THE KIND OF ARTIFICIAL FOOD BEFORE THE SIXTH MONTH.
It should be as like the breast-milk as possible. This is obtained by
a mixture of cow's milk, water, and sugar, in the following
proportions:--
Fresh cow's milk, two thirds;
Boiling water, or thin barley water, one third;
Loaf sugar, a sufficient quantity to sweeten.
This is the best diet that can be used for the first six months, after
which some farinaceous food may be combined.
In early infancy, mothers are too much in the habit of giving thick
gruel, panada, biscuit-powder, and such matters, thinking that a diet
of a lighter kind will not nourish. This is a mistake; for these
preparations are much too solid; they overload the stomach, and cause
indigestion, flatulence, and griping. These create a necessity for
purgative medicines and carminatives, which again weaken digestion,
and, by unnatural irritation, perpetuate the evils which render them
necessary. Thus many infants are kept in a continual round of
repletion, indigestion, and purging, with the administration of
cordials and narcotics, who, if their diet were in quantity and quality
suited to their digestive powers, would need no aid from physic or
physicians.
In preparing this diet, it is highly important to obtain pure milk,
not previously skimmed, or mixed with water; and in warm weather just
taken from the cow.
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