Partial peptonization of milk is useful in the early weeks of infancy, and when the functions of the stomach are weakened by illness. It is necessary for all children to take full cow's milk at some time, and it should be given to them as soon as they can digest it, unless they are being fed at the breast. But when digestion is not perfect, peptonization of milk is a help. By peptonization, milk is partly digested so that its complete digestion is easier for an infant. The commonest digestive used for the preparation of babies' food is Fairchild's pepto-genic milk powder. Each powder contains enough ferment to digest a certain quantity of milk, some sodium bicarbonate to make it alkaline, and enough milk-sugar to give the milk mixture the proper percentage of that ingredient. When the directions given with the powders are closely followed, there is obtained a mixture having a specific gravity of 1032 and with the following percentage of ingredients:

When a child's digestion is very greatly enfeebled, it may be necessary to peptonize even modified percentage milk for the time being. This can be done by adding pancreatin and sodium bicarbonate to the milk mixture.