OUR BABIES

Otago Witness, Issue 3006, 25 October 1911, Page 70

OUR BABIES

By Hygeia

Published under th& auspioea of the 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" NO NIGHT-FEEDING. In our last article we tried to make it ol«ar to our readers that it is best for a babv never to be fed during the night. •- This" week we shall give extracts from a letter showing the great trouble a mother had in breaking a young baby of the night-feeding habit, where it had been established for a few weeks only, thus proving the truth of the dictum of the. womandoctor from whom we quoted last week — viz.:—

Remember that more can be taught the little one in the first few weeks than it can unlearn in the next few months -without very diligent effort and patient persistence.

Extract from Letter.

I should have written before this to thank you for your kind letter of advice, but my baby came sooner than expected, being three weeks old the day we received the letter, so I waited to let you know how we got on with the new regime of "no night-feeding." Baby oriecT a good deal at night when we started; the first night she cried almost without stopping for hours; and she has been very difficult indeed to get into the habit. Even now, after five weeks, she still cries, but not for longer than five or 10 minutes at a time, when ehe drops off to sleep again. I think the trouble lay partly with myself. I had but a poor appetite, and being kept awake at night made it worse, and I suffered a good deal from bad, 6ick headaches, brought on, I think, through exhaustion. I was troubled about baby, too, for she was not getting on as well as she should. I worked in- ' doors a groat deal, helping my husband with the clerical work of his business. Mr B. thought that my appetite would improve if I were more out of doors, so I have lately been out a good deal gardening, besides taking walks with baby; and the result has been quite astonishing. I eat well, and last week I could see a difference in babv every day. She lost .'dl the wrinkles in her forehead in one week! I was iust considering putting her partly on humanised milk ■when my husband suggested the out-door occupation, and I am glad to tell you it will not ba necessary now. . . . Thank you for _ the copy of the Society's report. I show it to my friends (also your letter) when I am advocating no night-feeding. I should like to recome a member of the Society, and enclose subscription. Our correspondent had a very trying experience, and I am suro_ she deserves great credit for persisting in her efforts in spite of many temptations to give in. An interesting point in the above, extract is the account of the great benefit derived from daily open-air exercise. This we have always advocated for the expectant and nursing mother, and we feel sure that suoh a plain statement of fact must carry weight and conviction. So many women engaged in household duties, nursing, etc., aay they have .quite enough exercise in the carrying out of their vocations, and that fchey foci too tired to go for a good

walk, or to garden, or to play games, etc., little realising that their weariness would disappear, and that they would feel able to do much more indoors if they had some agreeable and pleasurable out-door exercise.

To return to the subject of night-feeding, I now quote from a couple ol letters reeeived'~over two and a-haii years ago. A MOTHER'S LETTER. Dear ''Hygeia," —I must troublo you again for come advice after doing as you advised on two other occasions, iiaby 18 now a week on' nine months, and up till now I have nursed him entirely, but 1 find now that ho is not at ail satisfied, and is not putting on weight as he has been doing, tliougn keeping well. I have never been able to break him off having drinks during the night, and now for the last couple of weeks he is worse than ever, having drinks all through the night —sometimes at two-hour intervals. The consequence is that my head aohes badly the next day, and altogether it puts me out of sorts. It is simply impossible to make him go without, as I nave tried all sorts of ways. He seems quite well apart from little turns due to teething, for although nearly nine months old, he has not got a tooth through yet. We are now at the seaside for a couple of weeks, thinking the change would do baby some good, and I think it has sharpened his appetite more than ever, so, in desperation, I gave him rusks soaked in water and milk added, and oat jedy and mdik for a change. I started with, one feed a day, and then two. What I want to know is what you think I should do about the feeding, and whether I should get humanised milk, as I intend going home in a week's time, and if it were necessary I could get humanised milk sent out.

I might add that I always keep in very good health, and have a good appetite—take porridge, gruel, etc. It seems to me that the quality of mv milk must have got poor, because 1 always have plenty. Sometimes, when baby is crying for

a drink, I give him cold water, but it is evidently hunger and not thirst, for water wdl not do.

Trusting I am not giving you too much trouble, I would take it as a great favour to hear from you early.

In reply, we said that the habit of nightfeeding must be broken at onoe, and that if the baby, continued to cry after his mother had made him comiortable _by changing his napkin, altering his position, and giving him a little water, he must just be allowed to. cry. We directed our correspondent's attention to wihat is embodied in the passage on "Forming a Character," pages 135 and 136 of the bocioty's book—especially to the quotation from Dr and Mrs Fitz. A week later the following letter' was received:

The Second Letter. Many thanks for your prompt reply to my questions. I am sure you would not like many people to trouble you as much as I have done. Well, I have had my battle with baby, but I had to wait till I returned from the seaside. I was nearly giving in after an hour's fierce yelling, and then for half an hour there were some bitter sobs, and they nearly won the day—or night,—but 1 managed to harden my heart, and then he fell into a sound sleep, -and was very well indeed the next day. So it seems that all his drinking at night was quite unnecessary. Once again thanking you very much for your kindness, —I am, etc. AN APPEAL. We appeal- to nurses and others whose special work it is to care for and train our infants in the first weeks of life to ponder over the above and to try and imagine the difference in the permanent comfort of the homes to which these little ones come if due attention be given to this early training. To reassure doubters or any who may be inclinedl to think that this is a new thing or a passing fad, we translate the following passage from Dr Marfan's ''Traite do l'AUaitement ct de I'Alimentation des Enfants du Premier Age":

THE CONVERSION OF DR MARFAN

Writing 12 years ago, Professor Marfan, of Paris, who is the leading authority in France to-day on the rearing of infante, described his own conversion from the errors and prejudices, of the past, as follows :

Now, I must deal with the question of night-feeding for babies. Many authors prescribe one or two [feedings], and I followed this custom for a long time myself. Indeed, it then seemed to me reasonable on the ground that nightfceding* was supposed to be needed to provide for the rapid growth of the baby. However, I was brought to modify the night-feeding rule in order to lessen the fatigue of the mother. I had noticed that ordinarily the night crying of a healthy, well-nourished infant was not due to hunger, but to its lying in a faulty position, or to uncomfortable clothing, or soiled garments. Further, I noticed that where mothers gave the last suckling at 11 o'clock in the evening, and did not feed again until 5 or 6 o'clock next morning, the babies formed the habit of sleeping throughout the night, and enjoyed remarkably good health. I finished by giving up feeding between 11 o'clock in the evening and

5 (or 6) next morning. This rule has now been followed with success by Professor Marfan for nearly 20 years, and when he entered on his departure from the prevailing custom ho says he was influenced by conclusions in the same direction as those which had been arrived at by the leading German authority.

The obstinate tendency of the Briton not tr- change his ways until compelled to do so is well exemplified in this simple but all-important matter. British text-books charged with all the weight of British authority come to us from London every year, with feeding tables unchanged from what was the vogue last century —though the old position is now quite untenable. The advice given continues to be the advice ■ of the Victorian era —an era the teaohings of which, so far as babies are concerned, it is our clear duty to outlive and overcome.