OUR BABIES

Otago Witness, Issue 3034, 8 May 1912, Page 58

OUR BABIES

Bt Hygeia.

Published tinder the auspices of the Society for the Health of Women and Children. "It ia wiser to put up a f&nce at the top of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom"

The following letter, forwarded by the Matron of the Karitane Harris Hospital, is another example of the way in which our readers endeavour to help one another. Th.} correspondent says at the end of her letter:— "If you care to make use of this letter, or any pare of it, I'll be only too pleased if it is in any way useful to you." A MOTHER'S LETTER. " —— Settlement, "April 14, 1912. " To the Matron, Karitane Home. "Dear Matron, —I wrote to you some time ago for information as regards the treatment of our baby, and always received an immediate and kind reply. Now, I should like to write to thank you, and to tell you how well our baby girl has thriven under the Plunket treatment in general. "She was a small baby at birth, weight about 51b; end to most observers rather disappointing material to start on. But I had followed the rules for pregnancy given in the " Care and Feeding of Baby," and, though always delicate myself, did not despair of rearing a strong and healthy child. However, to start with, I had to wean baby tit a fortnight old, and after a week or two of ordinary cow's milk and water, I got her started on the Humanised Milk, and she has never since looked back. At first we were advised to feed every hour, but I soon found that unnecessary, as well as very inconvenient, for what time had baby for aleepin? So for the first two months we kept to the two hours, and as soon as possible diminished the feeds, until' she was taking at six months' old five feeds a day at four-hour intervals, and so on till li months, when we got down to four feeds at four-hour intervals. From then tilL 18 months of age the same hours continued, when we reduced to three feeds a day. and so on till the present time, one year eight months "The gain in weight was equally satisfactory ; she weighed 91b at three months, and a further gain of lib per month till 14 months, and now at the present time she weighs 23ib." " We determined to give her as much as pos-sible the benefit of fresh air, so she slept on the verandah in the go-cart for all sleeps during the day until 9 p.m. (in all weathers), when she was taken up, fed, and put to sleep. Comment Br " Hygeia" :—This record shows ideal progress. In general, it is not expected that babies who are somewhat delicate and very light at birth will gain as well as those who are strong and heavy at the start; yet this baby has gained 181 b in 20 months, against the average gain of 171 b in that time. Or to put the matter in another way, an infant 21b under the average weight at birth is now only lib short. Feeding every three hours during the first two months, instead of every two hours, would have been preferable on all grounds, but from two months onwards the course pursued appears to have been all that could be desired. THE BRAN-BED. "We used the bran-bed referred to in th? Society's book, and found it a great success and convenience. We attribute ip this for.m of bed her strength of back and straightness of limbs, and would most certainly use it at future times. At five

months we discontinued the bran-bed, as baby seemed to outgrow it, but would have liked to keep it up longer; but she got restless, and kicked the bran about. Oould you suggest any preventive?" Reply by " Hygeia" : —I have not had personal experience of the use of the " bran-bed," but it is evident from the following remarks, which I translate from " L'Hygiene des Enfants," by Dr Gomby, of Paris, that the use of bran does not usually give rise to any special difficulty until a baby approaches a year old: " The use of the ' bran-bed' is practicable only in the first year; later, infants play with the bran, picking it up in handfuls, and throwing it about in all directions; or they put bran into the mouth, eyes, nose, etc." " We vv?rc troubled with constipation at first (quite to be expected, as it had been a life-long trouble with both parents), but used orange, and, when that was inconvenient, prune juice, very successfully; and now we have no occasion whatever for worry. "At four months of age irritation of skin set in. and a slight form of eczema, developed. We were advised to use teething powders, and did so, but as baby did not seem to improve (and acting on your advice), we discontinued them She was then four months of age, and it is now 15 months since we gave a teething powder. We should never •dream of again usfng them. At five months baby had two teeth, and at 18 months 16 teeth. "We set up a.kicking pen, and found it a great convenience for several months. "At nine 'nontbr; we investeel in an iron cot and then till the present time baby has slept in an adjoining room with window open wide, and wo have not had a bad night or any trouble with her—she seems only too happy to be left for her sleep either night or day. She is still sleeping (or in the daytime partially 'resting') for two hours morning and afternoon, being put down and taken up by the clock. "I* omitted to mention when speaking of the Humanised Milk that we used the 'Hygeia Feeder.' and found it eminently satisfactory, and baby was not laid down for a feed from five weeks old till finally weaned at about 12 months old. A question I want to ask: " I have heard of people who for convenience use a separator for making the Humanised Milk. This must be quite wrong, according to the methods given in the 'Care and Feeding of Baby,' also in the articles on ' Top-milk' recently published in the weekly papers. "Another question:—l have as far as possible fed baby on plain bread (at first baked cruets), porridge, and bread and milk, and have brushed her teeth regularly since a year old. In spite of all .care, dark stains appeared, and I am having great trouble to remove them. Do you think the prune juice would account for this, and would it have any lasting effect? The teeth appear very strong, and no sign of decay. I would be sorryi if I had to give up the prune juice, as we live where it's not always convenient to procure fresh oranges.—Your.s very sincerely. " A MOTHEH." "Could you also tell us at what time of the year, the sphagnum moss is obtainable, as when wo needed it it could not be procured; also give us some idea of the price we should pay for it." The questions dealing with the use of a separator in the preparation of Humanised Milk, Sphagnum Moss, and dark stains on the teeth will be dealt with next week. The latter question was referred to our Honorary Dental Surgeon, Dr Pickerill, Professor of Dentistry at Otago University, and his reply will be given.