The Care and Feeding of Children. 8ii 



child's life is unfailingly " the mother's milk." In the mother's milk the 

 protein is in a form which is very easily digested and yet gives the baby's 

 digestive tract enough work to ensure its gradual development. The fat 

 is unusually finely emulsified and is of a kind which requires little effort to 

 digest. The carbohydrate occurs as milk sugar, almost ready for absorp- 

 tion, and is nojt so sweet as to vitiate the child's taste for bland food 

 later on. The mineral matter present is very available to the human 

 infant. 



When we come later to a discussion of the composition of milk other 

 than human milk and of the various patent baby foods on the market it 

 will be readily seen that any form of food other than mother's milk must 

 be regarded as abnormal" for the very young baby, and as likely to involve 

 it in serious di.fficulties. Hence every effort should be made by the 

 mother to nurse her own child even if this method of feeding cannot be 

 continued during the entire nine months or year. 



During the first two or three days after the infant is born no milk is 

 secreted by the mother's breast. A thin watery fluid called colostrum is 

 secreted, whicli is believed to have a di'stinctly laxative property and 

 which thus aids in cleansing the baby's intestinal canal of the mucus 

 which has accumulated there before birth. The child should be put at the 

 mother's breast as soon as the mother has recovered from the fatigue of 

 labor, about six or eight hours after birth and every two or three hours 

 thereafter when the mother is awake. This helps to establish the flow of 

 milk, it aids in closing the uterus and probably gives the baby some water. 

 It also establishes the ability of the child to suck. No other food should 

 be given. Nature seems to have intended to give this time to establish- 

 ing a natural supply of food" and i't is dangerous to experiment unless 

 under the advice of a physician who understands thoroughly the essentials 

 of infant feeding. The old fashion of making a " sugar rag " or a " flour 

 ball " and giving it to the new born baby must be strongly condemned. 

 It puts into the child's stomach some entirely foreign sub,stance and is a 

 fertile source of colic, and it diminishes the sucking activity and conse- 

 quently withdraws this stimulus to milk secretion, thus causing delay in 

 flow of milk. If the milk is slow in coming, the following mixture may 

 be given after the third day every four hours, alternating it with the 

 breast: Whey, two teaspoon fuls ; water, two teaspoon fu Is ; milk sugar. ] 

 teaspoonful. This should be stopped as soon as the milk supply begins. 



Water. — As soon as the child's eyes and nostrils have been cleaned it 

 should be given a teasjioonful or two of warm sterilized water either from 

 a spoon or a nursing bottle. A little warm water should be given at inter- 

 vals during the day all during the nursing period. Babies frequently 

 suffer grievously from thirst anrl are given an irregular meal to supply 

 this demand. The child needs plenty of clean, sterile, wann water given 



