OUR BABIES.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 6 February 1926, Page 17

OUR BABIES.

('Ey Hygcin.l fPublished under the auspices of tin Royal N.Z. Society for the Health of Women and Children (Plunked Society.) 1 A MOTHER'S LETTER. The question has so often been asked, ‘•What would Sir Trilby King or Miss Pattriek do with your baby?’’ To-day mv doctor called and asked the same question, so if you think the mattei ,s worth considering 1 would really greatly value your opinion. I. feel that 1 am taking up your time, as my baby is an ‘ ‘ exception, ’ ’ and therefore, in thinking of her you are not solving a problem which will apply to the majority, and thus save your time again. However, if you haven't time to spare, please don't bother replying at all, for, as already srated, my baby must be 0,.e of a verv small minority. Her trouble is she won’t be fed—far less overfed. Perhaps a short history will help. fore baby came 1 carried out all instructions in “Expectant Mother,’’ witi the result that 1 laid “steeled'’ myself up to endure far more than called upon when baby was born, although 1 was over 30 years and . this my first baby. She weighed The first few day - she hardly opened her eyes —the second week she opened her mouth- As I was feeling well 1 persuaded my doctor T o let me go home on the twelfth day, as baby by this time was crying alnu.continuously, ami I was anxious to get our Plunket nurse to see her. Nuii-e called on the thirteenth day, and. much to mv surprise, found 1 hadn t neatlv suliicient milk. (In the maternity home ! wasr't allowed liquid? because 1w ,• supposed to have too much milk!) After that 1 test weighed and supplemented; but babv cried until feeding time and then slept, :m«! had to be wakened, and cried practically ail night, so nurse advised going to a lvarita.no Home, and this we did. Baby improved almost immediately: blit wo stayed there tor five weeks,''as 1 was most anxious to go home able to breast-feed baity entirely. 1 left after (ivet weeks with just 2oz per dav short of requirements. Unfortunately when 1 came home the supply decreased, and I had to again supplement. Baby always hated the bottle, and eventually refused to dnric from the bottle altogether, just living on wlmt I had for her —.ibouf ISoz. Babv was then putting on about 2oz a week, ami was three months old. 1 thought of giving the bottle first, and also spoon feeding, but nurse didn’t approve, so I decided I would go to Karitane again. (All this time I weighed before and after every drink, so knew exactly how much baby was getting.) After fighting with her for two days in Karitane, the matron decided to giv< the bottle first, and this worked splendidly. 1 took a nurse home with me, thinking baby would benefit, but i'. meant I had. to dismiss my domest'u help, and once again the milk won! down —it is now about 13oz. This, d course, meant a big bottle, and the lights nurse and baby had were ilrea i fill. It usually meant that nurse lice, her nose and poured it, down. . Our Plunket .nurse advised the Ivaritamnurse to stop the .10 o’clock drink, as the sleep would do more good than a fight. At (1 next morning she takes about 4oz greedily, and then the battle begins again! Nurse was here for .10 weeks. She left a fortnight ago, and it usually takes me one hour to fee l baby. Bottle first, (up to 3oz), then breast, and then cup and spoon. We try to get 7-ioz down per drink, making 31)07. (13oz mother’s milk, 17oz humanized milk) for the day. Baby is now six months old. Last week she put on 7oz, so I reduced the humanised milk, and this week she put oil 4oz. Baby now weighs ..4 lb 3oz. She is very healthy, sleeps well, kicks well, and is outside from 8 a.m. until fi p.ni., except, of course, at feeding times. She is never rock< d and never nursed, and she prefers her “kicker” in the afternoon playtime. She is a perfectly nappy, healthy child, but. doesn’t want food! Laziness really, I think, as she must get prune juice every day, although she isn’t at, •ill constipated—just lazy. Last week (the first week I had baby to myself) I sang, etc., etc., and persuaded her 1o take all her meals without a fight, bul it was a tiresome business. Also she would hold the milk in her mouth, and then lot it dribble out, also shut her jaws so that the spoon had to bo forced in, with the result that nearly all the milk was lost. This seemed to me to tie sheer naughtiness, ami, after thinking seriously, I decide.'.) to smack her. .She really seems to understand, as she doesn’t dribble the milk out and doesn’t shut Ucr jaws, but, occasionally still holds the milk in her mouth, although she swallows it eventually. However, I haven’t succeeded in getting her to take more than from oz to 3oz from the bottle, and it takes her 18 minutes to drink that quanr .vhat concerns me is, snould I continue “smacking”? You see, 1 must have obedience, and the little cries and pitiful mouth that she puts on after one of these little smacks can’t do her as much harm as having the milk choke ! down her throat (and sometimes vomited again). Wlmf do you think? .1 have rend and re-read “Feeding am! Care” for information on this point, and the only help in this connection is: “Any article of diet which s habitually refused, give first.” Vvc are carrying that out by giving bottle first. And second: “Never force food upon a child; withdraw the food.” Of course, both these remarks are appli; 1 to second-year children, I think. I’m afraid I’ve written at great length; but you have all particulars. Baby is perfectly healthy, plump. Do t - tor to-day said stie was a splendid specimen. Sin' sleeps in a room by herself —fireplace in, windows and door opi n. feeds regularly: in fact just does exact ]y as it is done in vour Karitane Horn >s, lint takes an hour to feed with soz hot tie and i'Joz from me (approximately . She drinks fairly willingly from me. I’ve resorted to singing and smacking, and both so far seem somewhat effective; the last three meals have I ecu over in 30 minutes. What method would you suggest or has been success ful in other similar cases. Now, regarding breast stimulation and massage: 1 have done this twice a da.v ever since baby was 17 days old (also, of course, express after every drink). Do you think it advisable to stop for, sav; a week, and then star:, again, or do you advise continuing right nil for the next tlree or four months? Unfortunately 1 cannot test weigh regularly now as l used to, but I hope to borrow our grocer’s scales (as suggested by you) at the end of next week. Sorry I have rambled on so much.

There are only two questions reallv: (1) How to feed natiy? and ( ) How ro bring up my milk? As already stated, if von are too busy, then don t think of reviving to this, as m.v baby isn’t sick. ' But, oil! patience and perseverance are not easily acquired, are thev ? ANSWER TO LETTER. 1. intended to answer your letter soon a ftei ir, arrived, but it was quite impossible io find tune to do so. Furl her, b was quite evident that you were using almost every means til, A could be suggested for dealing with the exceptional difficulties with which you were confronted. Of course, it is always extremely difficult for anyone not able to see mother and child to arrive at mv satisfactory conclusion as to ihe cause of the feeding difficulties experienced, but Ih(' following consideration mav possibly be helpful. What is the Commonest Cause of Waywardness? The commonest cause of waywardness and indolence such as you describe is the fact of the baby coining to realise that it is all in all to the mother, and that if it cannot get its own way with her. it ear. at least obtain a great amount of attention and sympathy, though the mother may not realise that her anxiety and sympathy are manifested in any way. In this connection I cannot do better than draw yo w attention to the remarks in “Feeding and Care of Baby” under the heading “Forming a Character,’’ on pages .149-330 —especially the concluding remarks of Dr. and Mrs. Fitz.

A forcible and highly capable doctor’s wife, who had only one child, to whom she was naturally extremely devoted. gave me. over 20 years ago, a very interesting and convincing necoiint .of the difficulties she had met with in rearing an onlj child. She said: “Do what 1 comrl I came to realise that it was impossible for my hu;,band and myself to prevent our child realising that she was all in all to us, and though we tried to Tic firm and sensible, I know that it would have been better for her had she not been so much the centre of ,our universe.”

AN ILLUSTRATION. Von assume that the. difficulties you have met with, arc rare, and indeed very exceptional.. In degree that is so, but to a lesser extent such difficulties are not uncommon, and we have had cases of resistance to the taking of food occasioned bv the child.having insensibly drifted into the habit, of rcsistivenefar transcending your own experiences. Thus we had to deal with a case at the Karitane Hospital in London, in which the mother had found it impossible to get, her baby to take food except in a state of unconsciousness, so feeding was conducted month after month up to 10 months of age just as one would feed an unconscious fever patient. The mother proved utterly unable to cope witii the situation, and it took our nurses about 10 days to get the child to take its food when awake and ai regular times and in proper quantities. In * any case this could not have been brought abcur except in the absence of the mother. Dr. Brennemann, a leading authority hi America, lias written very conclusively on this point, saying that in his experience the best plan is to remove the child to a special institution (such as our Karitane Hospitals), where kindly but firm disciplinary attention can be given by well-trained nurses, whose emotions are not specially centred in the particular baby. This certainly affords the surest and quickest way to bring aoout necessary regular feeding habits and to overcome dawdling over meals. Our experience has been quite similar in New Zealand and at Home. The best substitute for a short course of training in an institution is to place the child for a few weeks under the charge of some relation or friend who has had experience in the rearing of her own children, and who is willing to carry out the necessary instructions. Of course, this does not mean that the temporary foster-mother is by nature necessarily firmer or mere capable than the motl-.er. The explanation of her success is the fact that her emotions are not deeply involved, and the child soon comes to realise more or less unconsciously that it has fallen into the hands of '“she who must be obeyed. ’ ’ But. after a IJ, you have succeeded, not failed, so far-as weight and growth are concerned —only it has evidently cost you a great /leal of worry and distress, especially the smacking and your a:tempts to appear,firm and relentless. The interesting point is that a firm, well-trained nurse would succeed without: the smacking, though you were quite right to resort to this slight disciplinary measure. The injunction never to force food on a child would not apply in a case of this kind. You were quite right to 1 give the bottle first, and the same applies to various other measures you refer to with a view to maintaining ard increasing your supply of breast milk You ask whether you should continue breast-feeding; but this question will have answered itself, seeing that your baby,will now have eome'to the natural weaning time. Of course, weaning is always apt to be a difficult and trying time for the child, and this may be specially so in your case. Other things being equal, it would be well to delay weaning until the hot summer weather is over.

If anv great difficulty is experienced in inducing your baby to take a sufiieieney of prepared food, and to take if in a reasonable time, I should recommend you to apply for admission to the baby to. a Karitane Hospital for a few weeks. We have a considerable number of such cases, and the result is always satisfactory.