OUR BABIES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24405, 17 September 1940, Page 10

OUR BABIES

By Hygela

Published under the auspices of the Royal New Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children iPlunket Society)

"It ts wiser to put up a fence at the top of a precipice than to maintain an cTtibuldtice at the hottovu

FEEDING FROM TWELVE TO FIFTEEN MONTHS (Continued)

By the time baby is 15 months old he is able to eat heartily and take a good proportion of solid food, and his humanised milk may be discontinued altogether. Gradually the Karilac and Kariol is lessened, according to the instructions of the Plunket nurse. Karil, the emulsion for older children, may be given as an adjunct to the diet if thought necessary. The quantity of milk to drink is 250 z, diluted with soz of boiled water, the water being gradually decreased. Solid, Tough, Dry or Hard BreadCrusts and oven-dried bread or crisp toasted bread can be given with a little butter or dripping. Don’t butter toast when hot. Use white bread at first, gradually introducing wholemeal.

Cereal jellies should be continued. Gradually mix in some unstrained porridge with the strained jelly. As time goes on less and less needs to be strained, till at 18 months all is unstrained. Broths.—Fish broth, chicken broth, bone or mutton broth, made with pear! barley or rice and sliced vegetables.

Vegetables. Spinach, cauliflower, carrot, turnip, marrow, and floury potato (cooked in its skin), rubbed through a fine sieve and served warm with a little butter or meat gravy vithout fat.

Puddings.—Pulp of baked apple or stewed prunes, introducing fresh apricot and peach pulp, milk jelly, junket, orange or lemon jelly; well-cooked ground rice and semolina and custard. As soon as the baby has four or more teeth he should be taught to chew, and raw. ripe apple should be given under careful supervision. He may be taught by having a little scraped on his teeth or grated fine and fed with a spoon. Continue giving the juice of some raw fruit or vegetable daily. Eggs.—During this period introduce the white of coddled egg, and by the time he is 15 months old give him a whole coddled egg two or three times a week.

Commence adding animal protein to his meal at midday. Brains or fish (one teaspoonful, increasing slowly to not more than one tablespoonful) can be given with his vegetables. F.ed meat gravy added to the vegetables is nutritious also, as it provides a good form of iron.

Get the baby accustomed to a dry evening meal—that is, a meal without any mushy food. The child’s capacity to chew naturally will guide the mother in this matter. If baby is educated to chew hard foods, such as crusts and oven-dried bread, from the ninth month onwards, at this period he should be able to take a large proportion of his food in the hard, dry form. “Pap feeding” is unnatural for the child who has teeth.

Suggested Menu for a Day for Child

from 12 to 15 Months

Early morning drink —6oz to Boz of scalded and diluted milk. Breakfast (8 to 8.30 a.m.)—Twicebaked bread or crisp toast and butter, two or three fingers; porridge (oatmeal or wheatmeal, partly strained), six to eight tablespoonfuls. with. 2oz scalded top milk over it; drink of milk mixture; piece of raw, ripe apple. Dinner (12 to 12.30 p.m.)—Twicebaked bread, one or two fingers; a coddled egg with green vegetables such as spinach or silver beet, or steamed fish, one to two teaspoonfuls, with sieved vegetables, three to four tablespoonfuls (spinach, cauliflower, carrot, silver beet, potato, etc., as convenient or in season); butter, half a teaspoonful; prune or peach pulp, one or two tablespoonfuls with one or two tablespoonfuls of top milk; drink of milk mixture if junket not given; piece of raw, ripe apple. Tea (5 p.ra.)—Baked crusts, with butter, honey, or marmite, two or three fingers; milk jelly with baked apple or fruit pulp if desired, or oat or wheatmeal jelly.

Note.—The early morning drink may be discontinued as soon as the child takes sufficient milk with the three main meals. A drink of water or fruit or vegetable juice may be substituted, breakfast being made the first meal of the day.