OUR BABIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2915, 26 January 1910, Page 70

OUR BABIES.

Bt Htgeia.

Published under the auspices of iha Society for the Health of Women and Children. “ It is wiser to put up a fence at the top of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom.’'

SUMMER DIARRHCEA. Last week, when writing of the above disease, wo pointed! out that “indigestion due to unsuitable food and irregular feeding is the main predisposing cause”; so that all mothers should bo specially vigilant in summer. They should bo perfectly regular in feeding, and should give the childlren nothing unsuitable or liable to disagree. Unfortunately it is just at the Christmas and throughout the holidays—the hottest season of the year—that our New Zealand mothers become most, irregular and careless in these matters. One frequently sees tiny j tots 'being stuffed with cakes, bananas, and ; sweets of all kinds, and a feeling of great ! indignation arises at the gross ignorance which makes such folly possible. Travelling by rail and sea, or visiting friends, the child’s power of endurance is strained to the utmost, and many an unfortunate infant in the Dominion makes no progress from Christmas time to mid-January on j this account. Hence, when the most trying | days come, and summer diarrhoea is rife, | the fatal disease knocks effectively at the ) houses where the doors ai» already ajar. In such oases, if the disease does gain a ; foothold, the unfortunate baby cannot escape unscathed. He may not die, but at bast he will be thrown back for months; and more or Less injured 1 for life. I need scarcely say that preventive mea- | suras of almost equal importance to proper food and regular feeding are the other essentials of hygiene—namely: Turk, cool, free-flowing fresh air day AND NIGHT. Suitable clothing by day and night. Plenty of outing. Regular exercise and sleep. Regularity of the bowels and other | HABITS. ; Cleanliness. i The above applies to all children. It is, j however, among young babies that summer diarrhoea plays the greatest havoc. What should mothers do to prevent its onset? NATURAL FEEDING THE BEST PREVENTIVE. THE main preventive measure is to feed babies as Nature intended. Bottle-fed babies are far more liable to get the disease than those that are breast-fed; therefore, if possible, do not wean, during January, February, or March. [The mother must, of course, do all she can to make sure that her supply of milk is good and sufficient by taking plenty of exercise in the open air., by restricting herself to good, simple food taken at regular intervals, including from one to two pints .more fluid' than She would drink if not nursing, by having ft current of pure fresh free-flowing air coursing through her bedroom all plight long, and by regularity of all habits. The nursing mother should take no alcohol in any form.] All the above-mentioned hygienic measures must bo attended' to as carefully when the baby has the inestimable benefit of .good mother’s milk as when he is bottlefed'. If it is absolutely necessary to wean your baby, do it gradually, and give it properlygraded humanised milk. Never give fulletrength humanised milk to start with, but begin with a weak food and gradually work up to the standard as advised in the Society’s pamphlet. BOTTLE-FED BABIES. What precautionary measures can mothers take who .cannot feed their babies naturally or whose babies are already weaned? (1) Keep the baby in good health and resistant to disease by attending carefully to the simple hygienic measures already enumerated. <2) Feed the baby oh Humaniseed milk —that is, cow’s milk so modified that it approximates as nearly as may be to mother’s milk. N.B. —Never give full-strength humanised MILK TO START WITH WHETHER YOUR BABY IS WELL OB ILL. . (3) Milk must be kept as cool as possible. Keep it in a cool, airy, outside safe, loosely oovexed to prevent particles from falling into it. If humanised milk is obtained cold from a factory, remove the paper cap at once, and cover loosely; then plunge the bottle up to the neck in sawdust and keep in a- cool outside safe. If the milk is prepared at home, cool it down rapidly and keep it cool. In hot weather always heat up any remainder after 12 hours to 155 deg Fahr. Coo! down quickly and keep cool- (♦) Never give cow’s milk and water, cane sugar., condensed milk, or patent foods. (5) Don’t use a long-tube feeding bottle. Their use is illegal in France and other places on the Continent of Europe, and in manv American States. As the out, come of the Conference of the Society, held in Wellington last October, steps are being taken with a view to banishing them from the Dominion also. Besides the fact that babies are deprived of proper exercise for the jaws when a long tube feeder is used, during the summer especially this custom is a fertile source of disease and death. It is impossible to keep the tube clean, and the baby ia really imbibing his food by way of a SEWER lined with thousands of microbes which cannot be dislodged or got rid of by brushing. Many thousands of theee filthy and dangerous conirivancea are in use in the Dominion at the present moment, and it is a standing disgrace to our women that they cannot be induced to desist from using what is so notoriously harmful and dangerous to their ofibpring. Morally it is now just as criminal to use a long tube feeder for a baby fs if it were already constitutor! an unlawful act in New Zealand. In the meantime we can only appeal to all humane and right-thinking people to do their utmost to discountenance the use of long-tube feeders. No measure of scorn or contempt is too great for the C lazy, dirty mother who would feed her

baby on filth wlien a little trouble would enable her to be cleanly. This is a matter where public opinion could do much to prevent a great abuse. . (6) Beware of the "dummy"—it is twin meter to the long-tube feeder, and only a degree less harmful. If your baby has a dummy, throw it a->vay or burn it at once, 60 that there may be no temptation to use it. An infant with a dummy proclaims the fact of his mother's ignorance and lack of .proper sens© of decency and cleanliness. Not only is tho dummy filthy, but the constant chewing and sucking deform the jaws and teeth, while the continual secretion of saliva it induces sets up indigestion and a train of evils. Doctors now recognise that the "dummy" is one of the most fruitful sources of adenoicfe. It is pitiable to observe a baby with a "soother" fastened to his dress, in charge of an elder sister or nurse whose one idea seems to be to keep the disgusting thing in the baby's mouth. Whenever the dummy drops it is at once stuffed into the infant's mouth again, often in spite of his vigorous protests. I suppose the baby's face seems incomplete to theni unless a dummy is projecting- from his mouth, just as we women seemed incomplete without earrings when these were in fashion. (7) Scrupulous cleanliness must be observed, especially with regard to milkvessels, feeding-bottles, teats, etc. (8) Regularity of feeding, with proper intervals between. Feed every three, hours during the first four months, and every four hours afterwards, bebween 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. There should be no feeding in the middle, of the night after two months of age— a well-trained, thriving bv.by should then sleep from about 10 p.m. till 6 a.m. (9) Regularity of the bowels must be carefully attended to. (10) Baby .must on no account sleep in bed with his mother. He should have a separate cradle, and there must be a stream of pure cool outside air flowing through the sleeping room all night long. Keep off any direct draught by means of a screen if necessary.