Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 187, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 August 1915 — MILK MUST BE PURE [ARTICLE]

MILK MUST BE PURE

IMPOSSIBLE TO GIVE TOO MUCH CARE TO BABY’S FOOD. "Artificial” Feeding Mean* Constant Watchfulness if the Health of the Little One I* to Be Properly Preserved. ■"■y (Prepared for This Paper by the Children’s Bureau, U. S. Department of Labor.) When, for any reason, the baby cannot have breast milk, he must be fed on a bottle. This method of feeding is known as "artificial” feeding, because it is an imitation of the natural way. Since it was not nature’s Intention that a baby should be fed on cow’s milk, the baby finds it very hard oftentimes to adapt his digestive organs to the strange food, and consequently many thousands of babies, who would have lived and thrived on breast milk, die every year because they are unable thus to adapt themselves. On the baby’s account, first of all, every mother will do all in her power to secure breast milk, but on her own account, there are many reasons why she should choose to do this. Artificial feeding requires the constant attention of some one person and necessitates daily, painstaking work, which can be left undone only at the risk of the baby’s health. The mother must first of all study her milk supply. Then after clean, fresh milk has been obtained it must have the most careful attention, and bottles, nipples, and all the utensils employed in making up the feedings must be scrubbed and sterilized every day. In addition, the baby must be constantly watched to see how his food is suiting him. His weight, the condition of his skin and of his bowels must be noted, and the strength and quantity of bls food increased or decreased In accordance with these conditions. A simple rule for feeding the average healthy baby after the first month is to give him 1% ounces of milk in 24 hours, for every pound of weight Thus, a ten-pound baby will need 15 ounces of milk in 24 hours, diluted with water and sweetened according to his age. On the first two days of his life the artificially fed baby should have nothing to eat except a little slightly warm water, to which a very little sugar may be added. The following directions for feeding the baby have been prepared by a committee of the American Medical association. "Beginning on the third day, the average baby should be given three ounces of milk dally, diluted with seven ounces of water. To this should be added one tablespoonful of limewater and two level teaspoonfuls of sugar. This should be given in seven feedings. "At one week the average child requires five ounces, of milk daily, which should be diluted with ten ounces of water. To this should be added one and one-half even tablespoonfuls of sugar and one ounce of limewater. This should be given in seven feedings. The milk should be Increased, by one-half ounce about every four days. The water should be increased by one-half ounce every eight days. “At three months the average child requires 16 ounces of milk daily, which should be diluted with 16 ounces of water. To this should be added three tablespoonfuls of sugar and two ounces €>? limewater. This should be given in six feedings. The milk should be increased by one-half ounce every six days. The water should be reduced by one-half ounce about every two weeks.

“At six months the average child requires 24 ounces of milk daily, which should be diluted with 12 ounces of water. To this should be added two ounces of limewater and three even tablespoonfuls of sugar. This should be given in five feedings. This amount of milk should be increased by onehalf ounce every week. The milk should be Increased only if the child is hungry and digesting his food well. “At nine months the average child requires 30 ounces of milk daily, which should be diluted with ten ounces of water. To this should be added two even tablespoonfuls of sugar and two ounces of limewater. This should be given in five feedings. The sugar added may be milk sugar or if this cannot be obtained cane (granulated) sugar or maltose (malt sugar). At first plain water should be used to dilute the milk. “At three months, sometimes earlier, a weak barley water may be used in the place of plain water; it is made of one-half level tablespoonful of barley flour to 16 ounces of water and cooked for 20 minutes. “At six months the barley flour may bq increased to one and one-half even tablespoonfuls cooked in the 12 ounces of water. “At nine months the barley flour may be increased to three level tablespoonfuls cooked in the eight ounces of water.” In the hottest weather the baby’s food should be weakened by pouring out one-quarter of the usual contents of the bottle and adding an equal amount of boiled water. He should be fed with absolute regularity, once in every three hours, for the first five months of his life, and the Interval should be gradually lengthened until ,at six months it is four hours. Give the baby plenty of cool drinking water between meals, especially in hot weather.

Might Have Been Worse. Flatbush —Wasn’t that awful for Nero to be playing his fiddle while Rome burned? Bensonhurst —It might have been a good deal worse. “How so?” “Why, the old man might have played the bagpipes.”