Pablum facts for kids
Pablum was a special type of cereal made for babies. It was a processed food, meaning it was prepared in a factory to be easy to use. The Mead Johnson Company first sold Pablum in 1931.
This cereal was created at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Ontario. Its main goal was to help fight malnutrition in babies, which means babies not getting enough good food to grow healthy.
The name "Pablum" comes from a Latin word, pabulum, which means "foodstuff." Sometimes, the word "pablum" is also used to describe something very simple, plain, or easy to understand. The Pablum brand was sold to the Heinz Company in 2005. As of April 2015, Pablum is no longer sold.
Contents
What Was Pablum Made Of?
Pablum Mixed Cereal was a mix of different grains and healthy additions. It included ground and precooked wheat (also called farina), oatmeal, and yellow corn meal.
It also had bone meal, dried brewer's yeast, and powdered alfalfa leaf. To make it even healthier, Pablum was made stronger with reduced iron and important vitamins. These vitamins included A, B1, B2, D, and E.
Pablum was designed to be tasty and easy for babies to digest. It usually did not cause problems like diarrhea or constipation. It was also made without common allergens like chicken eggs, lactose (found in milk), or nuts. However, it did contain wheat and corn, which can cause allergies for some people.
The Story Behind Pablum
Pablum was developed by a team of experts in Canada. These included pediatricians (baby doctors) Frederick Tisdall, Theodore Drake, and Alan Brown. They worked with a nutrition lab technician named Ruth Herbert. All of them were from the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. A chemist named Harry H. Engel from Mead Johnson also helped.
Why Pablum Was Needed
At the time Pablum was created, many babies, especially in middle and upper-class families, were not being breastfed as much. This meant their diets often lacked important nutrients. Babies were getting sick because they weren't eating enough healthy foods.
Pablum was a big step forward in how we understood baby nutrition. It helped prevent a serious childhood disease called rickets. Rickets can make bones weak and bent. Pablum helped by making sure children got enough vitamin D in their diet, which is key for strong bones. It also had a small amount of fluoride from the bone meal, which helps teeth.
Pablum's Impact
While Pablum was not the very first food made for babies, it was special because it came precooked and completely dried. This made it super easy for parents to prepare. In the past, preparing baby food could be a lot of work.
This ease of preparation made Pablum very popular. It came out at a time when baby malnutrition was still a big problem in many industrialized countries. Pablum helped many babies get the nutrients they needed to grow strong and healthy.
For 25 years, the Hospital for Sick Children and the Toronto Pediatric Foundation received a small payment, called a royalty, for every package of Pablum sold. This money helped support their important work. In 2005, the H. J. Heinz Company bought the Pablum brand.
Images for kids
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Pablum cereal carton (center), circa 1935
