Milk food

   Kittens, puppies, baby pigs, and lambs all have milk for food. So do the babies of all other animals that have hair or fur. Our baby brothers and sisters have only milk for food during the first few weeks of their lives.

   All animals with fur are called mammals. Mother mammals manufacture milk for their babies in milk glands in their bodies. Each kind of mammal has milk which is different from that of every other kind of mammal, but the different kinds of milk are a great deal alike. Cow's milk is so much like our own mother's milk that cow's milk can be fed to human babies.

   Several animals besides the cow furnish milk which people use for food. Dwellers in the deserts of Asia and Africa use camel's milk. Boys and girls in the mountains of South America drink the milk of the llama. People of the north use reindeer milk, and in Switzerland and Greece goats furnish most of the milk. The water buffalo, yak, and sheep are other milk animals.

   Milk has in it all the things which are necessary in a baby's diet. There are sugar and fat to give heat and energy. There is protein needed for growth. There are minerals to build firm bones and strong teeth. There are also vitamins to make the body work as it should.

   Before long, babies need more of some of these things than milk gives them; they must eat other foods. But as they grow up they should keep on drinking milk. One reason is that milk is a better source of calcium than any other food. Calcium is a min­eral needed for building strong bones and good teeth and also for making the heart work properly. A boy or girl 12 years old should have a quart of milk each day. Grownups need some milk each day, too.


   Milk is not only good food itself; other good foods are made of it. Butter is made from the cream, or fat, in milk. Cheese is made from the protein. Ice cream, pudding, cream soups, and many other foods are made with whole milk. A person is able to get at least some of the milk he needs by eating these foods.
   Both canned and powdered milk can now be bought. They can be kept for a long time.