FOOD, the general term for what is eaten by man and other creatures for the sustenance of life. The scientific aspect of human food is dealt with under NUTRITION; DIET and DIETETICS.
Infancy.—The influence of a normal diet upon the health of man (we exclude here the question of diet in illness, which must depend on the abnormal conditions existing) begins at the earliest stage of his life. No food has as yet been found so suitable for the young of all animals as their mother's milk. This, however, has not been from want of seeking. Baron Justus von Liebig, as the result of his chemical researches, introduced a "food for infants," which in more modern days has been followed by a multiplication of patent foods. A close imitation of human milk may also be made by adding to fresh cow's milk half its bulk of soft water, in each pint of which has been mixed a heaped-up teaspoonful of powdered "sugar of milk" and a pinch of phosphate of lime. These artificial substitutes for the natural nutriment have their value where for any reason it is not available. The wholesomest food, however, for the first six months is certainly mother's milk alone. It is only when the teeth are on their way to the front, as shown by dribbling, that the parotid glands secrete an active saliva capable of digesting starchy foods. Till then anything but milk must be given tentatively, and considered in the light of a means of education for its future mode of nutrition.
The time for weaning should be fixed partly by the child's age, partly by the growth of the teeth. The first group of teeth usually consists of the lower central front teeth, which may appear any time during the sixth and seventh month. The mother may then begin to diminish the number of suckling times ; and by a month she can have reduced them to twice a day, so as to be ready when the second group makes its way through the upper front gums, to cut off the supply altogether. The third group, the lateral incisors and first grinders, usually after the first anniversary of birth, give notice that solid food can be chewed. But it is prudent to let dairy milk form a considerable portion of the fare till the eye-teeth are cut, which seldom happens till the i8th or loth month.
