OUR BABIES

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 10 January 1925, Page 14

OUR BABIES

V [Editor's? Note: Few of out readers who are mothers will need any i ■ introduction to the Plunket So- ' 'ciety. But not all are within ready , reach of a Plunket nurse, and to those in particular- these notes by “Hygeia” should prove valuable. Xn future they will be . a weekly feature of the Star.] •* , (By “Hygeia.” Published under the auspices; of the Royal New Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children (Plunket Society). ‘‘lt is wiser to put up a fence at the top of a precipice than to main tain an ambulance at the bottom.” BREAST-FEEDING. The following notes from a mother’s letter will be helpful and encouraging to many of our readers who may be having' trouble with breast-feeding, and are beyond the reach of a Plunket nurse. . , , ~ “John is flourishing and bonny;, sits up, is crawling a little, and noticing everything and everyone.' I have not dared *to begin to wean him yet, although this month has been cooler than it usually is—at least so I understand. Sometimes I wonder if ho is having enough, £O3- he won’t take as much asI want, and seems too easily satisfied. He has five teeth, which came very easily.” A few days later the letter is continued: “Curiously, I see D. was speaking about John, and to-night he has had another little attack of the oldfashioned ‘wind’—not anything worth mentioning, especially for early days, but for him it is exceptional, and he is ‘too old’ for that sort of thing. The other evening after putting him to bed we had the same experience, and the poor mite cried for a good while; for, having made sure that he w-as comfortable, I at first thought he was ‘playing up,’ and let him cry; then later gave him water and a tiny pinch of bicarbonate of soda (baking soda). To-night I was not quite so hardhearted, and found without doubt it was'indigestion. I “have been_ trying to find the cause, and am inclined to attribute the trouble to French beans, . which he had had on both 1 days for dinner. ,In Willie’s case, I found that at the end of the season peas caused much trouble, and I think it is quite possible that John’s trouble is caused by these scarlet runners. Anyhow, they shall be avoided in future. It seems ridiculous to tell you this in detail, only I think possible every little bit .of such experience may be of use to others in your articles or some such wa y.” . Memo, by “Hygeia.”—lt is a wellknown fact that pea soup tends to Cause flatulence, and the same applies more or less to peas and beans, when used in the green state, unless they are very young and tender. Such observations as the mother gives are always welcome, and much of our knowledge as to the feeding of babies is built up out of just such personal experiences.

A SLEEPY BABY. “By the way, we were able to help a little in a case where again the baby (a first one, too) would not keep awake for his food and ;Seemedt satisfied, and consequently the mother’s milk supply was not coming on sufficiently, and she wa s worrying of course, and so starting the vicious circle. “Everything is going splendidly now;■ but I realised more than ever what it means to have a little actual experience in the matter, and I felt again that what Dr. King explained with regard to> John under similar circumstances was of exceptional value, for I’m sure that this condition of things must happen very frequently—often with disastrous results, despite the mother's efforts. In this case the parents were both keen. The Plunket nurse was go- / ing to call at any rate, so she went along immediately and put things right. “The question, too, of using both breasts for each feed when the baby is bn the longer period (this baby was put on 3£-hourly in the nursing home) seems so very important. A little later, when Tasked how things were, I found that the trouble was again the same as I had had. The mother tried to obey orders by emptying one breast first, but said, naturally, that she could never tell exactly whether she had emptied one; there always seemed some milk left, and so she put him on again. You, possibly don’t remember, but that was my difficulty until Dr. King said definitely and decidedly to give halftime to each. Since then there has never been any trouble, and the supply increased, and has always been ample I think. I remember what a relief it was when he told me to just give equal time to each breast. Of course, I passed on that experience right away and all goes well. I am going to see the babe one day soon, for all this advice, etc., has been given to the father! “I know how all such matters interest you, or I should not tell you about my experiences so fully. I was wondering whether thee© two feeding points would not be _ useful matter for the Baby Articles —viz. : “(I) The tendenev some babies have to sleep and so gradually get accustomed to be easily satisfied, thus bringing about a decreased supply of milk, and failure of the baby to grow properly. “(2) The using of both breasts eonally in many cases of four-hourly feeding.”