OUR BABIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3205, 18 August 1915, Page 70

OUR BABIES.

Bt Hvgkia.

Published under the auspices ct the Royal New Zealand Society lor the Health ol Women and Children. "H is wiser to put up a fence at the top oi a precipice than to maintain aa uinbulauce at the bottom.'' ' FOOD (Continued). Milk. Tho week before last we wore dealing with the composit.on of Milk. We stated S the milk of each kind of mammal is specially designed as food for the «of that particular species, .and that the composition of tire milk vanes according to the particular requirement. ':„ You will remember that the four mam constituents of Milk are: 1 Water, which is absolutely essential for the hie of every living thing. . 2. Sugar, which is mainly concerned in providing organic energy. _ 3. Fat, whicn is mainly concerned in keepin"' in the animal heat. 4. Proteid'dr flesh-forming material, which serves to build up tne body and to repair the waste, of tissue. It is only .comparatively recently that, •wo have come to know the composition of the milk of .the various mammals. JNo more illuminating work has been done bearing on the milk-feeding of children than the careful analyse* carried out on the Continent of Europe during the last 15 yeais. These investigations show that in general the quantity of proteid or flesh-forming material present in Milk is proportionate to the rate at which the young ot the particular species is intended to grow. Where development is very slow and full maturity is not reached until from <JU to 25 years of age, as in the case of man, the flesh-forming material contained in the mother's milk is very low—viz. about 1 2 per cent—that is, I*6z of solid dry proteid in every lOOoz of milk. At the other extreme stands a very rapid grower, such as tho rabbit, which doubles its weight m tho first week of life, and is " full grown in about six months. Here the flesh-form-ing material (proteid) allowed by Nature in the milk is 10i per cent. , Between these extremes, in a graduated series, stand the various domestic animals in the following order:— . • , Ounces of

If parents and nurses could all be induced to study this table, we should soon" hear no more of flying in the face of Nature by trying to rear babies on pure Cow's Milk—diluted or undiluted. If a baby has to be artificially fed, care should be taken to modify whatever kind of milk we may havo available in such a way as to make it conform as nearly as possible to the scheme of Nature. It is not that we cannot rear a baby on the pure milk of the cow or some other domestic animal, but that in doing so we overtax the child's digestive organs, and place a very great strain on its kidneys without any compensating advantage, and with very "grave risk of causing, a breakdown. A certain number of babies appear ; to do comparatively well in spite of being wrongly fed ; but they don't do as well as they would if their food were properly adapted 1 to their requirements, and no one is justified in subjecting a child to unnecessary stresses and risks. EXPERIMENTS AND**OBSERVATIONS. Long before anything was known as to the composition of the various miiks. it had been clearly established by careful trial and observation" in France and elsewhere that, on the whole, the quicker growing the animal, the less suited was the milk for the needs of the slow-growing human baby. Indeed, it has been known for some thousands of years that a baby may be fed on ass's milk or mare's milk in cases where cow's milk failed as a substitute. The ancients knew the fact, but they did not know the reason. Again, it was found that while a baby might pull through on cow's milk, the milk of the sheep was still less suited for the rearing of children. This is easily understood when wo realise that the lamb doubles its weight in 10 days, and has 6f per cent, of flesh-forming material in the toother's milk; whereas tbe baby takes six .months to double its weight, and ought to be given only li per cent, of proteid. It might be supposed, seeing the kid doubles its weight in less than three -weeks, ihat goat's milk would not be nearly so suitable for babies as the milk intended for the slower-growing calf. In general, this is quite true. Cow's milk usually agrees better with babies than goat's milk ; but occasionally it has been found that a baby will actually thrive better on goat's milk. This is, -no doubt, duo to the fact that the fat of goat's milk is much more easily digested by the b<iby than the fat of cow's milk—indeed, the fat of goat's milk is easier to digest than the fat of human milk. this reason goat's milk cream may sometimes be used with advantage in the artificial feeding of infants. A few cxnerimental trials wore made to ascertain whether a baby could be fed on dog's milk, but it proved quite unsuitable, as might have been expected, •spcing that a puppy nearly doubles its weight in a week; and dog's milk contains five times as much proteid .as human milk. Rabbit's milk would be still more injurious. THE MORAL: NO RIGHT TO MONKEY WITH NATURE. The moral and the value of all these attempts to bring up one young creature with what has been designed for a very different kind of being is to prove quite conclusively that wo have no right to monkey with Nature. Where wo are obliged to feed artificially, wo are bound to do everything we can to approach as nearly to the scheme of Nature as possible; and by modifying cow's milk or goat's milk we can readily make either •approximate very closely to the composition of human milk, "though it is not to be supposed that wo shall ever come up to the original. Variatton ix Fat Coxstititext. Nothing shows more clearly the reason-

! abloncss of the proportions of the main constituents fount! in the milk of different species than the variation in the allowance of fat. Thus in cow’s milk and in mother’s milk it is from 3to 4 per cent.; while in the milk of the rabbit and the reindeer it is about 16 per cer.t., and in the milk of the , dolphin and the whale it is about 45 per cent. Why these extreme differences? Rabbits are naturally the inhabitants of cool countries, and, being also extremely tiny at birth, they tend to lose heat very rapidly; hence the need for plenty of fuel in, their food. Reindeer belong to the Arctic regions, and the whale tribe live not in air but in water, which carries off-heat many times as quickly as our atmosphere is able to do. Nature never puts in too much or too little of anything; she always has a good and sufficient reason for all she doss, and if we wish to succeed and perfect ourselves in the rearing of babies or young animals, our first duty is to ask Nature humbly and reverently what she does, and then try to follow as closely as we can in her footsteps. „ „ THE BABY’S BIRTHRIGHT. This thought brings us back to where we , started. The only true following of Nature is nurture at the mother’s breast. If we could make the milk of another animal identical with human milk —which no one will ever be able to do, —we must remember that the method of feeding would still fall far short of suckling at the breast. By care and attention much can be done to make bottle-feeding resemble breast-feed-ing ; but our best efforts are a very imperfect imitation. We cannot too strongly impress upon expectant mothers that they would save themselves an infinity of care and trouble if they would only fit themselves ahead for the suckling* of their offspring. The results of such care and attention would bo as beneficial to themselves as to their babies. Suckling is the bight AND PRIVILEGE OE THE MOTHER, AND IS 'THE BIRTHRIGHT OF THE BABY. HEALTH OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN. MEETING OF THE SOCIETY. The monthly meeting of the Royal New Zealand Society fer the Health of Women and Children was held in the Town Hall on Friday. Mrs Carr presided. The Matron of the Karitane-Harns Hospital reported as .follows; —Number of babies admitted, 2 ; discharged,' 3 ; deaths, 0; mother in residence, 1; greatest number in residence at any one time, 16 babies and 1 mother; number on July 31, 15 babies. Of the two babies admitted, one was from Balclutha and one from Invercargill. Their ages were nine weeks and four months. All those discharged were in excellent health. Four mothers brought their babies tor weighings before and after feeding.. The following nurs:s went up for their examination and passed : —Miss Hancock and Miss Orton. The following passed as Karitane baby nurses: —Misses Renfree. Christian,and Jennings. Gifts were received from the following:' —Miss Wimporis, M;s Blyth, Mrs Baker, Miss Aburn, Nurse Christie, Nurse Hayes, and Mrs Orbell. All the babies are making satisfactory progress. The Plunket nurse reported:—Number of babies on list, 851; new cases, 54; solely breast-fed, 73; partially breast-led, 41; prospective mothers interviewed, 9; visits paid to homes, 833; visits to Plunket rooms, 125; human sed ni.lk sent out, 7624 bottles. Whoopino- cough, measles, colds, and init'uenza were still prevalent. A number of mothers from the country wore given advice as to the feeding and gradual- weaning of their babies. The second shipment of baby clothes in response to Lady French’s appeal was shipped by the Ruahine last week. The Dunedin branch of the society, in conjunction with the-Women’s Patriotic Association, had now forwarded some 4521 articles, valued at £4OO (exclusive o' making). Very hearty thanks were due to many people in town and country who had contributed so generously to this clothing scheme, including many girls’ schools and various branches of" the Chris’ Friendly Societies. The following is the complete list of articles forwarded from Dunedin up to date (similar shipment', are being sent at frequent intervals from the various branches of the society throughout the dominion) :—lO2 outfits as used at the Karitane-Harns Hospital, composed o.f 102 shawls, 306 nightgowns, 306 petticoats, 201 jacket;., 305 woollen vests, 204 cellular vests, 204 knitted pilchoes, 306 I cotton creoe frocks, 612 bibs, 102 bonnets, 102 bootees, 102 squares, 17 other complete baby outfits and a large miscellaneous assortment of baby clothes. Several letters from the Old Country, showing the inci eased attentton devoted there to the health of mother and child, were received. One from Lady Plunket contained the following : —“Miss Wrench has been fortunate enough to interest some doc-' tors and county council authorities, and next spring we hope to have started near Birmingham a small ‘Karitane.’ The idea is that it should bo a private hospital, backed up by the county council. We propose to begin with 12 infants and accommodation for nursing mothers. We want to have plans of . Karitane—or if Dr Truby King could give us improved plans wo shoidd be most grateful. As regards a matron, "do you know if any Plunket nurse is on her way Home who might do to start with-one who has everything at her finger-tips. I have asked Lady Isoocl Gathorno Hardy, who is in waiting, if she will present a copy of the magazine to the Queen.” Ladv Plunket will be president c( the society, and Dr King has been asked to be vice-president. In a letter sent by the next mail Lady Plunket enclosed the following:—“Dear Lady Plunket, —The Queen commands me to thank you for the Plunket Magazine which you have kindly sent to her Majesty, and to say that she accepts it witlj pleasure. The Queen is always glad to hear about an/ work that is being done for the welfare of women and children. —Yours sincerely, I«ffiel Gathorne Hardy.” Mrs Keen, of Highgate, North London, who two years ago got Dr King to address the annual meeting of the Islington School for Mothers (which she founded), and who subsequently arranged with the authorities of the University of London for his two addresses at the Colonial Institute, has sent the following;—“ My school for mothers is progressing mrst favourably. Our numbers increase rapidly—a dozen a week', —and we are obliged to have two more consultations a week. Lady Plunket came over to see us last week, and has enrolled herself as a voluntary worker.” , Mrs Keen enclosed a very excellent little baby’s vest made of soft, porous, cellular material, which Seems quite as suitable as silk and wool, and costs loss than a quarter the price.

Average llesn-iorming time material (protejd) J in which contained in 1*00 Kind of weight is ounces of the mammal. doubled. mother's milk. Baby 180 11 Foal 60 2 ' Calf 47 3i Kid 19 4J Pig 17 6 Lamb ... 1 10 6i Puppy 8 7h Babbit 7 10J