Regency Dish: Food for Infants

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We discovered some receipts for different infant food, as well as some other pointers for infant and children diets that we thought were interesting.

FOOD FOR INFANTS Omitter juga 602 as to the food of infants the mother's milk is always preferable when circumstances will admit but where this cannot be enjoyed or is insufficient to the nourishment of a child the nature of its food must be regulated by the state of its bowels and its general health At first there is nothing better than equal parts of gruel and cows milk very little if at all sweetened Sugar is apt to turn acid on the stomach of an infant and to occasion fever Food in which is either sugar or milk must by no means be re warmed otherwise it becomes very injurious Flour Pup For this purpose the four should be tied in a bag and boiled for a considerable time or else dried in an oven It may then be made thick with water in the same manner as gruel and cooled and thinned with new milk Bread Pup For this purpose the top crust of a loaf is best it should be soaked an hour or two in cold water then simmered over the fire till it becomes like a thick jelly when it may be beaten up and moderately sweetened and it approved cooled with milk Rusks or Tops and Bottoms Are much used as food for infants by far the best are obtained a Lemau's Threadneedle Street They may be prepared exactly in the same manner as bread pap Some people boil down enough to serve a day or two and re warm it as occasion requires but the trouble is not great to boil fresh every time of feeding and the food is much more wholesome and agreeable Biscuit Powder manner Is procured at the same place and may be prepared in much the same When children are weaned and for some time afterwards their diet should consist chiefly of milk This may be thickened with either flour rice oatmeal or bread The two former are preferable when their bowels are relaxca the latter when they are confined A little broth will sometimes suitably vary their diet which mav be hick ened in the same manner as milk The Cook’s Complete Guide on the Principles of Frugality, Comfort, and Elegance (1810)

 

Sect III DIET AND REGIMEN Subsect 1 Food allowed during Infancy and Childhood 6930 The food of children in regard to its kind and quantity must now come under consideration and it is a subject of the greatest importance for although in subsequent periods of life health may continue unimpaired under deviations from the strictly wholesome diet may be preserved in one case under too good living in another by equal abstinence may with impunity undergo any irregularity in regard to food which pleasure convenience or necessity may cause yet in early infancy and during childhood such deviations and irregularities would be often fatal to life and generally are injurious to the vigour of the digestive organs The younger the child the more urgent it is to take care that it has at stated times the food convenient for it but no more To err in this respect in the infant's case is to run the greatest of risks in its rearing and in regard to children of older growth if not equally hazardous it is often the cause to them of great suffering and of retarded growth 6931 Wet Nursing The infant's food that which nature provides for it immediately on its entrance into existence must come first under consideration When a mother has the power of suckling her infant there can be no question that it is equally beneficial to her and her child Only in particular cases where some constitutional disease is apparent in the mother can the abstaining from suckling be allowable and this a medical man only can point out In the act of sucking there are to an infant important effects The mechanical action of the muscles employed in sucking the labouring for food as it has been called is always regarded as causing most beneficial exertions in the infant such as no other mode of taking its food can induce in it In the act of sucking the saliva important to the process of digestion is carried with the food into the stomach The mere swallowing of food given by the spoon to the infant has not the same effect The nutriment drawn by sucking from its source and conveyed to the stomach is of the very lightest nature so much so that if an infant take more at one meal than it requires the milk instantly and easily without pain or suffering returns from the stomach and the infant obtains immediate relief from the excess it had unconsciously committed a relief rarely occurring when an infant's stomach is surcharged with other kind of food Then the infant must undergo all the ills of indigestion which in its feeble state are always serious and often alarming These ills of themselves af ford a strong argument in favour of mothers suckling their children or if they cannot do it the assistance of a healthy substitute should be procured This first provision of nature for infancy nourishes it as no other food has ever been found to do with certainty Every other food must always be given with the risk of its disagreeing One kind may be too thick and overload the stomach another too meager and deficient in yielding nutriment Some kinds create acidity and flatulence some relax others constipate the infant's bowels but nourished by its mother's milk such disturbances rarely occur or if occurring are comparatively slight A thriving happy infant is generally found to be the nursling of a healthy mother or To a hired substitute many mothers object but do they object upon any very sound reasons A careful selection should be made the health of the individual about to be engaged for this purpose should be ascertained by medical investigation the age of the milk and its state examined To be thin and blue in appearance sweet in taste and abundant in quantity are the best symptoms of good parent milk When thick and yellow its qualities may be suspected and often it is with such appearances deficient in quantity If the milk of a wet nurse does not suit a child or is insufficient in quantity the child ceases to thrive its bowels become affected and the skin of its neck and chest hangs loosely upon its little neck and limbs These marks show something wrong in the suckling of the infant they should have timely notice and if they continue the nurse should be changed 6932 During the first two months the baby should be frequently suckled that is as nurse 7 H
often as it seems to demand it for as it usually falls asleep while sucking and at first often before it has had any sufficient quantity it would be prejudicial to its thriving to attempt any great regularity in giving it its meals When two or three months old it will begin to take more of its nourishment at once and then a more regular system may be and ought to be acted upon At three months the intervals between its meals may usually extend to four hours and during the nights these should be much longerfive or six hours Its last meal at night should be given as late as possible and then it should not have the breast again till early in the morning We are speaking of a child of three or four months old not younger At night excess of nursing is injurious to both the mother or nurse and the child A child suckled often during the night is sure to awaken often and to require it more and more until the nurse becomes exhausted in strength and unable to continue to suckle and the infant also suffers One ineal succeeding another too closely the coats of the infant's stomach become weakened and its bowels disordered 6933 Irregularity in suckling is to be carefully avoided as an infant gains strength to take a sufficient meal at one time Proper hours for its meals should be fixed and observed it is cruel to make the infant wait long beyond these periods and hence mothers who cannot give up visiting while they are nurses had better relinquish this duty themselves and in favour of a hired wet nurse who must devote herself entirely to it 6934 An infant should never be suckled immediately after it has been crying violently Its agitation should be allowed to subside or if continued it may proceed from pain in some part of its body and this should be discovered before the breast is given to it If in pain it will be of no use to suckle it it may indeed only increase its suffering When the mother has been from any cause agitated she must avoid for a time suckling her child or she may cause its bowels to be affected by the heat of her milk and convulsions ensue The same rule must be observed in regard to violent exercise a mother must always avoid nursing her child while she is overheated by any excess of bodily exertion The milk like the blood is equally affected by the emotions of the mind and the exertions of the body At the same time it may be here remarked that regular and brisk exercise is always good for the mother who suckles as well as for the child suckled while violent exertions disturb and impair temporarily the qualities of the milk activity renews it in quantity and improves it in quality 6935 Every time an infant has been suckled a cambric handkerchief or soft rag should be wrapped round the mother or nurse's finger and the mouth and lips of the child should be gently wiped The milk if it remains in the mouth soon becomes acid and in this state causes a tendency to thrush 6936 For the first four or five weeks an infant should have no food but that from the breast If it be possible for the mother to continue the sole supplier of its nourishment so much the happier for the infant but where this cannot be done other food must be allowed the kinds of which usually given to infants will be found mentioned under the head Dry Nursing 6937 Weaning and Dry Nursing The period of weaning suckled children must depend on circumstances Six months we should regard as the shortest time for suckling them nine months the longest needful unless there be in any peculiar case such delicacy of constitution as may render it desirable that the suckling should be continued to the end of the first year of a child's life beyond this time we have never seen much good in suckling children but the reverse They are then arrived at an age in which they begin to require more substantial nutriment The use of the sucking bottle see Nursery Furniture Book V Chap XIV if infants have been fed with it during the period of their suckling should be continued for a short time after the weaning is begun In no case would we recommend any sudden means of weaning any sudden change of diet is trying to an adult but it is hazardous to a delicate infant A month at least should be given to the change during which period every week should be begun with a diminution of the nourishment afforded by the mother or wet nurse and a proportioned increase of the substituted food 6938 Cow's milk does not always appear to agree at first with a suckled infant when it does agree no food can be better for children immediately upon weaning By adding a little tepid water in the proportion of one third water to three of new milk this beverage might be often given with the best effect to children during their weaning Whatever food they take should be very thin To secure this important point the sucking bottle is the best means as before observed by which weaned children should in the first instance receive their food Care must be taken to keep it extremely clean as well as the leather bag by which the baby sucks in the food Whenever the bottle has been used it should after being washed be suffered to remain in a basin of clean cold water till it is again wanted the food of children being either of milk or mixed with milk becomes so rapidly sour if any be left in the bottle or in vessels employed in preparing and warming it that too much stress cannot be laid on this one point of cleanliSour food cannot fail to disorder the stomach and bowels of children 6939 Children can hardly be fed too slowly whether with the boat or the spoon the ness 1162 PRESERVATION OF HEALTH
former is now rarely used it is more objectionable than the spoon admitting as it does of the food being poured down an infant's throat rather than drawn in by the child's own efforts The boat is in form like the old fashioned butter boat and was adopted as a means of avoiding the irritation to which a weaning child would give way being used to sucking on the spoon being withdrawn from its mouth to be refilled But this imitation is better than drenching the infant as it may be considered with the boat The effects of a large quantity of food suddenly entering the stomach by the boat or by any other means are seen in the child's oppressed breathing and sometimes in more serious symptoms 6940 The kinds of food to be given to weaning or dry nursed children should be of the simplest description of cow's milk we have already spoken arrow root and milk pearl sago boiled in water till perfectly soft and thinned with new milk rusks biscuit powder flour previously boiled like a pudding in a basin till it is formed into a hard ball from which portions can be grated into milk and boiled in it till it thickens the milk are the chief ingredients used as food for children either dry nursed from birth or weaned from suckling Rice gruel barley and groat gruels are also used in some cases and with advantage and as a change in the diet of children is advisable when they are occasionally indisposed these kinds of gruel may be found useful varieties in the food of children 6941 Food which contains milk should never be warmed over and over again as is sometimes done nor should it be suffered to remain when cold in metal utensils if intended for future use it should be put into earthen ware basins and set in a cool place but no food thus set by for another day should have milk put into it this should be added after portions of the food are separately warmed previous to any of the child's meals 6942 Of the consistence of food it is necessary to observe that none should be given for the first three or four months in the life of a dry nursed child nor immediately to one being weaned of scarcely greater thickness than the mother's milk The great difficulty in observing this important rule is with nurses who regarding children as half starved if fed on food sufficiently thin often counteract any wishes or commands mothers may express on this subject They pretend children will not eat unless they feel the food on their lips and they threaten the parents with all the ills of starvation if the children are to be so fed Inexperienced and alarmed many a young mother has yielded the point and left the digestive powers of her child under the management of an ignorant and obstinate woman until it has been needful to call in medical advice and to threaten dismissal of the nurse upon her future disobedience to orders laid down 6943 The proper warmth of food is also of great consequence to a fed infant if it be given constantly hotter than the mother's milk it is very likely to bring on that painful disease the thrush a disease more common and fatal to the fed than to the suckled child owing it is supposed to the variation and uncertainty in the temperature of the food given to the dry nursed 6944 In dry nursing from the birth even more attention must be given to the above suggestions in regard to the use of the bottle and to the degree of consistency and warmth of the food given to infants not suckled inasmuch as the difficulty and risk are greater in rearing the dry nursed child to health and vigour than the suckled infant Its food should in all respects be made as similar as possible to the nourishment appointed for it by nature In analyzing the human milk it is found to contain some properties rather different from the milk of cows yet it is probable that no substitute for the mother's milk can be found in all respects better than that of cow's milk at first diluted but in the end given as it comes fresh from the cow Like the parent's milk the properties of cow's milk are every day the same or nearly so while every other food is liable to many variations arising from the uncertainty attending the preparation of it 6945 A dry nursed child brought up on cow's milk may require a change of diet rather sooner than would otherwise be thought of On attaining its fourth or fifth month one meal each day of more consistency may be given in moderate quantity by the spoon At six months old a light bread or flour pudding consisting of bread crumbs or one teaspoonful of flour the yolk of one egg of milk as much as will fill a small basin these beaten well together and boiled in a small basin for ten minutes or a quarter of an hour and when turned out of the basin sweetened with a little sugar will generally be found palatable to a child of this age and a safe gradation from its earliest food to one of more solidity At nine or ten months old meat panadas may be given a few months subsequently meat merely minced with mashed potatoes or well boiled cauliflower or brocoli No one mcal should consist of many things meat and vegetables without pudding or pudding without meat we would advise to be given on alternate days till the child is a year and a half old 6946 The nutriment of children after the completion of their first year and a half it will be necessary to increase in solidity and if their appetite seems to demand it in quantity also Their teeth begin now to aid them in masticating food their limbs become

come firmer and carry their bodily exertions often to a great extent it is scarcely cal culable the degree of exercise which healthy children voluntarily give themselves but which stimulates the digestive organs enabling them to receive and act upon more solid nutriment than heretofore given them Having previously had animal food three or four times a week children may in the second year of their lives safely eat it once every day meats being chosen for them that are tender and nutritious Roast beef mutton either boiled roasted or broiled chickens some kinds of fish well boiled vegetable such as brocoli turnips potatoes the latter are best for them when mashed with hot milk and a little salt simple compounds of egg and milk fruits baked or boiled bread well made and well baked with small portions of butler these with milk for breakfast and supper with water as beverage are the chief articles of wholesome food for children as long as they continue under nursery management 6947 The species of food we would not give them consists of salted meats beef pork or bacon of rich stews ragouts and soups of fried fish of pastry and confectionery generally of cheese and of beverage tea coffee beer and wine of the two last mentioned beer and wine we may remark that in cases of delicate health they may be advantageously allowed but they should always be given under medical direction for the stimulus of fermented or spirituous liquids is not in every case of debility beneficial sometimes the reverse neither ought children to be allowed to drink much at a time of any liquid however mild and innocent it may be Too much liquid has a tendency to create flatulency and to distend the bowels It has been said that parents accustoming their children to drink water only bestow a fortune upon them of the value of which they will be sensible all the days of their life 6948 The habits of children at their meals should be attended to We would let them use the spoon or fork early It is keeping them too childish to feed them after they have strength enough to hold the spoon At first the nurse or mother should superintend the child's attempts to feed itself should place the spoon in its right hand see that it is not filled too Tull nor when lifted to the mouth forced awkwardly into it The child should be prevented when he seems to have satisfied his appetite from throwing about the remains of his food by his plate being removed to a sufficient distance from him and his spoon taken gently out of his hand This being uniformly done when he is inclined to scatter his food around him will soon cure him of the trick The use of a knife cannot at this early period be allowed him he must not have it until he has sense to know the danger of misapplying it Children's meat should be minced as small as possible If too much trouble is left to their feeble power of masticating they will shun it by swallowing their food unmasticated For children whose digestion is weak it may even be desirable to have their meat pounded 6949 Children should be encouraged to sit still at their meals but these should be made as short as possible that the patience of the children may not be tried too severely Also they should be encouraged in cheerfulness at meal time and not in turbu lence Vigour in the digestive organs is said to be promoted by cheerfulness but impaired by gloomy impressions or by great anxiety of mind indulged in during meals If this be the case it must be desirable to keep children's spirits free from any depressing influences and yet not forced into the opposite extreme of excitement 6950 In childhood as with most young animals activity after eating seems natural and we may thence infer that it is beneficial also although in later seasons of life the reverse appears to be more generally believed If however children are inclined to active sports after their meals it is wisest to allow them otherwise they will be fretful in their obedience or altogether rebellious 6951 Greediness is a disagreeable babit in children too often encouraged by fruit cakes or other sweet things being given them as rewards or withheld from them as punishments and thus is an undeserved value placed on such things Sometimes if begged for with childish iinportunity or petulance they are given to silence the bold beggar The more timid child gains nothing by his opposite conduct except perhaps to see justice and impartiality sacrificed to loud vociferations and tears When children are really deserving of punishment it is not a desirable way of inflicting it by any deprivation of food or dainties certainly not to give to the brother or sister the portion forfeited by the offending party Anger on the one hand is probably excited towards the favoured one and pleasure on the other hand by the mortification experienced by the offending brother or sister If any use in education be made of the natural love of sweet things it should be to cement the social and relative connexions in life not to dissever them also to discourage selfishness and to forward the development of the generous and disinterested qualities These moral benefits may be looked for when children are taught to sacrifice all enjoyments which end in self to the higher pleasure of imparting enjoyment to others To induce children to share with or give to brothers and sisters the things they like themselves is the best use that can be made of the love of sweet things and dainties Greediness would be scarcely known in children if none but simple wholesome food 1164 PRESERVATION OF HEALTH

were placed before them Such rarely tempts to immoderate indulgence of the appetite but renders restriction almost needless Tempt children with dainties and restriction becomes needful yet it does but increase the value of the things desired Compulsory regulation of the appetite does not induce that most important of habits self restraint The reverse is often more obvious Those children whose appetites are strictly regulated by vigilant mothers and nurses more frequently transgress when opportunity allows them the rule of moderation than those do whose unpampered appetites are left to their own discretion An infant almost uniformly expresses its satisfied appetite by pushing away the offered spoon or by receiving its contents with indifference that decided symptom of satiety which ought never to be unnoticed no child after such show of indifference to its food should be urged to eat even though it may not have cleared the plate or basin of its contents It is safer to waste such remnants than to surcharge the organ of digestion It is equally injurious to the child whether the nurse forces it to take more food than it requires or whether its own pampered taste induces greediness Yet many nursery disciplinarians think it their duty to force children to eat up all that has been put upon their plates forgetting how much they themselves might suffer from indigestion were they compelled to similar excess in eating Neither is the subject of antipathies to particular articles of food always sufficiently considered It is sometimes thought necessary to overcome them by forcing the child to eat what seems to be so very repugnant to it Nature prescribes a different rule what is thus disliked by any individual is often peculiarly injurious to that individual Thus in regard to the fat of butcher's meat wherever it is much disliked we may believe that it is not only unpalatable but prejudicial and not to be forced upon any one This aversion should not be regarded as caprice but as arising from some peculiar state of the stomach that time or change may rectify but not compulsion It must be confessed that a luxurious mode of living often unfits a mother for being 2 nurse and hence it is common among the wealthy in imitation of her majesty Queen Victoria to substitute the breasts of a wet nurse for those of the mother Nevertheless both nature and philosophy teach what experience confirms that every mother should be the nurse of her own child whenever it is practicable and this in view of her own health as well as that of her infant Even in the case of consumptive ladies experience amply proves that nursing will often relieve the affection of the lungs and improve the general health Such mothers however emaciated if their appetite be good which is often the case should be advised to suckle their children two or three times a day as the most likely means to restore their health That those mothers who do not suckle their children are most subject to consumption cancers of the breast and womb & c has long ago been observed hence it has grown into an axiom that if the mother be healthy suckling will confirm her health and if weakly it will in most cases improve it No other woman's milk can be so good for her own child and as to dry nursing it is unnatural and dangerous very few of those thus brought up ever live a single year and hence when resorted to it ought to be a measure of imperious necessity When however a mother is unable to be the nurse of her own offspring from disease or any other cause or when as is too often the case the mother perishes in the act of giving birth to her child in either case a wet nurse should be provided and the choice of a woman for this service should be judiciously made middle aged woman should be preser red if she have previously borne children for such will have more milk than the young and more and better than the old She should be one who has not been confined with her own infant more than three months nor is any woman fit for a wet nurse six months after delivery the milk being found to vary in its specific quality according to its age and moreover as nature never intended a mother to nurse her child longer than twelve months the milk will seldom continue good after that period and hence all children ought to be weaned when they become a year old The nurse's food should consist of fresh meat and vegetables bread broth milk & c without any strong liquors and in the absence of the first secretion of the mother's breast which is always sufficiently purgative the nurse should take some laxative medicine which through the medium of the milk is found to operate upon the child As however children are often condemned to be brought up without the breast either of the mother or wet nurse in such cases very different management is required and to regulate the quality and quantity of the food becomes a subject of great importance It is for lack of judgment in these particulars that such children suffer so much from colic and griping It is a common mistake to suppose that whenever the child cries it wants victuals while the acute pain and spasms by over distention of the stomach is by far the more frequent cause Indeed healthy children seldom cry except from pain and hunger does not cause pain unless it be very protracted The nurse often forces down food to quiet the outeries of a child suffering already from an excess in quantity The generation of acids and gases from the fermentation of the spoon victuals remaining undigested by producing irritation and spasms in the stomach and bowels gives rise to what are called inward fits convulsions and not unfrequently inflammation of the bowels Children that are fed only four or five times in the twenty four hours are more
healthy active and cheerful than those who are never suffered to be hungry Milk from the cow goat or ass will be the best substitute for human milk when this is not to be had and in addition potatoes arrow root bread or rice flour sago or tapioca and if necessary as the child grows older thin and light broth free from fat may be superadded Until the child cuts its teeth however potatoes boiled and mashed being then mixed with fresh milk unboiled will be found to be preferable to most other articles and afford ample nutriment Children should always be fed in a sitting posture that swallowing may be more easy to them and if the child be not accustomed to night feeding it will not become over fat and bloated but will contract the habit of sleeping the greater part of the night When the bowels become irritable from acid or flatulence the best corrective is limewater a spoonful or two being added to the food with a little essence of peppermint or anise seed The custom of giving spirits of any kind in children's food cannot be too highly reprobated Strong liquors of all kinds should be avoided and though some children have been known to thrive under their use it is only when the vigour of their constitution has been sufficient to counteract their usual pernicious effects But none of these instructions for feeding children are called for where the mother survives and can by possibility perform the duty of nurse to her offspring If the nipples be short they may be drawn out by the nurse or by some form of nipple glass and this is often needful in young mothers When they are tender they should be washed with brandy or a solution of borax the poisonous preparations of lead used by nurses and recommended by quacks are high inischievous If the nipples be small tender and ulcerated there are various contrivances to enable her still to suckle her infant the best of which is the prepared nipple or the teats of calves which will be found well adapted to the purpose And for washing ulcerated nipples a solution in water of the seeds of quinces or some similar bland mucilage will be found most useful Inflammation of the breast is another frequent obstacle to nursing by which young mothers are afflicted Leeches early applied to the part and some spirituous lotion with a free purgative will often prevent the formation of matter Where these fail however and an abscess forms it should be opened early and freely after which a linseed poultice may be used until the matter is all discharged when the adjacent skin may be washed with brandy two or three times a day and dry lint applied until it heals All oily liniments and ointments are hurtful An Encyclopæaedia of Domestic Economy (1815)

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