Show Daily Health Service By DR MORRIS FISHBEIN As a mother you might be confused I over the varying ideas that have been expressed for feeding Inan infants Of course the safest plan Is 15 to consult a pediatrician and have confidence in his judgment I But lately there has been a definite trend toward the feeding of strained vegetables and cereals and so it might be proper to consider the best method for giving such food to your baby I The most perplexing problem is the determination of the age at which such feeding should begin and also I the nature of ot the material to be fed One Boston specialist who is conservative con con- says that children should be fed solid soUd materials at the age of nine months and a full tull diet at the thel age of 1 2 1 to 2 years Other less I conservative specialists say that the full diet may be given at from five live to eight months In urging this they emphasize the I fact that the solid soUd foods in the form of strained v vegetables egg yolk fruits and cereals contain vitamins that they are easily handled by the Infants Infant's infants infant's in In- in-I in fant's intestinal tract that they con con- Lain tain iron which is necessary and that they are valuable in teaching children to eat early in life S C S Recently babies of different ages were fed with strained cereals vegetables egg yolk and strained fruits One new food was started each day beginning with one teaspoonful teaspoonful tea tea- spoonful and gradually increasing the amount The child was permitted to take as much as it wanted but never forced to eat If it refused to take the solid soUd foods it Jt was given orange juice and water until the next feeding time and sooner or later the hunger of the child caused cawed it to local cat I Observations were were made to learn the effect of of these foods on the nutrition nutrition nu nutrition nu- nu and development of the child their effect on its bowel action and andon andon andon on its habits of eating The first time the the children were given strained vegetables much of the material seemed t to pass through the bowels without much digestion and as a result the bowel action was colored according to the nature of the food taken Carrots beets tomatoes and string beans were found to be bewell bewell well digested the second time they were eaten but spinach required four or five attempts before it was digested digest digest- ed to any appreciable degree S 5 5 Egg yolk resulted in golden brown color When the bowel movement is soft semisolid and ranges in color from tram yellow to brown with about two a day and with relatively little odor it seems safe to say lay that the food taken is 15 suitable It was observed that the group to which vegetables were given showed a definite decrease decrease decrease de de- crease in chronic constipation As a result of these studies doctors doc doe tors tars favor the introduction of strained vegetables and the other materials that have been mentioned into the diet of the infant rather early in life lite certainly by the end of these ond or 01 third month The chief value of such a diet is the fact that it provides provIde adequate amounts of the necessary vitamins It contains iron which is otherwise not likely to be present in large amounts in the diet of the baby And it aids bowel evacuation and accustoms toms the infant early in life to solid food |