Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1915-07-28
Care of the Baby in Summer

Weaning is the process by which breast feeding is stopped and another | food given in it's place. It should be done gradually At first give one , bottle instead of one of the breast feedings; after week or two add an , other bottle, and then continue add ing them until bottle feedings are entirely substituted for the breast
 Never hurry the weaning. Give the baby time to get used to the new food. When it is agreeing with his diges- ton. 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 it is over, giving only the breast milk.
 | A baby should never be weaned in the heat of summer, if it is possible to avoid it. He is much more likely to be made sick by strange food when the weather is hot than at oth- :, CT times of the year. Even if the baby has to be fed nartly on the bot tie the mother should nurse him oft en enough (three or four times day) to keep the breast milk from drying up for if the baby should be attack ed 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 additional food will be required. Practically all babies should be entirely weaned from the breast by the time they are year old. unless that brings the weaning in hot summer.
 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 lessens in quantity. it does not change in quality. By the addition of a bottle ur two. therefore. inc deh- cient quantity can be made up.
 It is sometimes quite difficult to Wean bahv and great patience is re nuired on the part of the mother. but if the 3abv has been tanght at an early age to take his drinking watsr from a bottle or from cup. weaning will be easier. If the baby is nursed until he is ten months old or longer he should be weaned directly to a cup. Earlier it will probably be eas' CT to use nursing bottle and ai:. pie: but the bottle should mt be used much beyond the end of the T first year, save for the bedtime feed ing.
 | Remember when feeding from cun Il that the milk must be taken very slowly, just as slowly as when feed ing m bottle It is l'ctter to feed from a small spoon than to teach the baby to drink from cup. The second summer has gained the ,I 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 trouble some, dangerous and unnecessary ill., nesses which aye aggravated by the heat Careful feeding would prevent I
 I Later articles in this series will deal with the feeding of babies from nine to twelve months. and during the second year.
 When breast fed baby cries a good deal from hunger and does not gain, in weight tho mother is apt tn feel that her milk does not agree with him and so weans him. often because of the well-meaning advice of some neiehbor. This is 9 mistake. The /, trouble is not with the quality of her 1 m'',y. hut with the quantity.
 1 Instead of wearing the hahv she should increase her own diet, by ! drinking plenty of milk eating eggs. meat. bread and fresh vegetables. and hv taking moderate exercise in the open air. regular neriods of rnst. and hv avoiding worry and excitement. 1 This will nsmailv increase the milk ] supply sufficiently: if it does not do so. the hahv must be given some ad- ditioral food
 1 This additic~ol food or supple mentary" feeding as has heen said. is given when it is recess"rv to SUD- plement the mother's milk with one or more bottle feedings or for tho purpose of weaning the baby. Cows milk is the only sunplemertarv food 1 to use. It should he the best and cleanest milk that it is nOssible to get, mixed with water and snpar as described in tho preceding article A very much weaker solution than that i normally required for baby of the l given age. should be tried at first. in- creasine the strength slightly day by day if the baby shows no signs of in digestion until the full strength food l is reached.
 | To hagin with give the baby one bottle feeding m place of ope breese