Mother's Remedies Part 151

Unless the amount of sugar is now reduced, what occurs? There follow frequently watery, splashy stools with much gas and foul odors.

Is cane or granulated sugar safe to use after six months? It does not usually produce so much trouble later on.

Suppose milk sugar produces irritation? The quant.i.ty used should be reduced to one ounce to twenty-five ounces of food or even less for a short time.

As a rule should milk sugar be preferred the first six months? Yes.

What are the best grades of milk sugar? Merck's, Mallinkrotz's, or Squibb's.

Is sugar added to sweeten and make the milk palatable? No; although it does that, its use is to furnish one of the needed elements for the growth of the baby, and it is required by young infants in the largest quant.i.ty.

How do we know that this is true? Because in good mothers' milk the amount of sugar is greater than that of the fat, proteids, and salts combined.

As cows' milk has nearly three times as much proteids (curds) and salts as mothers' milk, how can these be diminished? By diluting the cows' milk.

How much should cow's milk be diluted for a very young infant? Diluted twice will give almost the same proportion of proteids present as in mothers' milk, but as the proteids of cows' milk are so much harder for the infant to digest, the milk should, in the beginning, be diluted five or six times for most infants.

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Does the diluted cows' milk with lime-water and sugar added resemble mothers' milk? No; for this mixture does not contain enough fat.

How can this be remedied? By increasing the fat in the milk before it is diluted.

How is this done? By adding top milk or milk and cream.

What is the top-milk? It is the upper layer of milk, one-third or one-half of milk removed after it has stood a certain number of hours,--six to eight hours.

How is the strength of the top-milk measured? By the fat it contains. A ten per cent milk contains a ten per cent of fat; a seven per cent milk contains a seven per cent of fat.

Are these strengths used for infant feeding? Yes, they are most used.

What increases the percentage of fat in the top-milk? 1. The longer time it stands. 2. Manner of its removal. 3. Number of ounces removed. 4.

Thickness of the milk used.

When is top-milk removed? If milk is fresh from the cow or before the cream has risen, is bottled and rapidly cooled, it may be removed in four hours. It does not make much difference in bottled milk, and it may stand much longer.

How should top-milk be removed? Skim carefully off with a spoon, or cream- dipper (specially prepared) holding one ounce. It may be taken off with a gla.s.s or rubber syphon, never pour it off.

How can ten per cent top-milk be obtained from the different kinds of cow's milk? From rather poor milk (three to three and one half per cent fat) remove the upper eight ounces from a quart.

How can it be obtained from good average milk (four per cent fat?) Remove the upper eleven ounces or one-third.

From rich Jersey milk (five and five one-half per cent fat)? By removing sixteen ounces or upper one-half from the quart.

How is seven per cent top-milk obtained? 1. By removing the upper eleven ounces or one-third of a quart from poor milk. 2. By removing the upper half from average milk. 3. By removing two-thirds or about twenty-two ounces from rich Jersey milk. As stated before the seven per cent and ten per cent are the two kinds generally used.

If top-milk is treated in this way, is it like the human milk? The proportion of the fluids and solids are about the same, but the elements are different. The curd (alb.u.minous element) is still different in structure and action from the same element in human milk. The curd of human milk when it is met by the gastric juice in the stomach coagulates in minute particles, and the pepsin acts upon this very readily, but the curd of cows' milk being much coa.r.s.er and firmer coagulates under these conditions, into large hard clots or ma.s.ses, and these are quite indigestible if the child's stomach is sour from an under amount of acid being present.

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How can we prevent this? By adding some bland and nonirritating substance to the milk which will mingle with the particles of curd and separate them until the gastric juice can act upon each separate particle and digest it.

What can we use for this purpose? Barley or oatmeal water or gruel is best.

What is cream? It is the part of the milk containing the most fat.

How is cream now obtained? By skimming after it has stood for twenty-four hours, "gravity cream"; by a separator, and it is then known as "centrifugal cream"; (most of the cream now sold in cities is "centrifugal cream").

How much fat has the usual "gravity cream?" Sixteen to twenty per cent.

How much fat is contained in cream removed from the upper one fifth of a bottle of milk? About sixteen per cent.

How much does the usual centrifugal cream contain? Eighteen to twenty per cent fat.

How much does the heavy centrifugal cream contain? Thirty-five to forty per cent fat.

Should the milk be boiled for babies in the summer time? No, not usually.

FOOD FOR HEALTHY INFANTS.--FOR EARLY MONTHS.

These directions, etc., are for healthy infants. Directions for such as are suffering from digestive disturbances will be given later. I have in preceding pages given formulas for feeding children. I give these additional, because not all children can be fed the same way and it may be well to have the two sets of formulas.

What important parts are to be remembered when we are modifying cow's milk for the early month's feeding? That sugar is the most easily digested, fat comes next, while the proteids (curd) are the most difficult.

What relation should the fat and proteids bear to each other during the earlier periods? Usually in healthy infants the fat (cream) should be three times the proteids (curds). Some healthy infants do not digest fat so well and they should have only twice as much fat as proteids (curds--skim-milk).

What per cent milk must be used to obtain three times as much fat as proteids?

Ten per cent milk.

How can we obtain ten per cent milk? As top milk, described on another page, or by using plain milk and ordinary cream (sixteen per cent), in equal parts mixed; or it may be obtained directly from the milk laboratories.

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Which is better to do, use the top-milk or mix plain milk and ordinary cream? If the milk is fresh from the cows, it is best then to use the top-milk, because the food can then be made up after it is only a few hours old.

If one uses bottled milk, in cities, the upper third may be used, but if milk and cream are bought separately it is usually more convenient to mix these, as cream will not rise uniformly upon the milk a second time.

What per cent milk must be used to obtain twice as much fat as proteids?

Use for dilution a seven per cent milk, that is, milk containing seven per cent fat, as in this milk the fat is just twice the proteids.

How is this obtained? Same as top-milk, described on another page; or by mixing three parts of plain milk and one part of ordinary cream (sixteen per cent), or by obtaining it directly from the milk laboratories.

How should we prepare the food for the early months? Granted you make up twenty ounces at a time, first obtain the ten per cent, or seven per cent, milk to be used, then take the number of ounces of this called for in the formula desired. One must remember that to make twenty ounces of food one ounce of milk sugar (or three even tablespoonfuls) and one ounce of lime-water must be used. The rest of the food is boiled water and the per cent milk.

FIRST SERIES--Five formulas for early months for ten per cent milk: Formulas. 1 2 3 4 5 10 per cent milk 2 oz. 3 oz. 4 oz. 5 oz. 6 oz.

*Milk Sugar 1 oz. 1 oz. 1 oz. 1 oz. 1 oz.