YESTERDAY'S CAMPAIGNIGN

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 31, 31 October 1917, Page 6

YESTERDAY'S CAMPAIGNIGN

ADDRESSES IN THE CONCERT CHAMBER.

The "Baby Week" campaign was cm tinned in the Concert Caamber of th Town Hall yesterday afternoon, vrhei addresses and demouetrations were ijivei by Nurse Baker and Nurse Jlitchel (PlunkeP nurses). There was a ver; poor attendance of the public at tn. lecture, possibly accounted for by tb state of the weather. Mrs. W. J. Mas sev, president of the society, presided. In opening the proceedings for tin afternoon, Mw. Massey touched upoi much of what she. had said the previou afternoon, and in addition emphasise the fact that the Plunlcet nurses wen not maternity nurses, although many o them had qualified as such. Sirs. Mas 86V also quoted from the Governor speech at the opening of the last i'nr liament the following references:— ill' decrease of infantile mortality in JW Zealand is most gratifying, and lull: justifies assistance being given by. til' Government in its efforts to disseminata by its literature and by.,the training 0 nurses and midlives a wider knowledge of all that pertains to the successiu rearing of infanta." Mrs. Massey alsi told her audience that the clothes mnd' by the Plunket • Society and sent to W lnrnl in answer to the request made l>: Lady French, Lady Betty Balfour, am Mrs JWcett, for assistance for the wive of soldiers and sailors in maternity hos pitals had simply delighted not only th' recipients, but those who were workm; on their behalf. They had assured Mw Jtassey that never hud they seen sue! soft, warm, woolly, and yet light am beautifully-made garments as those tha the society had provided. In answerinj this npnral Mrs. Massey considered the ret another link between the people o the Homeland and the overseas Domin ions had been forged. Patterns th speaker continued, were being sold tna afternoon at the price ot one shillini Nurse Baker, Plunket nurse for Hut and Petoiie, who was next asked t speak, told her audience that when sn was visiting Paris some time ago Rhe wa struck by tho small size, of the mei she saw there, and on asking- the reasoi was told that in the Napoleonic wai the finest men of the nation had beei killed so that those who were leit—tn least fit-became the fathers, of the rex deration. Naturally, their descend ants were very much as they were, Mil that was the reason, she was told, tha. the physique of the men was sucH as sa had Vcn. Unless wo were very carefu the same thing would happen to us a. e result of this war. The physical}: jufit would be left to become the father if the next generation, and it conic mrdly be expected that the physique o ■heir children could equa that of thi n'en who had gone' to the front. H Sngland Miss ifaker told her audience i' baby died every six minutes, and to. ivervniTie soldiers killed in battle twelv iabiesdied at home. Dr Truby Km! :onsidered that tho general unprepared aess of girls for motherhood accountei ? or much infantile mortality. Three cu >f four babies who died during tho to nonth of their existence died fron vron" conditions before birth, and full, mc-third of the babies who died durin, heir first year died from wrong pro mtel conditions. Girls were taught a ;orts of subjects in the schools wh.cl vould help them to earn their own lrv ng and rightly so : but this most im wrtant ono was left to take care oi it e O.ne of the very prevalent evils of to lav from which so many people siifferni rne that of bad teeth. This wiis largel; lue to the fact that the prospeo.hv nothers had not taken care of them elves, had not eaten the right kind o oods, and so the children suffered th ■onsequoncfis. The subjects which form ■d the substance of her lecture were v.! a hould be taught in the schools to Rids m<l these she tcok in ,the follow.: rder: 'Aiv.—Thconby's health needed a con (ant stream of "moving air in the room nit the baby should be carefully Vept ou if the w:iy of draughts. The poHtioi if the place it should occupy in tin ootn, on the other side of Hip draught fas described, and if the mother wor lot sure that she had plnced it quite n he right place it was an easy '.latter t' i'.ace a screen around the lied or cradle ")]• Truby King h.id put fresh rir arn ■ontilatioh first and foremost iimcr..? th ssential needs of the infant. On th lontiuont the temperature in the m-tei lity hospitals that she had seen was kep it 'seventy degrees, and in conseouonc lie children suffered from bronchitis am niluenza. At the Karitane Fospital th labies were kept whonever r.assible oi lie verandah all the winter through iven when the snow was on the lrmun ains, and it wns found that they flout shed exceedingly. VfntiliiHon shrnl lways be arranged fo thnt it would b ligh up, and not on a level with th iaby. An instance of faulty vi-ntiln ioii was often connected with the hood if perambulators, and in consequence i roiild be found that the baby's heai ronld bo wot with perspiration from th ieat. ■ The breathing in vnl out of th' nine, air was another of the rrailtiiif vils. Tn any case, the hood of tin lerambulalor should be of some vfhito naterial, and it should be only parti: ipened up. Ono child that she ha< ;nown of became a mental case, and in :nrable simply because a black hood, al r.nvs opened up. was constantly nsed md so generated ?rent heat, with tin onscfiuence that the baby's brain war .ffrcted. ' ~ , Water.—A henlthy baby could live foi ome week? on pure boiled water alone without food. If a Twby could i-ot tain nod it must late water, and .-n nrii icially-fcd Hnby r.othinsr else but boiler! filter' should be given for the first twe IiIVS food-Pond suitable to tho age of thf iaby nniil. lie given. A superstition thr.l ros sometimes associated with Plunket liibies wns that they were bottle brbins. Is n mutter of fuel.' Plunket babies werr inthins of the sort, as one of the ehiol iims and objects of the society uns that iiiWeo should have tlieir natural food. •jiitiirally-fed infant's withstood many illies=»s that artificinlly-tWI infants oftpr. ucoumlied to. ?or Hie first nine months liibies should be fed upon nothing but nilk. but nfter that period other foods night bo siven them. Biscuits, which t'was a.common sight to see given labies, were very bad for them, also 'pieces," and here tho nurse inveighed irninst the prevalency of this habit rhich wiis seen at its height in trainravelling. One instance was told nf a flothor who h.ad successfully killed twelve

infants, and was engaged upon the thirteenth, with'like disastrous consequences (through pure ignorance), saying to the nurse, ia much distress: "I can't w.derBtiind it. I give them all they ask for." Three of tho rocks which lay ahead of bottle-fed babies were convulsions, rickets, and diarrohea. They, were frequently caused through wrong feeding. Convulsions were often attacks of acute indigestion, through wrong feeding; and rickets were also caused by the same thin" and diarrohea through flies, dirt, and heat. A baby girl Buffering from riokets had to face terrible dangers when she oame. in after years to be confined, because the bones were all wrong. Nurses hated, above all things, to have riokety prospective mothers to attend, as their confinements \wero always very dangerous, and the cause of great anxiety. If they wanted to check diarrohea they must fight against flies all they could. No food should ba exposed, and they should always remember to swat that I fly " i Clothing.-Tho P,lunlcet cloihing was I loose and light, and no binders were worn i bV the infants. They made for weakness. j Native children, at any Maori and Indian babies, never wore binders, and it was noticeable how firm and strong their 'bncks wore. ' Bathing—This should always be done in a warm place, and the baby allowed to exercise by kicking, moving his limbs about, and sucking, which was another form of exercise. Regularity was a very nccessßry thing to observe in all dealings witn babies. Particularly should they be fed always at the same stated times. . . Cleanliness.—The utmost cleanliness must be observed in regard to everything about the bnby. All the feeding ntonsils must be thoroughly scalded and turned upside down to drain, nnd nil cloths, (pa towels, etc., should be kept vorj C ]£ and Sleep.-Babies wore often far too much talked to and handled. T-hey should be. put in a quiet part of tho house, never in the kitchen, as sho had sometimes seo.n: As for mothering and management of babies, most of tlipse present at the meeing know how to do that. In concluding her lecture, Nurse Baker said that one of the problems which must bo faced, and it was a matter tluvt was exercising tho "minds of many women, was how to help the busy mothers when their time enme to be laid up. How could it bo expected that they should "keep the cradle full" when they can get no help, and sometimes could not afford to get what help offered? Who wns to look after their children and their households at sucib times? If creches could be established in every place and if bands of domestic workers were 'formed to help at such times, somethin" might be done to meet this prob-. lem. In the present circumstances it simply couU not be expected that there should bo an increased birth-rate. If something could not be done to help tho mothers at such times, then women were failing in their duty to each other and ; their country. '• Nurse Mitchell, in the course of a brief address, said that natural feeding overcame many dangers to infants, and it should be possible for every mother to at least partially feed her baby n?* 11 ™ '7; So many people appeared to thinjc nine a Plunket bnby meant a humanised miUfeii baby, but'no Plunket nurse ever _ndrised the giving of humanised milk when there was enough of the natural food for tho infant.' In these, days many mothers wore suffering more or less from nerves, which interfered with the natural feediu" of their infants, but if there were not enough natural sustenance it could he supplemented with the humani»ed milk, and after a while tho mothers ! would often find it possible to feed their I "babies themselves. A revulsion in favour i of natural feeding was very much to the I fore fortunately. Life was hai-d enough !at tho best, of times, and the babies i needed sound bodies and minds if they i wore to successfully face the world later on She would very much like to eeo the pre-natal care of mothers made a special department. Such a movement hurt been carried into effect m PhiladclI nhia witli splendid results to tho mothers ! and bi.bies. If this were done in New ! Zealand 8, prpnt ileal would be accomj plMicd for the race, I Demonstrations of bathing and cloth- > I ing the baby, which in this case was a I life-sized celluloid doll, wore nltervnrds > ! "iven and a close examination made of ■ ■ the babies' garments made on Plunket 1 principles, which were on view. Nnrur- ! ! (illv ns time goes on. it lias been found 1 I fTTat even these could lie improved upon, ■ and tin's had been done in some cases. : Little, shirts of cellular cloth for babies ! whosn tender skin? cannot bear the feolI in? of woollen garments without intense i imtnfion wore much nr-orovort of. also , t i lr Tifflp dmiMe-bro.istpd woolly slum , onenfns all the wav down the front ■ which" were, one of the recently-improved ■? upon patterns.