The food ought to be of the consistence of good cream, and should be made fresh and fresh. It ought to be given milk-warm. Attention must be paid to the cleanliness of the vessel, and care should be taken that the milk be that of ONE cow, and that it be new and of good quality; for if not, it will turn acid and sour, and disorder the stomach, and will thus cause either flatulence or looseness of the bowels, or perhaps convulsions. I consider it to be of immense importance to the infant, that the milk be had from ONE cow. A writer in the Medical Times and Gazette, speaking on this subject, makes the following sensible remarks: "I do not know if a practice common among French ladies, when they do not nurse, has obtained the attention among ourselves which it seems to me to deserve. When the infant is to be fed with cow milk, that from various cows is submitted to examination by the medical man, and, if possible, tried on some child, and when the milk of any cow has been chosen, no other milk is ever suffered to enter the child's lips, for a French lady would as soon offer to her infant's mouth the breasts of half-a-dozen wet-nurses in the day, as mix together the milk of various cows, which must differ even as the animals themselves, in its constituent qualities. Great attention is also paid to the pasture, or other food of the cow thus appropriated."
The only way to be sure of having it from one cow, is (if you have not a cow of your own) to have the milk from a respectable cow-keeper, and to have it brought to your house in a can of your own (the London milk-cans being the best for the purpose). The better plan is to have two cans and to have the milk fresh, and fresh every night and morning. The cans, after each time of using, ought to be scalded out; and, once a week, the can should be filled with cold water, and the water should be allowed to remain in it until the can be again required.
