OUR BABIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3169, 9 December 1914, Page 70

OUR BABIES.

Br Hygeia.

Published under the auspices of tho Society lor the Health ol Women and Children. “ It is wiser to put up a fence at the top ot a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom.” PUTTING UP OF FOOD. “Anxious” (Canterbury) sends me a letter this week about lior baby, now 11 months old, who has been more or troubled with tire “putting up of food ” or vomiting ever smcc birth. Though ho has been improving of late, she feels that all may not be well. “ Some people tell me the sickness is nothing to worry about, while others say his food should be changed,” Advised Not To Worry. The advice “ not to worry ” about a child being s.ck or otherwise onset would be all right if it meant that tire mother was not to let herself become over-anxious; but nine times out of 10 what is meant is: “ All babies have their little troubles and grow out of them. I wouldn’t take any notice of it if I were you so long as he seems to be doing all right.” This is the worst advice possible. A baby never has sickness or any other disturbance without a cause, and the proper course to pursue is to get at the root of the matter at once. Instead of saying, “Don’t worry,” it would have been much wiser to recommend the calling in of a doctor. Advised to Change the Food. As for the other well-meant advice that the mother should make a change in the nature of the food, one can only say that chopping and changing from one form of food to another is tho besetting sin of a large proportion of mothers in the present day. Sick Ever Since Birth. “ Anxious ” says that her baby w r as sick from birth, and this continued throughout the first two months, though he was at that time entirely breast-fed. Next there was mixed feeding for two months, and since then he has had Humanised Milk, etc. Change of food and in way of feeding seem to have made little difference. The baby always grew well and looked- well, but ho continued to be troubled with putting up of food. Happy and Seems Healthy. He is described as “ a thoroughly healthy child, never troubled with any pains. . . Though slightly under the average weight, ho is a very happy baby, sleeping all night and amusing himself in the daytime. Ho has had no trouble whatever in cutting his teeth.” All that appears to be wrong now is the putting up of food. “It comes up curdled from time to time after he has been fed about an hour.” There is an almost universal idea among mothers that milk ought not to curdle in the baby’s stomach, whereas in reality there would be something very far wrong if the milk did not curdle almost at once after enter fig the stomach. Curdling is a necessary preliminary to digestion—is, in fact, the first stage in the process of stomach digestion. The mother says she has tried giving less food, but without causing the tendency to vomit to disappear. The question is, Did she persevere long enough? Probably not. In the absence of a more complete and detailed history of the case, I do not think I can do better than give the following extract from an article which I wrote for this column nearly seven years ago. COMMENTS ON SIMILAR CASE. “ Anxious Mother ” writes : “My baby is so sweet, and is growing nicely now. The only thing is, he is sick after his bottles. He is six months old, and is on the full-strength Humanised Milk. He takes soz of food at a time, and I cannot think what makes him sick. I would bo very thankful if you could tell me what is most likely to be' the cause.” Answer.— Our correspondent does not say how much food is given in the 24 hours, and, without knowing more about the baby than is given in her letter, it would be impossible to say exactly ivhat causes and keeps up tho vomiting. Probably the baby does not suffer from what \vouid ord.narily be called vomiting, but from a much commoner and loss serious condition—viz., tho almost passive putting up or returning of some of his food soon alter it has been taken. In the great majority of cases this is due to too much being given at each feeding, and it most frequently occurs where tho baby is fed partly on the breast and partly from a bottle—-the mother failing to make due allowance for the double source of supply. However, the putting up of a little food after meals not infrequently occurs in purely breast-fed babies when the supply of milk is over-abundant—indeed, there is a common saying among nurses that “ sick babies always flourish.” This saw is not altogether justified, and if a baby is often sick a doctor should be consulted; but il is a fact that a baby may put up some food several times a day from an overfull stomachy and may continue to grow' and flourish in suite of the ha-in overloading. Of course, tho baby would do better if given only tho proper quantity of food. Tho course to pursue in such cases is obvious. The baby should he given, say, an ounce less food at each feeding. When a mother is told to lessen the quantity of food she generally becomes anxious lest the baby should bo kept back by underfeeding. She should boar in mind, however, that far more babies are kept back by overfeeding than by undorfeed’ng. Tho tendency is always to overfeed, and not infrequently a baby is habitually given a third or a fourth more food than it can make use of. This is regarded by the mother as a mistake on tho right side; but in reality it is better to rather underfeed than to overfeed a baby, because overfeeding loads to enfeebled digestion, whereas tho merely underfed baby rarely suffers from digestive troubles, and tends to grow and put on weight rapidly when given a sufficiency of food. In tho present case the

baby is said to be “ growing nicely,” in spito of the fact that ho does not keep down all the food he swallows. This indicates clearly enough that more than the proper quantity has been given. It may be that the mother is not exceeding the standard allowance for an average six-months-old baby; but there are several factors to take into account besides mere age, such, for instance, as height and weight, natural digestive capacity, appetite, etc. Some babies need less food than others of the same age, size, and weight, and will put on weight satisfactorily with an allowance which would be quite insufficient for the average infant. At six months old there are few normal babies who cannot digest and assimilate about a pint and a-haif of Humanised Milk in the 24 hours. Our correspondent does not say whether she gives any night-feedings. It may be that the digestive organs have been overtaxed in this way. There should be no night-feeding from birth onwards. The point to realise is that the organs are being overtaxed, and that the rational course to pursue is to reduce the allowance. Nothing is said as to such symptoms as wind, colic, constipation, etc., and it may bo that the baby is handled too soon ofter feeding. Is the clothing light, warm, and loose? Docs the baby have enough outing and exercise? Is there a free current of air through the bedroom, etc.? The one thing clear is that the baby is given more food than it can retain and digest, and that for the present the supply should be lessened; but it is quite probable that the child’s strength and digestive capacity could be increased by paying more attention to all matters conducing to health.— See pages 1 and 2, “ Feeding and Care of Baby.” As “ Anxious ” did not send her name and address, I have no moans of ascertaining certain things which it would have been desirable to know before answering her letter. As a rule, we do not answer letters at all, unless accompanied by name and address. It has come to the knowledge of “Hygoia” that many readers of this column are being misled by the proximity of the “Glaxo” advertisement to the column, and think that the Society approves of '‘Glaxo’’ as a food for babies. The Society makes no distinction between “Glaxo” and any other patent foods. The Society recommends no patent food whatever.