OUR BABIES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14702, 9 December 1909, Page 3

OUR BABIES.

Br IJvgkia. Published under tin* auspices oi tlie Society lor the Promotion of (he Health of AVomen and Children. FRESH AIR. Last week wo urged-'again the necessity for an ample supply of pur?, fre?h, free(lowing air for all children ii we wish Iheni to grow up strong aiul capable. As bearing upon Ihe extrcmo importanco of this factor in child-life, and tho amount of elteniion wlii.cii is being paid to tiie subject, tho following extracts from a paper by Dr Edwin E. Graham, Professor ot Diseases of ChiklKii in the .fefiierson Medical College, Philadelphia, ave most instructive. Tho paiier was road at Ihe annual mooting of the American Pediatric Society, and was published in tho Archives of Pediatries in February, 1509. FRKSH AIK IX TIIE TREATMENT OF CHILDREN". Mv first work in fresh air treatment began tome eight years ago in the children's wards of tho Philadelphia Hospital. The wards were, largs, tho milk fairly good, enough nurses were on duty to keep the children fed according to my direction", they wero bathed regularly and kept dean; but in tlio ward) wliera the very yoiitip; infants, mostly foundlings, wero placed the results were very unsatisfactory: Much depended upon the physical condition of the infant on admission. 'A frail infant, perhaps premature and under normal weight, would gain for a few weeks at liest. then remain stationary in weight, finally gradually loss weight, begin to have diarrhoea, and dii>. Robust infants on admission often did well for three months The fame symptoms after tins period began to develop in them as in tho infants admitted in a condition of malnutrition, and in spite of my best efforts many ot these robust cbihlicn died. The same type- of infants in my privato practice wore, almost without exception, doing well. Convinced that neither tho feed, nursing, nor general care of these hospital infants was at fault, and that the so-callod " hospitalism " was nothing but lack of fresh air, and lack of outdoor air, I ordered thesa children in tho month of .lanuaiy (wintor-timo in tho United State.? of America) to be placed for two hours each day on the fire escapes. Tho cribs wero simply moved out upon tho tiro escapes, and towels pinned over the top of both ends of the criljs as wind shields. The infant mortality began to lessen immediately, and I began, to seo some hope for my infant hospital patients. In the following two or three years, during in,y service in January, Fobrua.r.v, and March of each year I had the children for a number of hours each day, unless it was mining or snowing, carried down to a largo open spaco facing the hospital buildings, and kept ill small hammocks. These infants wero always bundled rip in blankets, and their beads well covered. They did remarkably well —so well, in fact, that instead of my infants dying, most of them began to gain in weight, and health, and the deaths were almost entirely in infants under three months of age whose condition was distinctly bad upon admission to the hospital.

During the past, five years the infanta j hive been placed in the now, modern, and up-to-date building of the Philadelphia Hospital. The '.varus am large, the ' air spaco Ample, the milk tho very best; porches 6urronnrl tho .hospital on two sides, the infants practically havo on ahur.danco of fresh air day mil night,, and they do as well as could be hoped for. I am no longer a pessimist, when in the infants' ward, but an opiimist Jn tho now Jefferson Hospital, where T am o:>. duty the entire year, the children have an ideal ward on tho eighth floor, largo windows on three sides with a largo roof garden adjoining, the latter fitted up with every convenience, such as huminopks, shade, wind shields, etc. The reof garden is used all the year round, winter and summer, and tho results am most encouraging. Of all tho factors which havo contributed to tho reduction of this infant mortality fresh air has. in ir.y opinion, been the one of prima importance. We shall pause here and atialyso what Dr Graham has been telling, his medical confreres. With large warck fairly good milk, competent nursing, and skilled medical attendance eight years ago infants in the Philadelphia Hospital pined and died. They lacked pure, fresh, free-flowing air, and when that was supplied tho mortality diminished very markedly, and tho infants began to gain in weight and health, tho deaths being almost entirely among those under three months old whoso condition was distinctly bad on admission. Now, in the new, modern, and upfo-dalo hospital, with abundance of fresh air and milk of tho very beat, the babies "do as | well as could be hoped for." Dr Graham t attributes the groat improvement almo6b | entirely to fresh air. I can .hear mothers say: "That is all ~ very well in an expensive, modern, up-to-date hospital, with all tho latest appliances, but what can we do in our little houses?" KARITANK BABY HOSPITAL. If these mothers would only go to tho Karitane Hospital some afternoon they would see hew equally good, if not better, s 1 results can be obtained in an ordinary ' small house. ' tl If there is any meaning in language, 1 should s<",t that the results at Knritane aro infinitely ahead of those described by Dr Graham in tho sentence, " the babies do as well as could be hoped for" Our babies j thrive and grow in a truly wonderful way, and the results have gone far bsvond our most sanguine hopes Next week we shall append a. list showing how all the babies who havo been in tho Hospital diiring tho past two months havo thriven. As I said above, the Karitano Hospital is only a, six-roomed cottage to which a verandah and an additional small ward and four very small rooms have been added in the most- economical way However, before the additional accommodation was thought of the babies lived an out-of-door life, and slept in rooms through which a broad stream of pure outside air flowed all night long. In the winter tho temperature was sometimes down, to froeiing-point, but tho babies, slept, peacefully in thoir cosy beds, breathing tho pure air streaming in from outside. Of course, there wero soreens to •keep off any particular wind which might blow directly on to a baby, and all tha babies were sufficiently clothed. During the summer the babies aro out by 7 o'clock in tho morning, and thoy .remain out of doors all day long, and after thoy aro bathed and fixed up for tho night they aro frequently put out on the verandah again. Matron of the Hospital is always picasod to eoe mothers, and she will explain any point on which they aro in doubt. Surely when mothers understand how much stress is laid upon the enormous benefits of fresh air by tho greatest authorities on -the carc of children they will bejin to take the matter to heart. WARNING. Of course if mothers havo been in the habit of coddling their babies they must gradually habituate them to pure fresh air. This they can do by opening the window a.little wider evory night, and gradually placing the baby's bed whore it must get practically pura air. The Plunkct Nursa will gladly advise mothers about the best place for baby's cot. Ring up 1156. _ Remember that a baby must novel' alocp in bed with its mother. It must havo a separate cradle or cot.