This section is from the book "A Handbook Of Invalid Cooking", by Mary A. Boland. Also available from Amazon: Handbook of Invalid Cooking.
Manner of Giving. It is best to give milk from a bottle so constructed that suction is necessary, for it induces the flow of the digestive juices. Use the plain rubber nipple; those with tube attachments which extend into the bottle are to be avoided, on account of the difficulty of making them perfectly clean inside. Cultures from these tubes always give large numbers of bacteria, as do also those made from the nipples, unless they are boiled.
The intervals of feeding will vary somewhat with the age of the child. Once in two or two and a half hours during the day for the first six months, and every three hours from the sixth to the twelfth month, is the general rule.
The temperature of the meal should be 100° Fahr.
A babe needs less variety in its food than older children, and they in turn require less than grown persons; but both must have a certain proportion of the five essential food principles.
There is an impression in the minds of many that children should not have fat. This has perhaps sprung from the fact that mother's milk has a watery, thin appearance. It seems not rich; nevertheless it has a due proportion of fat, and it is extremely important that this be maintained when cow's milk is diluted, for this cream is the best addition.
Fat is needed not only for the growth of brain and nerves, which is very rapid in children, but also for the perfect formation of other tissues.
The following table is that given by Dr. Louis Starr as a guide for feeding:
Age. | Intervals of Feeding. | Average Am't each Meal. | Average Am't in 24 hours. |
First week................ | 2 hours | 2 tablespoons | l 1/4 pints |
Second to sixth week...... | 2 1/2 hours | 3-4 tablespoons | 1 1/2 - 2 pints |
Sixth week to sixth month. | 3 hours | 6-8 tablespoons | 2 1/2-3 pints |
At six months. | 3 hours | 12 tablespoons | 4 1/2 pints |
At ten Months | 3 hours | 16 tablespoons | 5 pints |
1 Tablespoon of whey.1 2/3 Tablespoon of cream.
1 Tablespoon of water. 1/6 Teaspoon of sugar.
Or Biedert's cream mixture:
1 Tablespoon of cream. 3 Tablespoons of water.
1/4 Teaspoon of milk-sugar.
Or,
1 Tablespoon of milk. 3 Tablespoons of water.
1/4 Teaspoon of milk-sugar.
If it is desirable to make at once a sufficient quantity of Biedert's cream mixture for several feedings, the above rule multiplied by eight will furnish enough for eight bottles, and is as follows: one cup of cream, three cups of boiling water, and one tablespoon of milk-sugar. Mix all together; put the mixture in equal portions into eight feeding-bottles, and plug each with cotton. Either sterilize it or put it immediately on ice to keep.
 
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