OUR BABIES.

Clutha Leader, Volume XLIII, Issue 33, 24 October 1916, Page 7

OUR BABIES.

[By Hygeia.] Published under the auspices of the jjofiety for the Health of Women &nd Children. ••It i? wiser to put up a fence at th# top Lit a precipice than to maintain an jnibuiatu-e at the bottom.

LETTER FROM A NURSE. Ik-re it> a baby under my care whom 1 cannot get to thrive satisfactorily, j&e w a breast-fed baby, nearly five a ntl months old, fed regularly, plenty ot tresh air, and an every way ireati'd on ilw society s Unee. The (wctor lias examined her .thoroughly, ■ m d found she has a defective heart; but h«> bays it should not in any way pn vc.n; hex - from thriving. 1 lio <hild will not drmk much, although thure ia plenty of milk in the ; nor will she take it from the bottle. When baby was three months oi she was weighed before and after every nursing tor a period of 'M hours, ad it was tound that she took 24}oz for the lull day's amount. The mother's milk waj> tested, and the fat percentage wae 4. The mother was dieted, and tile baby was given ioz of water before ; but the only difference seemed ro b.i an " increased frequency of mot.oris, which have always been very irequent, although quite yellow. Ihtu (with the doctor's permission; »e tried giving her lozof boued humanised milk before the breast, but she did no; thrive any 1 better on this experiment.

This week I got, the mother's milk itot-ed again, and there was 3.6 per ctnt. of fat. The baby is perfectly good and happy. lam enclosing a. copy oi the weight chart.

REPLY. Regarding the baby you write about, ni course the [progress has beeu exirt.'iut'iy iiow; buji one tavorable |x>int is iliat me increase in weight lias been (Usuuikxl and regular. lou miust bear in ui.iid that, sometimes a baby uno appears to be normal cannot t>e got to put, on weight at .the average rai«, ai-Ui-jugh generally, if no pains are spyriu, Ui® slow progress Ultimately *■> nay to a normal rate of growth. riow.ver 1 you are quite rignt to be anxious, especially when for five months tli« ;»vi rage increase has been less than hau' :ue normal. This prolonged retardation calls for the most serious conMderatnni. and no stone should be left unturned to promote greater activity of (ligation and nut-ntion. lou do not meniion anything as to if relative stat«t> of growth (increase in ktigtii, etc.) and the stored reserves ot lat. Has the baby continued to grow in ihjuo, muscle, etc., but become thinner and thinner:* 1 should suppose that by this mjie hlie is more or less emaciated, or, at best, what would be called poorly nourished. One always ouiiit to bear in mind that the results oi under-feeding and the consequent atorago of a deficiency of fat in the system are generally less serious than the rtMiits ot prolonged over-feedmg.

from wtiat you say it appears most probable that in the present case the taby's appetite has been wanting while the mother's milk supply has been sufficient. thought there may be some doubt, on the point. We have sometimes lound that where the conclusion had beeu arrived at that the store of mother's milk available was ample, this was not really the case. It might be after the i>aby had suckled, a few drops oould be squeezed out readily, but still ihe breasts were almost empty:, and " the ckid had ceased sucking because it had been ovrlong at the breast and the lion was not satisfying. Whatever may he the defect in the present case, you may take it for granted that some improvement may be brought about — 1. fly doing everything possible to improve the quantity and quality of the motherliulk supply. Ample daily <4*n-ai r exercise, bathing, fresh air iky and night, nxroper attention to food aad feeding liabit«, the ensuring of good digestion and the avoidance of constipation, ihe making of a sufficiency of fluid, stimulation oi the breasts by fecal bathing or massage (.if needed;, giving baby both breasts at each suckling but starting with the right hreasi »teue nursing and the lett at the next -due attention to all thete points (which are fully emphasised in the society'), book) can be relied on to a great deal in the way of improving the quality of the milk quite H>wt tiom the question of quantity. 2. lu cases oi babies presenting the teatuies you describe!, I have found a *ondertiul improvement to follow on stimulating the chdd by paying great attention to everything promoting %>rou» health on the lines set forth ® pages 1 and 2 of "Feeding and Care of Baby."' It must never be forgotten that perfectly normal babies tend to beanie lazy, indolent, dispirited and flabby, and to dwindle away if they are allowed to lead too passive an exist«ce, and that this may happen either to sucklings or to bottle-feds., in spite of tli® fact that th© food supply is ample and of good quality. "Mothering"' and ''Management," as referred to on page 2, are matters of wpremt) importance, and I have found that one can enlist the mother on our by pointing out the need for proper wily exercise and stimulation, and by explaining to her that even when at the weast, the baby ought to be kept acand alert. Thus one can get the ®othe r to pay proper attention to such j*t&ili as handling, fingering, and rubthe babx's hands, feet and limbs ww* i. seems inclined to drop off to "wp while at the hreast. . Nothing tends to promote good diges®°n and proper nutrition and growth ®° r 6 than kicking exercise several '°Beß a day without too much clothing preceded sad followed by a little QasMge.

forking on such lines, I have knowa who have failed to put on weight months to start almost straight gaining at more than the average every week, so that in the course 2 * few months they have caught up normal. Regarding weighing before and after you should not rely on a single 8 weighing, but have the weighings for several successive days to make f® 6 J«u ascertain the true average inwke.

. I don't quite understand yonr object ? the Joz of water befeeding, because that would tend w diminish the inolinatLon and appeP® for instead of promo t"Hit.

motW# aeaJtb-Mul thtrjjafcy's "■Wi w«r« b®Bh iiJfrproVed and toned

up, most likely the normal frequency of I motions would soon be established 1 . I