OUR BABIES.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 2 July 1927, Page 17

OUR BABIES.

By Hygeia. Published under the auspices of the Royal New Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children (Plunket Society). This week we republish an extract from an article which appeared some 3 ears ago, because it affords an interesting comment on a difficulty we have not so far mentioned —the difficulty caused by worry or nervous upset on the part of the mother. This is an intangible, but none the less real trouble, ana one wnicii calis for thoagnt, courage, and self-mastery in the overcoming. if tbe mother could realise the tremendous importance of the first few months of baby's life, and put aside worries and the minor irritations of life for his sake—putting him first for that time; a very short time when all the years to come are considered; —if husbands, relations, would rally round the mother, pouring oil on troubled waters when necessary, or at least- refraining from rocking the family boat, how many cases of early - unnecessary weaning could be avoided!

The following is the extract referred to which commences with a quotation from “Feeding and Care of Baby” (.page 10) : ‘‘Every means should be taken to avoid undue excitements, worries, and sources of annoyance, because the emotions have so much to do with determining the composition and quantity - of the milk, and affecting in other wavs the health of both mother and offspring. “The following . passage from Charles Reade’s ‘The Cloister and the Hearth,” is most suggestive and entirely true: “ ‘The child is poisoned.’ “‘Poisoned! By - whom?’ “'By*you. You’have been fretting!’ " ‘Nay, indeed mother. How can I help fretting?’

“ ‘Don’t tell me, Maragaret. A nursing mother has no business to fret. She must turn her mind away from her grief to the comfort that lies in her lap. Know you not that the child pines if the mother vexes herself?’ ”

Many cases of premature weaning or failure of suckling can be traced to domestic and emotional upsets, which should never occur if people understood how important it is for the nursing mother to keep calm and placid.

The following examples from real life show how easily the flow of milk can be interfered with and how simply the matter can be set right by those who know how to deal with the cases. ILLUSTRATION 1. Years :ago the mother of several young children was expecting an addition to her family. She mad© all her arrangements, and’ as she had a. very devoted maid who had been in the family for several years she felt quite happy about everything. The baby arrived safely, and there was a good supply of milk. Hardly had the mother taken her place again in the family circle than the “devoted” maid gave notice and left. This worried the mother. so much that her milk dried up, and her baby was subjected to the perils of bottle-feeding. Any capable friend with sufficient knowledge to realise what was taking place could have gone into the house, taken over the responsibilities of it and the other children for a few days, got competent help, and thus saved the situation, and the baby would have been breast-fed instead of bottlefsd. ILLUSTRATION 2. An interesting case took place in a Mothercraft training institution. The matron wanted to prove to those in training that even where a mother had to work for her living she could still nurse her baby well, from a Salvation Army Home the matron got a young mother with a normal healthy baby to act as housemaid in the institution. For several weeks everything went well, and the baby increased in weight* the consecutive weighings being recorded on a chart; then, seemingly without rhyme or reason, the baby ceased to gain in weight then it began to lose. The matron and staff were greatly puzzled, as everything seemeed to be going on as usual. The child was weighed before and after each feeding for a whole day, and it was found that the quantity of breast-milk had fallen some ounces below the requirement of the child. Then the matron suddenly discovered that the housemaid and the cook were quarrelling. She asked them both to come and look at the chart, and she showed them how well the baby had done up to a certain point, and then, when they begun quarrelling, how the bain - had suffered. This greatly impressed the cook, who exclaimed. “Well, I’ve never been accused of damaging a baby T before.” The dispute was settled, and very soon the baby began to thrive again.