Formulas Used In Feeding Infants
Whey
Put one pint of skimmed milk into a clean saucepan and heat to a temperature of 100° F. (lukewarm). To this milk add 2 teaspoonfuls of liquid rennet, essence of pepsin, or 2 junket tablets, stir until well mixed, and allow to stand at room temperature (70° F.) until firmly jellied. Break up with a fork until it is finely divided, strain through thicknesses of cheesecloth; return the fluid part to the stove and raise to a temperature of 150° F. to destroy the rennet left in the whey. The whey is then cooled before it is added to the milk or cream.
Barley Water
| 3% decoction starch[43] |
| 4 rounded tsp. barley flour |
| 1 pt. water |
Mix a small amount of the water with the barley flour and put the rest of the water into a clean saucepan and allow to heat; when boiling add thin barley mixture, stir thoroughly, and allow to boil 20 minutes; remove from stove, measure, and replace with hot water that which was lost through evaporation to make up the original pint; strain through two thicknesses of cheesecloth.
Oat Water
| 4 rounded tsp. oat flour |
| 1 pt. water |
Mix and proceed as in making barley water.
Albumen Water with Brandy
| 8 oz. water (cold) |
| 1 egg white |
| 1 tsp. brandy |
Mix egg and water and add brandy slowly to prevent coagulating egg white.
Beef Juice
Composition: 0.60% fat, 2.90% protein, and considerable extractive matter.[44]
Place a piece of round steak upon a hot griddle and turn once or twice until the outside is seared and the meat is hot throughout. Remove from griddle and cut into small pieces and place in a small meat press made for the purpose. A lemon squeezer may be used when the press is not available. Salt lightly. Begin by giving one teaspoonful and increase the amount gradually to 1 ounce (6 teaspoonfuls). According to Morse and Talbot, it is never wise to give babies more than 2 ounces of beef juice even in their second year, as it is apt to disturb digestion. Also babies are often made restless or sleepless by taking beef juice.
Malt Soup
347 calories
| 1½-2 tbs. malt soup extract (reduce if necessary) |
| 1 level tbs. sifted flour |
| 1 pt. milk |
| 18 oz. water (hot and cold) |
Dissolve malt soup extract in ½ cup of hot water and measure in enough cold water to cool the mixture. With the remaining cold water mix the flour until it is free from lumps; and to the malt soup mixture, add milk. Pour all into a clean saucepan and bring slowly to the boiling point; simmer (not boil) for 20 minutes. Now increase the heat and allow the mixture to boil 5 minutes; strain and use as directed.
This is a fattening mixture and the amount of malt soup and whole milk may be increased as the child is able to handle it, taking care, however, not to increase the strength of the mixture too rapidly or too much, or digestional disturbances will result.
Buttermilk Mixture for Infants
544.6 calories
1 tbs. wheat flour, 4 tbs. dextri-maltose, 8 oz. hot water plus enough hot water to replace that which is lost through evaporation (about 6 oz.). Buttermilk, sufficient quantity to make 1 quart of mixture. Mix flour with a little cold buttermilk. Dissolve sugar (dextri-maltose) in the hot water.
Stir two mixtures together and add enough buttermilk to make 1 quart. Place on stove and bring mixture quickly to a boil. Boil for 20 minutes, stirring constantly, strain, measure, and add enough boiling water to replace that which is lost in cooking. Place on ice and use as directed.
The nurse will soon be able to tell how much water is lost in evaporation and add the additional amount to the mixture before beginning the boiling.
Eiweissmilch[45]
(Protein or Albumen Milk)
| 1 quart fresh whole milk | 4 teaspoons essence of pepsin, |
| 1 pint of fresh buttermilk | |
Heat whole milk to 100° F., add essence of pepsin and stir thoroughly. Allow to stand at same temperature until the curd is formed. Pour mass into muslin bag and drip the whey from the curd. When the mass is as dry as it is possible to have it, remove it from the bag to a fine strainer. Press curd through the strainer with a wooden spoon or potato masher (the author has found that a potato ricer with a piece of copper gauze, such as is used in a chemical laboratory, inserted, facilitates the breaking up of the curd). The mass must be passed several times through the strainer in order to make the precipitate sufficiently fine to look like milk. During the process of straining, the buttermilk is added. The composition of above formula is, according to Finkelstein and Meyer, as follows:
Protein 3%, Fat 8.5%, Sugar 1.5%, Salts 0.5%.
There are several prepared Eiweissmilch mixtures on the market, Beebe, Hoose and others. Larasan Roche is also a prepared mixture having a composition much like that of the original Eiweissmilch, it is easily prepared, and the results from feeding this milk have been found generally good.