OUR BABIES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 2798, 16 October 1924, Page 4

OUR BABIES.

(By Hygcia.)

PRINCIPLES OF ARTIFICIAL

FEEDING

We must recognise that: certain w babies have to be artificially fed. We e have now a baby whose mother (lied I when he was three weeks old; then a we do not advise breast-feeding in e cases of active tuberculosis. There I are also a few women who seem not to have quite enough milk to feed their infants fully, and some artificial means of complementing must be found. For such classes of baby , as these alone one would be justified j in spending a great deal ot care and j attention on artificial feeding, but , there’are in actual fact a great | many added to those, and in re- , sorting to artificial feeding we go into great detail and do not allow any ] guesswork to enter in. If we inquired into it we should find that any good farmer feeds his animals by percentage feeding and yet, wheie babies are concerned we have been content to follow the directions on a tin or to guess —a very unfair procedure to the baby. Dr Truhv King went very minutely into artificial food, taking the standard of human milk as bis principle to work on. What wo have to do is to try to educate a child to take n mixture corresponding as nearly its possible to mother’s milk. [Memo, by TTygoia. —It must he (dearly understood that, however much pains we may take, we shall never be able to modify lire milk of the calf or the goat so as to make it identical with human milk; hut we con readily approximate mother's milk, and by diluting this for a time and working up gradually and cautiously to full strength, the average baby .can generally deal adequately with the artificial preparation in the course of a few weeks—bill sometimes it takes over a month to n neb full si rengili. j Practically every baby can lie taught to digest a food containing (lie components of human milk in approximately the right proportions. We do not aim at making fat babies; we think of the future and try to build up a strong body for the mail ov woMUiti 1 o t'M'wno. l-'ai can he ston'd np in the body, hut protein cannot he stored in the same way and to the same extent. - [Memo by Tlygein. —The excretions or used-up ami waste products arising from the burning of protein in the body are vct;y different from the waste products of fats, sugars, ami .starches. All excreta or waste products arc poisonous, and have to In- got rid of by the excretory organs —kidneys, lungs, etc. The pro duels of the burning of sugars, slarl lies, and fats arc inereK carbonic acid gas and water, both ol winch arc readily got rid of by the lungs, while the water is also eliminated 1,-, the skin and kidneys. The wastepioclucts of protein or ileslt-lorm-ii.g material, on the other band, arc very complex, very poisonous, and are incompletely eliminated if the kidneys are not in good working order, or if these organs are overtaxed by an excess of protein in the food.] Therefore, in giving cow's milk to a baby, we never give more than lmlf the quantity of protein until the baby is six months old. By thus diluting the protein, we also dilute tin* sugar and fat ; lienee it is that we have to add the necessary sugar and fat to ensure their proper proportions in the mixture. That is really all that humanised milk is. Condensed and dried milk can also he modified in the same way, dried milk usually needing more dilution than is recommended in the directions on the tin. We make it all as simple as possible for the mothers, hut any baby who is not normal should have special advice. HUMANISED MILK. . Humanised Milk No. 1 (see recipes. in “Feeding and Care of - Baby” and “The Expectant "Mother and Baby’s First Month") consists of a mixture of whey, milk, limewater and added fat. We split tlui protein and take blit a great deal ot the casein. This is a good preparation for delicate Imhies; hilt, in general, the. lies! and easiest way of preparing Humanised Milk is by the addition of sugar of milk and Blanket Emulsion to fresh cow’s milk diluted*, in the proportion of 12 <>/.. or Id u/ to 17 oz. or 18oz. of water. When starting an infant on any artificial food it is well to go very carefully, especially with the fat. giving not more than hall a . tenspoonfu! a day to begin with, and working up gradually.