Better babies and their care

by Anna Steese Richardson

Six ounces of gruel—made as follows:
Two tablespoonfuls of prepared barley, wheat, or oat flour; smooth with cold water; have ready one pint of water boiling hard; add a pinch of salt; stir in the smoothed flour; cook for thirty minutes in a double-boiler, and strain through a hair sieve. Add enough boiling water to make a pint, and set it away to cool.

At ten months the child is taking modified milk in these proportions:

Thirteen ounces of plain milk.

One heaping tablespoonful of Dextri-Maltose.

Six ounces of thin gruel; no water.

Milk thus modified can be given to the child until it is one year old.

Between the first and the seventh month the increase in the amount of cow’s milk and the decrease in the amount of boiled water will depend entirely upon the condition of the child’s digestion. After the first month the increase in cow’s milk should be made quite gradually, and several days should be permitted to elapse after each change, to watch the effect upon the digestion.

The child himself furnishes a pretty fair indication of when the strength of the food should be increased. If he drains the bottle rapidly and cries when it is taken from him, or if he begins to fret anywhere from an hour to half an hour before his feeding time, and if he constantly sucks his fingers in hungry fashion, either the quantity of the food or its strength must be increased.

If the food is already too rich for the child, this is shown by indigestion, vomiting, diarrhea, or constipation. The increase in the strength of the formulas should be at the rate of half an ounce or less in three days or more for about a month after artificial feeding begins; then a greater amount of time should be permitted to elapse.

The increase in quantity should be at the rate of a quarter of an ounce at each feeding, made at intervals of four to seven days, according to the growth and appetite of the child. It will be noticed that there is a more rapid increase during the first month of the child’s life than at any other time. This is because exquisite care must be taken to start the child on the most delicate form of artificial food. Then, if modified milk does agree with the infant, it thrives and demands artificial food of increasing strength, precisely as the mother’s milk gains in strength as she gains in health and energy after her confinement.