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115
BOTTLE-FED INFANTS.
Note. These directions are not intended to apply to
those babies who are ordered a special diet by a doctor.
ADVICE TO MOTHERS. —Keep yourself in good
health. The health of your baby depends upon your
own during pregnancy.
Take good and wholesome food at regular meals only.
Do not take spirits, beer, stout, or much tea, but
rather milk or cocoa.
See that your bowels act every day.
When possible take exercise in the open air every
day, and keep your window open night and day.
1. Feed your Baby regularly, by the Clock,
and not by guesswork or whenever it cries.
Babies get indigestion, feel uncomfortable, and cry if
they are not fed at regular times.
2. Never give your Baby a Dummy Teat. It is
simply a bad habit, and dirty and dangerous.
3. As babies sometimes cry because they are thirsty,
sips of warm water may be given.
BOTTLE FEEDING.— Give only milk until the
baby is about nine months old. Do not give condensed
milk or any other infant food unless ordered by the
doctor.
Never give Separated or Skimmed Milk to a
Baby.
Milk.—Get good fresh milk twice a day. Boil it at
once, pour it into a clean jug, cover with a clean cloth,
and stand the jug in cold water. In hot weather the
water should be changed often so as to be as cool and
fresh from the tap as possible.
Bottle.—Bottles with long tubes should never be
used. Wash the bottle and teat thoroughly in hot water
after each feed, and keep them in clean cold water until
the next feed. When washing the teat, turn it inside
out and hold it under the tap.
Feeding.—Measure the milk carefully. Give the
same amount at each feed, not more one time than
another.
If the child does not finish the feed, what is left
should not be given again to the baby. Give the milk
warm.
From ¼ to ½ teaspoonful of fresh cream should be
added to each feed, and the same amount of white
sugar. About ½ teaspoonful of olive or cod liver oil
should be given twice a day if no cream is put into
the bottle.
FROM BIRTH TO THREE WEEKS OLD.—
Never feed more often than every two hours in the daytime,
and once between 11 at night and 6 in the morning.
At first the baby does not want more than one tablespoonful
of milk and two tablespoonsful of water. By
the time it is three weeks old it may be having 1 to 1½
tablespoonsful of milk and 2 of water.
FROM THREE WEEKS TO THREE MONTHS
OLD.—Gradually increase the quantity at each feed up
to 3 to 4 tablespoonsful of milk and 3 of water, and the
times between feeds to every 3 hours by day and once
between 11 at night and 6 in the morning.
FROM THREE TO SIX MONTHS OLD.—By the
time the baby is six months old it should take 6 to 7
tablespoonsful of milk and 2 of water at each feed. Do
not feed more often than every four hours, and not at
all at night.
FROM SIX TO NINE MONTHS OLD —
Gradually decrease the water until the baby is taking
8 to 10 tablespoonsful of milk and no water at each
feed. A little orange juice or stewed apple may now
be given.
FROM NINE TO TWELVE MONTHS OLD—
Continue to give milk, but crusts of bread with butter
or dripping, and a lightly boiled egg may be added.
FROM ONE YEAR UPWARDS.—Do not give
butcher-meat before the age of 18 months. Children
must have no tea or stimulants, and such articles as
pork, shellfish, " fried fish," lobsters, baked pastry, new
bread and hot cakes, are liable to cause convulsions.
and must be carefully avoided. They should have
three or four meals a day, and no food or sweets
should be taken between meals. Beer or spirits are
poison to a child and must never be given.
RULES FOR DAILY USE.— Let the baby sleep
in its own cot and lie in it during the day. A banana
crate, box, basket, or drawer serves equally well. If
the child cries, see if the napkin wants changing, or if
the baby is cold and not properly covered up. Never
rock the baby. Wake the baby up at the proper time
for feeding.
CLOTHING.—Give the baby a warm woollen vest
with long sleeves, a soft knitted or flannel binder, a long
flannel night-dress, and an outer dress. Do not use a
tight or stifif binder. Never use flannelette.
"Shorten" at two to three months old. Keep to the
vest and one flannel petticoat and dress, but now put on
warm stockings instead of socks.
Bath the baby once a day, and wash it once a day as
well, using very little soap. Dry thoroughly, especially
in ears and all folds of skin.
Undress and dress the baby quickly, so that it does
not catch cold. Babies must always be kept warm.
The windows of the bedroom and living room, except
at bath time, should always be kept open at the top as
wide as the weather will allow. The baby should be
kept out of doors in the daytime as much as possible,
and may sleep out of doors in mild weather in a
sheltered place.
DO NOT GIVE SOOTHING SYRUPS,
TEETHING POWDERS OR PURGES WITHOUT
THE DOCTOR'S ORDERS.
Babies should be weighed regularly.
If a baby cries often,
does not increase in weight,
does not sleep,
is frequently sick,
is constipated,
has diarrhoea,
snuffles,
has cold feet,
has a discharge from the eyes,
or has a rash on the body or under the napkin,
it is not well, and should be seen by the doctor.
Public Health Department,
Guildhall, E.C.
April, 1912.