OUR BABIES

Manawatu Standard, Volume L, Issue 115, 11 April 1930, Page 4

OUR BABIES

(By Hygeia.) Published auspices of tbs Royal New Zealand Society 'for Ui« Health of Women and Children (Plunket Society). “It is wiser to put up a fence at the top of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at tho bottom.” S BEST EOR MOTHER AND BABY. The question of proper reasons for weaning baby is an ever-recurring one. Ear too many babies are still weaned for trifling reasons, and the following little article by Sister ' McKay in the Women's Pictorial contains such telling points and practical answers to questions often asked that we are passing it on to our readers: — “ ‘My doctor' believes the mother’s health is moro important than tho baby’s and that is why lie wants me to wean,’ a mother writes, as though to say, ‘You. only think about baby, and don’t care a bit about us poor mothers’ ; On the contrary., all Truby King followers firmly believe that ‘the health of the mother is the health of the baby,’ but we see no reason why, in most cases, both should not be possible. If sacrifices are t<J be asked, however, we do incline to the belief that the mother’s duty to her child comes even before her duty to herself. “Suppose your child to bo ill. It certainly is not very good for your health to have to nurse him, to stay indoors when .the sun is shining, to have anxious, busy days and disturbed nights. But would you, for that reason, say, ‘Someone else must look after him for me’ ? You know you wouldn’t while you had’the capability and strength to nurse him. It may not.be a perfect analogy, but it shows what I mean. We must have a sense of proportion about things, and when something is very vital make time and strength for it.’ “A letter which-came -this morning had a very gloomy beginning. ‘You remember,’ it ran, ‘how, before baby came, I wrote and told you that I couldn’t, nurse my other two, that I had a nervous breakdown during the first month, and was ill off and on all through; and yet you advised nicy not to worry, but to feed baby at least while I-was in bed? Well, baby is now four and a half-months old. He weighs nearly 151 b. and,. though, it has been a straggle, they tell me at the Welfare Centre I must have particularly good milk, for he is so absolutely contented and good. I am feeling better than I have ever felt in my life.” . “Now the truth-about- breast-feeding is that it is not a great strain on the system at all if wise health laws are followed; but if it were a little bit of a strain, yet it would be well worth it. It may be a Strain;-sometimes carrying baby for the full term, yet mothers grin and bear it because they have to. Can’t they be a little bit plucky over the less tiring nine months that'follow, when they have the reward of babv’s bonniness and contentment before their'eyes? Surely it is'well worth while to make this sacrifice. “Breast-feeding is not naturally a strain on the system if wise health laws are followed. Of course, breast-feeding-is tiring, when it is'' treated merely as

an extra tagged on to life, instead of a central duty for the time being. “Dashing in, breathless, at the eleventh hour, going to bed late, taking little or no extra care of the health, the vitality suffers in the end. It is also a strain when tho child is allowed to take far more food'day by day than is wanted, for that is equivalent to feeding twins! It is also a strain when the whole digestion is undermined by the ridiculous diets which an old fashioned tradition would force on tho poor nursing mother. “Suppose you are one of those who do find it a tax. Are you going to give in straight away? “One mother wrote to me: “I went to bed every night at 7.30 for the first 10 weeks, and after that never later than 9, and I always had a good midday rest. Now I am feeding perfectly fit, and baby is the very picture of what a Better Baby should be.’ “There will be time to frivol after baby is weaned, but never, never again will fouhdation-laying days come. If you have to make a few • sacrifices and discipline your life rather strictly for a while, is it too much for your beloved baby to ask from you? If he were ailing you would tend him day and.' night. Can you not be equally faithful in prevention?“The healthy mother, whose day includes outdoor exercise, whose long nights are passed in a room with'moving air, whose diet is well balanced and rich in vitamins, finds the five short feeds almost the most restful episodes of tho day as she settles herself in a comfortable position and lets her little one imbibe love and warmth and'nourishment in the natural way. “Bottle-feeding is not so labour-sav-ing that weaning will prove a rest to the mother. The converse, bottle-feed-ing, is not such a contrast, not . so energy-conserving and labour-saving that weaning is likely to prove such a rest to tho single-handed mother. Again and again mothers who have weaned write to express their surprise at the little difference it has made to their day, and to ask wistfully if they could not, even yet, bring back again that germ-free, blood-heat, natural supply which once they had despised. The truth, of course, is that nothing can be had for nothing, and it does take vitality to rear a little new life, so the wise mother will always conserve her health in every way in her power from the very first moment.” This is not- to say that there are no cases in which the mother’s health should be considered first. There are—but these are special cases, very few and far between, compared with the vast majority where breast-feeding is best for mother and baby.