Dear Friends:
    I came across some old books in my bookcase; of course I looked up about
breastfeeding and thought I would share with you what was published years ago.
    "Practical Points in Nursing for Nurses in Private Practice" by Emily
Stoney, 1899. Pages 264-265: Nursing of the Infant. "The baby should be put
to the breast regularly every two hours during the day, and only when it
awakes during the night. It should suckle about 15 minutes. A baby's stomach
holds only about 1 ounce. Feeble babies must be fed oftener day and night.
The mouth must be washed before and after each feeding with water to which
has been added a little borax."
    Page 270. "Thrush is a disease caused by decomposition of food in the
mouth of the child, and is characterized by small white spots on the tongue,
the sides of the mouth, and the gums, that may spread to the throat and
stomach. To prevent this disease, the mouth should be thoroughly washed after
each feeding with water to which has been added a little borax."
    "A Reference Handbook for Nurses 4th Ed., revised" by Amanda Beck, 1919.
"Infant Feeding: If the bowel movements are curdy, we may take it as an
indication of an excess of proteids. Sour vomiting often indicates too much
fat. Stools that are very watery but without curds may result from too much
sugar or too much fat. Vomiting of hard, curdy masses may indicate too much
proteids. Should the child seem to do well on its food in every way except
that it does not gain in weigh, it may be that the sugar is too low. Vomiting
may mean that the child has eaten too much. Breast milk is the best infant
food. No artificial food can or should be trusted which does not contain the
essentials of breast-milk--viz, fat, proteids, and sugar. The elements named
are to be found only in milk, cow's milk being the only one available for
general use. Cow's milk must be modified, because it does not contain the
same proportions of the elements named."
    Recipes are given to make formula, which changes at 2 weeks, 6 weeks, 11
weeks, 5 months, 9 months, and 12 months.  The ingredients are sugar of milk,
sterile water, lime water, cream, and milk.
    Warmly,
Nikki Lee RN, MSN, Mother of 2, IBCLC, CIMI, CSTP
Elkins Park (a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; northeastern USA)
supporter of the WHO Code and the Mother Friendly Childbirth Initiative

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