is not designed for the human infant. It contains too much casein, and
is too difficult of digestion. Various preparations of milk and grains
are recommended by nurses and physicians, but no conscientious nurse
or physician pretends that any of them begins to equal the nutritive
value of human milk. More women can nurse their babies than now think
they can; the advertisements of patent foods lead them to think the
rather of little importance, and they do not make the necessary
effort to preserve and increase the natural supply of milk. The family
physician can almost always better the condition of the mother who
really desires to nurse her own child, and he should be consulted and
his directions obeyed. The importance of a really great effort to this
direction is shown by the fact that the physical culture records,
now so carefully kept in many of our schools and colleges, prove that
bottle-fed babies are more likely to be of small stature, and to have
deficient bones, teeth and hair, than children who have been fed on
mother's milk.

[Sidenote: Simple Diet]

The food question is undoubtedly the most important problem to the
physical welfare of the child, and has, as well, a most profound
effect upon his disposition and character. Indiscriminate feeding is
the cause of much of the trouble and worry of mothers. This subject is
taken up at length in other papers of this course, and it will suffice
to say here that the table of the family with young children should be
regulated largely by the needs of the growing sons and daughters. The
simplified diet necessary may well be of benefit to other members of
the family.