OUR BABIES

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LVI, 17 January 1925, Page 10

OUR BABIES

By HygeiA.

BREAST-FEEDING

Last week wo drew attention to the case of a mother who was enabled to nurse her seventh child although the six previous children had all been bottlefed. This mother li;id attended a lecture during the Health Campaign carried cut two years ago by the Director of Child Welfare and Nurse J. B. N. Paterson. After listening to what was said with regard to breast-feeding and the re-estab-lishment of breast milk even after a baby had been weaned, she determined that if she had another infant he would he breast-fed—and he was. As the mother said : “I might have nursed al.l my babies had I only known what to dp, and had I had a trained nurse who understood the .feeding of babies, the care of the breasts, etc., at the start.” The following notes from another mother's letter will be helpful and encouraging to many of our readers vJio may be having trouble y/:t'i breastfeeding, and are oeiond the ream cf a Plunket nurse.

NOTES FROM A MOTHER S LETTER

‘John is flourishing and bonny; sits up, is crawling little, and noticing everything aud everyone. I have not dared to begin to wean aim jet, although this month has been cooler than it usually is—at so I understand. Sometimesl 1 wonder if he is li.mng enough for lie .*on’t take .as 'much as l want, and seems too easily satisfied. He .'.'as live teei', .v.i.ch came very easily.”

A few days later the letter is con tiuued:

“Curiously, I see D., was speaking about John, and to-night lie lias had another little attack of the old-fashioned ‘wind’—not anything worth mentioning, especially for early days, but for him it is exceptional, and he is ‘too old’ for that sort of thing. The other evening after putting him to bed we-had the same experience, and the poor mite cried for a while; for having made sure that he was comfortable, I at first thought he was ‘playing up,’ and let him cry; then later gave him water, and a tiny pinch of bicarbonate of soda (baking soda). Tonight I was not quite so hardhearted, and found without doubt it was indigestion. I have been trying to find the cause, and am inclined to attribute the trouble to French beans, which‘he had .had on both days for dinner. In Willie’s .case , I. found that at the end of the season peas caused much trouble, and I think it is quite possible. that" John’s trouble is carnsed by these scarlet j unnefs. Anyhow, th% shall be avoided in future. It seems ridiculous to tell you this in detail, only I think possibly every little bit of such experience may be, of use to others in your articles or some enich way.’’ Memo by Hygeia.—lt is a well-known fact that pea soup tends, to flatulence, and the same applies more or less to peas and beans, when used in the green state, unless they are very young and tender. Such observations as the mother gives are always welcome, and much of our knowledge as to the feeding of babies is built up out of just such personal experience.

A SLEEPY BABY

“By the way, we were able to help a little in a case where again the baby (a first one, too) would not keep awake for his food and seemed satinsfied, and consequently the mother’s milk supply was not coming on sufficiently, and she was worrying of course, and so starting the vicious circle.

“Everything is going splendidly now; but. I realised more than ever what it means to have a little actual experience in the matter, and I felt again that what Dr King explained with regard to John under similar circumstances was of exceptional value, _ for I’m surg that this condition of things must happen very frequently—often with disastrous results, despite the mother’s efforts. In this case the parents were both keen. The Plunket nurse was going to call at any rate, so she went along immediately and put things right. “The question, too, of using both breasts for each 'feed when the baby is on the longer period ( this baby was put on 3j hourly in the nursing home) seems so very important. A little later, when I asked how things were, I found that the trouble was again the same as I had had. The mother tried to obey orders-by emptying one breast first, but. said, naturally, that she could never tell exactly whether she had emptied one; there always seemed some milk left, and so she put him on again. You possibly don’t remember, but that was my difficulty until Dr King said definitely and decidedly to give half-time to each. Since then there lias never been any trouble, and the supply increased, and has always been ample I think. I remember what a relief it was when ho told me to just give equal time to each breast. Of course, I passed on that experience right away and all goes well. I am going to see the babe one day soon, for all this advice, etc.,.has been given to the father!

“I know ho>v all such small matters interest you, or I should not 1 tell you about my experiences so fully. I was wondering whether these two feeding points would not be. useful matter for the Baby Articles—viz.: ‘(1) The tendency some babies have to sleep and so gradually get accustomed to he easily satisfied, thus bringing about a decreased supply of milk, and failure ° y - to ST° W properly.. . ..(2) The using of both breasts equally m many cases of four-hourly feeding.” .