Babies - Milk Sanitation : Part 1

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

(Page 17 of 41)

Cow's milk, like mother's milk, is made up of solids and water. In a previous chapter we learned that in one-hundred parts of mother's milk, eighty-seven parts were water and thirteen parts were solid.

Mother's milk is absolutely sterile, that is, free from the presence of germs; on the other hand, cow's milk is anything but sterile - the moment it leaves the udder it begins to accumulate numerous bacteria, all of which multiply very rapidly. Cow's milk is generally twenty-four to forty-eight hours old before it can possibly reach the baby. It is just as important to keep in mind these facts of milk contamination - dirt, filth, flies, and bacteria - as it is to plan for the modification of cow's milk for the purpose of making it more nearly resemble mother's milk.

While mother's milk has about the same percentage of fat as cow's milk, it is almost twice as rich in sugar, and has only one-fourth to one-third as much protein. This protein is vastly different from that found in cow's milk, which you recall has a tough curd, as seen in cottage cheese. While mother's milk contains a small amount of casein similar to that found in the cheese of the cow's milk, the principal protein constituent is of another kind and is much more easy of digestion than the casein of cow's milk.

This is a most important point to remember, because the baby's stomach is not at first adapted to the digestion of the heavier and tougher protein curds of cow's milk. It requires time to accustom the infant stomach to perform this heavier work of digestion. There are a number of factors which must be borne in mind in the modification of milk, whether it be cow's milk, or goat's milk (for many European physicians use goat's milk entirely in the artificial feeding of infants): namely, the cleanliness of the milk, the acidity of milk, the difference in the curd, the percentage of sugar, and the presence of bacteria.

Sugar

In the modification of cow's milk, sugar must be added to make up for the sugar which is decreased when the water was added to reduce the protein. There are several sorts of sugar used in the modification of milk. These sugars are not added to sweeten the milk alone, but to furnish a very important element needed for the growth of the baby. Sugar is the one element which the infant requires in the largest amount.

Milk sugar is probably most universally used in the modification of milk, but a good grade of milk sugar is somewhat expensive, costing from thirty to sixty cents a pound, and this places it beyond the reach of many mothers. It is added to the food mixtures in the proportion of one ounce to every twenty ounces of food. Cane sugar (table sugar) may also be used, but it must be clean and of good quality. It is used in rather less quantity than that of milk sugar, usually from one-half to one-third of an ounce by measure to each twenty ounces of food. Dextrin-maltose (malt sugar) is very easy of digestion and may be used in the modification of milk. Maltose seems to help the children to gain more rapidly in weight than when only milk or cane sugar is used. It is also exceedingly useful in constipation, as its action is more laxative than any of the other sugars; but it should not be given to children who vomit habitually or have loose stools.

Acidity

Like mother's milk, the cow's milk is neutral as it comes from the udder; but, on standing, it quickly changes, soon becoming slightly acid, as shown by testing with blue litmus paper. In fact, what is known as ordinarily fresh milk, if subjected to the litmus paper test, always gives an acid reaction. This acidity is neutralized by adding lime water to the formula in the proportion of one ounce to each twenty-ounce mixture. Ordinary baking soda is sometimes prescribed by physicians in place of the lime water. In the event of obstinate constipation, milk of magnesia is sometimes added to the day's feedings.

Cream

There may be procured in any large city an instrument called the cream gauge, which registers approximately (not accurately) the richness of milk. Some milk, even though rich, parts with its cream very slowly; while some poor milk allows nearly all the cream quickly to rise to the surface. We know of no way for the mother to determine the amount of cream (without the cream gauge) except by the color and richness of the milk. In cities it is very convenient to send a specimen of the milk to the laboratories to be examined by experts, who will gladly render a report to both physician and mother.

The lactometer is a little instrument used to estimate the specific gravity of milk. An ordinary urinometer such as used by physicians in estimating the specific gravity of urine may also be used. The specific gravity of cow's milk should not register below 1028 or above 1033.

Herd Milk

Milk from a single cow is not to be desired for baby's food because of its liability to vary from day to day, not to mention the danger of the cow's becoming sick. Authorities have agreed that herd milk of Holstein or ordinary grade cows is best for infant feeding. This mixed-herd milk contains just about the proper percentage of fat; whereas, if Jersey milk must be used, some of the cream should be taken away. Our milk should come from healthy cows which have been tested for tuberculosis at least every three months.

Annatto is sometimes added to milk to increase its richness of color. To test for annatto proceed as follows: To a couple of tablespoons of milk add a pinch of ordinary baking soda. Insert one-half of a strip of filter paper in the milk and allow it to remain over night. Annatto will give a distinct orange tint to the paper. The commonly used milk preservatives are boric acid, salicylic acid, and formaldehyde, any of which may be readily detected by your health officials.

Sanitary Dairies

In close proximity to most large cities there is usually to be found one or more sanitary dairies. It is a joy indeed to visit a farm of this kind with its airy stables and concrete floors, which are washed with water coming from a hose. The drainage is perfect - all filth is immediately carried off. The cows are known to be free from tuberculosis, actinomycosis (lumpy jaw), and foot and mouth disease. The milkmen on this farm wear washable clothes at the milking time, and their hands are painstakingly cleansed just before the milking hour. Previous to the milking the cattle have been curried outside the milking room and their udders have received a careful washing.

The milkman grasps the teat with clean hands, while the milk is allowed to flow through several thicknesses of sterilized gauze into the sanitary milking pail. This milk is at once poured into sterile bottles, is quickly cooled and shipped in ice to the substations where the delivery wagon is waiting. In the ideal delivery wagon there are shallow vats of ice in which the bottles are placed, therefore permitting the milk to reach the baby's home having all the while been kept at a temperature just above the freezing point.

And why all this trouble? Why all this worry over temperature and cleanliness? Babies were not so cared for in the days of our grandmothers. The old-fashioned way of milking the cows with dirty clothes and soiled hands, while cattle were more or less covered with manure, with their tails switching millions of manure germs into the milking pail, produced a milk laden not only with manure germs - the one great cause of infantile diarrhea - but also swarming with numerous other mischief making microbes. Even tuberculosis, that much dreaded disease germ of early infancy, may come from the dairy hands as well as from infected cows.

There used to be many dairymen like the old farmer who, when interrogated by the health commissioner concerning the cleanliness of his milk, laughed as he reached down into the bottom of a pail of yellow milk and grabbing up a handful of manure and straw, said: "That's what makes the youngsters grow." But it does not make them grow; it often causes them to die, and even if they do live, they live in spite of such contaminated food, for the germ which is always found in the colon of the cow, probably kills more babies every year than any other single thing.

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.