Preparation of Food.—A sufficient knowledge of food preparation to enable the nurse to prepare any food which may be deemed necessary by the physician for the welfare of the child.
Water.—The importance of giving the baby water aside from that used in modifying the milk. Many babies cry from thirst when they are believed to be crying from hunger or temper.
Increasing the Diet.—The necessity for increasing the amount and strength of the formula with the age, growth, and development of the child by the addition of solid food as soon as the physician deems it advisable.
Feeding Premature Infants.—The method of feeding a premature infant differs from that employed in feeding an infant born at term: (a) because its development has not progressed so far; (b) because its digestive apparatus being more or less immature, food handled with ease by an older baby will be totally unfit for the premature one, both as to quality and quantity.
Wet Nurse.—The advisability of procuring a wet nurse when the mother is unable to nurse the infant, (a) on account of the more digestible character of the food constituents, especially the proteins, in mother’s milk over those of cow’s milk; (b) on account of the resistance furnished by the natural food which has been proved to be very much greater than that furnished by any other food, no matter how carefully the modification of the milk is made.
Premature Infants.—Their caloric needs are greater than in full-term babies, hence their food must be adjusted to meet these needs.
In fact the nurse must have an understanding of the behavior of foods in the metabolism of infancy and the laws which govern their use in the organism of the child.
PROBLEMS
(a) Write a formula for a two months’ old infant weighing twelve pounds, which contains 3% fat, 2% protein, and 6% sugar.
(b) Change this formula so that it will contain 3% fat, 1.5% protein, and 6% sugar.