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It
should be as like the breast-milk as possible. This is obtained by a
mixture of
cow's milk, water, and sugar, in the following proportions.
Fresh
cow's milk, two thirds; Boiling water, or thin barley water, one third;
Loaf
sugar, a sufficient quantity to sweeten.
This
is the best diet that can be used for the first six months, after which
some
farinaceous food may be combined.
In
early infancy, mothers are too much in the habit of giving thick gruel,
panada,
biscuit-powder, and such matters, thinking that a diet of a lighter
kind will
not nourish. This is a mistake; for these preparations are much too
solid; they
overload the stomach, and cause indigestion, flatulence, and griping.
These
create a necessity for purgative medicines and carminatives, which
again weaken
digestion, and, by unnatural irritation, perpetuate the evils which
render them
necessary. Thus many infants are kept in a continual round of
repletion,
indigestion, and purging, with the administration of cordials and
narcotics,
who, if their diet were in quantity and quality suited to their
digestive
powers, would need no aid from physic or physicians.
In
preparing this diet, it is highly important to obtain pure milk, not
previously
skimmed, or mixed with water; and in warm weather just taken from the
cow. It
should not be mixed with the water or sugar until wanted, and not more
made
than will be taken by the child at the time, for it must be prepared
fresh at
every meal. It is best not to heat the milk over the fire, but let the
water be
in a boiling state when mixed with it, and thus given to the infant
tepid or
lukewarm.
As
the
infant advances in age, the proportion of milk may be gradually
increased; this
is necessary after the second month, when three parts of milk to one of
water
may be allowed. But there must be no change in the kind of diet if the
health
of the child is good, and its appearance perceptibly improving. Nothing
is more
absurd than the notion, that in early life children require a variety
of food;
only one kind of food is prepared by nature, and it is impossible to
transgress
this law without marked injury.
There
are two ways by the spoon, and by the nursing-bottle. The first ought
never to
be employed at this period, inasmuch as the power of digestion in
infants is
very weak, and their food is designed by nature to be taken very slowly
into
the stomach, being procured from the breast by the act of sucking, in
which act
a great quantity of saliva is secreted, and being poured into the
mouth, mixes
with the milk, and is swallowed with it. This process of nature, then,
should
be emulated as far as possible; and food (for this purpose) should be
imbibed
by suction from a nursing-bottle: it is thus obtained slowly, and the
suction
employed secures the mixture of a due quantity of saliva, which has a
highly
important influence on digestion. Whatever kind of bottle or teat is
used,
however, it must never be forgotten that cleanliness is absolutely
essential to
the success of this plan of rearing children.
Te quantity of food to be given at each meal
ust be regulated by the age of the child, and its digestive power. A
little
experience will soon enable a careful and observing mother to determine
this
point. As the child grows older the quantity of course must be
increased.
The
chief error in rearing the young is overfeeding; and a most serious one
it is;
but which may be easily avoided by the parent pursuing a systematic
plan with
regard to the hours of feeding, and then only yielding to the
indications of
appetite, and administering the food slowly, in small quantities at a
time.
This is the only way effectually to prevent indigestion, and bowel
complaints,
and the irritable condition of the nervous system, so common in
infancy, and
secure to the infant healthy nutrition, and consequent strength of
constitution. As has been well observed, "Nature never intended the
infant's stomach to be converted into a receptacle for laxatives,
carminatives,
antacids, stimulants, and astringents; and when these become necessary,
we may
rest assured that there is something faulty in our management, however
perfect
it may seem to ourselves."
The frequency of giving food must be
determined, as a general rule, by allowing such an interval between
each meal
as will insure the digestion of the previous quantity; and this may be
fixed at
about every three or four hours. If this rule be departed from, and the
child
receives a fresh supply of food every hour or so, time will not be
given for the
digestion of the previous quantity, and as a consequence of this
process being
interrupted, the food passing on into the bowel undigested, will there
ferment
and become sour, will inevitably produce cholic and purging, and in no
way
contribute to the nourishment of the child.
The posture of the child when fed:- It is
important to attend to this. It must not receive its meals lying; the
head
should be raised on the nurse's arm, the most natural position, and one
in
which there will be no danger of the food going the wrong way, as it is
called.
After each meal the little one should be put into its cot, or repose on
its
mother's knee, for at least half an hour. This is essential for the
process of
digestion, as exercise is important at other times for the promotion of
health.
As soon as the child has got any teeth, and
about this period one or two will make their appearance, solid
farinaceous
matter boiled in water, beaten through a sieve, and mixed with a small
quantity
of milk, may be employed. Or tops and bottoms, steeped in hot water,
with the
addition of fresh milk and loaf sugar to sweeten. And the child may
now, for
the first time, be fed with a spoon.
When
one or two of the large grinding teeth have appeared, the same food may
be
continued, but need not be passed through a sieve. Beef tea and chicken
broth
may occasionally be added; and, as an introduction to the use of a more
completely animal diet, a portion, now and then, of a soft boiled egg;
by and
by a small bread pudding, made with one egg in it, may be taken as the
dinner
meal.
Nothing
is more common than for parents during this period to give their
children
animal food. This is a great error. "To feed an infant with animal food
before it has teeth proper for masticating it, shows a total disregard
to the
plain indications of nature, in withholding such teeth till the system
requires
their assistance to masticate solid food. And the method of grating and
pounding meat, as a substitute for chewing, may be well suited to the
toothless
octogenarian, whose stomach is capable of digesting it; but the stomach
of a
young child is not adapted to the digestion of such food, and will be
disordered by it.
It cannot reasonably be maintained that a
child's mouth without teeth, and that of an adult, furnished with the
teeth of
carnivorous and graminivorous animals, are designed by the Creator for
the same
sort of food. If the mastication of solid food, whether animal or
vegetable,
and a due admixture of saliva, be necessary for digestion, then solid
food
cannot be proper, when there is no power of mastication. If it is
swallowed in
large masses it cannot be masticated at all, and will have but a small
chance
of being digested; and in an undigested state it will prove injurious
to the
stomach and to the other organs concerned in digestion, by forming
unnatural
compounds. The practice of giving solid food to a toothless child, is
not less
absurd, than to expect corn to be ground where there is no apparatus
for
grinding it. That which would be considered as an evidence of idiotism
or
insanity in the last instance, is defended and practised in the former.
If, on
the other hand, to obviate this evil, the solid matter, whether animal
or
vegetable, be previously broken into small masses, the infant will
instantly
swallow it, but it will be unmixed with saliva. Yet in every day's
observation
it will be seen, that children are so fed in their most tender age; and
it is
not wonderful that present evils are by this means produced, and the
foundation
laid for future disease."
The diet pointed out, then, is to be continued
until the second year. Great care, however, is necessary in its
management; for
this period of infancy is ushered in by the process of teething, which
is
commonly connected with more or less of disorder of the system. Any
error,
therefore, in diet or regimen is now to be most carefully avoided. 'Tis
true
that the infant, who is of a sound and healthy constitution, in whom,
therefore, the powers of life are energetic, and who up to this time
has been
nursed upon the breast of its parent, and now commences an artificial
diet for
the first time, disorder is scarcely perceptible, unless from the
operation of
very efficient causes. Not so, however, with the child who from the
first hour
of its birth has been nourished upon artificial food. Teething under
such
circumstances is always attended with more or less of disturbance of
the frame,
and disease of the most dangerous character but too frequently ensues.
It is at
this age, too, that all infectious and eruptive fevers are most
prevalent;
worms often begin to form, and diarrhoea, thrush, rickets, cutaneous
eruptions,
etc. manifest themselves, and the foundation of strumous disease is
originated
or developed. A judicious management of diet will prevent some of these
complaints, and mitigate the violence of others when they occur. Read about how to cure Infant Colic .
Note:
While every
care is taken to provide medically accurate and up to date information
in this web site, it is to be noted that this advice is not intended to
replace the advice of your physician. Before undertaking the advice
contained in this web site, you should consult a medical professional.
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