THE CURSE OF SUMMER.

Otago Witness, Issue 2805, 18 December 1907, Page 70

THE CURSE OF SUMMER.

SUMMER DIARRHCEA.

'Diseases and death, play havoc with babies >nd calves especially in summer. Why te this? Why should diarrhoea, single out these two and leave the rest of nurslings practically exempt from this special curse? Ie warm weather the young of horses, ipigt dogs, cats, and the rest are almost uniformly healthy, while every other calf is- a victim to "scouring," and few babies escape the same scourge under the name tot " summer diarrhoea." * Why does Nature single out calves and babies? Calves- are Baorifieed because man takes cow's milk for himself. The baby ia sacrificed because xhe mother's breaat ie denied to it also, and improper food, contaminated with feerma, is substituted for the pure, perfect-, |bk)od-warm, living- stream direct from the proper source: •Tie important practical question which jwe have to- face at ther present moment wthi«: Are iil-heaitb and diarrhoea inevitable during summer time for calve* toad babies who cannot be bteast-fed? Certainly not. Ib both, cases, the trouble £rkes- nob from the mere fact of artificial feeding but because proper care is not exercised to secure' suitable food and to prevent fermentation. For babies, humanised milk supplies by far the nearest approach to the mother's milk, and if kept pool and given according to the directions contained' in the sheet* of instructions issued by the Babies' Society, there a* little- risk of disease. Even with breastfeeding a baby may suffer from summer piarrhoea, but immediate suitable treatment of such infante, or of those who have been ittdieioueiy fed by artificial means, soon brings about recovery in the great majority of cases. Among babies who have b»en improperly fed, on the other hand, jbhe risk of death from an attack of diarrhoea is very great indeed, and lasting jpebility is often left where the baby does not actually succumb. A chart which was recently prepared buows the enormous summer increase in jtne Paris death rate from diarrhoea among babies under a year old. A similar rise occurs in New Zaaland rping with the locality and the heat the particular summer. Knowing the gauee, the disease is one of the most easily preventable, and the mother "who allows tier baby to succumb during the- next few knonths should feel, in mne cases out of ten, ithat she has only herself to blame. It is not Nature or Providence that inflict* the curse o! summer diarrhoea, but the mother I herself. That this ia literally and absolutely true will be realised, by anyone consulting the Paris diagram, which shows that at midwinter only come 20 babies per week died from diarrhoea, while in midBummer the deaths rose to 258 per week — Over 1000 dying in six weeks when the i weather was warmest. Among breast-fed {babies the death rate for the same period fcver*ged only 20 per week. However, these deaths were mainly the result of ignorance and carelessness (especially failure to keep the breasts and the clothing them clean). During the same three or four fatal summer months not a single death from diarrhoea, occurred among the babies whose mothers wore fa-ailing themselves of rational advice ten- ! pered at the four creches then established. I in Park on modern scientific . lines. About pa.lt oi these more fortunate babies were suckled, and the rest were bottle-fed with milk supplied at the special "Babies' Milk t>epot."

In the provinces a similar result has been achieved. Thus Dr Dufour, the Ipioneer ir Normandy of the rational care of babies, including the use of humanised milk, shows that while the death rate 'among infants averaged 55 for the four Principal towns the death rate amongbabies whose mothers attended the depot* land got proper advice and food was lee* ij^han 2* 4-5 per cent. — in other words, only one-twentieth of the mortality which took place, among the babies whose mothers persisted 'in going their own way. in spite of (warnings and advice.

It is. hoped, now we are reaching the jcritical summer- period for babies that snother» in our midst will avail themselves lof the sheets of instructions issued by the JBabies' Society, and also make use of the practical instructions which will be given Wednesday afternoon at the Anderson's Bay home from 3 to 4.30 p.m. it should be realised that if a baby caniiot be breast-fed it should receive proiperly graded and prepared humanized milk from the 6tart.

tn Dunedin in cases where the mother's imilk fails, humanised milk properly graded (for the baby is delivered at any home fluxing the first month of life at la per ■week for all that the infant needs. Nurse M'Kinnon's services are always available ttor any mother who desires advice or help, telephone No. 724. Nothing can be more senseless and absurd than the way in which women subject their babies to wrong feeding until they .fcecome ill, and then frantically turn to Borne other method. If they treated their offspring properly during the most risky ■period of life — namely, the first month or feix weeks— the rest would usually be plain bailing, and they would save the baby from $n infinity of harm and escape unending trouble and regret* for themselves.

in midsummer a> strange _ sight may be Feen in Central America— via., the migraaon of butterflies across the Isthmus of Panama. About the end of June a few >fthe insecte begin to\go out to sea, jut their' numbers increase daily until, Aout a fortnight or so later, they form a ■loud denes enough almost to obscure the Sky. It has been decided to olaoo a tablet to the memory of the late Sir Benjamin. Baker, the famous engineer, in the church Sfc Pangbourne, where hi» Country. re«•oga w&b situatciL

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