The Care and Feeding of Children Part 14

--------------------------------------------------------------------- Hours. Ounces. Ounces.

2d to 7th day 2 2 10 1 -1-1/2 10-15 2d and 3d weeks 2 2 10 1-1/2 - 3 15-30 4th and 5th weeks 2 1 10 2-1/2 - 3-1/2 25-35 6th to 8th week 2-1/2 1 8 3 - 5 24-40 3d to 5th month 3 1 7 4 - 6 28-42 5th to 9th month 3 0 6 5 - 7-1/2 30-45 9th to 12th month 4 0 5 7 - 9 35-45 ---------------------------------------------------------------------

This schedule gives the averages for healthy children The smaller quant.i.ties are those required by small children whose digestion is not very vigorous. The larger quant.i.ties are those required by large children with strong digestion; in very few cases will it be advisable to go above these figures.

The interval is reckoned from the beginning of one feeding to the beginning of the next one.

_When should the interval between the feedings be lengthened?_

When there is gastric indigestion as shown by habitual vomiting or the regurgitation of food long after the bottle is finished; also when the appet.i.te is very poor so that the infant regularly leaves some of its food.

_When should the interval between the feedings be shortened?_

This is done much too frequently; it is rarely advisable to feed any infant, except one seriously ill, oftener than the time put down in the schedule.

REGULARITY IN FEEDING

_How can a baby be taught to be regular in its habits of eating and sleeping?_

By always feeding at regular intervals and putting to sleep at exactly the same time every day and evening.

_When should regular training be begun?_

During the first week of life.

_Should a baby be wakened to be nursed or fed if sleeping quietly?_

Yes, for a few days. This will not be required long, for with regular feeding an infant soon wakes regularly for its meal, almost upon the minute.

_Should regularity in feeding be kept up at night as well as during the day?_

Only up to nine or ten o'clock; after that time a baby should be allowed to sleep as long as it will.

_At what age may a well baby go without food from 10 P.M. to 6 or 7 A.M.?_

Usually at four months, and always at five or six months. Night feeding is one of the most frequent causes of wakefulness and disturbed sleep.

STERILIZED MILK

_What is meant by sterilizing milk?_

Heating milk for the purpose of destroying germs.

_Does all cows milk contain germs?_

Yes; even when handled most carefully, milk contains many germs; but when carelessly handled, and in summer, the number is enormous. While most of these are harmless or cause only the souring of milk, others are occasionally present which may produce serious diseases such as typhoid fever, diphtheria scarlet fever, cholera, tuberculosis, and many forms of diarrhoea.

_Under what circ.u.mstances is it necessary to sterilize milk?_

1. In warm weather when it cannot be obtained fresh; hence always in cities and towns during the summer.

2. When one cannot be certain that the cows are healthy, or that the milk has been carefully handled.

3. When the milk is to be kept for any considerable time (i.e., over twenty-four hours), especially if no ice can be had.

4. During epidemics of typhoid fever, scarlet fever, diphtheria, or any form of diarrhoeal disease.

_What are the two methods of heating milk?_

The first is known as _sterilizing_, in which the milk is heated to 212 F. for one hour or one hour and a half; the second is known as _pasteurizing_, in which the milk is heated to 155 or 170 F. for thirty minutes. A temperature of 155 F. continued for thirty minutes is sufficient to kill the germs of the diseases above referred to.

_Will milk which has been thus treated keep indefinitely?_

No; for although all the living germs may be killed, there are many undeveloped germs, or spores, which are not destroyed, and which soon grow into living germs. Milk heated to 212 F. for an hour will keep upon ice for two or three weeks; that heated to 155 F. for two or three days.

_Is milk which has been sterilized always a safe food?_

No; for the reason that the milk may be so old, so dirty, and so contaminated before sterilizing that it may be still unfit for food, though it contains no living germs.

_Is cow's milk rendered more digestible by being heated in this way?_

Sterilizing milk does not improve its digestibility but rather the contrary. Sterilized milk should be modified for infant feeding in the same way as milk which has not been heated.

_Is milk in any way injured by heating to 212 F. for an hour?_

There is abundant evidence that milk is rendered less digestible by such heating; also that it is more constipating, and that for some children its nutritive properties are interfered with, so that it may cause scurvy; this, however, is not seen unless it is continued as the sole food for a long period. These objections are of so much importance that this plan of heating milk is not to be recommended for general use.

_When is it advantageous to heat milk to 212 F.?_

For use upon long journeys, such as crossing the ocean. Milk should then be heated for one hour upon two successive days, without removing the cotton stoppers from the bottles.

_Is milk in any way injured by heating to 155 F. for thirty minutes?_

This point is not yet definitely settled. Such heating does not affect the taste of milk and does not render it more constipating. The unfavourable effects; if there are any, are so slight that they need not deter one from the use of pasteurized milk, even for long periods.

The preference, however, should always be given to milk which is so clean and so fresh as not to require any heating.

_How should milk be pasteurized?_

A convenient form of apparatus is that known as Freeman's pasteurizer[5]; another is the Walker-Gordon pasteurizer.[6]

[5] This can be obtained at 411 West Fifty-ninth Street, New York, with bottles and full directions; a tin one, at a cost of $3.50, and a copper one, which is much more durable, for $7.00.

[6] Obtained at the same prices from any of the Walker-Gordon milk laboratories.

_How should milk be cooled after pasteurizing?_

Always by placing the bottles in cold water, so as to cool them rapidly; never by letting them stand at the temperature of the room, or by placing them, when warm, in an ice box.