The doctor at home and nurse's guidebook / edited by George Black.

Date:
1909
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The doctor at home and nurse's guidebook / edited by George Black. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    106/684 (page 80)
    ** digestion, its loss cannot be sus- tained without ultimate injury to the child. The feeding-bottle should therefore be adopted from the first, and the child be allowed to take its. meals regularly in this way. (io) Feeding-Bottle.—The variety of bottles is so great, and each one is said to have some advantage over the other, that it is difficult to say which is best. Preference had better be given to the “ slipper ” shape, that is, the bottle in which a tube is dispensed with. But whatever bottle may be selected, one thing is absolutely necessary in regard to it, and that is that it be kept scrupu- lously clean. Too much attention cannot be paid to this. A bottle that is not kept in the most perfect state of cleanliness may be, and fre- quently is, productive of the white- mouth, the so-called “ thrush, ” from which children, especially those that are thus brought up, are so liable to suffer. Every effort should therefore be made to prevent the occurrence of this affection. The simplest and most effectual plan is to have two bottles in use, of which one may be kept sweet by lying in cold water till required. Thus one bottle will always be wholesome when wanted. (n) Food to be freshly made.— No more food should be made than what will serve for one time. To make a large quantity, sufficient to serve the infant for two or three meals, on the ground that time and trouble are thereby saved, must never be permitted on any con- sideration whatever. Each quan- tity must be made freshly as it is wanted, and by attending to this much will be done to keep the infant in a sound state of health. (12) Food for Child when Teething. —When the teeth begin to appear, which is usually about the sixth or seventh month, the diet will require some alteration ; but if the child be thriving well upon the milk alone, there should not be displayed too great a hurry to make a change. When, however, it is determined to supplement the infant’s diet by the administration of articles of a more solid nature, a great many suitable for this purpose present themselves, Rusks, tops and bottoms are alone sufficient, but the medical fraternity often recommend one of the patent foods now so extensively advertised, and many of these are indeed good. It would, however, be invidious to single out any one for special men- tion, and indeed two or three of these may require to be tried in succession before one is got which suits the child in every way ; but when that one has been found, its use should not be readily abandoned for experimentation with others. (13) Further changes of Diet.— 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, and that the child has attained to that age when it is able to partake of animal food of one kind or another. Milk should yet, however, form a large part of every child’s food ; but, in addition, some beef-tea, chicken-tea, or mutton-broth, may be given once a day in the forenoon. As a change, a little meat gravy, with a mealy potato mashed up in it, may be given. An egg, lightly boiled, or one that has been placed for two minutes in boiling water, forms a very useful article of diet for young children, and one that is very nourishing. As before said, milk should still form a very large part of the child’s diet. A little ripe fruit will not prove hurtful to most children at this age, and so