8io Reading-Course for Farmers' Wives. 



Food for the infant. — Nutrition is of supreme importance during the 

 first years of childhood. Much of the unnecessary waste of hfe during 

 infancy and childhood is not due to providence, but to wrong methods of 

 feeding. The digestive apparatus of the child at birth is no more de- 

 veloped than the rest of the body. It has never been used thus far and is 

 very delicate and feeble in its action. The stomach is merely an enlarge- 

 ment of the digestive tract and lies almost perpendicular to the rest of 

 the alimentary canal. This explains the ease with which a baby rids 

 itself of any excess of food, or food which causes distress. 



Until birth the baby's supply of food has reached it through the blood 

 of the mother. No effort of preparation has been required on the part of 

 the child. After the baby is born it must begin to digest its own food 

 and absorb it through the digestive tract. This does not mean a sudden 

 great increase of growth. The child is only one short stage further on its 

 way toward development. \Miile the new born baby has some power of 

 digestion, that power is very limited. All its digestive juices are weak 

 and many of them do not appear for some time. 



The fundamental needs of the infant for food are the same as those of 

 the adult. The difference lies not in kind, but in form and amount. Only 

 those foods which are ready for absorption or require little change can 

 at this period be utiHzed. It is beyond the feeble power of the baby's 

 immature digestive tract to utilize foods which require marked changes 

 before they are ready for absorption. 



Protcid is needed to supply the cornerstone for growth and develop- 

 ment of all tissues but it must be in a form adapted to a weak power of 

 digestion. Fats and carbohydrates must be supplied to meet the demands 

 for energy. But there is only one form of fat which is fitted to the infant 

 and that is fat which occurs in a very finely emulsified form. Starch is a 

 food stuff' which requires marked changes before it is ready for digestion. 

 The baby has no power of digesting starch. This power does not develop 

 to any degree until after the end of the sixth month. Sugar requires 

 little change, hence this is the form of carbohydrate suited to the infant. 

 Mineral matter the baby must have to supply lime and phosphorus and 

 iron and all the other elements which are concerned not only in building 

 bones and forming red blood and stimulating growth, but which are 

 essential in many different ways. The mineral matter must be in a form 

 best suited to the need for rapid development. Water must be present to 

 hold food in solution, and to carry it to the cells and remove the waste 

 products. 



Best food for the baby. — Nature's answer to the question as to where 

 all these demands are best supplied during this undeveloped period of the 



