OUR BABIES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 August 1939, Page 8

OUR BABIES

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 of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom.'

Feeding the Child

Milk is a very essential and important part of the toddler’s daily meals. After 12 months, and provided he lakes butter and other foods well, the milk he drinks need not be modified by the addition of Karilac and Kariol. But these should be taken out gradually, and often it is wise to leave some in his milk up to the fifteenth month. Every child needs one pint (or, better still, one pint and a-half) of milk set aside for his use every day. It should be scalded and about five ounces of boiled water added to it, and the whole jug kept cool and covered just as before his first birthday. Three or four ounces of top milk or thin cream should be scalded and set aside for use on puddings and cereals. Milk puddings, milk soups, milk jellies, junket, and Spanish cream are all forms of milk which are given for variety. Oatmeal and wheatmeal form a large part of the toddler’s diet. Up to a year porridge should be strained and given as oat or wheat jelly, but after that a little unstrained porridge is added to the jelly, increasing the amount when certain that the coarser food is not going to upset the child. Usually by 15 to 18 months the child will deal well with unstrained oatmeal porridge which has been well cooked. Watch for frequent or relaxed motions, as these are a warning to proceed slowly with coarser foods. Children vary greatly in this respect. Vegetables are the main part of the mid-day meal. At first these arc given in the form of vegetable puree or soup. The vegetables are well washed (not peeled), cut up, and steamed or boiled with very little water. When soft and most of the water absorbed rub them through a sieve and add a little iodised salt. The best vegetables to use at first arc carrot, cauliflower, spinach, silver beet, and potato. Later on after 15 months the vegetables need not be sieved, and much more variety is introduced, provided the child chews well and undigested particles do not appear in his motions. Butter, red meat gravy, vegetable, water with marmite, and egg yolk can all be served with the vegetables to give more mineral and vitamin content.

Raw vegetables should be introduced when the child has learned to chew properly —usually about the end of the second year. A good way to begin is to sprinkle a little chopped parsley or lettuce on the potato at the midday meal, and they can be given in sandwiches at teatime also.

Raw fruit should be given every day to the toddling child. Oranges supply vitamin C. Give half to one orange and an apple at the end of a meal to clean the teeth by stimulating saliva, which is the natural cleansing material in the mouth. Other, fruits used are apricots, pears, bananas, and peaches; but take care not to give seeded and stone fruit too soon. Very soft fruits, such as banana, should be well mashed with a fork or given in sandwiches to make sure they will not be bolted. Dried fruits such as raisins, dates, prunes, etc., are especially useful in winter time.

Protein foods, apart from milk, are introduced gradually in the last quarter of the first year—at first in the form of mutton, chicken, or fish broths. From a year onward coddled (very lightly boiled) egg can be given two or three times weekly. Pf-e--viously only the yolk has been given with the vegetables or milk, but by the time the child is 15 months the whole egg may be given. By the fifteenth month a little steamed fish, brains, chicken, rabbit, or tripe may be given at the mid-day meal. Give in very small quantities at first —only one or two teaspoonfuls, and increase slowly as the child grows older up to a tablespoonful. After the second year minced liver, grilled mutton chop, or minced steak could be introduced.

Kariol formed the chief part of the fat in the diet up to 12 months. When enough butter is taken and top milk on puddings and porridge it is gradually taken out. Beef dripping could be made a change occasionally from butter for crusts and toast. Kariol, an emulsion containing cod liver oil, is a valuable adjunct to diet for the older child, especially if he has had a cold or any illness. Remember that the food for the toddling child is found in the products of garden and dairy and that there is no need to buy expensive concentrated foods to get the correct allowance of minerals and vitamins if one understands how to cook and how to choose the correct foods. If you give your child daily a pint to a pint and a-half of fresh milk, some fruit and vegetable, wholemeal bread, butter, and either egg, fish, or meat daily, he will be getting all he needs for growth and nutrition.