Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 108, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 May 1916 — FOODS FOR CHILDREN [ARTICLE]

FOODS FOR CHILDREN

EXPERTS GIVE ADVICE ON QUESTIONS OF IMPORTANCE. Directions for the Bodily Needs of the Small Members of the House-hold-Pure Milk the One Great Thing to Be Desired.

(Prepared by the United States Department of Agriculture.) Simple bills of fare, helpful recipes, and practical directions for the preparation of foods for children between three and six years of age are contained in Farmers’ Bulletin 717, “Food for Young Children,” issued by the United States Department of Agriculture. The author has carefully avoided the use of all technical dietary terms or - systems of grouping and has so classified foods that any mother can meet the following definition of a satisfactory diet for a little child. “A little child three to six years of age, who is carefully fed in accordance with his bodily needs (as these are now understood) receives everyday at least one food from each of the following groups: 1. Milk and dishes made chiefly of milk (most important of the group as regards children’s diet); meat, fish, poultry, eggs, and meat substitutes. 2. Bread and Other cereal foods. 3. Butter and other wholesome fats. 4. Vegetables and suits. 6. Simple sweets.” The relation of food to the condition of the bowels is also an important matter. Grains, particularly those containing the outer or branny layers or coats, are laxative; so, too, are such mildly acid fruits as apples, oranges and grapefruit. So far, therefore, as the important matter of preventing constipation is concerned, coarse grains and mildly acid fruits serve the same purpose. When fruits are to be obtained in abundance, the kind of cereal served is not of great importance. When they are not, the coarser cereals should be used. The basis of a child’s diet should be clean, whole milk —at least a quart a day. Such milk, in addition to water contains about half a cupful of the very best food substances —butterfat, milk, sugar, lime and other materials needed by the child to make muscle, bones, and teefh. In addition, milk contains a substance thought to promote growth by helping the body make good use of other foods. Where good whole milk is not obtainable, clean, fresh skim milk supplies these substances with the exception of the butterfat, and is, of course, preferable to dirty or questionable whole milk. Milk, however, contains very little iron and therefore spinach and other green vegetables and egg yolks, which are rich in iron, combine well with milk.

The child should drink the milk with the chill taken off, or should consume his full quart a day with cereals and in milk toast, cocoa, milk soups and stews, in cereal puddings, egg-and-milk puddings, custards, junkets, or simple ice creams. Milk stews may be made with vegetables or fish, or to vary the diet these can be combined with cream sauce and served on milk toast. The bulletin therefore gives a large number of recipes for the preparation of various milk dishes which will help “children consume the requisite amount of milk without growing tired of this valuable food. Those for milk soups will be found particularly useful, as they give .the mother an easy means of preparing many vegetables which are essentials in the child's diet. Well-baked bread and thoroughlycooked breakfast cereals are both good for children, and with milk should make up a large part of the diet. Bread and cereal mushes are, to a certain extent, interchangeable, but neither can take the place of milk, meat, eggs, fruits and vegetables. An ordinary slice of bread is equal in food value to about half a cupful of boiled or steafned cereal and about a cupful of flaked or puffed cereal. Different kinds of bread may be used for variety. The yeast-raised bread given to young children should be at least a day old, or should be toasted or twice baked. Hot breads are likely to be swallowed in large pieces, and are therefore nbt desirable. Hot breads which are almost ail crust, like thin tea biscuits or crisp rolls, are best of the hot varieties. Under the heading “Meat, Fish, Poultry, Eggs and Meat Substitutes,” the author states: “In some families children do not get enough meat and eggs; in others they get too much. A good general rule commonly followed is to give a child, two years old or over, an egg every other day and about the same amount (two ounces) of meat, fish, or poultry on the intervening days. Where meat is omitted, care must be taken to see that other suitable foods take its place—preferably an extra amount of»milk and eggs.” Fried meats should not be given to a child, because they are likely to be overcooked and tough and also because the fat may be scorched and thus changed in composition. Scorched ■fat is inmost certain to be harmful to children. Meat is best given aB broiled chop meat or in simple meat combined with vegetables. Poultry may be boildd and served with rice. When roasted, only ‘ the tender portions should be fed. Highly-seasoned stuffing or rich gravy should not fee given to a young child. Dried and other fish, and oysters,

may be used in milk stews. Wellboiled fish is good for variety. Eggs must not be overcooked or they are likely to cause indigestion. The best way to cook eggs is to poach or coddle them. Scrambled eggs may be served occasionally, provided care is taken not to scorch the fat or to overcook the eggs. Fat is an important part of the food of children. There is more than an ounce of fat (at least two and a half level tablespoonfuls) in a quart of whole milk. If the healthy child is given a quart of milk, has butter on his bread, and meat or an egg once a day, he gets enough fat, and that which he received is in wholesome form. It is well, therefore, not to give such fatty foods as pastry, fried meats and vegetables, and doughnuts or rich cakes. If the child is constipated, the occasional use of cream or salad oil is desirable, for fat in abundance is laxativeEl Bacon or salt pork, cut very thin and carefully cooked, may be given occasionally. It is very important not to burn the fat. Vegetables and fruits are grouped together because they are similar in that both supply iron, lime,- and other mineral matters, and also mild acids. Vegetables are an important but often a neglected part of the child’s diet. They should be served at least once a day, gs they help to keep the bowels in good condition. Fruits are important for their flavoring, for their laxative effects and doubtless for other reasons, and should be served in some form at least once a day. Fruit juices and the pulp of cooked fruit, baked apples and pears, and stewed prunes, are the safest. The child should not be allowed to eat the skins unless they have been made very tender by cooking. Sugar is a desirable part of the diet provided if is given in simple sweets and not allowed to take the place of other foods and spoil the child’s appetite. Simple sweets are such things as lump sugar, maple sugar, sirups, honey, and plain candy, and those foods in which sugar is combined in simple forms with fruit Juices (in lemonade, water ice, jelly, etc.), with flour or starch, as in plain cakes (cup cake, sponge cake, cookies), and with fruit, as in jams, marmalades, and similar things.