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The Care of Babies: Milk

Also avoid saline purgatives (salts) they are highly injurious. Quality of Mother's Milk. If the breast milk is plentiful and of good quality, yet fails to nourish the infant, a change of the mother's diet and habits will be found to give excellent results. The richness of the milk may be increased by eating plenty of meat, eggs, animal broths, and other animal foods; or decreased by omitting or decreasing these foods and by eating freely of fruits and cereals. If the infant does not increase in weight, the use of fats and oils by the mother will soon cause improvement.

Roth's Rules for Influencing Breast Milk. - To increase the total quantity, increase proportionately the liquids in the mother's diet and encourage her to believe that she will be enabled to nurse her infant; or to decrease the quantity, decrease the liquids proportionately.

To increase the total solids, shorten the nursing intervals and decrease the exercise and the proportion of liquids in the mother's diet. To decrease the total solids, prolong the nursing intervals and increase the exercise and the proportion of liquid diet. To increase the fats, increase the proportion of meat in the diet and of the fats which are in a readily digestible form. To decrease the fats, decrease the proportion of meat and fat in the diet. To increase the proteids, decrease the exercise; or to decrease the proteids, increase the exercise up to the limit of fatigue for the individual.