What Foods May Be Given Children Over Two Years Old?

"I will first speak of some of the foods not to be given them. The worst abused children are those who are indulged by their parents to such an extent as to be allowed to eat every thing they see. They must be kept out of the pantry; for nothing could be worse than permitting them cakes, sugar, pastry, green fruits, or anything else they may happen to want. Besides the objection to such articles, they are frequently allowed to eat them at all hours of the day, and if life were not so exceedingly hard to destroy, the mortality rate of children would depopulate the country. Parents are disposed to be particular about almost everything for their children except their diet, and in this they are less restricted than grown people, although they are in greater need of it."

"This is not very definite about what they should eat."

"But I have only discussed preliminaries, and I am going to strike out their ordinary diet at one blow, by throwing out the frying-pan and all fried food; nor will I stop here; pickles for children are instruments of death, but are not worse than sourkrant, and not much worse than griddle or pan-cakes, salads and raw vegetables."

Which Of The Fried Foods Are The Worst?

"Fried eggs and fried salt pork, ham or snoulder."

"Doctor, your attack on the ordinary way of feeding children is rather sharp, and your list of prohibited foods rather sweeping."

"That may be, but there are still more; pepper, mustard and all condiments, except a small amount of salt, must go; together with cheese, bananas, cherries, grapes (unless skins and seeds are removed), blackberries and raspberries, except the juice, gooseberries, cranberries, currants, stringy vegetables, unless chopped fine, canned fish, hot, doughy biscuits or bread, cakes, pies, doughnuts, nuts, unless ground, popcorn, raisins for children under eight years old, the skin of fowls, green or over-ripe fruits, tomatoes, muffins, fritters, salt fish, peas and beans, unless ground or thoroughly cooked and passed thuough a sieve, green, dried, or canned corn, new potatoes, ice water and ice cream, except in small quantity, when slow eating can be enforced."

Doctor, Your Lists Are As Sweeping As A Cyclone. Are There Any Foods Except Milk You Haven't Condemned?

"Plenty of them. There is bread, cracked wheat and wheat foods, corn preparations other than green, dried, and canned corn, rice, oatmeal, barley, rye, meats in small quantities, boiled or roasted, eggs, raw or slightly cooked, fruits, except as prohibited in the list given, fresh fish, cooked vegetables, when strings are cut very short, baked or mashed potatoes, arrow root, tapioca, sago, and gelatine. Wheat, oat and corn mushes should be strained for children under five years old."

What Ought To Be The Staple Diet For Children?

"Milk, entire wheat bread, oatmeal, wheat gluten, grits, or germ meal, fruits, rice, meat, fresh fish, and soft-cooked eggs. In all food preparations or mixtures, it must be kept constantly in mind that all the starchy foods require much cooking, while meats and eggs but little; also an excess of fat and sweets must be avoided. As an example, if eggs are used in rice pudding, they must be added after the rice is cooked, for there will be enough heat in the rice to cook the eggs."

Should The Diet Of Growing Children Differ Materially From That Of Older Persons?

"It should contain more tissue-forming food and more mineral matter. These elements are found principally in milk, wheat, oats, meats and eggs. The first three in some form or other should compose the main part of their diet. Growing children who do not have foods containing lime, will do better on hard water than on soft, as the former furnishes lime necessary for the bones."

Doctor, Can You Give A Model Diet For Different Ages Of Children?

"It is easy to indicate suitable food, but very difficult to be definite as to quantities, because there are so many modifying circumstances. One child may be as large and active at three years of age as another at five; then temperature, clothing, exercise and growth are all elements of food requirements. Probably as near an estimate as to quantity of food needed for an adult is about one ounce of food as ordinarily eaten, or half an ounce of dry food, to each three pounds of weight of the individual, but for fat people, or the sedentary, this would be much too high for a daily average. Now, as I have already stated, children require a higher per cent, of nitrogen, because, in addition to the ordinary waste of tissue, they must have something for growth; but as the average growth does not exceed one-third of an -ounce per day, which is seventy per cent, water, it will be seen that the need for growth has been greatly exaggerated by many writers. A child a year old will consume forty ounces of milk, containing five ounces of solid food, while the average growth of a child per day will not exceed a tenth of an ounce of solid matter."

How Would That Compare With The Standard Diet Of Grown People?

"The diet for grown people, weighing seven or eight times as much as a child one year old, would contain about four times as much protein as the diet of an infant one year old."

Doctor, How Would You Divide The Different Periods Of A Child's Life, For The Purpose Of Arranging Dietaries?

"The first period is from birth up to eight or ten months of age. During this period modified milk is next best to that of the mother's. When these fail, pre-digested starch preparations, sold as prepared foods, such as Imperial Granum, should be tried. Some children do better on them than milk, and some give them with milk to great advantage. Part of a beaten egg may be given for temporary use."

Then When A Child Is Eight Or Ten Months Old, It May Be Fed Some Starch?

"Yes; white bread, crackers, arrow root and sago may be added to the milk given the child. If bread be used, it must be good bread, well baked and dissolved in milk or hot water, and given in small quantities. Wheat, oats, and rice preparations, when boiled to a pulp and strained through a very fine sieve, are very useful additions to milk."

When May Other Foods Be Given?

"It must be kept in mind that a child must not have solid food until it has teeth, although other soft food, such as mashed potatoes, baked or stewed, sweet or sub-acid apples, free from peel, seeds and core, may be given."

May Other Fruits Be Used?

"They must be used with great care; all very sour and astringent fruits must be avoided. In constipation, slightly acid fruit juices, when strained, may be given two or three hours after meals, and one hour before."