Better babies and their care

by Anna Steese Richardson

Second and third month: 3 ounces for each feeding.

During the fourth month the table of feeding changes. The child is now fed every two and one-half hours from 6 A.M. to 9 P.M., with one feeding between 1 and 2 A.M. Four and one-half ounces at each feeding, or 36 ounces in twenty-four hours.

During the fifth month the feedings are still farther apart; every three hours between 6 A.M. and 9 P.M., and one feeding in the night. Five and one-half to 6 ounces at each feeding.

So, from month to month, the feedings are a little farther apart and each feeding a little heavier.

At five months, if the baby is strong, the night feeding may be omitted. At eight months the baby is fed six times a day, at three-hour intervals, eight ounces of food to the feeding.

It must be understood that the feeding tables here given are planned for a normal, healthy baby. The sickly baby, or the child whose digestion is very poor and whose appearance denotes malnutrition, should be placed under the care of a physician who is capable of planning special diet.

Only in case of emergency is the baby weaned within a day or so after birth. As a rule, the mother attempts to nurse the child, and weans him only when she realizes beyond all question that her milk is not sufficiently nourishing. In such cases it is not necessary to wean the child abruptly; the feedings can be alternated, breast and bottle. In this way certain properties in the mother’s milk correct possible ill-effects on the digestion from bottle feedings. Moreover, the mother sometimes gains in strength, the milk improves and the bottle is then given at rarer intervals. When it becomes necessary to wean the child completely from the breast, because of its age, or pregnancy in the mother, half the battle has been fought in accustoming the child and its digestive apparatus to the bottle food.

A question frequently asked by mothers is this:

“What is the difference between pasteurized milk and boiled milk, and which is better for the child?”

Pasteurizing milk consists of heating it to a temperature varying from 155° to 175° F. in apparatus specially made for this purpose, which can be bought at prices varying from four to eight dollars through dealers in surgical instruments. Directions come with the apparatus. To pasteurize milk without an apparatus, fill the bottles with milk, cork them with sterile cotton wool, set in a pail, fill the pail with boiling water, cover it tightly and set aside for forty-five minutes; then cool the bottles rapidly and place them on the ice.