OUR BABIES.

Gisborne Times, Volume LXVI, Issue 10473, 31 December 1927, Page 4

OUR BABIES.

(By a Hygeia.”) Published under the auspices of the .Royal New Zealand Society for the, Health of Women and Children (Plunket Society.) “it is wiser to put up a fence at the top of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance,. at the ; bottom.” j INFANTILE diarrhoea. Summer has come round again, and with.it the risk of summer diarrhoea, that dreaded disease. Year after year the Plunket Society has published articles emphasising the important points .in this matter—points with which all parents should be familiar. Year after year the Plunket Nurses lav stress on the same fundamentals—the supreme importance of natural feeding in . the prevention oL this Scourge ; the simple essentials for keeping baby pretty well' “germ-proof” ; the necessity for EXTRA scrupulous cleanliness and care in the keeping of milk and all things pertaining to the feeding of the baby in the summer months; the significance of early signs of trouble and the importance of prompt treatment; also practical advice as to the best simple or emergency treatment. The statistics for thy year 1925 showed that a further reduction of deaths from infantile diarrhoea and enteritis had taken place all over New Zealand. The average deaths from infantile diarrhoea for the whole of New Zealand, namely, 2$ per 1000, varies from one-tenth to one-twentieth of the average for the rest of the civilised world, and has fallen to two-thirds of what it averaged only two or three years ago.

BE PREPARED

However, we must not lot these reassuring statistics luli us into a. sense of .false security. iln the course of the next few weeks we shall again put forth our explanation, warning, and instructions, so that they may come before those parents who havie not so far realised the importance’ of the subject and he fresh in the minds, of the mothers of THIS summer’s babies. As a disease affecting babies, sum-

mer diarrhoea is a most serious and deadly scourge. In New Zealand it occurs mainly from Christmas to the middle or end of March, the number of deaths depending on the temperature. During a cool summer the number is comparatively low; if the summer is hot the number of deaths may rise very high.

WHY IS THIS?

Why should summer not he the safest instead of the most dangerous time of.the year for infants? The reason is simple. Most babies are fed on liquid food, which is specially liable to ferment in hot weather. Milk becomes infested with germs —in other words, goes had and becomes poisonous, more .readily than other foods, The hettey the weather the more the germs grow and flourish in milk, and if we are not careful in the selection of a milkman, tlie cleansing of billies and jugs, and TUe place where the milk is kept .it maygo bad in hot weather even before we are ready to use it. Tainted pasteurised milk is even more- dangerous than unheated milk which has gone sour in the ordinary way. Therefore we must be even more careful to keep bottled city milk cool and loosely covered (not capped and sealed from access of air) than we are with ordinary dairyman’s milk. Babies who die from summer diarrhoea die because they are poisoned —mainly by germs contained in tainted milk acting on babies who have not been kept in such a state of firstrate health and condition ns will enable them to resist the attacks of germs. All epidemic diseases, iricludm<T summer diarrhoea, tend to attack the .bodilv “unfit” rather than the “fit” ; but babies who are perfectly well may fall victims. Why does Nature single out babies and calves? In warm weather the young or horses, calves, pigs, dogs and eats are almost uniformly healthy, while calves are the victims of “scouring,” and babies still suffer or die from the same scourge under the name of “summer diarrhoea.” Why ? Calves are sacrificed because man takes the cow’s milk for himself and feeds the calf out of a bucket. The baby is sacrificed because the mother’s breast is denied to it, and improper food, contaminated with germs, is substituted for the pure,_ perfect, blood-warm, vital stream direct from the proper source. Are ill-health and diarrhoea inevitable during summer time for calves and babies who cannot he suckled, Certainly not! In both cases the trouble arises, not from the more fact of artificial feeding in itself, hut because proper care is not taken to secure suitable food and to prevent the growth of germs. For babies, properly prepared humanised milk supplies bv far the nearest approach to the mother’s milk, and if kept cool and clean and given according to the directions issued by the Society there, is little risk of trouble. Even breast-fed babies may contract the disease, but immediate suitable treatment oi such, or of those who have been .judiciously fed by artificial means, soon brings about complete recovery in the great, majority of cases. On the other hand, among babies who have been improperly, fed the risk cf death is very great, indeed, and lasting weakness and debility is often .the result even if the bab-v does not die. This is a point which should never be forgotten. Infantile ailments leave lasting ill-effects, oven if they are not fatal. We cannot afford to expose our babies to the risk.

THE PLUNKET NURSES. The Plunkct Nurses’ services are free to all. They arc glad to see mothers and babies at the Society s rooms in the various districts throughout the Dominion. If you are travelling or away from your usual place t>F residence, do not hesitate to take baby to see the iPlunket Nurse in whatever district you happen to be. She will help and advise you on exactly the same lines as your own Plunket Nurse d»est. it you are out of reach of a nurse, write to the nearest one, or to the nurse with'whom vou have previously been in touch. ‘Of course, if• baby has more than a passing upset, or you are in any doubt, always consult a doctor —do not lose valuable time before getting advice. PREVENTION AND TREATMENT Do not miss the next two articles to be published in this column. We shall deal further with the prevention and simple treatment of diarrhoea. ‘ '