Getting ready to be a mother

by Carolyn Conant Van Blarcom

Many doctors prefer to have the baby’s milk boiled, since boiling insures absolute sterilization and also renders the curd more digestible. Other changes are produced by boiling, however, which make it important to add orange juice and cod-liver oil to the baby’s diet at an early date, as will be explained in the next chapter.

Milk may be boiled directly over the flame for a time varying from three to forty-five minutes, or it may be placed in a double boiler, the water in the lower receptacle being cold, and allowed to remain until the water has boiled from six to forty-five minutes.

When milk is boiled or scalded, the other ingredients are added beforehand, as a rule, after which it is measured and poured into the bottles. Or the milk mixture may be poured into the bottles as for pasteurization and the bottles kept in the actively boiling water for any desired length of time.

All of these points, however, are definitely specified by the doctor.

Giving the Baby His Bottle. At feeding time, the bottle should be taken from the refrigerator, the stopper removed and a sterile nipple taken up by the margin and put on the bottle without touching the mouthpiece. The milk is brought to a temperature of about 100° F. by standing the bottle in a deep cup or kettle of warm water and placing it on the fire. The temperature of the milk may be tested by dropping a few drops on the inner side of the wrist or forearm where it should feel warm but not hot. This dropping will also indicate if the hole in the nipple is of the proper size to allow the milk to drop rapidly in clean drops but not to pour. If the hole is too small, the drops will be small and infrequent and the baby will be obliged to work too hard to obtain it; while if the hole is too large the baby will feed too rapidly and may have colic as a result. If the hole is too large the nipple will have to be discarded; if too small or if there is no hole, one of the proper size may be made by piercing the nipple with a heated darning needle or small steel knitting needle.

Fig. 48.—Proper position in which to hold baby and bottle during feeding.

Fig. 49.—Holding the baby upright immediately after feeding, and gently patting his back to help him bring up air in order to prevent colic.

The baby’s diaper should be changed if it is soiled or wet before he is given the bottle and he should be held comfortably on your arm, in a reclining position, while you hold the bottle with your free hand as shown by the nurse in Fig. [48]. The bottle should be inclined sufficiently to keep the neck full of milk; otherwise the baby may draw in air as he nurses. He should be kept awake while feeding but he should be allowed to pause every three or four minutes in order not to take his milk too rapidly. Not less than ten nor more than twenty minutes is devoted to a feeding, as a rule, and if the baby refuses a part of his milk, it should be thrown away; never warmed over for another time.