OUR BABIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 4032, 23 June 1931, Page 59

OUR BABIES.

By

Hygria,

Published under the auspices of the Royal New Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children (Plunket Society). “ It is wiser to put up a fence at the top qf a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom.** t

PLUNKET NURSES. ETC.. DUNEDIN BRANCH. • NURSES' SERVICES FREE. Nurses O’Shea (telephone 23-348). Isbister (telephone 10-866), Thomson, Scott, and Ewart (telephone 10-216). and Mathieson (telephone 23-020). Society's Rooms: Jamieson's Buildings. 6 Lower Stuart street (telephone 10-216) Office hours: Daily from 2 to 4 p.m. (except Saturday and Sunday) and 10 a.m. to noon on Tuesdays. Thursdays, and Fridays; 315 King Edward street. South Dunedin. 2 to 4 p.m daily (except Saturday and Sunday) and 10 a.m to noon on Fridays; also 125 Highgate. Roslyn— Monday and Thursday from 2 to 4 p.m.: Gospel Hall, Mailer street. Mornington— Monday and Wednesday 2 to 4 p.m.; Kelsey Yaralla Kindergarten — Monday and Friday from 2 to 4 p.m.; Baptist Sunday School. Sunshine—Monday and Wednesday from 2 to 4 p.m.; 211 Main North road. North-East Valley—Tueadays. 2 to 4 p.m.; Kindergarten Caversham—Thursdays. 2 to 4 p.m Out-stations: Baptist Church. Gordon road. Mosgiel—Tuesday afternoons from 3 to 4 o’clock; Presbyterian Church Hall. Outram—alternate Fridays, 2 to 4 p.m.; Municipal Buildings Port ChalmersWednesday afternoons from 2 to 4 o’clock; also Hall. Macandrew’s Bay—Fridays 2 to 4 p.m. Administrative Secretary, Miss G. Hoddinott, Jamieson’s Buildings. Stuart street (telephone 10-216) Karitane-Harris Baby Hospital, Anderson’s Bay (telephone 22-985) Matron. Miss Hilditch Demonstrations given on request every Wednesday afternoon from 2.30 by Plunket Nurses and Karitane Baby Nurses. Visiting hours: 2to 4 p.m.. Wednesday. Friday and Sunday.

NEW FOODS FOR THE BABY BETWEEN 12 AND 15 MONTHS. From 12 months onwards greater variety is necessary in the baby’s diet, and this will be appreciated if training has been carried out during the previous three months along the lines indicated last week. Now arises the question of exactly what new foods are suitable between 12 and 15 months. To continue with the question and answer method: Question : How should one proceed in regard to baby’s feeding from the beginning of this period t Answer : We will answer this question by taking the new foods in the order in which it is usually best and easiest to introduce them. First, however, you understand that you continue as before to give cereal jellies, increasing the proportion of unstrained porridge bit by bit as described, last week. You also continue to give twice-baked bread, crusts, crisp toast, and stale bread. It is mostly at the middle day meals that new foods are introduced, and baby may have either baked apple pulp or a few ounces of broth at this meal any day round about his first birthday’.

Baked Apple-— To prepare, cook the apple well, and press the pulp through a wire sieve (unless, of course, it happens to be absolutely fine and fluffy). Add a few grains of sugar if the apple is tart. Give only a teaspoonful or two at first, and gradually increase to one or two tablespoonfuls. Serve nice and warm with a few teaspoonfuls of top milk or thin cream. Needless to say, raw ripe apple should be continued as described last week, or introduced if not already started.

Prune Pulp.— As an alternative to apple, the pureed pulp of stewed prunes may be given, also with a little top milk or thin cream.

Broth.— Mutton broth is perhaps the usual standby, but vegetable-milk broth is equally’ good. At first strain the broth clear. After a few days add some of the pulp by pressing the vegetables cooked in the broth through a wire sieve. All sorts of vegetables, both roots and greens, should be cooked in the broth, and also barley and rice. This applies whether mutton stock is used or not. Clear meat broth contains very little nourishment, but all vegetables contain mineral and other elements which are absolutely essential for health. The broth may be slightly thickened with a little ground rice or semolina, or a finger of twicebaked bread may be crumbled into it. Start with about an ounce, given by spoon, and increase to three or four ounces.

Vegetables. — Baby’s taste and digestion has by now become accustomed to vegetables cooked in broth, and the next step is to introduce them separately. Spinach, cauliflower, carrot, and floury potatoes are the best vegetables to use at this early stage. Potatoes should be baked or boiled in the skin, and other vegetables should be thoroughly cooked, but not “ cooked to rags.” Save the water from all vegetables for soups. Press the pulp through a fine sieve and serve warm, with a dab of butter or a few. teaspoonfuls of meat gravy, starting with two or three teaspoonfuls and increasing bit by bit as the child grows accustomed to the new taste. Introduce only one new flavour at a time. Later two or three vegetables may be given together. Puddings.— Well-cooked milk puddings may be given, now, alone or with apple or prune pulp. Ground rice and semolina are the best. Sago may be used occasionally for a change, but avoid cornflour, which is pure starch. Junket may

be given for a change, and later a little steamed custard. Q.: What about eggs f .A. : Eggs need to be introduced cautiously, and it is not as a rule advisable to give egg regularly until towards the end of this period. Begin by giving just a taste of yolk on a finger of bread. Baby may thus be accustomed to the new flavour before egg becomes a regular part of his diet. Work up to about half the yolk with breadcrumbs and vegetables, given two or three times a week at the middle day meal. A little of . the white may be added later. The digestibility or otherwise of eggs largely depends on the method of cooking. “ Coddling ” or light poaching is best. To coddle : Place the ogg in water which is boiling fast and cover the pan. Immediately remove from the stove and stand aside for five to seven minutes. The white will then be lightly set. Q. : How much milk does baby need noio ? A. : The average baby may start this period on a mixture consisting of about 220 z of milk and Boz of water, with the addition of one tablespoonful of Karilae' and three teaspoonfuls of Kariol. After the end of the first year the Karilae and j b e gradually discontinued, lhe days mixture may then consist of 20oz (one pint) of whole milk and about soz of water. The milk should always be properly scalded. Q. •• How often should baby be fed now f .A. : Four feeds a day are quite sufficient from the end of the first year. Give baby a drink of milk mixture on waking—6oz to Boz. It is usually best to give breakfast about 8.30 to 9, dinner about 1 o’clock, and tea about 5, but, of course, the actual times will be fixed to suit the habits qf the individual household. Regularity is essential, whatever the hours chosen. The early morning milk drink may be discontinued as soon as the child takes sufficient milk (i.e., about one pint) with the three main meals. A drink of water or diluted fruit juice may then be substituted, breakfast being*made the first meal of the day. Orange or other fruit or vegetable juice should be given at least once a day, also drinks of plain boiled water between meals.

-Q- : Could you make some suggestions about actual meals ? _A. : Breakfast should consist of porridge and milk followed by crisp toast or baked bread and butter and a drink of milk. Dinner time provides variety. Go slowly for the first week or two, as we have said before, introducing only one new food at a time, and following this by 6oz to Boz of milk mixture. As baby gets settled into his stride, as it were, he should eat a good meal of solid food, and then will require only 4oz or soz of milk to drink at the end. Tea.— At first give a spoon feed of cereal jelly or milk pudding at tea time, followed by bread or toast and butter and a drink of milk. But the ideal to aim at is a “ dry ” evening meal—that is, one without any pappy food, consisting solely of food which needs chewing. This is only achieved by patient and persevering training of the child. Undoubtedly it is easier to take the line of least resistance and continue spoonfeeding, but for the sake of the teeth, not to mention the development of the jaws and v the health of the nose and throat, it is most important to give as much of the dailyfood as possible in dry, hard, or tough form. Dinner must necessarily consist largely of soft foods (though even for dinner one or more fingers of twice-baked bread should be given to ensure some “jaw work”), so attention should be concentrated on educating the child at tea time. Most children enjoy thin slices of bread toasted or baked in the oven until crisp—with butter, of course—and will soon learn to eat enough of this “ hard tack ” to form a good and sufficient meal, with 6oz or 7oz of milk and a piece of apple to follow. . As soon as possible the child should be trained to chew a piece of raw apple at the end of every meal. This leaves the mouth clean and healthy.

Suggested Meals for Child from ]2 to 15 Months. Early Morning Drink : Milk mixture, Goz to Boz. Breakfast, 8.30-9 a.m. : Porridge (oatmeal or wheatmeal), partly strained, seven to nine tablespoonfuls; top milk with this, 2oz. (No sugar, salt in cooking.) Twice-baked bread or crisp toast and butter, two to three fingers (or as much as hungry for). Drink of milk mixture, soz to 6oz. Piece of raw ripe apple last. Dinner, 12.30-1 p.m. : 1. Vegetable milk broth, 3oz to 4oz. Twicebaked bread, two fingers. Baked apple, one small ; top milk, Joz. Drink of milk mixture, 4oz to soz. Piece of raw ripe apple last. Or: 2. Sieved vegetables, three to four tablespoonfuls. (Spinach and potato, cauliflower and carrot, tender young greens, etc., as convenient or In season) ; butter, half a teaspoonful, or meat gravy, one to two tablespoonfuls. Twice-baked bread, one to two fingers. Junket, one to two tablespoonfuls; prune pulp, one to two tablespoonfuls; top milk, two tablespoonfuls. • Milk mixture, 4oz to soz. Piece of apple last. Or: 3. Half a coddled egg. Bread and butter or toast and butter, three to four fingers. Semolina pudding, two to three tablespoonfuls; apple pulp, two to three tablespoonfuls; top milk, two tablespoonfuls. Milk mixture, 4oz to soz. Piece of apple last. Tea, 5 p.m. : 1. Oat or wheat meal jelly, 3oz to 4oz; milk, 2oz. Twice-baked bread and butter, toast, or bread and butter, two to three fingers (or as much as hungry for). Milk mixture, 4oz to soz. Piece of raw apple. Or: 2. Baked apple, one to two tablespoonfuls; top milk, Joz. Toast and butter. Milk mixture, soz to 6oz. Piece of apple. Or : 3. Twice-baked bread, toast, or bread and butter, as much as hungry for. Milk mixture, 6oz to 7oz. Piece of. apple.