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If a child wakes very early, it may be given a crust of bread, a cracker, or a small quantity of milk, but not enough to take away the appetite for breakfast.

For breakfast, serve a cereal sprinkled with sugar (sparingly) and top milk. Well-cooked, strained oatmeal, hominy, or any of the wheat preparations may be used, and it is desirable to offer variety. A glass of milk should accompany this meal.

For luncheon, give strained cereal and milk, allowing three parts milk to one part cereal. In order that the child may have sufficient nourishment, pour off the upper half of quart jars of milk (top milk). In this way the necessary fat is supplied.

For dinner, serve a soft-cooked egg, or beef, chicken, or mutton broth thickened with strained rice or barley; either with a piece of stale bread spread with butter, followed by steamed rice with cream and sugar, steamed or baked custard, junket custard, Irish moss blanc mange, strained stewed prunes, or juice of one-half orange. When eggs are introduced into the diet for the first few times, give but one-half egg. This quantity may be easily digested, while a whole egg might cause gastric disturbance.

For supper, serve strained cereal and milk, same as for lunch. A child from sixteen to twenty-four months takes four meals, with the same hours for serving as the younger child, with some greater variety.

For breakfast, in addition to cereal, give "soft-boiled," dropped, or coddled egg. Scrambled egg, if cooked with a small quantity of butter, may be occasionally served. It is well at this age to introduce one egg daily into the diet.

For luncheon, give bread and butter, cracker, or cereal jelly with sugar and top milk in addition to the luncheon before served.

For dinner, mashed baked potato, beef juice, boiled rice, or macaroni may be added.

For supper, whole wheat or Graham bread spread with butter, stewed prunes, baked apple or apple-sauce, in addition to the supper before served.

Children over two years of age may begin to take fish, meat, vegetables, and fruits. White fish, broiled, steamed, or boiled, may be given in place of egg. Broiled lamb chops, broiled beefsteak, or rare roast beef, broiled or roasted chicken, or boiled fowl, are all suitable food, if introduced occasionally in small quantities. Spinach, asparagus tips, young tender string beans, and peas forced through a strainer, are all allowable. Fresh ripe strawberries, served with sugar, but not cream, may be eaten in the early part of the day, but should never be allowed after dinner. Blueberries and huckleberries had better not be introduced until after the fifth year, as they often act as irritants and give rise to summer complaints.

Some children express a desire for bananas, which may be satisfied if the fruit is scraped to remove the astringent principle which lies close to the surface. Many physicians think they are more easily digested when baked.

Cocoa, as well as milk, may be given as a beverage. The menu at this age is so varied, and the digestive powers of the child so increased, that strained cereals will no longer be necessary. Indian meal mush may now be taken, as well as the oat and wheat preparations; also the cooked cereal products, put up ready for serving.

Always avoid the use, in the dietary of a young child, of salted meats, pork, or veal, coarse vegetables (beets, carrots, turnips, etc.), cheese, fried foods, pastry, rich desserts, condiments, tea, coffee, beer, or any alcoholic. stimulant, and iced water.

The child's craving for sweets is a natural one and should be gratified. This is accomplished in part by sugar served with cereal and desserts. Vanilla chocolate is a most desirable food, as well as sweetmeat, and if eaten at the close of a meal is beneficial rather than harmful. Perhaps no food containing albumen, carbohydrate, and fat is as well absorbed as chocolate. All the sugar is taken up, and there is a loss of only two per cent of the albumen, starch, and fat.

The injurious effects of pure chocolate and candy are

due to their being eaten between meals or in excess, which destroys the appetite for plain, wholesome food.

When the time arrives that the nap is no longer needed, which time varies with different children, three meals usually suffice. The dietary may be gradually increased, until the child is able to partake of the family menu, avoiding, of course, a night dinner. The wise mother will encourage and continue a resting time until school hours interfere, even though not followed by sleep.

The food of the child at school is of equal importance to the food of the infant. It must not be forgotten that digestive processes go on quickly, and activity is so great in childhood that an abundant supply of well-cooked, nourishing food is essential for both the development of body and mind. The irritability and weak nervous condition of school children, which is often attributed to over-study, is more often the result of excitement, want of sleep, and malnutrition.

Never allow a child to go to school without a proper breakfast, of which a cereal served with sugar and rich milk or cream should form the principal dish.

Many children enter kindergarten at the age of three and one-half or four years, most of whom carry a luncheon, a few minutes being set aside for the purpose of eating the same. This luncheon should be very simple, and limited in quantity, that the appetite may not be destroyed for the hearty dinner. In many cases where a child is fortified with a good breakfast, the luncheon would better be omitted, as the child has a better appetite and enjoyment of the midday meal. In kindergartens attended by the poor, a luncheon is an absolute necessity to the child's welfare, and fortunate is the community where an appropriation is made for the supply of milk, with bread or crackers, or occasionally hot broth in the place of milk.

If the older child attends a one-session school, the luncheon must not be overlooked. Whatever else goes into the luncheon basket, sandwiches must hold first place. If a variety is introduced and pains are taken in

their preparation, the little ones will look forward to them with as much interest as the sweets which follow. Doughnuts, rich cake, and pastry should be avoided, but simple crackers, cookies, and cakes may be used to advantage; also fresh and dried fruits and nuts. Figs, dates, and nuts have a high food value, and if well masticated, an active child will digest them with comparative

ease.

In the high schools of many large towns and cities, lunch counters have been established for furnishing to the pupils well-cooked, nutritious food, at the least possible expense. Hot soups and cocoa may be found each day in addition to rolls, sandwiches, crackers, cookies, cake, fruit, and sometimes ice cream.

A child, relatively to his weight, requires more food than a man or a woman. Three considerations explain

this necessity:

1. The assimilative powers of a child are greater than those of an adult.

2. A child has a larger surface in proportion to his weight; which means a relatively larger heat loss.

3. A child is growing, therefore requires a relatively larger supply of building material.

Table showing Amount of Food required for a Child as compared with a Man.

A child under 2 requires 0.3 the food of a man doing moderate work.

A child of 3 to 5 requires 0.4 the food of a man doing moderate work.

A child of 6 to 9 requires 0.5 the food of a man doing moderate work.

A child of 10 to 13 requires 0.6 the food of a man doing moderate work.

A girl of 14 to 16 requires 0.7 the food of a man doing moderate work.

A boy of 14 to 16 requires 0.8 the food of a man doing moderate work.

PROF. W. O. ATWATER.

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HUTCHISON, P. 453. SCHROEDER, Archiv. für Hygiene, iv. 39, 1886.

Children must have, for their best mental and physical development, a relatively larger proportion of proteid and fat in the dietary than their elders. The baby receives his proteid and fat from milk and cereals, but the older child needs, in addition to these, eggs, meat, and butter. Much of the pallor and stunted growth of some children is largely attributable to the lack of these very foods.

As carbohydrates furnish the cheapest form of food, they are almost never found wanting, and oftentimes are used to excess. Carbohydrate in the form of sugar, if injudiciously given, may prove harmful, but if used wisely, when it does not interfere with digestive processes, is a most useful fuel food.

one.

The notion that sugar injures the teeth is largely a false If children are allowed to eat candy or cookies after the teeth have been brushed for the night, then the sweets which collect between them cause decay.

Milk, eggs, and meat are sources for furnishing mineral matter, but the chief value of fruit and vegetables lies in this food constitutent, upon which tissue growth so much depends.

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