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Provided the mother has plenty of breast milk, the child should
get nothing else until it is six months old.
Put baity to the breast for the first six weeks every two hours
during the day and less frequently as it grows older. During the
night it requires to be fed less often. It is a mistake to suppose that
whenever a baby cries it requires the breast. Regular habits may be
cultivated from the earliest age, and a mother who early trains her
baby in regular habits of feeding, will find it easier, in after years, to
teach her child to be regular at school, regular at work, and regular in
returning home from work.
It is dangerous to fall asleep with baby at the breast. The child
may be smothered, or indigestion and colic may be produced. If the
mother have not enough breast milk, it must lbe supplemented with a
mixture of two-thirds pure milk to one-third warm water, with sugar.
If, unfortunately, the baby must be brought up entirely "on the
bottle," then (1) Use only pure, fresh milk, in the proportion of two
measures of milk to one measure of hot water, with a little sugar
(about three good teaspoonfuls to three-quarters of a pint). (2) Prepare
no more than can be taken at once. What is left should be thrown
out. (3) Never lay baby down to sleep with the teat in its mouth.
This is sure to cause colic. (4) Wash the bottle carefully immediately
after each meal, and lay it in cold water until required again. The
greatest care must be taken to wash out the india-rubber tube and
teat, so that no bits of curded milk may be left. This is so difficult
to do properly, that the boat-shaped feeding-bottle is much safer to
use. (5) In hot, sultry weather, dilute the milk with a third part of
lime-water instead of pure water, and then make warm. If possible,
use "sterilized" milk. (6) There is no substitute for good milk, and
no necessity for supplementing it. Cornflour, arrowroot, and such
starchy foods are bad for young infants.
5. Weaning Baby.—The baby should be weaned by degrees,
and as a rule should not have the breast after the ninth month. After
the sixth or seventh month bread and milk or soaked biscuits may be