Care Of The Milk

In order to keep milk fresh and pure for infant use in hot weather it should be at once artificially cooled, and if intended for city consumption, during transportation both car and delivery wagon should be supplied with ice, so that the milk temperature never rises above 500 F. The milk when received at the dealer's should also be kept in refrigerators, for it is exceedingly important that it should not become lukewarm even temporarily. It is an undoubted advantage to have the whole system of milk supply under proper inspection and licensing. The cows when stabled should be kept in clean, well-ventilated quarters, and should always have the udders washed before milking. Every receptacle used for holding the milk should be thoroughly scoured with boiling water each day, but after first rinsing with cold water. If this process is reversed, particles of scalded milk may cling to the pail or can and give rise to subsequent fermentation. Milk should never be allowed to stand about in uncovered vessels, especially in a bathroom, near an open sewer pipe or drain, or in a damp cellar.

When given to the infant the milk, as well as all infant food, should be moderately warmed to approximate its body temperature (99° F.).

When the milk temporarily disagrees it becomes necessary to substitute for it some other form of food. Useful formulae for this purpose are given by Starr as follows:

Substitutes for Milk in Infant Feeding (Starr)

Veal broth (½ lb. of meat to the pint)

...................f ℥ jss

Barley water

...................f ℥ jss

Mix.

Whey, Barley water,

each, one and a half ounce.

Milk sugar

half a drachm.

Give one portion at two months.

Raw beef juice (one teaspoonful every two hours) will " be retained when everything else is rejected".

Both barley water and lime water are sometimes added when temporary looseness of the bowels occurs.

In using lime water (carbonate of lime) as a diluent of cow's milk in infant feeding, it should be remembered that in the latter the phosphate of lime is four times greater in quantity than in human milk (Leeds), and it is of questionable utility to continue the practice beyond the requirements of a temporary fit of indigestion.

Many persons suppose that the milk from a single cow is to be preferred to the mixed milk of several animals, and formerly some dairies used to supply such milk in separate bottles. It has been proved, however, that there is less variation in the quality of mixed milk, and the infant is not so apt to become dyspeptic while taking it.

The milk of fancy breeds of cows, such as that of thoroughbred Alderneys or Durhams, is often too rich both for infants and invalids.