OUR BABIES.

King Country Chronicle, Volume IX, Issue 744, 10 February 1915, Page 2

OUR BABIES.

Published under the auspices of the Society for the Health of Women and Children. " It'is wiser to put up a fence at the top of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom." "1 humanised milk from unsweetened CONDENSED MILK —FURTHER SIMPLIFICATION Some weeks ago I gave a recipe and instructions for preparing Humanised Milk from unsweetened Condensed Milk, and showed haw very easily this could be carried out. An ordinary' tin of good unsweetened Condensed Milk was taken as the basis —Oil and Sugar of Milk being added in the proportions requisite to bring the main constituents into line with Nature's standard viz.-, Mother's Milk.

Since writing, my attention has heen drawn to the fact that Unsweetened Condensed Milk can be procured throughout the Dominion in tins less than half the ordinary size. This is a very great advantage, because it enables the mother te prepare without the slightest trouble just about the quantity the average baby, say, from the third to-the fifth month, needs for the 24 hours. Consulting the Feeding Table on page 34 of the Society's book, "Feeding and Care of Baby," it will be seen that the progressive standard allowance coveri"i» this period averages from 270z to

I find that the smaller-sized tin of the Ideal Brand contains just enough Condensed Milk to form, along with £oz of Oil and l£oz Sugar of Milk, a pint and a-half—that is, 30oz of Humanised Milik. having practicallv thß Bame strength and composition as Human Milk. As explained in the previous articles, it is preferable to give the milk somewhat weaker in summer time, and as the average nend of the baby in warm weather may be assumed to be about 10 per cent, less than its need in winter, we recommend making the small tin serve for the preparation of 330z instead of 30oz of Humanised Milk. A baby fed with this mixture and given the quantities shown on the Feeding Table month by month, would get just about the right quantity for use throughout the summer. In winter time he could be given about loz more par feeding, or, if preferred, the milk could be made up to the full strength and the standard allowances in the table could be adhered to/ SPECIAL WARNING One point which must always be borne in mind is the supreme importance of breast-feeding for the first nine months of life, and, failing, this, the superiority of Standard Humanised Milk made with fresh cow's milk to anything that can be prepared from tinned milk in any shape or form. Having made the position quite cleer, I shall now repsat the former recipe, merely substituting the figures neeeded when using the smaller tin of Condensed Milk. RECIPE

1. Take a special small-sized tin of Unsweetened Condensed Milk.—The small tin of the Ideal Brand contains just s|oz by weight, and this is the quantity to use in this rceipe.

2. Put the unopened tin into a saucepan of quickly boiling water, deep enough to cover it completely. Keep it there for four minutes; the milk will then be thin enough to flow freely, but will not be hot enough to spurt dangerously when the tin is punctured. If the tin were kept in the boiling water for longer than four minutes a jet of boiling milk might spurt up into the face on making a puncture.

H 3. Remove ths tin from the saucepan and make two small holes in the top by stabbing with a clean scalded spike or the sharp end of a file. —The position of the punctures is an important practical point. They should be as close to the rim as possible, and should be made on exactly opposite sides of the top of the tin. If this is done the hole held downwards Berves for the outflow of milk,, while the top hole serves for the ingoing air. If the holeß are made near one another, the milk may scarcely flow at all, and what does come tends to spurt out in jerks. The best-sized holeß are such that a slate pencil would just enter.

4. Into a clean, scalded, thoroughly hot pint jug. put lloz by weight of sugar of milk.—lnstead of weighing the sugar of milk, it is simpler and easier to use a proper "sugar measure." The standard measure recommended by the Society holds just half a weighed ounce of sugar of milk when filled loosely (not pressed down in- any way), and scraped off level, with the back of a knife. On no account should ordinary tablespoons be used for measuring the sugar; a medicine meaure for fluids would be equally at fault for this purpose. If a sugar measure is not available, procure a chip-box used for ointments from a chemist, and pare it off till it just holds a weighed Joz of sugar of milk, when loosely filled and scraped off level as described. Three meaeurefuls would, of course, give the required lioz. 5. Take a clean, scalded fork and stir into the sugar joz of oil. —The oil should have been heated beforehand by standing the oil bottle in hot water: hot oil blends more readily with the dry sugar and helps emulsion—that is, subdivision of the oil into tiny droplets. Good cod-liver oil, olive oil, or linseed oil. may be used, according to circumstances. I Bhall deal with this in a later article. To form a well-blended, creamy paste pour in an ounce or two of the hot condensed milk, ard beat thoroughly. Then pour in the rest of the contents of the tin, and beat up the emulsion vigorously for five minutes. Now stir in a measured lljoz of boiling water, and stand the jug,

loosely covered, for five minutes in a warm place (say on a moderately warm part of the range or on the hob.) This will scorch or kill any germs that may have gained entry. At the end of the five minutes, to ensure thorough blending, pour the milk briskly backwards and forwards half a dozen times, using another clean, scalded jug which has been standing cool and covered ready for the ourpose. HOW TO KEEP AND TREAT THE PREPARED MILK We now have nearly 170z —say 16Joz when cooled —of Concentrated Humanised Milk —nearly enough to form double the quantity—33oz, or nearly one and a-half pints—of Standard Humanised Milk, as used for feeding the baby. All that needs to be done to keep th« milk safe is to cool down the contents of the jug as rapidly as possible, and keep cool. This is effected by standing the jug, loosely covered with a saucer turned upside down, in cold water —preferably running water—for half an hour. Then transfer the jug to a cool, airy place. Thus treated, the mixture will keep quite well for 24 hours in hot weather N.B. —If not stirred and blended from time to time, some of the oil tends to rise up and float on the top. To prevent this, keep an extra pint jug always ready, and pour the milk briskly backwards and forwards from the one to the other half a doztn times at each feeding period, just before pouring out the allowance for the baby's meal. Both jugs must be kept covered with inverted saucers in a cool, airy place; but there is no necessity to wash and scald either jug more often than every twelve hours. WARNING Never Btart using the above, or any other form of artificial food, of the standard strength the baby's stomach should be habituated more or less gradually to the use of any unaccustomed preparation. It may be desirable to delay reaching full strength Humanised Milk for one, two, or three weeks, or even longer, according to the age, health, and digestive power of the particular infant. The mother will have little difficulty in judging how to proceed if she carefully reads page 30 of the Society's book, "Feeding and Care of Baby," and makes use of the table given in the column last month.