124 



PHYSIOLOGY OF THE NEW-BORN INFANT. 



is shown by Cramer's 1 values given in table 24. It is obvious that an 

 amount of milk which would be normal for one infant would be abnor- 

 mal for another, and for this reason average figures as to the amount 

 secreted only give a general idea of what an average infant might take 

 and can not be applied to abnormally strong or weak infants. Von 

 Reuss 2 has collected the estimations made by a number of investigators 

 as to the amount of milk secreted per day by the mothers of infants of 

 different weights; these are given in table 25. The amount of milk 

 taken by the infant during the day was obtained by weighing the mother 

 or the infant before and after nursing. This method is obviously 

 liable to great error, especially when the small amounts of the first few 

 days are to be considered. 



TABLE 24. Amounts of colostrum and of human milk secreted per 24 hours in primiparce and 



multipart (Cramer). 



[All values in grams.] 



TABLE 25. Estimation of the daily secretion of colostrum and of human milk (von Reuss). 



[All values in grams.] 



From the data in the foregoing tables it is seen that even under the 

 most favorable conditions the total amount of available energy in the 

 colostrum which the child receives from the mother's breast during 

 the first few days is wholly insufficient to supply the energy needs, even 

 when we consider only the basal metabolism. Still less does this scant 



'Cramer, Klin. Beitrag z. Frage der kiinstlichen Erniihrung des Neugeborenen. Inaug. Diss.. 

 Breslau, 1896. Cited by Czerny and Keller, Des Kindes Erniihrung, Ernahrungsstorungen und 

 Emiihrungstherapie. Leipsic and Vienna, 1906, 1, p. 356. 



a von Reuss, Die Krankheiten des Neugeborenen. Berlin, 1914, p. 90. 



