OUR BABIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3250, 28 June 1916, Page 62

OUR BABIES.

Bv Hygsia..

Published under the auspices ol the Royal New Zealand Society lor the Health ol Women and Children.

"H is wiser to put up a fence at the top oJ a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom."

TOO EARLY WEANING

Unnecessary weaning long before the baby is nine'months old is one of the most disastrous mistakes of modern motherhood. Speaking many years ago to the matron of a large Salvation Army Home, I happened to say that I thought the common practice of. weaning unfortunate babies during tho first month was very cruel. The matron, a very excellent and earnest woman, replied with deep feeling: "I don't call it merely cruel:.! call it murder. I have seen so much of the piti able results of early weaning that I wonder something more is not done to prevent it." BABIES' RIGHTS. In all directions one hears the same thing from people who have had large experience with the class of children who commonly graduate sooner or later to licensed homes. Concerning these tho Rev. Mr Smaill, of Christchurch, spdaking of his own personal experience, extending over a great number of years, remarked what an enormous boon it would be to these primarily wronged babies if their mothers could all be compelled to rear them naturally for at least the first six months, instead of facilities being offered enabling tho mother to get rid of her natural charge and responsibility at tho end of a fortnight. Nowhere was the truth of what he contended more strikingly seen than in Christchurch itself. In an admirable refuge there, where the mothers stayed for six months, I saw a dozen or more babies, every one of whien was a picture of health, "and I do not think that there was one being artificially fed at the time of my visit. This wa3 many years aero; but I can remembet clearly the very striking contrast between theso infante and the ones we saw in tho course of a day spent in visiting the arti ficial!y-fed babies in other institutions and in licensed homes. Mr Smaill was equally emphatic regarding the moral effect on the mother and the effect on her health; but it would be outside tho scope of tho present article to dwell on this aspect of the matter. My concern at the moment is the baby. Propeb Guidance Needed. In the class of cases I have just been referring to, the baby is usually weaned for tho mother's convenience, merely bccauso she wants to get back to her ordinary work and her ordinary life; but there arc many cases where married women, who are most anxious to do justice to their progeny, fail to continue nursing beyond the first few months, simply because they have had no proper guidance. In previous articles I have drawn attention to the common causes of this failure; but to-dav I should like to emphas'se specially one point —viz., the need for rational care of the breasts and rational system in nursing. In this connection I mav c|iiote the following from " Feeding and Care of Babv " page 6: Mothers are generally told that after tho first week baby must have onlv one breast at each nursing, the breasts bein" . used alternately. This in right where the mother has plenty of milk and baby gels all he needs from one breast. But where this is not tho case—where tho supply falls short of what is needed, and one breast does not furnish enough for one feeding-baby should certainly' be nut te, •both at each stickling, tho" right breast being used first at'one feedingtime, and tho left first at tho next. This is tho best means of stimulating the secretion of milk, from eight to 10 minutes being allowed for each breast. In any case, the breast first suckled should be

emptier!; but with an increasing supply loss and Less time should bo allowed in regard to the second breast; and if the supply becomes ample, only the one breast should be used at cadi nursing. Wrong Advice Freqitentv, Given. Over and over again in England we

found theso considerations ignored, and heard the wrong advice given to mothers visiting the various institutions, whose very object is to foster normal motherhood. Indeed, I cannot recall a single instance in which any reference was made to the necessity of using both breasts where the milk supply was failing. The assumption seemed to bo that tho alternate use of tho breast.at successive feedings should apply under all circumstances. Equally wrong was tho way in which women wore invariably told to entirely replace one or more breastfeedings by bottle-feedings where tho baby was failing to increase in weight satisfactorily. There was obviously no realisation of tho fact that the surest way to dry up tho milk supply is io give up stimulating the breasts regularly at tho proper times. Tho mother was often told to drink more milk or to take more fluid in other forms; but ono scarcely ever heard anything said as to proper sponging of the breasts twice a day and the use of brisk friction and massage.

Weighing Baby Before and After Nursing.

Weighing a ' baby before and after nursing was quite exceptional in tho schools for mothers, and in some they said frankly that they never resorted to this, and, indeed, had no scales capable of weighing closer than an ounce. Even in Nov/ Zealand tho extreme value of this procedure is only gradually becoming fully recognised, and I think it well on this account to quote the following clear and emphatic statement from tho Society's book, pago 57:

In tho case of a breast-fed babv, if there is indjgestion, putting-up of food, restlessness, disturbed sleep, or any other sign of ill-health or discomfort—especially if tho baby is net growing properly.— tho first tiling to do is to weigh him before and after feeding. THIS" RULft IS ABSOLUTE. Such'weighing affords the only means of ascertaining whether a suckled baby is getting the right quantity of food. Without weighing, anv attempt at treatment is mere guesswork and empiricism.