The Care and Feeding of Children by L. Emmett Holt (epub read online books .TXT) 📖

undoubtedly of assistance for the relief of some symptoms, but the essential thing is proper feeding, without which nothing permanent can be accomplished.

 

GENERAL RULES TO BE OBSERVED IN FEEDING

Bad habits of eating are readily acquired but difficult to break.

Young children should not be allowed to play with their food, nor should the habit be formed of amusing or diverting them while eating, because by these means more food is taken.

Older children should not be permitted to make an entire meal of one thing, no matter how proper this may be.

Children, who are allowed to have their own way in matters of eating are very likely to be badly trained in other respects; while those who have been properly trained in matters of eating can usually be easily trained to do anything else that is important.

Learning to eat proper things in a proper way forms therefore a large part of a child's early education. If careful training in these matters is begun at the outset and continued, the results will well repay the time and effort required.

Whether the child feeds himself or is fed by the nurse, the following rules should be observed:

1. Food at regular hours only; nothing between meals.

2. Plenty of time should be taken. On no account should the child bolt his food.

3. The child must be taught to chew his food. Yet no matter how much pains are taken in this respect, mastication is very imperfectly done by all children; hence up to the seventh year at least, all meats should be very finely cut, all vegetables mashed to a pulp, and all grains cooked very soft.

4. Children should not be continually urged to eat if they are disinclined to do so at their regular hours of feeding, or if the appetite is habitually poor, and under no circumstances should a child be forced to eat.

5. Indigestible food should never be given to tempt the appetite when the ordinary simple food is refused? food should not be allowed between meals because it is refused at meal-time.

6. One serious objection to allowing young children highly seasoned food, entrees, jellies, pastry, sweets, etc., even in such small amounts as not to upset the digestion, is that children thus indulged soon lose appetite for the simple food which previously was taken with relish.

7. If there is any important article of a simple diet such as milk, meat, cereals, or vegetables, which a child habitually refuses, this should always be given first at the meal and other food withheld until it is disposed of. Children so readily form habits of eating only certain things and refusing others that such an inclination should be checked early.

8. If an infant refuses its food altogether, or takes less than usual, the food should be examined to see if this is right. Then the mouth should be inspected to see if it is sore. If neither of these things is the cause, the food should be taken away and not offered again until the next feeding time comes.

9. In any acute illness the amount of food should be much reduced and the food made more dilute than usual. If there is fever, no solid food should be given. If the child is already upon a milk diet, this should be diluted, and in some cases partially peptonized.

10. In very hot weather the same rules hold, to give less food, particularly less solid food, and more water.

 

FOOD FORMULAS

Beef Juice.—One pound of rare round steak, cut thick, slightly broiled, and the juice pressed out by a lemon-squeezer, or, better, a meat-press. From two to four ounces of juice can generally be obtained. This, seasoned with salt, may be given cold, or warmed by placing the cup which holds it in warm water. It should not be heated sufficiently to coagulate the albumin which is in solution, and which then appears as flakes of meat floating in the fluid.

Beef Juice by the Cold Process.—One pound of finely chopped round steak, six ounces of cold water, a pinch of salt; place in a covered jar and stand on ice or in a cold place, five or six hours or overnight. It is well to shake occasionally. This is now strained and all the juice squeezed out by placing the meat in coarse muslin and twisting it very hard. It is then seasoned and fed like the above.

Beef juice so made is not quite as palatable as that prepared from broiled steak, but it is even more nutritious, and is more economical, as fully twice as much juice, can be obtained from a given quantity of meat. Beef juice prepared in either of these ways is greatly to be preferred to the beef extracts sold.

Mutton Broth.—One pound of finely chopped lean mutton, including some of the bone, one pint cold water, pinch of salt. Cook for three hours over a slow fire down to half a pint, adding water if necessary; strain through muslin, and when cold carefully remove the fat, adding more salt if required. It may be fed warm, or cold in the form of a jelly.

A very nutritious and delicious broth is made by thickening this with cornstarch or arrowroot, cooking for ten minutes and then adding three ounces of milk, or one ounce and a half of thin cream, to a half pint of broth.

Chicken, Veal, and Beef Broths.—These are made and used in precisely the same manner as mutton broth.

Meat Pulp.—A rare piece of round or sirloin steak, the outer part having been cut away, is scraped or shredded with a knife; one teaspoonful to one tablespoonful may be given, well salted, to a child of eighteen months. Scraping is much better than cutting the meat fine.

For this on a large scale, as in institutions, a Hamburg-steak cutter may be employed.

Junket, or Curds and Whey.—One pint of fresh cow's milk, warmed; pinch of salt; a teaspoonful of granulated sugar; add two teaspoonfuls of Fairchild's essence of pepsin, or liquid rennet, or one junket tablet dissolved in water; stir for a moment, and then allow it to stand at the temperature of the room for twenty minutes, or until firmly coagulated; place in the ice box until thoroughly cold. For older children this may be seasoned with grated nutmeg.

Whey.—The coagulated milk prepared as above is broken up with a fork and the whey strained off through muslin. It is best given cold. If some stimulant is desired, sherry wine in the proportion of one part to twelve, or brandy one part to twenty-four, may be added. Whey is useful in many cases of acute indigestion.

Barley Jelly from the Grains.—Three tablespoonfuls of pearl barley; soak overnight, then place this in one quart of fresh water; add pinch of salt, and cook in double boiler steadily for four hours down to one pint, adding water from time to time; strain through muslin. When cold this makes a rather thick jelly. If a thinner gruel (barley water) is desired, one half the quantity of barley should be used.

Oat, Wheat, or Rice Jelly.—These are prepared from oatmeal, wheaten grits, and rice grains in the same manner as the barley jelly.

Barley Jelly from the Flour.—Either Robinson's patent barley or prepared barley flour of the Health Food Company may be used. One rounded tablespoonful of the flour, thoroughly blended with a little cold water, is added, stirring, to one pint of boiling water containing a pinch of salt; cook for twenty minutes in a double boiler, and strain. This makes a jelly of about the consistency of that made from the grains as above. It is essentially the same in composition, and much less trouble to prepare. A thinner gruel (barley water) is made by using half the quantity of flour.

When this is to be mixed with milk, it is well to add the milk to the barley gruel before removing from the fire, and stir two or three minutes, or until the milk has nearly reached the boiling point, when it should be removed and bottled.

Oat or Wheat Jelly from the Flour.—These are made from the prepared oat flour of the Health Food Company or Hubbell's prepared wheat flour. They are used like the barley.

Imperial Granum.—This is prepared and used in precisely the same way as the barley flour above mentioned, the gruel being mixed with milk before it is removed from the fire.

Albumin Water.—The white of one fresh egg; half a pint of cold water; pinch of salt; teaspoonful of brandy. This should be shaken thoroughly and fed cold either with a spoon or from a bottle. It is useful in cases of vomiting, and can sometimes be retained by a very irritable stomach.

Lime-water.—One heaping teaspoonful of slaked lime; one quart boiled or distilled water; place in a corked bottle and shake thoroughly two or three times during the first hour. The lime should then be allowed to settle, and after twenty-four hours the upper clear fluid carefully poured or siphoned off for use.

Dried Bread.—Either stale or fresh bread may be used; it is cut in thin slices and placed in the oven, with the door open, and quickly dried until it is crisp, but not browned. It is in many respects preferable to crackers for little children.

Coddled Egg.—A fresh egg, shell on, is placed in boiling water which is immediately after removed from the fire. The egg then cooks slowly in the water, which gradually cools, for seven or eight minutes, when the white should be about the consistency of jelly. For a delicate digestion the white only should be given, with salt; it can be easily separated from the yolk.

 

PART IV
MISCELLANEOUS

 

THE BOWELS

How many movements daily should an infant have during the first few weeks of life?

Usually two or three a day for the first week, and then one or two each day.

How many after a child is a month old?

A healthy child should have at least one movement each day; many have two and some more than two; but it is the character of the stools rather than their number which is to be taken as the evidence of perfect digestion.

What is the appearance of a healthy movement of a child who is taking nothing but milk?

It is soft, yellow, and smooth, containing no lumps.

When are the stools dark brown or black?

While taking bismuth, iron, and sometimes when taking much meat or beef juice; also while taking many of the prepared foods. They may be dark brown or black from blood. This last is a condition which may indicate serious illness.

How may a child be trained to be regular in the action of its bowels?

By endeavouring to have them move at exactly the same time every day.

At what age may an infant be trained in this way?

Usually by the second month if training is begun early.

What is the best method of training?

A small chamber, about the size of a pint bowl, is placed between the nurse's knees, and upon this the infant is held, its back being against the nurse's chest and its body firmly supported. This should be done twice a day, after the morning and afternoon feedings, and always at the same hour. At first there may be necessary some local irritation, like that produced by tickling the anus or introducing just inside the rectum a small cone of oiled paper or a piece of soap, as a suggestion of the purpose for which the baby is placed upon the chamber; but in a surprisingly short time the position is all that is required. With most infants, after a few weeks the bowels will move as soon as the infant is placed on the chamber.

What advantage has such training?

It forms the habit of having the bowels move regularly at the same hour, which is a matter of great importance in infancy and makes regularity in childhood much easier. It also saves the nurse much trouble and labour.