Flies.—­They often carry germs of disease on their legs and wings, and they frequently light on baby’s mouth or on the nipple of the nursing bottle.  Diseases can be contracted in this way.  The windows should be screened.  Everything that the fly has touched should be washed with some light antiseptic solution.

Ninth Month.—­His long morning nap should be encouraged and he should sleep in the early afternoon.  If the baby is heavy his little moccasin or kid shoes will not now support his ankles and he should have a shoe with a piece of stiffening at the side.  The shoe should have no heels; laced shoes fit better and should be preferred.  The baby (bottle-fed) can take seven to eight ounces of the proper food every three hours until ten p. m.

Tenth Month.—­He can now take a little beef juice, beginning with one teaspoonful once a day and soon twice a day; then increase to two teaspoonfuls at a time and keep on until he is taking eight teaspoonfuls daily.

This should be given between his regular meals.  Some babies cannot take beef juice; orange juice may then be tried, strained through cheesecloth or fine muslin and be given at first in doses of one teaspoonful and increased until baby gets the juice of one-half an orange.

If the mother is nursing baby and he has been given one bottle of milk daily, as advised for a four-months-old babe, he can now have two bottle feedings daily.  Every healthy baby should be weaned when one year old, and it is better to do it gradually in this way.  The baby’s food should now be given him every three and one-half hours up to ten p. m., thus making five meals in twenty-four hours of seven to eight ounces at each meal.

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Eleventh Month.—­Baby can now have added to his diet another cereal like farina well cooked,—­twice as long as the directions advise and it should be half solid when finished.  Begin with one teaspoonful and then try two.  This should be given in addition to his beef juice or orange juice.  It should come between his regular meals, which should now be given at four-hour intervals.  He should take eight or nine ounces to a meal.

Twelfth Month.—­Baby should go to bed at six p. m., and take long morning nap.  He should have five meals a day of such food as directed later.

INFANTS’ FEEDING.

What is the best food for an infant?  Mothers’ milk.

What is the composition of mothers’ milk?  About thirteen parts solids and eighty-seven parts water.

Name the solids?  Fat, sugar, proteids and salts.

What is sugar?  Milk sugar or “lactose.”

What are the proteids?  The curd of the milk, which is very similar to the white of an egg, and is the muscle making element in the milk.

Is it necessary to have all these elements?  Yes.

What benefit is the fat?  It is needed for the growth of the bones, nerves, fat of the body and also for producing heat.