The Bottle-Fed Baby : Part 2

The Mother and Her Child
by William S. Sadler, M.D., Lena K. Sadler, M.D.

(Page 17 of 41)

I drew the shade in an adjoining room, opened the windows, and into a comfortable carriage-bed I placed the baby on his side. Seating myself beside him I held the warm, bottled meal as he nursed. Several times I took it from his mouth, or so tipped it that "bolting" was impossible. Gradually, carefully, and slowly, I took the empty bottle away from the sleepy babe, and as I closed the door the mother said in anxious amazement: "He won't forget I'm his mother if I don't hold him while he nurses?" You smile as I smiled at this girl-mother's thought; but, nevertheless there are many like her - anxious, well-meaning, but ignorant.

The infant stomach is little more than a tube, easily emptied if the baby's position is not carefully guarded after nursing. No bouncing, jolting, patting, rocking, or throwing should take place either just before, during, or immediately after meals.

Time Allowance for One Feeding

From twelve to twenty minutes is long enough time to spend at a bottle meal. The nipple hole may have to be made larger, or a new nipple with a smaller hole may have to be purchased. When new, you should be able to just see a glimmer of light through the hole, and if the infant is too weak to nurse hard, or the hole too small, it may be made larger by a heated hatpin run from the inside of the nipple out; great care must be taken, else you will do it too well. If the nipple hole is too large, bolting is the sure result; while too small a hole results in crying and anger on the part of the hungry child, because he has to work too hard to get his meal.

After the Feed

We have seen some mothers, in their anxiety to prevent the sucking in of air from the emptied bottle, rush in and jerk the nipple from the going-to-sleep babe so forcibly that all thoughts of sleep vanished and a crying spell was initiated. The tactful mother is the quiet one who slowly, quietly, draws the empty bottle with its "much loved nipple" from the lips. If you observe that the babe is going to sleep, with an occasional superficial draw at the nipple, wait a moment; he will drop it himself, and you can pick it up as you quietly leave the room. In all instances, whether it be indoors or out of doors, arrange the babe in a comfortable sleeping position, remembering that nursing is warm exercise and the babe gets uncomfortably sweaty if over bundled, especially about the head and neck. No one should unnecessarily touch the babe immediately after feeding; even his diaper may be changed without awakening him while he is therefore lying quietly in his bed.

Intervals Between Meals

The three-hour interval is reckoned from the beginning of the meal, and not from its close. More than two hours is spent in the stomach digestion, and any food or sweetened water which may enter between meals only tends to cause indigestion and other disturbances. And that this important organ may have a bit of rest, we fix the interval at three hours, which in our experience and that of many other physicians, has yielded good results. As a rule we have no regurgitation and no sour babies on the three-hour schedule. Sick babies, very weak babies, and their feeding time, will be discussed in a later chapter.

Additional Foods

At six months, and often as early as four, in cases of constipation, unsweetened, well-strained prune juice may be given, beginning with one-half teaspoon one hour before the afternoon feed and increasing it daily until two tablespoons are taken. At six months, both orange juice and vegetable broths are given, whose vegetable salts add a very important food element to the baby's diet - an element which our grandmothers thought could only be obtained through the time-honored "bacon rind" of by-gone days.

Orange juice is also unsweetened and well strained, and is administered in increasing amounts, beginning with one-half teaspoon one hour before the afternoon feeding, until the juice of a whole orange is greedily enjoyed by the time of the first birthday. The vegetable juices are obtained from cut-up spinach, carrots, tomatoes, and potatoes, strained, with a flavor of salt and onion - really a bouillon - and is given just before the bottle at the six P. M. feeding. They are also begun in teaspoon amounts.

Food for the Traveling Babe

Baby travel should be reduced to a sheer necessity; never should the babe be subjected to the exposure of disease germs, the change of food, the possibilities of draughts and chilling, for merely a pleasure trip - the risks are too great and the possibilities of future trouble too far reaching.

If you are in touch with the milk laboratory of a large city, you will find that they make a specialty of preparing feedings which are good for a number of days for the traveling baby, and we strongly advise that their preparations be accepted; but in the event of not being in touch with such a laboratory we suggest the making of a carrying ice-box covered with wicker, which must be kept replenished with ice. Food kept in such a device may be kept fresh for twenty-four to forty-eight hours. Plans other than the laboratory preparations or the ice-box are risky, and should not be depended upon.

Many of our railway dining cars now pick up fresh, certified milk at stations along the line for use on their tables, and where such is the case fresh preparations of milk may be made on a trans-continental trip by the aid of an alcohol stove. Malted milk may also be used, provided you have accustomed the baby to its use a week before leaving home, by the gradual substitution of a fourth to a half ounce each day in the daily food; all of which, of course, should be done under your physician's direction.

If possible, leave baby at home in his familiar, comfortable environment in the care of a trained nurse and a trusted relative, and under the supervision of the baby's own physician. He is much better off, much more contented, and we are all aware of the fact that contentment and familiarity of sights and people promote good appetite, good digestion, and happiness - the very essentials of success in baby feeding. We spoke touchingly and sympathetically to the mother who must leave her babe; and likewise we wish to cheer her as we remind her that by wireless messages and night letters it is possible to keep in touch with loved ones though a thousand miles away.

The sanitation and modification of cow's milk, as well as stools, etc., are taken up in later chapters.

About the Author

Dr. William S. Sadler M.D. was a well-known American psychiatrist and college teacher in the school of medicine at the University of Chicago. For over sixty years he practiced his profession in Chicago, thirty-three years being associated in practice with his wife, Dr Lena Kellogg Sadler. The doctors were pioneers in the research on the mysterious Urantia Papers.