Page:Food and cookery for the sick and convalescent.djvu/44

22 seven pounds. Many children have greater weight at birth, while still others weigh less; in either case the children are likely to be healthy. A child loses in weight for the first three or four days, but should regain its birth weight by the end of the second week; then there should be a constant increase of body weight, which should be in proportion to the original weight. The weekly gain should be from five to eight ounces until the fifth month, and from that time until the twelfth month the weekly gain is not as great,—about three and one-half to seven ounces. The child's birth weight should be doubled at five months and trebled at fifteen months. From these figures it can be seen that the most rapid gain is during the first five months. Regular increase in weight is the best and safest guide known for determining the health conditions of the child. Children do not gain as rapidly during the summer months, this being especially true during the teething period.

Nature has provided an animal food for the young of all mammalia, and mother's milk is the typical nourishment for her offspring in the early period of its existence. Statistics show that children among the slums of large cities will survive if fed from the breast, when if artificially fed, death is almost sure to follow.

The baby should be put to the breast six hours after birth; thus the secretion known as colostrum is injected, whose office is to cleanse the alimentary canal, thus preparing it for the milk secretion, which appears usually on the third day. After bathing and dressing, if the child lies quietly, it is left until the time of putting to the breast, but if it cries, one-half tablespoon of sterilized water is given at about 99° F.,—the temperature of the child at birth. Children, like adults, need more water than is found in the food, and the baby should be given one-half tablespoon boiled water every four hours, after the second day—the quantity being increased in proportion to the increase of the stomach capacity. It is best to have the baby drink it from a spoon, especially if it is to be fed