An incorrectly fed baby is not only unhealthy, he is unhappy, and this is a matter of concern to any new parent. Proper nourishment (food needed to keep you healthy) is, of course, necessary to good health. Based on personal experience, here is something that worked. It is being offered as a helpful tip to parents who want better ways to raise healthy children.

Some hospitals and doctors have apparently adopted the statement that “a fat baby today means a patient tomorrow.”

Some prepared food served at hospitals and by baby doctors—a powdered mess you are supposed to dissolve in water and feed to the baby—has been found to upset a baby. If you ever tasted it, you would agree with the baby. It is terrible.

More than that, it is all carbohydrate. Carbohydrates are things like bread, pasta, potatoes, honey, sugar, etc. The baby food does not contain the protein necessary to make tissue and bone. Protein is any of a large group of chemicals that are a necessary part of all living things. Proteins are found in food such as meat, cheese, fish or eggs and are necessary for a body to grow and be strong. The prepared food used for babies today only makes fat. When you see a baby that looks overfull and swollen, you know that baby is only being fed a diet of mixed milk powder, glucose (a kind of sugar that is found in fruit, honey, plant and animal tissues) and water—all carbohydrate.

The largest cause of upset in a baby’s early life is just food. The baby might be fed, yes. But with what? Terrible tasting, high-carbohydrate powdered milk solutions or skim breast milk from an overworked mother? A portion of food must contain a heavy percentage of protein. Protein is the building block for nerves and bones. A wounded soldier will not heal without heavy protein intake. Ulcers (a sore on the skin or on the lining inside a part of the body, such as the stomach) will not get well without a heavy protein diet being given.

To make brain, bone and tissue, the baby must be given protein—from the time he is two days old to at least three years old. That makes strong, pretty, alert babies that sleep well and do well.

This problem was first dealt with as a personal matter. As a father with a little boy who was not going to live, fast action had to be taken to save him. (1) He had to be gotten out of the hospital, (2) the trouble had to be discovered and (3) it had to be remedied. The total time available was less than twenty-four hours. He was dying.

So (1) he was gotten out of the hospital. And (2) it was found he wouldn’t or couldn’t eat. And (3) a formula that provided him the nutrition he needed was developed and given to him. A formula is a recipe or set of instructions for combining ingredients for the preparation of a substance, such as a combination of vitamins, food for a baby, etc.

The formula utilized barley (the grain from a type of cereal plant). Roman troops had marched and fought battles while living on a diet of barley, the cereal with the highest protein content. This formula is the nearest to human milk that can be easily put together. It is an old Roman formula from around 2,200 years ago.

It is a bit of trouble to make. You have to use a pot or a small kettle to cook the barley in (it really messes up the pot, so you’ll need a pot that’s used only and always to cook barley). And you have to cook the barley for a long time to get barley water, so it is sometimes easy to forget it is on the stove and it then burns. But even so, it is worth it in terms of a calmer house and a healthy baby.

You mix up a full twenty-four-hour supply of this barley recipe every day, bottle it in sterilized bottles and put it where it will remain cold. Always heat a bottle up to about 98.6°F or 37°C (test it by squirting some on the back of your hand to see if it’s too warm or too cool) before you give it to the baby.

And, although you try to keep the baby on a schedule, you are foolish not to feed the baby when he is hungry.

A baby, having eaten a full portion of food, usually sleeps for hours anyway. If he doesn’t, there is always a reason, such as a wet diaper. When a baby who should not be crying does so, hunt until you find out why. Don’t follow the wrong ideas that (1) the baby is just stubborn or (2) it is a serious illness that requires an immediate operation. Somewhere in between you will find the real reason.