Barley water may be added to the milk at any time after the third month in place of the plain boiled water in the preceding formulas. It is advisable to do this if there is any trouble with digestion, or if there are curds in the stools. Some children take more kindly to barley water than plain water at a very early age.
Beef Juice.—The juice squeezed from broiled steak may be given a child at about the eighth or ninth month, or, in cases of anemia, earlier than this. It is given before the milk feeding, diluted with an equal amount of water. At first a teaspoonful of the extracted juice should be given with the same quantity of water; increase every four days until at the end of two or three weeks two tablespoonfuls are given.
White of Egg.—Place an egg in boiling water and allow the water to cool with an egg in it. In ten minutes the white of the egg will be coagulated and ready for use. It may be used in place of the beef juice if the latter does not agree and may be begun at the sixth month and given once daily. One-half of the white of the egg should be tried, then at the end of a week, if it agrees with the child, the whole white of one egg may be given.
Orange Juice.—This juice has a good effect on the bowels and may be given even to very young children who are disposed to be constipated. It is also of benefit in counteracting the effect of boiled milk. The juice should be extracted from fresh oranges and strained. One teaspoonful may be given at first one hour before a feeding. The amount may be increased until four teaspoonfuls, or one tablespoonful, are given daily.
Peptonized Milk.—The object of peptonization of milk is partly or wholly to digest the casein, or curd, of the milk before feeding.
Fairchild's Peptonizing Powder is used for this purpose. The powder is put up in tubes, and instructions are furnished in each box as to its use.
There are two methods of using the powders:
The Hot or Immediate Process.—Fifteen minutes before feeding add from one-eighth to one-quarter of the contents of a tube to the milk mixture in the nursing bottle ready for use. The bottle is then put in water at a temperature of from 110° to 120° F., and allowed to remain in the water for fifteen minutes. The amount of the powder used and the temperature of the water depend upon the amount of milk in the nursing bottle.
The Cold Process.—Four ounces of cold water are put into a clean quart bottle and the powder from one of the tubes. Shake the mixture thoroughly until the powder is dissolved. Add a pint of cold fresh milk, shake the bottle again and place directly on ice. When any of this milk is used the bottle should be again shaken and put immediately back on ice.
If necessary this process may be modified so that partially or completely peptonized milk may be made.