THE CURSE OF SUMMER.

Otago Witness, Issue 2861, 13 January 1909, Page 74

THE CURSE OF SUMMER.

SUMMER DIARRIIGEA. Diseases and death play ha-.oc«\iih babies and calves especially in surr.me.-. WHY? Wh\ should diarrhoea single out thr-se (wo and leave the rest of nurslings inoio or le^.s exempt from the special curse of Summer ! In Rurni weather the joung of hor^re, pigs, does. cats, and the ie^l aio almo-t uniformly healthy, v. hile o\oi-y other calf is a victim to "scouring,'" and few babies €€oape the fa-mc scourge under the name of " summer diarrhcea." WHT DOES -V vn RE BIXGLE OUT 'Al.Vrs \XD RABIES? Calves are Faciificed becau=e man takes copy's milk for himself. The baby is sacrificed because the mother's breast is dc-nied to it also, and improper fcod, contaminated with gei-rns, is substituted for the pure, perfect, blood-warm, In mg ttreain direct j I from the proper souice. i The important pra<.tjcal question which j we ha\e io face at the present moment is this— i a ARE ILL-HEALTH 4..YD DIARP.HCEA IXEVITABLE ' r , DUEIXO SCMIIER TlilE FOll CALVES AXD j BABIES V. liO CANNOT BE BnEART-FFD'' 'fl Cebtainlt not! In both cc-.es Vuv tiou!.;^ b «.vi«eß noi from the mere fact of aitificial v feeding. Lut berj.u6o proper care is not j;

exeroised to secure suitable food and to prevent fermentation. For babies, humanised milJc supplies by far the nearest approach to the mother's milk, and if kept cool and given according to the directions contained in the instructions issued by the Society, there would be little risk of disease Even with breastfeeding a baby may suffer from summer diarrhoea, but immediate suitable treatment of euch infants, or of those who have been judiciously fed by artificial means, soon brings about recovery in the great majority of oases. Among babies who have been improperly fed, the other hand, the risk of death from an attack of diarrhoea is very great indeed, and Ja6ting debility is often left where the baby does not actually succumb. • The following chart shows the enormous summer increase in the Pans death rate from diarrhoea among babies under a year old. A rise in the death rate among infants similar to the above occurs in New Zealand during warm weather, varying with the locality and the heat* of the particular summer. Knowing the cause, the disease is one of the most easily preventable, and the mother who allowe her baby to succumb .during the next few months should feel, in nine ca,ses out of ten. that 6he has only herself to blame. It is not Nature or Providence that inflicts the curse of summer diarrhoea, but the iiother nEBSELF. That this is literally and absolutely true will be realised by anyone consulting the Parie diagram, which shows that at midwinter only some 20 babies per week died from diarrhoea, while in midsummer the- death* rose to 258 per week — over 1000 dying in six weeks when the waather was warmest. Among breast-fed babies the death rate for the same period averaged only 20 per week. However, even theee deaths were mainly the result of ignorance and carelessnese (especially careless feeding of mother and child, lack of fresh air and exercise, irregular habits, failure to keep the breasts and the clothing covering their, clean, and use of dummy or comforter for the baby). During the same three or four fatal 6ummer months not a single death from diarrhoea occurred among the babies whose mothers were availing themselves of rational advice tendered at the four croches then established in Paris on modern scientific lines. About half of these more fortunate babies were suckled, and the rest were bottle-fed with milk supplied at the special " Babies' Milk Depot." In the provinces a eimilar result has been achieved. Thus Dr Dufour, the pione«r in Normandy of the rational care of babie-s, including the usr> of humanised milk, chows that while the death rate among infants averaged 55 for the four principal town-s the death rate amopg babies whcee mothers attended the depots and got proper advice and food was less <-lna.r» 3 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 epite of warnings and advice. SUMMER IS ON US. It is hoped, now we are reaching +hecritical summer period for babies, that' mothers in our midst will avail themselves of the printed advice issued by the Society ;

and also make use of the practical instructions which will be given every Wednesday afternoon at the Karitane Baby Home, Anderson's Bay, from 3 -to 4.30 p.m., or that they will communicate with the P-lunket Nurse. It should be realised that if a baby cannot be breast-fed it" should receive pro* perly graded and prepared humanised milk from the start. In Dunedin, in cases where the mother's milk fails, humanised milk properly graded ■> for the baby is delivered at any home during the first month of life at la per week for all that the infant needs. The services of the Plunket Nurse are always available for any mother who desires advice or help. Telephone No. 1985 or 1281. Nothing can be more senseless and absurd than the way in which women subject their babies to wrong feeding until they become ill, and then frantically turn to 6ome other method. If they treated their offspring properly during the most risky period of life — namely, the first' few months — the rest would usually "be plain sailing, and they would save the baby from an infinity of harm and escape unending trouble and regrets for themsehes.

Note—The figure, on iLa ]c-fi-h<-iia .-ij. v.: DEATH TOLL OF DIARKHCLA. The above diagram «ho\\» tbo cioalii *oA imong babic^ in Paiio during v, binglo \eui\ L'he height to nluth each column asi ends eprc»cnt- tho mmiber of death-, for tho cojcsponding week. The w«b, htprtinj it thp Nr-w Year, am '•hov>n m succession it the figure's from Ito 52 a'.cng the ujjpci jj-ugir The i.erre?pondii!jr sesson^ a.ic ncljcuted bcio'-v. Ihe figures to the left

the chrcin.n are the tle-th- pc-r week aho.v the numb*.- ol deaths from infantila oi&n'i uei otcuiiinz in Paris during each week. The height above the bottom line attained by the black columns shows the deaths fioni diarrhoea among bottle-fed babjc-. and tho height of the white columns shov.a the rfeath? among tho brea&t-fed. Ifc will be noticed that m midwinter tho black deathe are only .some 20 per week, w'ule im midsumu^er they rbe to 258 per w«ek.