The Milk Mixture for Infants is made by diluting ordinary sweet milk with 3 parts water, adding syrup, a very little bicarbonate of soda, a pinch of salt it is also well to add, and bringing it to near the boiling-point. To allow of loss, 20 ounces are required daily for the first four weeks. Now an ordinary-sized tea-cup quite full is 5 ounces. The directions therefore become as follows:— Pour this into an enamelled sauce-pan, and bring just to the boiling-point. Transfer it to a clean freshly-scalded jug, cover with a perfectly clean folded towel, and secure the towel by an elastic band round the upper part of the jug. Keep in a cold place.
When the infant's meal is due, remove the towel, see that it is laid down, not on a dirty table, but on another clean towel or on a clean plate, lightly stir the mixture, transfer the re quired quantity to the clean feeding-bottle, and immediately re-cover the mixture. To the quantity in the feeding-bottle add a dessert spoonful ordinary cream, dip the bottle into a bowl with warm water long enough to make the mixture barely tepid. Then take up the child and feed it, regulating the speed, so that the milk is not gulped down hurriedly. As soon as the child shows it has had enough and is not keen for more, accept the indication, and put it back in its cot. Immediately empty out anything left, wash out the feeding-bottle with hot water, and then immerse it completely in a basin of water to which a little bicarbonate of soda has been added.
Quantity at each the first week a child takes 24 table-spoonfuls (11 ounce) each time, the second week about 3 table-spoonfuls (14 ounce), the third week about 4 table-spoonfuls (2 ounces), each time, the fourth week 44 table-spoonfuls (21 ounces), the fifth 54 table-spoonfuls (2 ounces), and the sixth 6 table-spoonfuls (3 ounces). At the end of the second month it is taking 7 table spoonfuls (35 ounces). But if the child be fed regularly and with a properly-made mixture, it will itself be the best guide as to quantity, provided it is not coaxed, by the pushing back of the teat into its mouth, to take more than it really needs.
Tests for Sufficiency of Infants' Diet.— Three tests may be applied to assure the mother or nurse of the sufficiency of the diet :— 1. The infant's temper.
2 The infant's increase in weight.
3. The character of the motions from the bowels.
The Infant's Temper.—If the child is getting enough, and not too much or too little, it should give no trouble: it should sleep most of the time, waking up punctually for its drink, and going off to sleep again afterwards. If it is "a crying child," examine the motions. If they contain little curdy lumps, the child is getting either too much or the mixture is too strong, or the mixture has been improperly made, or the feeding has been irregular. It may be—though this is seldom the cause —it is getting too little. In that case the motions will be healthy, and the child will always be ready for its bottle, and waking up half an hour or more before its meal is due, crying for it.
There are a few children, not many, who cannot take as much at a time as is necessary, and who require it even more dilute than stated. An observant and intelligent nurse will find this out by observation, and try intervals of two hours or so, and smaller quantities. But let it be noted that these are rarer cases, and the usual cause of crying is that the child has had more than it can digest.
Of course, care must be taken that the cause of the child's discomfort is not something quite unrelated to its feeding.
The Infant's Weight should increase at least 4 ounces a week ; if it is stationary, still more if it is falling, the feeding is insufficient.
The Child's Stools will always indicate, by the presence of little curdy pieces, if it is being too frequently fed, getting too much at a time, or getting it too strong. These little pieces may be covered over with mucus and stained yellowish green, but if the motion be put into water, the fact that they are little pieces of undigested curd will become clear.
The Milk Mixture is Strengthened at the end of the first month, and a larger quan If at any time there seems reason to think the child is being scarcely satisfied, it is easy slightly to add to the nourishing quality of tho milk by the use of one of three things: The ingredients of the milk mixture for the day's supply are first measured out and mixed. Then in the case of the oat flour one or two tea-spoonfuls should be boiled for 10 minutes in just a sufficiency of water, and then the milk mixture is slowly added with constant stirring till the boiling-point is reached. .