On page 276 are recorded the directions given by Dr. J. Forsyth Meigs for an article of diet, consisting of gelatine and arrowroot, which he prefers to all other kinds of artificial infant food. Another method of preparing a useful arrowroot mixture is as follows:--
Place a tea-spoonful of arrowroot in a porcelain vessel, with as much cold water as will make it into a fine dough; then add a cupful of boiling milk or of beef-tea; stir the mixture a little, and allow it to boil for a few minutes until the whole acquires the consistency of a fine light jelly.
The _manner_ in which nutriment is administered to infants is not immaterial. The custom of feeding them from a small spoon, or from a cup with a snout, is objectionable. The use of a sucking-bottle most nearly imitates the way in which nature designed the nursling to obtain its nourishment. By the act of sucking, the muscles of the face are exercised in an equal manner, and the saliva is mixed with the food to an extent which is not possible if any other mode of feeding be resorted to. Children drink very readily out of the perforated rubber nipples, which are now so popular for this purpose: they are made to fit over the mouth of the bottle, and are especially to be recommended on account of their cleanliness. The bottle should never be refilled until both it and the rubber cap have been thoroughly cleansed in warm water. A white glass bottle only should be employed in order that any want of cleanliness may readily be detected. It should be recollected that milk very quickly sours when kept in this way in a warm room; it is therefore better always to empty the bottle and fill it afresh each time it is given to the child, rather than to wait until its contents are exhausted before replenishing it.
We have hitherto been treating mainly of the diet proper for the first year of life. In the second year children may be permitted to have soft, finely-cut meat. Fresh ripe fruit in season ordinarily agrees excellently well. But boiled green vegetables and husk fruits are very apt to cause indigestion and diarrhoea. Fruit for children should be freed from the stones and skins; which latter are indigestible, and often do harm.