Better babies and their care

by Anna Steese Richardson

And in that word “sudden” lay all the dread possibilities for both mother and child. Fortunately, we have outgrown sudden weaning, along with many other dangerous superstitions and traditions of motherhood. In those days, when grandmothers and aunts came flocking round to assist in weaning the family treasure, babies were fed on breast milk from birth to practically the day when weaning became a stern necessity. Consequently, the enforced weaning represented for the baby an abrupt change in diet, which was most disturbing to his stomach; and for the mother all the horrors of breast-trouble when the baby no longer nursed. Artificial pumping, caked breasts, abscesses, were common features of the old-fashioned system of weaning, which the modern mother does not undergo.

To-day the wise physician and mother agree that, from the third month on, the baby shall vary breast feedings with properly modified cow’s milk from the bottle. As the months pass, the bottle feedings are increased. Then, no matter what emergency may arise—illness or pregnancy in the mother, the necessity for a prolonged separation between mother and child—the baby is so accustomed to the bottle that, deprived of natural nourishment, he will not resent bottle food exclusively, and his entire digestive system is at least partially prepared for the change.

When weaning is not due to emergency, but is gradual and part of the natural development of the child, it is a very simple process. From the third to the tenth month, we will say that the child has had both breast milk and the occasional bottle feeding. Gradually, from the sixth month on, the bottle feedings have been increased in both number and strength. Now, at the tenth month, he may drink milk, orange juice, and clear broth out of a cup. His cereal and thick broth may be fed to him with a spoon. All this time he draws less and less on the mother for nourishment. By the twelfth month, or the end of his first year, if his health is good, the baby is weaned automatically without any abrupt and dangerous change in diet.

During the latter part of this gradual weaning process, as he has drawn less on the breast, the amount of milk has decreased with the lack of demand, and so the weaning involves less danger and pain for the mother.

Very few mothers have the strength to nourish their babies after the twelfth month. In fact, pediatrists and nurses who have done dispensary work among children state that many cases of anemia and rickets can be traced to poor nourishment, due to the overworked mother’s well-meaning but mistaken effort to nurse the baby, without any bottle feedings, through teething, and beyond the first year.

The bottle-fed baby must be weaned from the bottle in the same gradual way. At nine months, if he is in good condition, and the artificial food is properly digested, he may be fed partly from cup or spoon at each feeding. The modified milk fed in the bottle should be divided—half should be served first from the spoon or cup, while the baby is hungry enough to accept food in any form, by any means. Then the second half of his feeding may be given from the bottle. If he is given the bottle first and his hunger is partly satisfied, he will resent the new form of feeding, which is slower and therefore less pleasing to his small majesty. At a year, he is given one entire feeding with cup or spoon, preferably the midday meal. This replaces one bottle feeding. The spoon and cup feedings are then increased gradually and the bottle feedings are decreased. At fourteen months, he gets two meals of spoon food and three bottle feedings; at sixteen months, three spoon and cup meals a day, and a bottle at 9 or 10 at night; at eighteen or twenty months, the night bottle is stopped. The baby is safely weaned.

The triumph of modern weaning is due entirely to the fact that it is a natural, gradual process, in contrast to the more abrupt and drastic changes under the old-fashioned methods.

The following diet list, which will serve to guide the mother in carrying her child safely through the joint process of teething and weaning, is used in private practice by Roger H. Dennett, M.D., Professor of Pediatrics in the Post Graduate Hospital of New York:

DIET FOR CHILD

FROM NINE OR TEN MONTHS TO THIRTEEN OR FOURTEEN MONTHS:
6 A.M.	Bottle feeding of undiluted, unsweetened cow’s milk, or
	Breast feeding when there is an ample supply of milk, or
	Drink of milk from the cup.
9 A.M.	Cereal and drink of milk from the cup; varying the cereals with Farina, Cream of Wheat, Wheatina, Oatmeal, Ralston’s Food, Hominy, Rice, Cornmeal-mush, and Cornstarch.
12 Noon.	Same as 6 A.M.
3 P.M.	Toast, stale bread, or zwieback, and drink of milk from cup.
6 P.M.	Same as 6 A.M.
9 or 10 P.M.	Same as 6 A.M.
	Orange juice or scraped raw apple may be given between the feedings.
FOURTEEN MONTHS TO EIGHTEEN MONTHS
7 or 8 A.M.	Breakfast: Cereal, bread or toast; cup of milk. The cereal may be varied as above.
10 A.M.	Scraped raw apple, pear or peach, or orange juice. Avoid skins and seeds.
12 or 1 P.M.	Dinner: An egg; potato; one other vegetable;bread; fruit juices or scraped fruit. Theegg may be coddled, boiled, shirred, orpoached. Potatoes may be baked, boiled,or mashed; preferably baked. Spinach, carrots,peas, string beans, asparagus tips, allcooked soft and mashed fine, may be used.Once or twice a week soups may be substitutedfor the egg, thickened with peas,beans, farina, sago, rice, or vegetables.For dessert, apple sauce, baked apple, prunepulp, or cooked fruit.
5 or 6 P.M.	Supper: Eight ounces of undiluted milk from the cup, bread, toast or zwieback, Graham or arrowroot crackers.
10 P.M.	(If desired) Eight ounces of undiluted milk.
EIGHTEEN MONTHS TO THREE YEARS
7 or 8 A.M.	Breakfast: Cereal; egg; stale bread or toast; dry bacon.
12 to 1 P.M.	Dinner: Meat; potatoes; one vegetable; dessert.A small quantity of meat, such asscraped beef, lamb chop, roast beef, roastlamb, Hamburger steak, all cooked rare andcut fine. The roast may be hot or cold.Chicken, boiled, fricasseed, or roasted, maybe given. Occasionally soups as describedabove may be given instead of meat, butthey do not take the place of meat. Vegetables,such as carrots, spinach, green peas,string beans, squash, and macaroni. Thedessert may be of apple sauce, baked apple,prune pulp, stale lady fingers, Graham orarrowroot crackers, rice, bread, tapioca orblanc-mange pudding, baked custard, junket,or rice with hot milk.
5 to 6 P.M.	Supper: Stale bread or toast, unsweetenedcrackers; milk; fruit, raw or cooked. Clearbroth or cereal may be given occasionallyinstead of the milk.