Public School Domestic Science Part 28

SUGGESTIONS FOR SCHOOL CHILDREN'S DIET.

If early rising is insisted upon, a child should never be set at any task before breakfast, especially in winter; and if it is not expedient to serve a full breakfast at half-past six or seven, the child should be given a bowl of milk and bread, a cup of cocoa with a roll or other light food. Breakfast may be served later, after the first exercises of the morning, and should consist of porridge of wheaten grits, hominy, fish, eggs, fruit (raw or cooked), bread and b.u.t.ter. Dinner, which should always be served near the middle of the day, should comprise meat, potatoes, one or two green vegetables, some form of light pudding or sweet. Supper, it is generally admitted, should comprise easily digested articles of food; such substances as pastry, cheese and meats are better omitted; it should consist of a porridge, with milk or cream, or a light, farinacious pudding of rice, tapioca or sago, with bread and b.u.t.ter, and some simple form of preserve, stewed apples or prunes, or very light, plain cake. A good bowl of nutritious broth--or soup--with bread or crackers, may be subst.i.tuted for the porridge or pudding. It will sometimes be found best to serve this meal at seven or half-past seven o'clock; in this case the child should be given a slice of bread and b.u.t.ter or a gla.s.s of milk (drinking it slowly), at half-past four or five.

Some of the more important articles of school diet require special mention; the following extract from Dr. Thompson's Practical Dietetics may prove helpful:--

_Bread._--"Bread, as a rule, should be made of whole meal, but must not be too coa.r.s.e. The advantage of this bread for children consists in its containing a larger proportion of salts, which they need, than is found in refined white flour, and b.u.t.ter should be freely served with it to supply the deficiency of fats which exist in meat. Children need fat, but they do not digest meat fat well, as a rule, and are very apt to dislike it. They will often take suet pudding, however, when hot mutton fat wholly disagrees with them."

_Milk._--"Milk should be freely supplied, not only in the form of puddings and porridges, but as an occasional beverage, and children should be made to understand that when hungry, they can obtain a gla.s.s of milk, or a bowl of crackers or bread and milk, for the asking.

Chambers says, 'The best lunch that a growing young man can have is a dish of roast potatoes, well b.u.t.tered and peppered, and a draft of milk.'"

_Meat._--"Meat may be given twice a day, but not oftener. It may sometimes be advisable to give it but once a day when fish or eggs are supplied; it should, however, be given at least once daily, to rapidly growing children."

_Sweets._--"The greater number of children have a natural craving for sweets."

The energy developed in active childhood necessitates the consumption of a larger proportion of sugar than is required by adults. The craving of children for confections, candy, etc., furnishes a true indication of the actual requirements of nature, and it must be admitted that a certain amount of wholesome candy not only does most children no harm, but may serve them as an excellent food. The main difficulty with such forms of sugar, however, is that children are not furnished with a proper proportion of sugar with their meals, and the meals themselves are not so regulated as to prevent their becoming very hungry between times; consequently, if they can obtain candy, which satisfies them for the time, they are very apt to eat too much, with the result of producing more or less dyspepsia and diminis.h.i.+ng the normal appet.i.te. Alcohol in every form should be absolutely excluded. If given during early youth, it is particularly p.r.o.ne to develop a taste which may become uncontrollable in later years.

(Children should not indulge in tea and coffee.)

_Exercise._--As a general rule, active muscular exercise in children disturbs their digestive process far less than mental effort, when taken immediately after meals; and every adult is familiar with the romping which children can undertake straightway after dinner, often, though not always, with impunity, whereas a proportionate amount of exercise on the part of an adult might produce a severe dyspeptic attack.

Much of the headache and inattention of pupils during school hours is the direct result of an ill-regulated diet, or from vitiated appet.i.tes.

INFANTS' DIET.

One of the most important subjects included in a domestic science course of study is the feeding and care of infants. A subject requiring special intelligence and consideration; one which embodies the condensed information of the preceding chapters, and is the foundation upon which the future physical structure is built.

It is not upon the mother alone that the baby depends for care and attention. Many young girls, especially elder sisters and nurse-maids, have this responsibility placed upon them when they are little more than children themselves. To these, as well as to young mothers, the following suggestions may prove helpful.

The first demand of an infant is for food, and upon the quality and quant.i.ty of the article provided depends the health of the child, as well as the comfort of the household.

Milk is the only food required by an infant until it is, at least, seven or eight months old, or until sufficient saliva is secreted to a.s.sist digestion; some authorities say one year, others until the child has sufficient teeth with which to masticate food. If nature's supply is not available, or sufficient, the best subst.i.tute is cow's milk. As cow's milk contains less sugar of milk, and fat (cream), than human milk, these must be supplied. Being more acid than alkaline, this must be corrected by the use of lime water.

There is more casein (curd) in cow's milk than in mother's milk, therefore water must be added to reduce this. The following proportions have been submitted as a digestible form of preparing cow's milk for young infants (Dr. Meigs):--

Cream, 2 tbsps.

Milk, 1 tbsp.

Lime water, 2 tbsps.

Milk-sugar water, 3 tbsps.

One quarter of this amount to be given every two hours during the day, and once or twice at night.

After the baby is a week old, the quant.i.ty may be increased to one-half at each meal; at two months the whole amount prepared may be given at once.

The proportion of milk should be gradually increased, and the water and cream decreased, until at two months old the proportion should be:--

3 tbsps. milk.

1 tbsp. cream.

1 tbsp. lime water.

3 tbsps. sugar water.

When six months old the quant.i.ty of milk is doubled. It should be increased every day until ten tablespoonfuls are given at a feeding.

BARLEY WATER.

2 tbsps. pearl barley.

1 pt. boiling water.

Wash the barley carefully. Pour over it the boiling water. Let it simmer for two hours. Strain and sweeten with a pinch of sugar of milk.

MILK-SUGAR WATER.

1/2 oz. sugar of milk.

1/2 pt. boiling water.

Dissolve, and keep closely covered. It will not keep long, so should be made when required to use.

LIME WATER.

Take a lump of lime weighing about one ounce. Put in a bottle with a quart of cold water (which has been boiled). Shake the bottle well until the lime is dissolved, and let it stand for 12 hours. Pour the clear liquid into another bottle, being careful not to disturb the sediment. Keep carefully corked. Water will only absorb a certain quant.i.ty of lime, so there is no danger of its being too strong.

As cow's milk is more difficult to digest than mother's milk, it is sometimes necessary to subst.i.tute barley water in place of the lime water and milk, using the same amount of cream as given in recipe.

MALTED FOOD.

2 oz. wheat flour or barley meal.

1-3/4 qts. water.

1 tsp. extract of malt.

Mix the flour to a paste with a little water, gradually add a quart of the water; put it in a double boiler and boil 10 minutes. Dissolve the malt extract in 4 tbsps. of the water (cold). Lift out the inner vessel and add the malt and remainder of the cold water. Let it stand 15 minutes, replace, and boil again for 15 minutes. Strain through a wire gauze strainer. (Half this quant.i.ty may be made.)

This preparation is used when both barley water and lime-water disagree. It must always be given with milk. It prevents the large tough curds forming, which is such an objectionable feature in using cow's milk.

PEPTONIZED MILK.

In cases of especially weak digestion it may be necessary to peptonize the milk, which may be done as follows: Add 5 grains of extract of pancreas and 15 grains of baking soda to 1 pint of milk. (Tablets of pancreatin and soda may be used.)

After adding the peptonizing material put the milk in a double boiler or in a vessel which may be set in a larger one, holding water, as hot as the hand can bear being dipped into quickly, or about 115 Fah.

Leave the milk in the hot water about 20 minutes, then place on the ice. If heated too long the milk will taste bitter.

The preparation given in recipe No. 1, or with the barley water added, may be peptonized.