OUR BABIES.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 3121, 6 April 1915, Page 3

OUR BABIES.

By Hygeia.

Published under th« auspices of the Society or the Health of Women and Children.

"It is wiser to put up a fence at the top of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom.'

NATURAL FEEDlNG—(Continued)

A considerable number of mothers fail in nursing, not because they have too little milk, but because they have too much in the early stages. The baby is "egged-on" during the first month, by feeding every two hours., to take as- much as he can stow away. Being overfed, he may grow rapidly for a few weeks, but then he begins lo suffer from repletion and indigestion; his appetite fails, and he sucks less forcibly. At the same time the mother, worn out by lack of resi day and night, and now worried by the added anxiety of a crying, fretful baby, finds her milk supply going off. She then omits one suckling altogiving a bottle instead; next two bottles a day are used, and so on; or or she weans her baby right off, because she is told that her milk is injurious. A mother who has the capacity to supply enough milk for twins may thus fail to suckle one baoy, simply because she starts by overfeeding him, and thus upsets both herself and her offspring.

THE FRENCH EXAMPLE. That the French are now becoming fully alive, as a nation, to the need for

reform in these matters is forciblv

shown in many ways, thus:— 1. A law has been passed making any doctor, nurse, or other person, who advises a French mother not to

nurse her baby, liable to punishment if it cannot be clearly shown that

the advice was really necessary. 2. tn a nook for schoolgirls, written by Professor Pinard. a distinguished

Paris authority, appears the following

"COMMENT DOIT-ON PHATIQUER

"L'ALLAITEMENT MIXTE. "Lorsque Ton doit niettre en pra tique l'allaitement mixlc, il y aunt

ehoses qu'il faut bien savoir ot tie point, oublier: "Le Jait de la femme facilite la digestion du lait d'un animal. "Je vais essayer ae vous faire compredre eette affirmation.

"En observant attentivement,, on a constate que quand quand un bebe une quanfitc quelconque du lait do vache. mais rien que du lait de vache, illedigere moins bien quo si, avant de prendre ce lait de vache, il a deja absorbe une petite quantiie du lait de sa niaman. "C'est ce qui lait dire que le lait dc la femme est le Digestif du lait de vache. Summary and free translation:— "How can we best carry out 'mixedfeeding' in practice? "It. has been proved that when a baby is given some cow's milk ho di-

gists it much better if. previous to the taking of the cow'.- milk, he has been given even a very small quantity

of mother.s milk. "This is why we say thai molher's milK is the Digestive of cow's m:!k.'

Dr Pincard then goes on to explain that on no account must the mother replace any o: me feedings by a complete bottle-feeding. The baby must first get all he can from the breasts *at each feeding, then he can be g : ven by bottle what is needed to make the meal up to the normal

repuirement. The average thai the mother supplies daily from the breast is to he ascertained from time to time by weighing the baby 1 efore and after suckling for a wnole day (see Jhe Society's book. '"Feedini; and Care '>f Baby." pagps. f>7 to 59). Further, Dr. I'inard insists that tlie supplementary bo'M'e-food must he prepared so a- to resemble mother's milk as closely as possible. ("Le laii de vacho do : t etre prepare selon !e,s reglos> m:nu:ieu-es.") No haphazard guesswork or patent foods! KAKITANE RKSILTB. What may he achieved by the earryir.g out. of these simple p"ineip!cs—using humani ed milk as the simplementary food a- long as it is needed—is exemplified by the following re-

marKs taken from the report which appears in the Plunket Magazine by Mi*- Campbell, the matron of the

Society's Baby Hospital:—

The most encouraging feature of he work is the ever-increasing minier oi mothers who, coming into resi-

nce with their babies, under suit

able hygienic conditions, treatment, and diet, find thev are able, from a

Amy supply Of milk, to develop an

abundant flow. In one case in three weeks t he supply rose from 2i-oz to 240z per day. in another the baby had actually been weaned for three weeks, and latest reports from the mother after return to her own home tell of a full and abundant supply being maintained—sometime- actually more than tne baby needs. It seem,- almost miraculous to the

mother who has entirely abandoned breast feeding for weeks to find that her milk can be coaxed back io her within a short time, until the How may actually exceed what the baby needs. And this is brought about by simple measures available to allmeasures which are being carried out with the most gratifying results un-

der the guidance and help of the Plunket Nurses throughout the whole Dominion. THE MAIN ESSENTIALS. The main point to attend to, in addition to wha|t I have dwelt on in this paper, is reasonable attention on (he part of the mother to the first principles, of healthy living (seepages 6 to 10 "Feeding and Care of Baby"). In the way of special local measures for increasing the milk supply, we |nd

nothing more efficacious than massage ol the breasts, and sponging them morning and evening with hot water using hotand cold alternately at each sponging,—and finishing up with brisk friction with a rough towel and massage.

Nothing gains the mother's confidence more readily a|nd makes her a more willing co-worker than a few words of simple explanation as to the why and wherefore ol' what we want her to do. Ask her what she herself does to warm her own hands when the circulation is feeble and the fingers are blue, cnilly, and bloodless; tell her thaWthere is no natural stimulant (tlo the nerves and secreting glands comparable to the effects of applying sharp alternate heat and cold followed by brisk surface friction and proper deep Tabbing. Tell her that a free flow of blood to the oreasts tends to bring about a free flow of milk; and tell her, finally (especialy it she is a farmer's wife), that in Denmark cows are brought to yield 40s worth more milk a year by giving daily a few minutes of very simple massage ro the udders. Discuss these all-im-portant elementary facts with the mother, and then she will work with you and not against you. Women have tended to dub such simple commonsense things as fads, because no one has taken the trouble to go into these intimate matters with them or to ex-

plain the simple why and wherefor. The modern world needs stimulation of interest and rational, practical sympathetic education in Motherhood and Mothercraft. It will be more than strange if the Plunfcet Makazine—run a helpful, patriotic spirit by some 01 the most earnest women in our Dominion—does not prove a powerful incentive to further community of thought and action for the welfare of mother and child throughout New Zealand—and, let us hope, beyond our islands.