Children over two years of age may begin to take fish, meat, vegetables, and fruits. White fish, broiled, steamed, or boiled, may be given in place of egg. Broiled lamb chops, broiled beefsteak, or rare roast beef, broiled or roasted chicken, or boiled fowl, are all suitable food, if introduced occasionally in small quantities. Spinach, asparagus tips, young tender string beans, and peas forced through a strainer, are all allowable. Fresh ripe strawberries, served with sugar, but not cream, may be eaten in the early part of the day, but should never be allowed after dinner. Blueberries and huckleberries had better not be introduced until after the fifth year, as they often act as irritants and give rise to summer complaints.
Some children express a desire for bananas, which may be satisfied if the fruit is scraped to remove the astringent principle which lies close to the surface. Many physicians think they are more easily digested when baked.
Cocoa, as well as milk, may be given as a beverage. The menu at this age is so varied, and the digestive powers of the child so increased, that strained cereals will no longer be necessary. Indian meal mush may now be taken, as well as the oat and wheat preparations; also the cooked cereal products, put up ready for serving.
Always avoid the use, in the dietary of a young child, of salted meats, pork, or veal, coarse vegetables (beets, carrots, turnips, etc.), cheese, fried foods, pastry, rich desserts, condiments, tea, coffee, beer, or any alcoholic stimulant, and iced water.
The child's craving for sweets is a natural one and should be gratified. This is accomplished in part by sugar served with cereal and desserts. Vanilla chocolate is a most desirable food, as well as sweetmeat, and if eaten at the close of a meal is beneficial rather than harmful. Perhaps no food containing albumen, carbohydrate, and fat is as well absorbed as chocolate. All the sugar is taken up, and there is a loss of only two per cent of the albumen, starch, and fat.
The injurious effects of pure chocolate and candy are
