MAL-FED INFANTS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIV, Issue 89, 15 April 1903, Page 2

MAL-FED INFANTS.

(To • tlie Editor.)

Sir,-_My attention has been drawn: to a letter which appeared in an issue of the "Star" of the 13th inst., under the heading of "A Warning to; Mothers," and signed by T. Hope Lewis, which deals with the question of the feeding of infants deprived of their natural sustenance, and the prejudicial change that has taken place during the last few years in that, quarter, with the consequent appearance here of a new and miserable disease called scurry rickets, and I find he strongly advocates the rearing of our infant population on fresh milk, oatmeal, wheatmcal, and fruit, in preference to the use of patent prepared farinaceous foods. The above statements, to my mind, appear to bo somewhat timeworn, am?. savour of unnecessary repetition and publication, as from time immemorial the medical profession, together with the laity, are fully agreed that carefully prepared cow's milk, from its ready accessibility is, and should be, the basis of all hand-feeding, but with the extensive knowledge the writer appears to possess he very carefully witholds the real, reasons why patent foods. have supplemented the various forms of feeding, or does he inform anxious parents what are the most suitable methods of applying those forms of feeding so strongly advocated by him for our infant population.

1. feel certain Dr. Lewis will agree with me when I say fresh milk, so very strenuously recommended by him,-: is entirely unsuitable for the feeding of children, and the reason lios in three directions. Firstly. mother's milk is always sterile, there is no animal that provides milk of a similar composition, the sterility of the natural product removes all ricks, so common with cow's milk, of decomposition and unhealthy fermentation, of the introduction from without of many of the exanthemata, and the risk of the introduction of tuberculosis from the milk of tuberculous cows. Secondly, cow's milk is very rich in casein and poor in sugar; the cream of the two is about on the same level, but as the milk reaches the infant cow's milk is often deticient in this element too. Another acquired difference may also be taken note of, as it is an important one, viz., cow's milk as it reaches the child is generally faintly acid, the mother's supply is neutral, or feebly alkaline, the excess of casein being at the same time the most pronounced departure from the natural product, and therefore the most, obvious provocative of ill results. Thirdly,!! notwithstanding all the care and skill that arc lavished upon the child, cow's milk cannot be digested. I feel certain therefore the public would feel ever grateful to Dr. Hope Lewis it' he were to point out the most suitable method of sterilising and humanising cow's milk, thus rendering it more adapted for infant consumption from the view of economy and health, than such preparations as Mellin's Food, Benger's Savory, and Moore's, etc.

Regarding oatmeal, wheatmeal, and fruit, alluded to by him, they all contain free starch, and I think even Dr. Hope Lewis will agree that starch which, having undergone no change, is unsuitable, because, in the first three months of life the salivary and pancreatic juices ajx , wanting in the requisite amylolitic property, and consequently there are no facilities for its digestion, and I for one should feel grateful to learn how a young mother may at home economically convert free starch in this cliss of foo.l into dextrine and grape sugar, and thus render it suitable for her child's daily food, in conclusion, I should like to mention that the prejudicial changes have arisen, not as stated—partly from ignorance, partly from easy preparation and to save extra trouble—so much as from the inability and fear of administering freshly- prepared foods to infants from lack of suitable advice as to their proper administration. This advice I am sure the public will unite with me in seeking through the columns of the press frc.m one whose apparent knowledge allows him to discourse so freely on the subject, and who is so evidently ready and willing to permit ua ignorant folk to obtain the knowledge gratuitously.—l am, etc., AN ANXIOUS PARENT. (To the Editor.) Sir, —It is a loug time since I havd read in your correspondence a letter that gave me so much pleasure as did that of Dr. T. Hope Lewis, of the 13th inst., re the feeding of babies on tinned foods. Now, Sir, I have five bonny sons, and they never had anything but the pure milk till they were fourteen or fifteen months old. It was neither pasteurised nor fsom one cow,, but just as it came from the farm. I began with giving it to them a few days after their birth, a tea spoonful together with same of boiling water (no sugar) at first. I have never had a doctor to them as babies, and very seldom when they were grown up, except in the case of a limb being broken. I have gone to one house to see a sick baby and the mother has told me she has tried all sorts of tinned foods, and to another where the mother has been feeding the baby on gravy and potatoes, and these people wonder why their babies die.—l am, etc., A MOTHER,