OUR BABIES.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 12 February 1927, Page 15

OUR BABIES.

(By Hygeia.)

[Published, under the auspices of the Koval New Zealand Society for the 'Health of Women and Children (Plunket Society)] MODIFICATION OF COW’S MILK FOE BABIES. Last week we dealt with some of the uses of food, and this time we -shall bring the question right down to a consideration of the modification of cow’s milk for babies. Now it is one of the most wonderful and beautiful of the facts of Nature that the milk of every species of mother animal is different from that of any other. It almost passes understanding how anyone, once having grasped this truth and its significance, could continue to feed a baby on milk which Nature intended for the calf, or, indeed, on any artificial food which had not first been carefully brought to resemble the human mother’s milk as nearly as possible. To' continue our questions and answers: —

Question: Exactly what do you mean when you say that, the milk of every kind of animal is different? • Answer: We mean that the various food components (which we described last week) are found in quite different proportions in the milk of different animals.

Q: Why is that so? A.: It is because the needs of the voung of each species are different, and Nature has supplied the food components in exactly such proportions as will completely supply those needs in every respect. ’ For example, the whale is a mammal, and the milk upon which its young 'is nourished contains a very large amount of fat—about 12 times as much fat as is found in the milk of animals living in the air (including the human mother). This is because the baby whale lives in cold "water, which robs its body of heat .12 times as rapidIv as does air. " Nature’s allowance of sugar varies with the energy and range of activity of the baby to be nourished on the milk. Thus we find that the human baby, with its actively functioning body and brain, requires and receives more sugar in its natural food than does the calf. Then in regard to the protein, we have a very important lesson to learn from Nature there. The protein in the milks of various animals varies according to the rate of growth of the young ones of the species. The baby rabbit, which doubles its weight at birth in a single week, receives ten times as much protein in its mother’s milk as does the human badv, who normally doubles his birth weight in about six months. Cow’s milk, intended for the nourishment of the calf, which doubles its birth weight in about two months, contains between two and three times as much protein as human milk. The comparisons between the milks of various animals arc very clearly and interestingly set out in the form of a chart or diagram, which is published by the society, and may bo obtained from the Plunket nurses. With this Sir Truby King says: "Human milk would be as unsuitable and damaging for a baby rabbit as rabbit’s milk would be to a human baby, but unmodified cow’s milk is only a stage less injurious to cither. Cow’s milk is made expressly for a calf. Human milk is made expressly for a baby. The calf has a huge stomach, consisting of four compartments, which enable it to digest coarse curd, which is almost absent from human milk. The baby has one tiny delicate stomach. Not only does Nature put from two to three times the quantity of protein into cow’s milk, but the -protein is present in the form of a crude, tough curd, which the calf can readily digest, but which overtaxes the baby. The main purpose of ‘humanising’ milk .is to reduce the flesh-forming element to about a third, and to ensure that the third which is loft in shall be of a sufficiently digestible kind. The fatal objection to the use of whole cow’s milk for babies is the fact that the great excess of protein overtaxes the digestive organs and the kidneys by imposing on them from two to three'times their proper daily work. The usual results during infancy arc constipation, indigestion, colic, diarrhoea, malnutrition, impaired growth, kidney trouble, etc. If the child grows satisfactorily, or overgrows for a time on such wrong feeding, the mother flatters herself she has done no harm. She takes no account, of predisposing her child to Bright’s disease (inflammation and wasting of the kidneys) or other penalties and disabilities later in life, including nervous instability. We are always punished sooner or later for disobedience to the laws of Nature.”

It is important to remember, that condensed or dried milk sold in tins is simply milk from which some or most of the water has been evaporated off. The addition of water in certain. proportions, as directed on the tins, brings the milk back to the same composition as the -fresh cow’s milk from which it was originally prepared. (Sweetened condensed milk has a largo amount of extra cane sugar.) Consequently these preparations, except under certain conditions and properly modified, arc just as unsuitable for use as baby food as the cow’s milk from which they were made.

"Nature’s milk recipes are infallible. Any boy knows it is necessary to use exactly the right proportions of saltpetre, sulohur, and charcoal in making gunpowder; but it is infinitely more important to conform to the ruling of the Creator when dealing with the ehemistrv of human life. Mother’s milk for tlm baby is far ahead of the best imitation, just as fresh cow’s milk carefully modified and prepared for infants (in other words, ‘humanised milk’) is ahead of the various starchy patent foods, condensed milks, and dried milks put, up for sale in tins.” Q.: What practical bearing has all this on the matter of the bottle-feeding of babies?

A.: The first broad conclusion which stands out is this: It is a crime to deprive a baby of its natural food for nnv but absolutely valid reasons. And the second is this: If an artificial food must be given, it must be modified in such a manner as to make it as nearly like the human mother’s milk as possible. This means and implies several things: 1. The sugar, fat, and protein must he in approximately the same amounts and proportions and resemble those found in human milk as nearly as may be in quality. 2. The food must be made and kept clean, cool, and as free from germs as it is possible for it to be -—from milking to baby’s feeding bottle.

The supply of vitamins, essential to growth aud well-being, must be assured. 4. The food must be given at blood heat, and kept warm during feeding. . 5. The baby must be made to suck strongly' and vigorously at the teat in order to imitate the natural and necessary exercise for jaws and mouth obtained in sucking at the breast.

Lastly, the baby must uot bo deprives of a certain amount of handling or loving contact with his mother —in a word, "mothering.” He needs it all the nforoy since he has been deprived of his right aud proper food. . Q.: Just how are we to modify cow s milk for the baby? A.: Firstly, we must reduce the protein to'less than half. This is accomplished by the addition of water - rather more water than milk, because there is more than twice as much protein in cow’s milk as in human milk. The correct amount is lloz or 12oz of water to every Soz or 9oz of milk. A mixture of half rind h&lf millt and water contains too much protein for the average normal baby. To render the protein (or curd) which remains less tough and coarse, about loz of lime water is added in every pint of milk mixture; or for voung or very delicate babies some of the curd may be removed by making whey. Now this dilution with water to duce the protein has also reduced the necessary sugar and fat. Therefore the second step is to add extra sugar to the mixture. The best form of sugar is the natural .sugar of milk, found in all milks. It can be bought as a fine white powder,, which is added to the milk and water to bring the proportion of sugar up to that found in human milk. Thirdly, we must add extra tat, in suitable quality and quantity. Top milk or cream may be used for this purpose, but the best method of supplying fat. to the artificially-fed baby is’to give it in the form of New Zealand Emulsion, a prepared "cream,” consisting of a mixture of specially selected fats and oils, very, very finely split up and emulsified. This emulsion much more nearly resembles the fat of human milk than does the fat of human milk than does the fat of cow’s milk, which, as we explained last week, is in the form of large, coaise globules, difficult for young or delicate babies to digest. By these methods —namely, dilution with water and addition of sugar and fat —we have arrived at a mixture resembling human milk fairly closely in the proportions of the main food commit is important to remember that"humanised milk” should never be given full strength to start with. The section of the society’s book, "Feeding and Care of Baby” on artificial feeding should be carefully, studied for full instructions and directions .regarding making and grading all kinds of humanised milk; also the Plunket nuisc should £>c con-suited in the matter if there is one within reach.

Q.: What about the second requirement, wo need to fulfil? A.: The milk mixture must be scalded or properly pasteurised to kill harmful germs, and then it must be quickly and completely cooled and kept cool and covered from dust and dirt to prevent the access of more germs. Q.: And how should we supply the vitamins?

A.: Orange juice is the richest source of vitamins, but, the freshly-expressed juice of carrots or swede turnips does equally well, so long as a rather larger amount is given. Every bottle-fed baby must have some fresh uncooked fruit or vegetable juice daily. (Prune juice, if given for constipation, does not take the place of the fresh juice—it does not siipplv the vitamins.) Finally' the teat must be carefully kept anil regulated, so that the hole is not too large, and the baby should be nursed and the bottle held for at least part of every feeding time. This ensures good suction and exercise for jaws and mouth, and gives the baby some of the handling and mothering which is his natural right, and of which it is little short of downright cruelty to deprive him. "Nothing can ever replace the milk and the heart of a mother.”