For the baby which is to be artificially fed at one month or less, plain cow’s milk, boiled water, and malt sugar form the best possible combination.
Milk sugar, once very popular with dietitians, has been condemned by specialists in infant feeding. Cane sugar is preferred to milk sugar, and pediatrists recommend most highly the Dextri-Maltose, or malt sugar, manufactured by Mead, Johnson & Company, Jersey City, New Jersey.
Having decided on these ingredients, the next problem is their proper combination in correct proportions. These are governed by the baby’s weight. In twenty-four hours a baby should be fed twice as much plain cow’s milk in ounces as he weighs in pounds; this means that a baby weighing twelve pounds should be fed twenty-four ounces of plain cow’s milk in twenty-four hours.
In preparing this quantity of cow’s milk for the baby’s consumption, it must be borne in mind that this milk contains only half as much sugar as mother’s milk, while it holds three times as much proteids and salts, and both the proteids and the fat are less digestible than those found in breast milk. This explains why water must be used to dilute the heavier cow’s milk. For the new-born baby the following proportions are recommended when what is known as plain milk is to be used:
Four ounces of milk.
One ounce, or two rounded tablespoonfuls, of Dextri-Maltose.
Sixteen ounces of boiled water.
In two or three days this formula may be changed to:
Five ounces of milk.
One ounce, or two rounded tablespoonfuls, of Dextri-Maltose.