The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
891 
A Child Feeding Problem 
I have been a reader of Tiie R. N.-Y. 
for nearly 20 years, and I am always in¬ 
terested in the “Hope Farm Notes” when 
yon are telling about tbe children. I 
have three children of my own who are 
grown up and are content to stay on the 
farm, although the dollars do not always 
amount to 35 cents. But for the past 
Winter I have had to care for another 
child, not quite three years old (a little 
red-headed girl), that I would like advice 
about. Iler mother is a nervous invalid, 
one of the selfish sort who cares for noth¬ 
ing but just herself, and does not try to 
help herself. Before this child was born 
there was a time her health was not good, 
and she used no reason and refused to eat, 
and this child will not eat any solid food, 
only as I compel her to, and it is a job. 
I feel it is almost too much for me. The 
child is unusually bright, old beyond her 
years, and learns very quickly everything 
she sees or hears, and tells how she wants 
to be a big girl and work. She has been 
brought up on a bottle, and as her mother 
could not get her to eat solid food she 
never took her bottle away, neither did 
she have any regular time for giving her 
bottle, and the child grew nervous and 
would not take her bottle days, but only 
after she went to sleep at night. When 
I took her she was very much run down, 
and more like a wild animal than anything 
else. I found she liked stories, and by 
reading to her I could get her to take her 
bottle days at regular times, and I have 
Bread—Two slices. Cereal—‘Cooked, four 
tablespoons cream of wheat or oatmeal 
gruel. Potatoes—One tablespoon. Meat 
—Beef, chicken or lamb; piece about the 
size of the lean part of a small lamb chop, 
or one-half egg; no bacon. Fruit—Prunes 
or oranges; no bananas. Vegetables— 
May have spinach, butter beaus or peas. 
Dessert—Daily, plain pudding, custards, 
plain cake or cookies. Salt—Slightly. No 
oils, butter or fat. 
May have slight amount of sugar on 
cereals. 
lie especially emphasized the water and 
the skimmed milk. This list was for a 
child 2*4 years old and the amounts were 
to be gradually increased. 
That was live years ago, and the results 
have proved that in her case the doctor 
was right. IIow did we make her eat this 
solid food? Well, we used every form of 
coaxing, and diplomacy, and sometimes 
force, trying always to form the habit of 
eating three meals a day. She is still 
underweight. It takes a long time to 
overcome a weakness incurred in infancy. 
But she is growing tall and strong and 
enjoying life, and so am I. 
Now as to the cause: Mary was a frail 
little baby and I was so afraid she would 
eat something which would hurt her, if 
she had solid food, that I kept her drink¬ 
ing milk out of a bottle, long after she 
had her first teeth and should have been 
chewing. The instinct, therefore, to chew, 
was nipped in the bud as it were, because 
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got control so she does nicely except when 
I try to have her eat solid food. Our 
doctor tells me I must make her eat or 
she will be as bad as her mother. Meat is 
the only thing she will eat herself, and 
that the doctor does not approve of. As 
you have written about so many different 
children who have come under your care, 
I have wondered if you could not give me 
some advice from your experience. The 
child has the strongest will of any. child I 
ever saw, and if she can be trained in the 
right direction she will make a beautiful 
woman. 
I have always thought that Proverbs 
gave the best directions for briuging up 
children, but I do not like to apply the rod 
all the time, and I fear there is danger 
of spoiling her if 1 do not deal with her 
in the right way. Have you ever found 
any of the books ou child training any 
help? MRS. w. H. G. 
Massachusetts. 
My own little girl, now seven years old, 
was very hard to feed when she was a 
baby. She wanted only milk, and not so 
very much of that. She was underweight 
and had frequent attacks of indigestion. 
She ate solid food only under great pro¬ 
test, but was a very good child in every 
other way. It was a great problem. Why 
wasn’t she hungry? Everyone tried to 
help by fixing up choice bits of food, and 
her uncle spent many hours on the lake 
catching little perch for her, for she 
would eat a little fish without being fed. 
When she was 214 years old we took 
her to a doctor, who was a well-known 
specialist in digestion and diet, and we 
learned much about babies from him. 
After a careful examination he suggested 
that she had at some time in her 2 VI* 
years had too much fatty food, probably 
too much cream in the milk. He told us 
that at a certain age children do not di¬ 
gest fat. They simply get rid of it. and 
if they get too big a dose the digestive 
organs are overtaxed and impaired. So 
he gave her a diet without fats. I am 
copying it in full: 
Food, amount daily : Water—Three or 
four glasses. Milk—Skimmed, two pints. 
Cheese — Cottage, one-half tablespoon. 
Eggs — One-half, or meat once a day. 
when she wanted to chew I gave her noth¬ 
ing to chew on. wouldn’t let her do it. 
Psychologists tell us that “many instincts 
ripen at a certain age and then fade 
away.” T really believe that was the 
trouble with Mary. The instinct to chew 
had not. been encouraged and had faded 
away. Later on when I wanted her to eat 
solid food there was no impulse. It was 
an awful ‘experience and I sometimes 
thought I would lie the one to give up 
first. But I hope I have learned to watch 
for these ripening instincts and see that 
they are not starved to death for lack of 
proper objects. All mothers know there 
is a time when the child wants to cut 
paper, to draw, to keep time with music, 
to hammer, to fold up things, to love ani¬ 
mals. and so on through the almost end¬ 
less list. And the more of these instincts 
that can be satisfied the greater the men¬ 
tal development of the child, and the bet¬ 
ter he is equipped and armed to meet tbe 
world. 
But, to go back to Mary. I had also 
made the mistake of giving her milk 
which was too rich. Hence the doctor’s 
order for skimmed milk. And I had al¬ 
lowed her to drink the milk out of a bot¬ 
tle, long after human beings of her age 
were using cuiie. The habit was very 
strong, and it was a struggle to break it. 
But that is the way with habits. They 
keep getting stronger. A cousin of mine 
who is a doctor in Brooklyn, told of a 
little girl of his acquaintance who was 
nine years old, and whose only food was 
milk in a bottle. No one could stop her, 
so strong had tlic habit become, and al¬ 
though her health was failing, her pa¬ 
rents seemed unable to do anything. I 
hope my experience may suggest some¬ 
thing helpful. I’m sure it isn't hopeless, 
only very hard for a time. My little 
Mary is all right now, but. you may be 
sure I didn't make the same mistakes 
with the second baby. F f c 
New York. ' ' 
First get the love and sympathy of your 
child, by giving her yours; smile ou her, 
and, above all. do not scold or let her be 
afraid to come to you. All children must 
have someone who believes in them, has 
(Continued on page 895) 
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