OUR BABIES

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 91, 11 January 1919, Page 5

OUR BABIES

fBY fIYGEIA.I «.' 1 ' ' Published under the auspices of the Boyal tfow Zealand Society for tho Health of Women and Children. , . "It ia wiser to j'U'. uii a fence at tho top of a' precipice than to an mnbulance at the bottom." THE SCOURGE OF SUMMER. . Whilo this health-givine effect of summer on young and old alike, is recognised, in every ' temperate region of tlio world, it is also found that summer kills far inoro babies than any other season of t! \viiy-is' this? Why should Bummer not bo tho safest instead of the most dangerous time of the year for infants? Tho reason is not far to siick. Most babies aro fed on liquid 'food, which is specially liable to ferment in warm weather. Milk becomes infested with micrftbea; in other words,, goes, bad and becomes poisonous, more readily than any other food, and \if we are not careful m the selection of a milkman it may hayo gone bad in warm weather before reach* ing the home. So lone as an' infant is suckled, and the mother is not only regular, cleanly, and careful in. her habits, but ..also gives tho baby oil his # simple primary rights' (outing, fresh air, sunlight, exercise, eto.). thero'is no Bafer season than summor. But, however careful tho mother 'may 'bo as to general hygiene, summer Is dangerous, and often fatal,-if there ia any carelessness in .artificial feeding (whether' resorted to in tho early months or coming in tho natural course later on at weaning or afterwards), simply because- microbes-grow apaeo in . worm •weather if milk is not .properly attended to.

Summer Diarrhoea. • Why should diarrhoea single out babies and calves and leavo the rest of .nurslings more or less exempt from this special cureo of summor? In warm weather the young of horscß. pigs, dogs, cats, ana the rest are almost uniformly healthy, whilo calves in all directions are victims to -"scouring," and few babieß escape the sumo scourge under tho namo of "summer diarrhoea." 5 Why Does Nature Single out Calves and Babies? Calves aro sacrificed becauso man takes the cow's milk for himself, and feeds tho calf out of a bucket, The baby is sacrificed because the mother's bucast is denied to, it also, and improper food, contaminated tfith; germs, is substituted for tho pure, perfect, blood-warm, living stream direct from tho propor source, Tho important practical ouestion which wo have to face.at the present moment is this: . •

Are ill-health and. diarrhoea .'Jncvit* able duriuc-.. Bummer' time for- calves and babicß who cannot be> suckled? Certainly not! In both cases the trolblo arises not from tho mere fact of artificial feeding but rather proper '-care is'not exercised- to sccure suitable food and to prevent fermentation. For babies humanised milk supplies by far tho nearest approach to the mothers' milk, and if kept cool and given according to the directions contained in the instructions issued by tho society thero would bo little risk of disease. Even •\vftiT breast-feeding a, baby may. suffer front, summer diarrhoea, but immediate suitable treatment of such m.fants,.oi* of those who havo been judiciously fed by artificial meaus, . soon brings about recovery; in tlio/'grcat majority of cases. Among babies who have been improperly fed, on the other hand, tho risk of death from an attack of diarrhoea is very great indeed, and lasting debility is often loft -where the baby does not actually succumb. . Death Toll of Diarrhoea. * Professor Budin Bhowed that the number, of artificially-fed babies who i died in Pans per. week was about,2o in winter but that in midsumiiier tho deaths rose to almost 260 per week. This is very strikingly shown in 'a diagram given on pago 40 of the • society's pamphlet, ")Vhat • Baby Needs.'" ' This' diagram was enlarged and exhibited throughout the Dominion during Baby Week, 1917, and it can now be stud* ied in most of the Piunket rooms. A riso iy tho death«rate among infants similar to the. above occurs in New Zea-land-during -warm weather, varying with ,tho locality end heat of tho particular sunnneE. Knowing tho cause, the disease is one of tho most easily preventable. It is not Nature or Provuieneo that inflicts tho curse of summer diarrhoea, but tho mother herself. That this is literally and absolutely true will be realised by anyone consulting the Pariß diagram, which shows that over .1000 /babies died in six weeks -when tho weather was wdrioost. Among breast-fed babies the doath-rate for the samo period avoragod only 20 per week. ".Tho deaths that did take place in either class were mainly tho result of ignorance and. carelessness (especially careless feeding of mother and child, thu use of the long-tube feeder, lack' of fresh air and exercise, irregular habits, failure to • keep .the -breasts and tho clothing covering them clean, and üb& of dummy or comforter for the baby).. During thp aamo three or four fatal summer months scarcely a death v from diarrhoea occurred among tho babies -whoso mothers were availing themsolYCß of rational advice tendered at the four creches' then established in Paris on modern lines. About halt of these moro fortunate babies, were suckled, and tho rest were bottle-fed .with milk supplied at the special "Babies' MilkDepot." . In' the provinces a similar result ha* been achieved.;' Thiiß Dr. Dufour,, tho pioneer in Normandy of Uhe rational care of babies, including the use of humanised milk, shows "That 1 while the death-rate among, infants averaged 55 for tho four principal towns, tho death-rate among babies whoso mothers attended the depots and got proper advice and food was less than 3 per cent.—in other words, only one-twentieth of the mortality which took placo, among- tho babies whoEC mothers persisted in going thoir own way in spito of warnings and advice. ' Tho Piunket Nursta. ' will bo plad to sec mothers and at the society's rooms, 3, Courtenay JPlace, every afternoon betwen 2" and 4 ojclock (Saturdays and Sundays excepted). -The 4 nurses' servkes are free, and all mothers are welcome.