Regularity in Feeding.—He must have the proper food and enough of it, and have it given at regular intervals, “by the clock,” for guesswork is fatal in infant feeding. He must be given water between meals. Babies often cry from thirst when they are thought to be doing so from hunger or temper, or both. The healthy baby sleeps about twenty-two hours out of twenty-four during the early months, and even during the latter six months of the first year more time is spent in sleeping than in waking.
The Bowels.—The bowels should move several times a day, the stools being smooth and of a yellowish color, of the consistency of pea soup. After the first month, twice a day is about the normal number of stools for the healthy baby. The infant should be placed upon a vessel held in the lap of the nurse at regular times, preferably right before the morning bath, and in the evening. In this way regularity in evacuating the bowels is obtained, and a habit formed which will prove valuable through life.
The Bath.—The daily bath is likewise necessary for the health and comfort of all babies; so, too, are fresh air and sunshine.
As has already been stated, breast milk is much better for babies than cow’s milk or any artificial food. There is something in the mother’s milk which gives strength and resistance to the baby which is absolutely lacking in any other food no matter how carefully it is selected and prepared, and for this reason young mothers must be prevailed upon to nurse their babies whenever it is possible for them to do so. When circumstances, such as having to be away all day at work, make it impossible for a mother to nurse her baby at regular intervals, she can be taught how necessary are two or three breast feedings a day to the future welfare of her child. When social reasons or lack of desire on the part of the mother make her unwilling to nurse her baby, it is the part of the nurse to lay the case before her and let her judge whether or not she is willing to accept the responsibility of bringing into the world a life for which she is unwilling to provide weapons with which to fight the good fight.
Habits of Mother.—The mother must be taught how to efficiently nurse her baby; she must keep in mind that upon her good health and temperate habits depend the health and comfort of her baby. It devolves upon her to provide food efficient in quality and quantity. To do this, her own diet must be simple and wholesome. The nursing mother must remember that she has to provide, not only for her own maintenance and energy requirements, but also for the infant whose fuel requirements are ever demanding more food to provide for its rapid growth.
Food and Its Relation to Milk.—It is believed that two calories of food extra are necessary to produce one calorie of milk, and since a month-old baby requires 2⅓ ounces of mother’s milk to every pound of his body weight, and one ounce of mother’s milk will yield 20 calories, it is clearly seen that the mother will have to increase her diet to cover the requirements of the baby. For example, if the baby weighed 12 pounds, he would require 28 ounces of milk in 24 hours, or 560 calories. Thus if it requires two calories of extra food to make one calorie of milk, the mother’s diet would have to provide 1,120 calories extra, or about as much food as would fulfill the needs of a laboring man, 3,000 to 3,500 calories, even if she were doing practically no actual work; while if she were actively employed and doing a certain amount of physical labor, her rations would have to approximate those of a man doing heavy muscular work (about 3,500 to 4,000 calories per day).[66]
Breast Milk versus Cow’s Milk.—Consensus of opinion shows that breast-fed infants require less energy than the ones who must be nourished artificially. This is probably due largely to the fact that the constituents of human milk are in a more available form than those in cow’s milk, the former requiring a lesser expenditure of energy on the part of the organism to become available than the latter. Very active babies, ones who kick and throw themselves about or cry violently, have a greater energy requirement than the more placid baby who sleeps more and is more quiet in movement and who cries less when awake. Breast-fed babies are generally more quiet than their less fortunate artificially fed brothers. It has been demonstrated that the artificially fed baby has a much harder fight for existence than the baby who receives his natural food; hence the necessity of using every available means to make the food digestible, and to lessen the danger arising from the additional work put upon the entire apparatus. Cow’s milk contains practically the same chemical elements as are found in human milk, but these elements are combined in a slightly different manner, and are not so easily handled by the immature organs. The proteins of milk consist of casein, which is insoluble, and albumen, which is soluble. According to Van Slyke the proportion of insoluble to soluble protein in cow’s milk is 3.6:1, while in human milk the proportion is only 1:1. The ash constituents in cow’s milk are in excess of the needs of the infant organism, but since a great part of these salts is in an inorganic form they are not retained to the same extent as those contained in human milk, which are in an organic form.
Rules and Regulations.—It is not possible to lay down hard and fast laws to cover the subject of infant feeding. The food must be adapted to the individual needs of the baby in question. The nurse must see that the milk is obtained from a responsible dealer, certified milk being of course the safest. The bottles of milk should be wiped off carefully and placed directly on the ice as soon as they are received. The milk generally used in infant feeding has a fat content of 4%. That having a higher percentage of fat is technically cream. The following table showing the fat, sugar, and protein composition of whole milk, cream, skimmed milk, and whey was arranged by Morse and Talbot:[67]
TABLE
| Fat | Milk Sugar | Protein | |
| Whole milk | 4.00 | 4.50 | 3.50 |
| 7% cream | 7.00 | 4.45 | 3.40 |
| 10% cream | 10.00 | 4.40 | 2.25 |
| 16% cream | 16.00 | 4.20 | 3.05 |
| 32% cream | 32.00 | 3.40 | 2.50 |
| Skimmed milk | 1.00 | 5.00 | 3.55 |
| Separated milk (fat-free) | 0.25 | 5.00 | 3.65 |
| Whey | 0.25 | 5.00 | 0.90 |