I'm dusting some bookshelves and came across my MIL's schoolbook from when
she was eleven and learning the basics of homemaking.  Boys had shop, girls
had this.  I am fascinated by what was deemed essential knowledge for girls
of this age, and the attitude to food and nutrition that permeates this
book.  Suffice it to say that the social role of pleasant meals taken in
lively company were not emphasized, while one's duty to eat nutritious food
in order to be able to put in a full day's work scrubbing floors and making
one's own baking powder are given abundant space.
My translation follows:

"Infant feeding and care.
The best food for the infant is mother's milk.
Should the mother die, or have a disease that can be passed to the child via
her milk, the child must get some other kind of milk.  Other milk must also
be used alongside mother's milk if the mother's milk is poor quality or the
mother produces too little.
To replace mother's milk, cow's milk is most often used.  Goat's milk is
especially good as infant milk, since goats rarely have tuberculosis.
Reindeer's milk may also be used.
Milk that has been standing in air, always contains bacteria.  Since the
infant has little power to conquer the diseases such bacteria can cause, the
milk for the infant must be bacteria-free.  *Milk is most free of bacteria
when it is freshly milked.*"

The chapter goes on at some length, describing how to prepare milk for
infants of varying ages.  The infant should be fed with the bottle 
"held at an angle while the infant drinks.  Let it drink for ten to fifteen
minutes, and let it then lie undisturbed for a couple of hours, since the
infant otherwise may easily vomit.

Mealtimes.
If the infant's digestion is to be kept in order, it must be fed at certain
times.
*Give the child food every three hours.  Do not give it food between eleven
in the evening and six of seven in the morning.*  Both the child and the
person responsible for it, need to sleep undisturbed all night.
The stomach of a newborn child is no bigger than a hen's egg, and can not
hold much at a time.  If the child takes too much food, the stomach may
easily become overstrained.  The child vomits, and it may acquire diseases
of digestion that cause it harm later in life. 
...
Pay close attention to the child's digestion.  Seek the advice of a doctor
if the child often vomits, or if its stools are very loose, or hard.
...

Remember that the infant is quite at the mercy of whoever cares for it - it
can depend on the nurse whether the child grows up to be a strong, healthy
person, or not."

For the record, my MIL gave birth in the 1950s in one of the first large
lying-in hospitals in Norway, and despite following the head obstetrician's
advice to the letter, with strict four-hourly feeds, she ran clean out of
breastmilk after two weeks with all three of her babies.  Can't think why!

Rachel Myr
Getting domestic for a change in Kristiansand, Norway

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