At first give one bottle
instead of one Of the breast feed
ings; after a week or two add
another bottle, and then continue
adding them until bottle feelings
are entirely substituted for the
breast.
Never hurry the weaving. Give
the baby time to get used to the
new food. When it is agreeing
with his digestion. there is no
belching of gas or splitting up Of
milk, and the bowel movements
are soft, yellow, and smooth. If
any disturbance appears, stop the
bottle until if is over, giving only
the breast milk.
A baby should never be veaned
in the heat of summer. if it is Dos
sible to avoid it. He is much
more likely to be made sick by a
strange food when the weather is
hot than at other times of the
year. Even if the baby has to be
fed partly on the bottle the moth
err should nurse him often enough
(three or four times a day. to
keep the breast milk from drying
u; for if the baby should be at
tackled by diarrhea, the mothers
milk may be the means of saving
his life.
Some mothers are able to nurse
their babies full year, but many
find that their milk begins to
fail by the time the baby is 6 or
8 months old, so that some addi-
tional food will be required.
Practically all babies should be
entirely weaned rom the breast
by the time they are a year old,
unless that brings the weaving in
hot weather.
Babies born in the late summer
or early fall should be nursed
through the following summer, if
the breast milk is sufficient in
quantity, in order to carry them
past the danger period in July
and August. When breast milk
lessons in Guantity, it does not
change in quality. By the addi-
ton Of a bottle or two, therefore,
the deficient quantity can be
made up.
It is sometimes quite difficult
to wean baby and great patience
is required On the part of the
mother. but if the baby has been
taught at an early age to take his
drinking water from a bottle or
from cup, weaving will be cas-
Ter. If the baby is nursed until
he is ten months old or longer. he
should be weaned directly to
cup. Earlier it will probably be
easier to use a nursing bottle and
nipple: but the bottle should not
be used much beyond the end of
the first year, save for the bed
time feeding.
Remember when feeding from
a cup, that the milk must be tax
EN- very slowly. just as slowly as
when feeding from a bottle. It
is better to feed from small
spoon than to teach the baby to
drink from cup.
The second summer has gained
the reputation of being the most
critical period of a baby's life
largely because mothers are apt
to feed the baby many different
things after he is weaned. Very
much Of the food that is given
these older babies. is as unfit for
them as artificial food is at birth. |
These improper foods cause
troublesome, dangerous and I'M
necessary Illnesses which are ag-
gravated by the heat. Careful
feeding would prevent most of ,
them.
Later articles in this series will
deal with the feeding of babies
from nine to twelve months, and |
during the second year.
When a breast-fed baby cries
a good deal from hunger, and |
does not gain in weight, the
mother is apt to feel that her milk
does not agree with him. and so
weans him, often because of the
well-meaning advice of some
This is mistake. The
Frouble is not with the quality of
her milk. but with the quantity.
Instead Of weaving the baby
she should increase her own diet
oy drinking plenty of milk. eat
ng eggs, meat. bread and fresh
and by taking mod