OUR BABIES.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 8 January 1927, Page 17

OUR BABIES.

(By Hygeia.) [Published under the auspices of the Royal New Zealand Society for the Health of women and children (Blanket Society).] THE HOLIDAYS. ' Many families, little and big, must ! now be preparing lor their annual niii oration to seaside or country, or to j stav with relatives and friends, and pern aps many mothers are looking forward to long train Journeys with a • mod deal of dread. To these w© otter Hie following hints on travelling wit 1 children: FOOD. First we may consider the yuestio .. , n f, lW d, as it certainly presents eon) ' problems for solution. Of course tile simplest ol all the problems is the breast-fed baby; m ±a t be i.s not a problem at all in this co . nection— all he needs is his motlm and rational management. The bottle-fed baby presents mor, difficulties. His 24 hours’ supply o. humanised milk should be ire shiv made ■us late as possible before starting o. the journey Even if it is usually pasteurised, it is wisest, it JaveUm to bring it to the boil, and then keep R hot for 10 minutes. It is extremely difficult to keep milk cold enough to toS? for baby when travelling am. the dangerous rate of giowth of g ° in luke-warm milk or imperfectly was - ed bottles and teats shou.d never bforgotten. Fortunately, the thermo, flask solves the greatest problem a r as milk goes. If the milk can h-' All below rrtr. wf'; ice or verv cold water, it may be put into the mean, scalded, co d flas ; . at that temperature, and will keep quite safely if properly corked. How - ever this necessitates obtaining ho. water or other means by the way toheating enough milk for each feed. Probably the best all-round, P ractl V. a method of keeping the baby si null, sat el v when travelling is to keep it hot . Germs do not grow and multiply in milk which is kept well above 13 degrees Fahr. Thoroughly wash aim heat the flask, and pour into it tin humanised milk when just a little Jlow boiling point. Keep t.ie ; corked, and when pouring out sufiiciem milk for each feed do. so as qmckly as possible and recork immediately ,K prevent the milk m the flask falling appreciably in temperature. Naturally if it cools to anywhere near blooc heat the flask becomes a positive mem -tee The milk poured out tor oapy ■ feed can quickly be cooled to the nghl temperature, and he can have his bottic whenever due without regard to sta tions where hot water may be obtained. it is a good thing to take an oidin arv bottle of boiled water also, as baby is* verv likely to be thirsty, and it v useful for finally rinsing out bottle and teat A jug of hot water obtamei at a refreshment room serves to neat water for drinking, and to give the various utensils in use a thorough scalding out. Bottles and teats, etc.: It is a gooe plan to have more than one bottle anc teat, so that if it is very difficult to wash them properly en route fresh ones can be used. A handy way to carry them is in a small tin box, such as certain brands of tea or fancy biscuits are packed in. Wrap tlie bottles and teats in a piece of clean, boiled buttei muslin and pack, and keep them in the tin. A spoon and any other small utensil may keep them company A measure marked in ounces or small ]ug is necessary to transfer milk from flask to feeding bottle. This also must be kept clean and covered. N.B.—Never keep any milk wmob has been left in the feeding bottle. D babv does not finish ln» feed throw awnv what is left, and pour fresh from the flask for the next feed. Nothing is more dangerous than milk which has been lying in the bottle from one feeding time to the next. If the journey will take more than 24 hours, and it is therefore necessary to obtain a fresh supply of humanised milk en route, consult the Plunket Nurse in the town in which you live. She will write to the nurse m the place in which you will break your journey, (riving her the recipe of baby s f£9 c and arranging a suitable way in which you may Teceive the made-up humanised milk for the next 24 hours. lor this a -small charge covering the cost of tlie materials is made. I- 111 ®; travelling, say, from Dunedin to Auckland. a fresh supply ol milk may be obtained from Wellington. Undoubtedly the “bigger babies are, the most difficult to cater tor, but a little forethought will save much worrv and trouble. Remember that a day on somewhat short rations will do no harm at all, whereas a day of unsuitable foods—food from restaurants, and odds and ends of cakes and sweets—may do untold harm. , „ , . , , , Pack a tin with rusks of twice-baked bread and oatcake, ready buttered ij liked, and folded slices of brown bread and butter. Some sandwiches of cress or lettuce and scrambled egg make variety and add to the nourishment o the meal, and a few dates and raisins, separately or in sandwiches, are excellent. With a drink of nnlk and a raw anple to “top off with,” a perrectly nourishing, satisfying, and digestible meal is provided for any youngster one, moreover, which will while away a considerable amount of time and furnish amusement as an entertaining n for the subject of food. Probably every mother will have her own suggestions to add to the foregoing, which, however, have been found thoroughly workable in actual practice.

CLOTHING AND WRAPS. ETC. Railway carriages are draughty places, and yet are hard to ventilate and apt to be stuffy. A good deal or ingenuity and tact are to make the best of the conditions. It is risky to let children get overheated. Try to adjust their clothes to suit the time of (lav and the temperature, and take them out for a run on the plat--101-in if possible wherever there is a sufficiently long stop. Needless to say, a plentiful supply of napkins is a necessity. A mackintosh bag is the ideal way to keep wet nappies when travelling; but if this is not procurable it is a good plan to make tight little parcels of them m several, thicknesses of old newspaper, (liy the wav, a bundle of newspapers will come iii very handy in more ways than one.) A light rug and a cushion are necessities if travelling with small children, and with these and a spare seat the matter of a daytime sleep is simplified. SLEEP. It is all important to assure some sleep for the little ones if over-fatigue and fretfulness are to be avoided. This

may be very difficult if the train is crowded, but sometimes a bed may be improvised by placing a yvide hoard between a seat and the one immediately in front of it. Pushed up against the outer wall of the carriage, and with a cushion and rug upon it, this make-, quite a comfortable enough bed for the todd.er—one which is perfectly safe U the hoard is well wedged and a suitcase is propped up on the outer side to prevent a tumble: A clress-basket is perfectly invaluable when travelling with a young baby, making as it does a comfortable bed* and a receptacle for all the baby s clothes. We have travelled with babies I>v train amt boat- —healthy, norma, babies and tiny weaklings —and have .'.mind that they need not be nursed at a 1, except at feeding times, but will sleep and lie awake quite contented, rather enjoying the constant movement. The result is the minimum of fatigue tor mother and baby—very different to the utter exhaustion of both when ihe baby has been nurfced all day, restless and irritable because of the complete reversal of his ordinary routine.

Tiny babies may be “packed” in the dress-basket before starting. The improvised cradle can easily be carried short distances by one person, and the Imby is kept uniformly warm and protected fiom wind and draughts. Next to the dress-basket, probably the most useful piece of luggage is the canvas carryall, which conveniently accommodates all the knobby and awkward last articles. TOYS AND PLAYTHINGS. A few simple toys and picture books, a puzzle perhaps, and a block and pencil form part of the necessary paraphernalia, but most children will be interested ior hours in watching the novel sights out of the caiiiage winCONVENIENOES. On the through expresses the ladies' compartments help to lighten the difficulties of travelling for the mother with children, providing as they do more privacy and larger, better-kep: lavatory and* wash-basin arrangements. However, it is never safe to allow children to use any lavatory in the ordinary way when travelling. An excellent plan* is to make a circular pad of several thicknesses of paper wide enough co completely cover the ordinary seat; mark the top side of the pad. This will make things safe, and, folded in half and itself wrapped in paper, it will pack quite easily. Otherwise, an ordinary little enamel chamber may, lie taken. * but this is awkward and. bulky. Some pieces of old linen, damp ano dry, will come in most handy, and save hankies and towels. SEA TRIP. A sea trip (unless the mother is a had sailor) does not present nearly so manv difficulties as a long train journey,'especially if it is a night passage. ns*so many of our inter-island passages are. Children are comparatively rarely seasick, and there is room for them to spread out and lie down comfortably. TRAIN-SICKNESS.

Very occasionally children are habitually train and car sick, when the only possible thing to do is to give onlv very light) food before starting and to manage some means of allowing the child to lie down. In conclusion, one might remark that the mother who has trained her children in obedience, regularity, and good habits generally will reap her just reward, when holiday travelling time comes round. The long day will pass without unbearable exhaustion on anybody’s children, oj fel low-travellers. But, alas! for the all-too-eommon experience of the “fellow-traveller who observes little families on the move —scrambling over everything, consuming an apparently endless suppi v of cakes and sweets, grubby and tired, ignoring all parental attempts at control, presently fretful and crying from sheer exhaustion and discomfort. ■