The milk should be warmed carefully, thereby approximating the temperature of the mother's milk (86° to 98.6°) before it is given to the infant. The nursing bottle and the rubber caps must be kept scrupulously clean. The milk should be shaken thoroughly before being used, in order to make a perfect intermixture of milk and cream.
The newly born infant is not able to digest undiluted milk, and therefore must receive:
1st to 5th day: 1 part milk to three parts water.
5th to 30th day: 1 part milk to two parts water.
3rd to 8th month: I part milk, one-half part water.
1st to 3rd month, every 2 hours; 1 part milk, two parts water, with the addition of 2 table-spoonsful milk sugar to I or 1-1/2 quarts milk.
4th to 5th month, every 3 hours: 1 part milk, 1 part water.
6th to 9th month: 2 parts milk, 1 part water.
Thereafter pure milk, with the addition of very little sugar, or gruel made of oatmeal or something similar. Among the preparations that are best known are Knorr's and Nestle's.
Not until the first teeth have made their appearance, should the child begin to have thin groat soup, a few soft boiled eggs, and a little more solid food.
Infants fed artificially must receive food frequently.
Later on, still maintaining the milk diet, light milk and flour food, vegetables and meat gravy may be given. Infants and even older children should, under no circumstances, receive miscellaneous delicacies, or highly seasoned and greasy dishes. Strong tea and coffee are poison to the nervous system of children.
In case of intestinal diseases milk must be substituted for other diet, with decoctions of cereal flour. Furthermore, Dech-Manna chocolate and malt-chocolate, boiled in milk, are recommended.
The appetite of children increases with their growth and years, and is always a sign of good health. Much exercise in the open air is of the greatest benefit to children. It is not, however, immaterial how children are fed. The theory that children should receive whatever is served on the family table, may be correct from the standpoint of discipline, but it may bring about trouble if the food that is offered does not agree with the stomach of the child. Food for children should be light and display variety. It is not correct to believe that what is eaten with aversion, has a healthy effect, and by forcing children to eat food against which their natural instinct rebels, parents have often seriously injured their children.