Page:Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management.djvu/2124

1914 four ounces are sufficient at each meal. Of course, when the teeth begin to appear, other articles of food require to be given as well.

A regular method of feeding should be practised from the first, and a sufficient interval must be allowed to elapse between one meal and another, in order that the act of digestion may be completed.

For the first month the child may be fed every two and a half or three hours during the day, and every four hours during the night, as in the case of a breast-fed child. From this time onwards the child should be fed at regular intervals of three hours, from five in the morning till eleven at night. It should not be fed between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. For the first month 1 part of boiled milk to 2 parts of boiled water should be given, gradually increasing the proportion of milk till at the beginning of the ninth month the infant is taking equal parts of boiled milk and water.

A teaspoonful of cream should be added to each feed, and one lump sugar.

In feeding infants at birth and during the first few weeks of their existence, it is necessary to know the size of the infant's stomach in order that the amount given at each meal is not greater than the infant can digest. At birth the stomach holds about three tablespoonfuls, and its capacity gradually increases as the child grows. At eight months the capacity is five times as great.

There are two methods that may be employed in this artificial system of feeding—the one is to give the child its meals from a spoon, the other is to allow it to suck from a bottle. Of these the latter is preferable.

It is most essential to the success of this method of feeding that the bottle or bottles be kept scrupulously clean, as dirty bottles frequently give rise to "thrush." The best form of bottle to use is the boat-shaped one, with a rubber nipple fixed to the end or neck. No bottles with rubber tubes should be used, since milk sticks to the inside of the tube, and cannot be removed. This milk when decomposed will set up diarrhœa. The bottle and teat must be scalded after each meal in hot water and soda, the teat turned inside out, and both rinsed in cold water. They then should be allowed to stand in cold water in which a little boracic acid has been dissolved.

No more food should be made than will serve for one time.

When the teeth begin to appear, which is usually about the sixth or seventh month, the diet requires alteration, but milk must still constitute the chief item of food. In addition, the child may have Mellin's food, some of Allen and Hanbury's prepared foods, Robb's biscuits, Robinson's groats, etc.

When the larger double teeth make their appearance, it is regarded as a sign that a further change in the diet is now become necessary. Milk should continue to form a large part of the child's food, but, in addition, some beef-tea, chicken-tea or mutton broth may be given