Overfeeding an infant may lay the foundation for a lifelong ailment. The excess of food remains in the stomach or bowels undigested. If you remember that this mass of undigested matter is confined in a small space which is both warm and damp, it will be easily understood that putrefaction is the inevitable outcome. As a result of this putrefaction there are produced certain ptomaines and leucomaines. These poisons are carried through the body, causing "auto-intoxication" which upsets and irritates the child's nervous system and may cause very serious consequences, as it frequently produces sudden death from apoplexy and "heart failure" in the adult. These children are always restless, fretful, continually uncomfortable, sleepless and colicky. They lose weight, the stomach becomes distended and a gastritis or inflammation of the stomach results.
Frequently a mother with such a fretful baby, seeing her child getting thinner and thinner, will think that it is not getting enough to eat, and will proceed to add to the trouble by giving the child more to eat.
Mothers must therefore learn not to overfeed their infants; not to imagine that a failure to gain weight means the need of more food (if the quality of the food being given is wrong, will increasing the quantity of bad food do any good?); not to feed irregularly, no matter how insistent the child may be.
Intervals of Feeding.—The physician will give instructions regarding the feeding of the newly born baby for the first few days. After the first few days and up to the beginning of the third month, it should be fed every two hours from 7 a. m. until 9 p. m., and twice during the night between 9 p. m. and 7 a. m., when the regular two-hours' interval again begins for the following day. The two night feedings should be about 1 and 4:30 a. m.
After the third month, and up to the sixth month, feed every three hours and once during the night. From the sixth month until weaned, every three and one-half or four hours, and not at all during the night.
While it has been pointed out that regularity of feeding is absolutely essential, the above schedule is not to be regarded as an absolute guide. It is a general guide,—approximately it will be found correct in a large majority of cases. Each baby is a rule unto itself. The quantity of the mother's milk will dictate the interval after the first month and for each month as the baby grows. If a mother with no milk to spare, is nursing a big, strong, husky baby, the three-hour interval during the day may have to be shortened to two and one-half hours. As a rule, however, these exceptions are better regulated by attention to the time the baby is given at each nursing to fill its stomach.
How Long Should a Baby Stay at the Breast?—Babies differ as to their method of feeding; some of them seem to like to nurse a moment or two and then look around; others seem to regard nursing as a serious business, and resent any effort to take the nipple away until they have finished. A baby should be taught to nurse methodically; it should not be allowed to play the nipple. Let it fill its stomach and put it down as quickly as possible. A mother will very soon know just how long it takes the baby to fill its little stomach, and when she finds this out she should time it by the clock. When the supply of milk is sufficient, and the child is strong, and nurses freely, eight to twelve minutes are sufficient. After it is taken away from the breast it must be left quiet till the next feeding.
Other babies, according to the ability they evince to nurse, even when the milk runs freely, require a longer time,—from twelve to fifteen minutes. The rule, however, is never to allow them to nurse so long that when they are taken away the milk runs out of the mouth. If this occurs, cut down the length of time they are at the breast, and always time the length of feeding by the clock,—don't guess at it.
Children Who "Vomit" Between Feedings.—When a child habitually brings up food between feedings it is usually a symptom of gastric indigestion. In these cases it is advisable to add lime-water to each feeding, and to remove some of the fat in each feeding. If improvement does not follow remove more of the fat by removing some of the cream from the top of the bottle before shaking it.
Remove from the bottle four ounces of cream and shake before preparing the food from what is left. If the child improves after a few days remove only three ounces, then in a few days remove two ounces and later one ounce. After a time, sufficiently long to permit the stomach to become accustomed to the graded amounts of fat, the former diet of whole milk can be again resumed.