OUR BABIES.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 10526, 2 December 1916, Page 10

OUR BABIES.

By "Hrygeia." Published under the auspices of ih» Royal New Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children. ' It is wiser lo put up a fence at the top of a precipice tha i to maintain an ambulance at the bottom " LETTER FROM A NURSE. There is a baby under my care whom I cannot got to thrive satisfactorily. Her mother is worrying about her, and would be pleased to hear what you advise. She is a breast-fed baby nearly five a id a._-half months old, fed regularly, plenty of fresh air, and in every way treated on the Society's lines. Ihe elector has examined her thoroughly, and found she had a detective heart;' but he says it should not in any way prevent her from thriving, The child will not drink much, although there is plenty of milk in the breast; nor will she take "it from the bottle. When baby was three months old she was weighed before and after every nursing for a. period of 24 hours, and it was found that she took REPLY. Regarding the baby you write about, _ I > not only don't think it foolish your enquiring, but I decidedly appreciate the trouble ' you have taken in describing the case and your anxiety to get any hint that might leael to a. more satisfactory rate of growth.. I Of course, the progress has been extremely slow ; but one favourable point is that the increase in weight has been sustained and regular. You must bear in , mind that sometimes a baby who appears I to be normal cannot be got to put on weight at- the average rate, though generally, if no pains are spared, the slow progress ultimately gives way to a normal rate of growth. However, you arc quite right- to be anxious, especially when \ov live months the average increase has been less than half the normal. The prolonged retardation calls for the most serious consideration, and no stone should be left unturned to promote greater activity of digestion and nutrition. You do not mention anything as to therelative state of growth (increase in ozs for the. full day's amount. The mother's milk was tested, and the fat percentage- was 4. The mother was dieted and the baby was given Aoz of water before feedings: but the only difference, seemed to be an increased freqtioi>o\ of motions, which have always been very frequent, although quite veilow. Then (with the doctor's permissi in) we tried giving her loz of boiled huniani: d milk before the breast, but she did not thrive any better on this experiment. This week I got the mother's milk Jested again and there was 3.6 per cent of fat. The baby is perfectly good and happy. I am enclosing a copy of the weight chart. Trusting this is plain, and that you will not think it foolish enquiring.—l am, etc. length, etc.) and the stored reserve of fat. Has the baby continued to _ grow in bone, muscle, etc., but become thinner and thinner? 1 should suppose that by this time she is more or less emaciated, or, at best, what would be called poorly nourished. One always ought to bear in mind that the results of'under-feeding and the consequent storage of a deficiency of fat in. the, system are generally less serious than the results of prolonged over-feeding. As Professor Budin so often remarked: Overfed babies suffei from indigestion, and it is often very difficult to cure this. In underfed babies, on the other hand, digestion commonly remains comparatively" unimpaired, and they tend to go ahead quickly and do their best to make up for ' lost time when we get them to take the proper amount of food. This applies not only to eases where the baby has been allowed less than it would have taken, but also to cases where the food supply has been ample—the appetite or inclination for food falling short of the normal. From what you say, it appears most probable that, in the present case-,' the baby's appetite has been wanting, while the mother's milk supply has been sufficient, though there may be some doubt on the point,. We have sometimes found that where the conclusion hu'S.been arrived at that the, store of mother's milk" available was ample, that was not,"really 'the'case. It might be that, after the baby had suckled, a few drops could be squeezed out leadily. but still the breasts were almost empty, and the child had ceased sucking because it had been overlong a; the breast and the flow was not satisfying. Whatever may be the defect in the present case, you may take it for granted that I some improvement may be brought about: 1. By doing everything possibly to imj prove 'the quantity and quality of the mother's milk supply. Ample daily openi air exercise, bathing, fresh air day and night, proper attention to food and. feeding habits, the ensuring of good digestion anel tne avoidance of constipation, the taking of a sufficiency of fluid, stimulation of the breasts by local bathing or massage (if needed), giving baby both breasts at each tsucklir.g, but starting with the right breasl at one nursing and the left at the nextdue attention to all these points (which are fully emphasised in the Society's book) can be relied on to achieve a great deal in the way ot improving the, quality of the milk quite apart from the question of quantity. 2. In cases of babies presenting the features you describe, 1 have found a wonderful improvement, to follow on stimulating the child by paying great attention to everything promoting vigorous health on the lines set. forth on pages 1 and 2 of "Feeding anel Care of l>aby." It must never be forgotten that perfectly normal babies tend to become lazy, indolent, dispirited, and flabby, and to dwindle away if they are allowed to lead too passive an existence, and that this may happen either to sucklings or to bottle-feds, in spite of the fact that the food supply is ample and of good quality. "Mothering" and "Management," as referred to on page 2, are matters of .supreme importance, and I have found that one can enlist the mother on our side by pointing out. the need for proper daily exercise and stimulation, and by explaining to her that even -when at the breast the baby ought to be kept active and alert. Thus one can get the mother to pay proper attention to such eietails as handling, fingering, and rubbing the baby's hands, feet, anel limbs when it seems inclined to drop off to sleep while at the breast. Nothing tends to promote good digestion and proper nutrition and growth more than kicking exercise several times a day without too much clothing on, preceded and followed by a little massage. Working on such lilies I have known babies who have failed to put on weight for months to start almost straight away, paining at more than the average rate every week, so that in the course of a few months they haw caught up the normal. Regarding weighing be f ore and , after nursihg, you should not rely on a single day's weighing, but have the weighing elono for several successive clays to> make sure you ascertain the true average intake. I don't quito understand your object, in recommending the |oz of water before feeding, because that would tend to dimmish the inclination and appetite for breast-milk instead of promoting it. If the mother's health and the baby s health were both improved and toned up, most likely the normal frequency of motions would sexm be established.