OUR BABIES.

Marlborough Express, Volume LI, Issue 84, 11 April 1917, Page 6

OUR BABIES.

By fiygela,

Published unaer the auspices of tho Society for the Health, of Women and Children.

, "It is wiser to put ■up a fence ai the top of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom."

FOOD T3LI3MEOT"!S FOlt BABIES.

The elementary \ food constituent* needed for babies are essentially the same as for adults, except that starch largely replaces sugar after the^ finsfc year, and fats and albumens, decided[mainly from plants, meat, Jfeh, eggs, etc., tend to take the place, more or less, of the constituents derived, at first, solely from milk.-

The letters of inquiry which reach us regarding foods and feeding show clearly that the generality of people know practically nothing as to the simplest first principles of dietetics, arid one feels what a pity it is that we wore given no? j instruction at school.on this very, important matter. Without some notion on the part of my readers as to the mere A B C ofjthe subject, it is very difficult for me to1 give an intelligible answer to the various food questions which come to me from time to time. I have a collection of these by me, and perhaps tho most illuminating way of- dealing w^ith the- subject will be, to use the question and answer method, eonfip.ing myself to normal feeding in the first nine months ofi life, thus avoiding reference to anything more than the simple constituents of milk.

FOOD COMPONENTS. Question. —What are the essential elements of a baby's food? Answer.—The normal food for a young bi^by is mbthor's milk, which consists of" sugar, fat, proteid, salts; and water.

COMPOSITION OF HUMAN

MILK

Itt.lOOozs. of human milk there are on the average* Sugar 'known as "sugar of T milk") 7055. Fat 4oz. Proteid <also called albuwenous, or "flt>sh-form- lH ing" material; " lloz.-1 •Salts' ..- ' under Joa. Water ... ...... :..' 87 : foz. Total ..- .-..\ ... ... lQOoz. Question.— ' Are the proportions of the food elements same iv cow's miiL as in ' mother's milk ? Answer .--No. The total weight >nf food present is feirailar, but cow's milk contains. 5 per cent., instead of 7 per cent., -of'"•sugar, arid from 3 to 4 ;?«"• cent, of pi'dte-id, instead of the •av-orage.-.H per cent, found in, human milic. ."■ ■ - ... , composition of (jow's milk; In lOOoz of cow's milk there are on r.he. ( average: Sugar soz. Fat) ...■ ... ... 3oz. to. 4oz. Proteid ... 3oz. to 4ozr--Sairc ... ... .-.-,. ..,. ... ?oz. Water ... about 87oz. Total .. ... ... ... lOOoz. !

Question.-^ls not eo\y's milk much "stronger than, human milk? I have always 4inderstood that one hnd to dilute caw's milk before giving ifc to a bnbv. .. .

Answer.—Cow's milk is not perceptibly ''stronger" than -mother's milk, in the sense of containing more food per pint for nourishing, building, or burning/ purposes. Cow's milk is stronger onlj' in the sense ,th«it tho curd (which consists mainly of casein or pi'otoid, or fiesh-forming j^'at^rial) is coai'ser, harder, and less digestible':, on this account cow's milk has ito■ be diluted, and ?o thinned, before a baby's stomach will tolerate it.

Questioi::.—Does the excess of hard curd or - casein in cow's milk do any harm to the baby? ' n Answer .—Yes; it tends to be highly injurious ■in two ways-—viz.: (1) The delicate digestive organs bocome dye'rtaxad,. and the baby tends to suffer fi vom indigestion and diarrhcea, due !partly to irritation and partiv to the undigested curd remaining v\ €he bowel and tending to putnfy there instead" of being dissolved and absorbed into the blv>od ; . (2) If two or 'three times as mnehcastiin or prateid is absorbed as the baby can use for building purposes, the excess has to ho burned jin the body, and tho waste products must bo grot rid of by tho kidneys, thus throwing excoss of work on, thotfe ■ organs and damaging them. , /If the kidneys fail "in their tnsk the« wasto products of the proteid, which arc highly poisonous, accumulate in the sysr.em, and the gravest rcsuici* may follow. ■ '

Question.- —;Ts trioro any .means by which these damaging effects of the use of cow's milk in baby-feoding can be avoided?

.V]niswer.—Certainly ; the quantity of caseinr proteid, or flash-forming, ■material can be-reduced to tho proportion found in mother's milk by resorting to tho j-imple process known as "humanising.-"" JBHip way tr> pre-1 pare "humanisod milk" is shown on pages 23 and 25 of tho Society's book .'"Feeding and Onre of l>aby." Not only is the proteid reduced to tlw proper proportion in humnised milk," but what is loft in. rendered morp digestible by the addition of lime water; and the sugar of milk is nlfjo brought up to the proper standard— in other words, mother's milk is imitated as nearly as possible—but no imitation can over be equal to the pennine article. Qiiestion — Would human milk suit a calf? Answer.—Certainly rot. A calf is designed to grow nearly three times as quickly as r» baby, and th.H is why Nature puts nearly .three tinrKs tho proportion .of proteid, or fleshforming material, in'cow's'milk. Even Ihe «;oars;ene'sS of the curd in cow's milk ig beneficial for the calf, bo-\

.-■ause the pi-actico .which its stomach gains in dealing with this crude material enables it soon to cope with and digest grass, hay, etc. We can never go far astray if we follow tht» lines of .Nature. Nature never varies things without a purpose. . .