S. W. NEWMAYSR, M. D. 229 



experimental one, to test the capacity of the child, so this class 

 of patients places the physician at a disadvantage. 



The courses on pediatrics and infant feeding, as given in' most 

 of our medical colleges, are faulty. They are not practical, and 

 in most cases the teacher has some system, whether percentage, 

 caloric value or otherwise, generally based on age, which leads 

 him to teach one of the mass methods of feeding. Occasionally 

 the professor teaches a half a dozen methods with scientific cal- 

 culations which bewilder the students. There should be ward 

 classes in this branch similar to those now used in other branches 

 of clinical medicine. 



No one physician has the only absolute method of feeding, and 

 because he uses the top half ounce of four bottles of milk or the 

 16 per cent, cream he has not "cornered the market" on the 

 right method of feeding. Infants will thrive on any of the com- 

 binations, providing the mixture is suited to the digestion of that 

 particular child. The physician who believes that his method is 

 the only one to use scientifically forgets that 4 + 6 = 10, and 

 3 + 7 = 10, and there are other equivalents. When he succeeds 

 with his method, it means he has given to the little patient all 

 the nourishment it needs and can digest. The capacity of an 

 infant should not go any more by age limit, or rule of weight, 

 or size, than disposition or temperament should be alike at certain 

 ages or body weights. We have all seen infants 3 weeks old 

 that required and digested the food of an infant 3 months old, 

 and vice versa. I believe infants are often victims of starvation 

 by faulty methods of feeding. The parents experiment for a 

 while, and when things look desperate rushes to the physician, 

 who oftimes removes the little remaining nourishment and purges 

 the already weakened infant. Too often the cry of the child is 

 mistaken for pain when it is due to hunger, to food omitted for 

 24 or 48 hours, instead of increasing the quantity or quality of 

 the feeding. The frail body is brought to a pier at the river 

 front and the child is supposed to suck from the fresh air of the 

 river the nourishment which should have been supplied by the 

 mother. 



Not only must the food contain the proper nourishment for 

 the infant, but small details of technic in its administration, 

 together with cleanliness and purity of food, count for much. 

 Too few physicians observe the kind of nipple used, the size of 

 the holes in the nipple, how long the child nurses and the con- 

 dition of the child's mouth. This is all left to the nurse in 

 charge, or the mother. Few mothers have nurses, and the aver- 

 age stay of the nurse with the child is two weeks after birth. 

 Few mothers are good nurses. Many a child refuses food be- 



