When I read the century old advice not to give farinaceous food to a baby who was less than 6 months old I vaguely assumed they were talking about not introducing solids – something like the Farleys baby cereals which we used to give as the first weaning food – in very small quantities - from the age of 3-4 months. Hence my surprise at the assertion that farinaceous foods cause rickets - did they think the cause was that the babies were too heavy for their legs?
A little further investigation reveals that the principle source of concern was the giving of substitutes – arrowroot was apparently popular – as a cheap alternative to milk.
We were sometimes given arrowroot to drink as small children, but only as a remedy for upset tummy & vomiting. It was also sometimes used for cooking biscuits or sauces. I suppose the idea of giving it to babies came from the fact that it looks like milk when diluted in water.
A baby fed on arrowroot but no milk would not be getting any vitamin D at all – the association with rickets is in that sense a negative, rather than a positive one.
