To the Editor: An article published in the recent Journal (Amer. J. Dis. Child. 101:18-22 (Jan.) 1961) by Van Leewen et al. describes the use of new concentrated dry frozen baby foods in 49 healthy infants, noting good acceptance and good growth.
We have been assessing the same food products in a somewhat different setting. Our infants were sick and hospitalized at the time that the new food was first offered. Ninety-seven consecutively admitted infants, ranging in age from 3 months to 12 months, were given the new food as soon as they had recovered from their illness sufficiently to be offered solid foods again. The nurses made careful observations and comments concerning each infant at each feeding, noting in particular acceptance, tolerance, and stool consistency. The infants, observed in this way, suffered from a variety of ailments, namely: bronchopneumonia, 28; asthmatic bronchitis, 19; upper respiratory infections, 9; bronchiolitis, 7;