Mother's Remedies, Thomas Jefferson Ritter [reading well .TXT] 📗

very valuable food. They must be fresh and only slightly cooked, being either soft-boiled, poached or coddled. Fried eggs and omelets are prohibited.

Is the white or yolk more digestible? Generally the white in most children. This is a very digestible proteid and can be used to great advantage even in the latter part of the first year.

Do eggs often cause biliousness? Very seldom if they are carefully prepared and fed.

How often may I give eggs to the child? Most children at this period will be able to take one egg for breakfast and one for supper, with relish and advantage; however, some few children cannot eat them at all.

MEAT AND FISH.

What kinds of meat can I give to my child? Beefsteak, mutton-chop, roast beef, lamb, boiled chicken and fish, such as shad or bass.

What points should I consider in feeding meat? Most meats should be rare, scraped or finely divided, as a child will not chew it properly. Boiled or roast beef is best; fried meats should not be given to a child.

How often can I give meats? Only at the midday meal, at this period.

Do you think it causes nervousness in children? Not unless too much is given and too often.

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What meats should be forbidden? Ham, bacon, sausage, pork, liver, kidney, and all dried and salt meats; also mackerel, cod and shell fish. A child should not eat any of these until after the tenth year.

Are gravies healthy and nutritious? Beef juice or so-called "platter gravy" from a roast is very nourishing and desirable, but many of the gravies that are thickened are harder to digest and too much is given. Only a small quantity should be allowed.

What about vegetables? Baked, boiled or mashed potatoes may be given first, but never fried. After the sixth or seventh year baked sweet potato, turnips, boiled onions and cauliflower, all well cooked, may be given moderately. They must be thoroughly cooked and mashed. This is the great trouble.

Can I give canned vegetables? Peas, and asparagus of the best brands can be used. They are often better than stale green vegetables.

What vegetables should be prohibited? Any that are eaten raw such as celery, radishes, onions, cucumbers, tomatoes or lettuce; corn, lima beans, cabbage, egg plant, even when well cooked; none of these should be given to a child under ten years old.

Can I give vegetable salads? As a rule none should be allowed at this period. They are difficult to digest and create great disturbances in children of all ages.

CEREALS.

What points should I consider in selecting and preparing these? They must be properly cooked and not used in excess. He should not make a meal of them because he is fond of them, and eat two or three saucerfuls at once. Proper cooking is essential. Oatmeal, hominy, rice, wheaten grits need two hours' cooking at least, in a double boiler; cornstarch, arrow-root, and barley should be cooked twenty minutes or more. All the market preparations need cooking.

How should they be eaten? Usually with milk or milk and cream; plenty of salt, no sugar or very little—one-half teaspoonful to a saucer—syrups or butter and sugar are prohibited.

What broths and soup do you recommend? Meat broths are generally to be preferred to vegetable broths, mutton and chicken usually being the best liked. Almost all plain broths can be given. Those thickened with rice, barley or cornstarch make a good variety, especially with milk added. Tomato soup should not be given to young children.

BREAD, CRACKERS, AND CHEESE.

What forms of bread can I give? Stale bread cut thin and freshly dried in the oven until it is crisp is very useful, also the unsweetened zwieback. Fresh bread should not be eaten. Gluten, oatmeal, or graham crackers, or the Huntley and Palmer breakfast biscuits, stale rolls or corn bread which has been cut in two or toasted or dried to a crisp form a sufficient variety.

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What kinds of breadstuffs should be prohibited? All hot breads, all fresh rolls, buckwheat and other griddle cakes, all fresh sweet cakes, especially when covered with icing and those containing any dried fruits. Lady finger (stale) or a piece of sponge cake is all that can be allowed to children up to seven or eight years old.

DESSERTS.

Can I give any desserts to young children? Mistakes are very often made here. Junket, plain rice pudding without raisins, plain custard, and not more than once a week, a small amount of ice cream are all that can be allowed up to six or seven years.

What are prohibited? Pies, tarts, and pastry of every kind and jams, syrups, and preserved fruits; nut candy and dried fruits.

Can I give a little? No, for it develops a taste for this sort of food, and then the plainer food is taken with less relish. The little is soon likely to become a great deal.

A child has an instinctive desire for sweets, why not satisfy it? A child's fondness for sweets is not a normal instinct. A free indulgence in desserts and sweets by young children produces more digestive disorders than any other causes. It is a growing tendency and hard to control as the child grows older. The only safe rule is to give none in early childhood.

FRUITS.

Are fruits an important or essential part of children's diet? Very important, and they should be begun young. They have a splendid effect upon the bowels. They should be carefully selected, especially in large cities. A greater latitude can be all owed in the country where fruit is fresh.

What fruit can I safely give to children up to five years? Generally only cooked fruits and fresh fruit juices.

What kind of fruit juices can I use? That from fresh, sweet oranges is best. The fresh juice of grape fruit, peaches, strawberries, and raspberries may also be used.

What stewed fruits may I use? Stewed and baked apples, prunes, pears, peaches and apricots.

What raw fruits should be avoided? The pulp of oranges or grape fruit, also cherries, berries, bananas and pineapple.

What care should be exercised in regard to the use of fruits? In hot weather they should be used with greater care, and in children who are easily attacked with intestinal indigestion.

What symptoms suggest that I should avoid fruits? Looseness of the bowels or a tendency thereto, with discharge of mucus, or frequent attacks of colic (abdominal pain) or stomach-ache.

At what meals should fruits be used? If the fruit juice is given upon an empty stomach early in the morning, it works more actively upon the bowels, than when given later.

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Is it wise to give cream or milk with sour fruits? No, it is not wise, it is best to give it at midday when no milk is taken as a dessert. The quantity should always be moderate.

Can I give anything besides water and milk to drink? Cocoa, if made very weak, almost all milk is often useful as a hot drink. Tea, coffee, wine, beer and cider are all prohibited under puberty. Lemonade and soda water should not be given until the tenth year at least.

INDIGESTION IN OLDER CHILDREN.

Different ways in which indigestion shows itself in children? First as an acute attack which lasts for a few days only; second, as chronic disturbances which may last for weeks and months.

Which is the most serious? Chronic indigestion, for it often goes on for months and even years unchecked, because it is not recognized.

The symptoms of acute indigestion? Vomiting, pain, diarrhea of undigested food, often fever and prostration.

What are the common causes? Over eating or indulging in improper food or too hearty eating when very tired.

Is it sometimes the forerunner of some acute general sickness? Yes.

How shall I treat acute indigestion? Give castor oil to clean out all undigested food from the bowels. Vomiting usually frees the stomach of food; stop food for from twelve to thirty-six hours, only boiled water being allowed. Let the stomach rest.

Can I then begin with the former diet? No, give at first only broth gruel, very much diluted milk or whey. Increase the diet slowly as the appetite and digestion improve, but this should consume a week or ten days in most cases before the full diet is resumed.

Give the symptoms of chronic indigestion (dyspepsia) in children? Disturbed sleep, tired, grinding teeth, fretfulness, loss of weight and flesh, gas in the stomach and bowels, pain in the bowels, bloated bowels, constipation or loose bowels with mucus in the stools, foul breath, coated tongue, poor appetite, capricious appetite. Some may think worms are present.

Common causes of chronic constipation? Bad system of feeding, prolonged use of improper food or improper methods of feeding, such as coaxing the child to eat, rapid eating, eating between meals, child selects his own food and lives largely upon one article of diet; indulgence in sweets, desserts, pies, etc. Improperly cooked foods especially oatmeal, and vegetables and eating sour or stale fruits. Exclude articles of diet which are known to be hard for children to digest.

How shall chronic indigestion be treated? Remove all causes such as bad foods, habits, etc.

Is it curable? In most cases, but the rules for feeding must be carefully followed for a long period. Medicine will not cure such cases unless the proper food is given in a proper way. That is better than medicine.

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How long must this proper feeding continue? For months, and with many children for two or three years.

Is medicine of any use? It will relieve the symptoms, but the main thing is proper feeding.

SLEEP.

Should a baby sleep with anyone? No, young infants have been smothered by their mothers. It is also a frequent temptation to nursing at night, and this is injurious to both mother and child.

How long does baby usually sleep at first? About nine-tenths of the time.

How should his bed be prepared? The mattress should be firm and soft, the pillow, of hair and very thin; you should change his position so as not to sleep always in the same position.

How many hours should baby sleep at six months? About two-thirds of the time.

How long should the daily nap be continued? Until about four years old.

How shall I put baby to sleep? Darken the room and have quiet. The child's hunger should be satisfied and make him generally comfortable and lay him in the crib while still awake.

Can I rock him to sleep? No. It is a bad habit and, he will readily acquire it. It will be hard to break, and besides it is useless and some times an injurious one. The same may be said of sucking a rubber nipple or pacifier, and all other devices to put baby to sleep.

What principal things disturb baby's sleep? Quiet, peaceful sleep is a sign of perfect health, and disorders of sleep may be produced by almost anything that is wrong with the child. Food and feeding cause disturbed sleep. It may come from chronic indigestion due to improper food. In bottle-fed babies it is often due to over-feeding. In those who nurse it may be due to poor food and hunger. Feeding three or four times during the night makes a restless baby. It may also be due to nervous causes such as bad habits due to faulty training, as when the nursery is light and the baby is taken from its crib whenever it cries or wakes, or when contrivances for producing sleep have been used. Any excitement in a nursing mother or child before sleeping time will cause wakefulness. Romping play just before bedtime and fears aroused by stories and pictures are causes, and children who inherit a nervous constitution are special sufferers from this cause. Cold feet, insufficient or too much clothing, want of pure fresh air in the sleeping room. Tonsils or adenoids may interfere with breathing in older children. Rousing a sleeping child from a good sound sleep, is a frequent cause of poor sleep. If a pregnant woman keeps herself in as good condition as possible, not only physically, but also mentally, she will not be likely to have a nervous baby; and if a baby is not born nervous there is no reason, at all, why it should not sleep well, for sleep is then its most normal condition, nine-tenths of the time. It will then depend upon the food and training it is given. The training many