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Stated in reverse order, the child that enters school undersized and
four or five pounds under weight was often a thriving baby, well up to,
or even above standard until it was nearly a year old. By two it has
fallen two or more pounds below the average, and by three, three or four
pounds. If the complaint of Sir George Newman is to be met, that school
entrants are of little better physique than they were when the rate of
infant mortality was high, and reveal much the same defects as formerly,
one of the commonest faults to be corrected is, surely, the failure which
occurs towards the end of the first year of life, to maintain a proper rate
of growth.
It is easy to blame mistakes in feeding for this halt in the child's
development, but it is far from simple to see how to rectify them. Most
workers in this field will realise where the main difficulties lie. Nowadays
it is comparatively easy to give clear instructions about milk and its
modification to suit most babies of ordinary health who have to be reared
by hand. But when it comes to mixed feeding, the quality and preparation
of the food devolves upon the mother, and her skill as a marketer,
housekeeper and cook becomes an all-important factor. Again, babies
vary widely in the readiness with which they take to solid or semi-solid
food. Some are eager to experiment freely at a very early age; others
are timid in the extreme, and having learnt the taste of one new substance
remain obstinately conservative for weeks at a stretch, and will advance
no further. Their diet thus remains limited and unbalanced. Mothers
of several children will often describe great differences in the ease with
which weaning is accomplished, one child giving no trouble, another
offering stubborn resistance for months. H. C. Cameron has shown
convincingly in his writings how important here is the part played by
the mother's skill and confidence in the matter of training. "A good
mother, like a good cricketer, may prove wholly ineffective if selfconfidence
is lost." Food refusal is made use of by the child to assert
its authority and may lead to most erratic habits.
If we may suppose none of these hindrances to exist, there still
remains the question of what food to prescribe; what substances should
be added, and in what order and amount; what are unsuitable and should
be withheld. We need to know what amount of milk is required and the
rate at which it can be safely reduced. Many have no doubt reached
working rules which seem to serve most purposes, and to such the suggestion
that the diet of the child at this age still needs research will appear
unnecessary. Nevertheless, there are these unsatisfactory weight charts,