OUR BABIES.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLVIII, Issue 71, 25 March 1914, Page 2

OUR BABIES.

By Hygeia

Published under the auspices of the Society for 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."

FAILURE IN NURSINQ,... <v f v

(Continued). ■*.■■■ '. . ; At the close of last week's article I referred shortly to a case where the failure in nursing was dues solely to1 the mother being misdirected, I shall now give the particulars of this case in more detail, because I am satisfied that a large number of mothers, who would be perfectly capable of completely nursing their babies if property guided, fail to do so owing to supplying the baby, nci6:;with too little, but -with too much, milk in the first month. Apart, from the human mother> there is no instance where the offspring is tempted and urged to suckle beyond its requirements. The most,casual observation of what goes on in the fields among our domestic animals shows on all hands the tendency of the mother to prevent too frequent or prolonged suckling. With ourselves, on the contrary, it has been the almost invariable custom to try to induce the baby to nurse nearly twice as often as he should and to fill himself to repletion. In this connection I have some very naive and interesting notes, made Ly a prolevssionsl nurse, showing perfectly clearly t^ut the baby is suffering from ove'leading and indigestion at the v: y time when the nurse was jotting down on her daily record such remarks as: "Baby restless and peevish to-day; seems to be going off his food; very sleepy towards the end of each nursing; could not get him to take any more." These notes were made: in a case where, under instruction, the baby was being weighed befoi'e and after each, nursing, in order to ascertain how much was being drawn from the breast in the 24 hours. The nurse had not taken the trouble to-add up the figures, which would have proved to her that (the baby's trouble was due to overreeding—not, as she supposed, to under-feeding,— that he was actually getting as much as eight, ounces beyond his proper allowance, as given on page 34 of the book "Feeding and Care of Baby." v \

ILLUSTRATIVE CASE, A mother, who had given birth nearly six weeks previously to a , strong, healthy baby weighing over 81b, wrote in great distress to say that the infant had been doing very badly latterly—had been steadily losing weight, and now weighed rajther less than at birth. She had just been ordered to entirely abandon breast-feeding on the ground that her milk was at'fault, and even poisonous. The family were in comfortable cir-' cumstances, with every advantage as regards the home and assistance in the way of servants and nurses. ■" The mother herself was a well-made woman, well developed, and (the type of normal motherhood, not only physically, but by temperament arid inclination. She was domestic, devoted to her children, and, of all things, anxious to 'do everything she could for them. She had failed to nurse her first two children, but felt 'jfchat this ought not to have been the. case if matters had been managed proper lat. She had had the Society's hooks long before the last baby ' was born; and felt sure that all would be wdl if'sho could only ge(t the doctor and nurse to' allow her to follow the general course advocated. However, when the time came she found that they were tied to the usages of the Victorian era, and would not hear of feeding only every three hours, "no nightfeeding," etc. • The baby v/as born plump and healthy, and weighed B|lb. At a fortnight she rt-eighed 91b, and, as the ■mother said, "was doing splendidly. '■■'"■■ The milk supply was ample, and the; baby was. suckled with alternate breasts every two hours, there being: ten feedings in all, including -the; night-feeding. For the next.: :weekl (things were not so satisfactory. Baby J was fretful and irritable, and suffered from flatulence. She gained only a quarter of a pound in the week, and the mother became worried and-slept indifferently. The next week there was a loss of a quarter of a .pound,':1 and marked constipation set in" whichthe nurse treated with a daily dose! of castor oil, without consulting the- doctor, who highly disapproved ! when/ some weeks later he discovered what had been done.

In the fourth week a bottle-feeding was.given m place of one of the. breast-feedings, and by the end of the fifth week baby was getting four bottle-feedings.' Towards the close of the sixth week the weight had .gone down to 81b 10oz., there was ex-, tmme constipation, baby was flabby, dull, listless,' dissatisfied, and • irritable, and-always cried after being suckled. Complete stoppage of breastfeeding had, been urged earlier, but . was how insisted on, the parents being told that the violent' crying of the Child after the breast-feedings, and not after^ the bottle-feedings, showed that the mother's milk was poisonous. However, the^ mo.ther held out, and got a weighing "machine, which showed that at this stage the baby was getting from the 'breast under 10oz. in the 24 hours, being rather less than two-fifths of its normal requirement, while the highly-diluted artificial . feedings did not supply more than i another fifth. The explanation of the I satisfaction after the bottle-feedings! and the yelling after sucklings was ■ very obvious the 4oz. or more -per feeding given by the bottle filling the stomach, and relieving thirst, which the 2oz. breast-feedings failed to do. THE NEW REGIME. The cause of failure being not quite clear, the mother was given the fol- • lowing instructions:— » (1) Feed only six times in the 24 i hours, and give no night feed- ; ings- i (2) Suckle the baby at each feeding time. (3) ■■- Immediately before suckling • balance the baby^ clothes and I all and at the end of suckling I find ouit and note what weight has to be added to balance again. This shows how much milk has been drawn off from the breasts.. (For details as to to weighing before and after suckling s*e pages 57-59 "Feeding and Care of Baby.") (4) Supplement with the necessary ; quantity of humanised milk, beginning diluted, and working up to-full strength in the course of a week. The moither had been using only one breast at each1 feeding, but as the supply was short she was told she must .give both breasts each time, as explained on pages 6 and 7 of the Society s book ("Feeding and Care of

The result,of this regimen was that the baby started straight away to gain. normally, and in the course of the next "month the mother's supply, instead of. continuing, to dwindle, rose to nearly 17oz. a day. . THE RESULTS. When baby was nearly 11 .weeks old the mother wrote, saying:— "I enclose the weighings, and will send the ones foriEHis week later on. Baby, is doing splendidly. She is gettnvgV^vt; and her cheeks are quite a nice" QQljjr. She is looking very bonnie now, arid I am sure you would be pleased with her. The doctor is de- . lighted... .. 1 will tell him we are going by the book,. "I had baby photographed on Friday, and will send you a copy when we get them. Her motions are quijte good now, and she is getting very regular in her habits. We use the rubber enema when necessary." , (The enema, referred, to is a tiny'softnozzled rubber bulb, holding only an ounce. Simple pure water" at 70 degrees is used—no. soap). Just before leaving England we received n telegram saying that baby was going on splendidly and. that her weighs on 17th December was 101b ll.foz. This showed that she had gamed exactly a pound in the fortnight. Last week the photograph of a plump, happy-looking baby arrived from the Old Country