OUR BABIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3275, 20 December 1916, Page 58

OUR BABIES.

By Hyqkia.

Published undo.- the auspices of trie Royal New Zealand Society lor the Health el Women and Children. "It is wiser to put up a fenr>e at the top ol a precipice than to maintain aa ambulance at the bottom."

ADDRESSES OF PLUNKET NURSES AND SECRETARIES. Ashburton District.—Plunket Nurse Hancock. Hon. Secretary, Mr Clias. Jennings, Burnett street. Auckland. Plunket Nurses Morgan, M'Oarthy, and Newell. Tel. 1703. Office of the Society, The Strand Arcade, Queen street, Tel. 829. Office hours: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, 2 to 4 P.m. Acting Hon. Secretary, Miss Alison Henderson, Fordell, Remuera. BaJclutha.—Plunket Nurse Lee. Hon. Secretary, Mrs James Brugh. Balelutha. Central Otago.—Plunket Nurse Chappell. Hon. Secretary, Mrs Weaver, Box 50, Roxburgh. Christchurch. — Plunket Nurses Hansard and Mackie. Office of the Society, Chancery lane. Office hours, 2 to 3 p.m. daily (except Sunday). Hon. Secretary, Mrs A. H. Briefed, 62 River road. Danncviike.—Acting Plunket Nurse Stamper. Hor, Secretary, Mis Bickford, Bank of New Zealand. Dunedin.—Plunket Nurses Connor (tcl. 3133), M'Laren, Wilson, and Baker. Society's Rooms, Jamieson's Buildings, 76 Lower Stuart street, Dunedin. Tel. 116. Secretary, Miss Jean Glendinning, Plunket office, Jamieson's Buildings, Stuart street. Tel. 116. Office hours, daily (except Saturday and Sunday), from 2 to 4 p.m. Gisborno. —Plunket Nurse Begbie. Hon. Secretaries, Mcsdames Reeve and Anderson. Gore.—Plunket Nurse Every, Ardwick street. Tel. 171. Hon. Srcretaty, Mrs Blaikie, Devon street. Tel. 187. Hastings (Jlawke's Bay).—Plunket Nurse Walton. Residence and office, Herctaung.'i street. Tel. 609. .Office hours, 2 to 3.30 p.m. Hon. Secretary, Mrs I. S. M'Leod, Market street. Hawera. —Plunket Nurse Dix. Hon. Secretary, Mrs H. Fullarton Johnson, Camberwell road. [nvercargiil.—Plunket Nurse O'Shca, M'MaS' tor street. Tcl. 575. Office, Allen's Hall, Kelvin street. Hon. Secretary, Mrs Brenner, Gala street, Invercargill. Tel. 394. Marlon.—Acting Plunket Nurse Rogers. Every Tuesday. Office of Iho Society, Ingle Bros., Broadway. Tel. 37. Hours, 1.30 to 5 p.m. Hon. Secretary, Miss Cook, Bond street. Tcl. 54. Milton.—Plunket Nurse Lee. Hon. Secretary, Mrs Buchanan. Napier.—Plunket Nurse Taylor. Office, Church Jar.?. Td. 485. Office hours, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, from 2 to 4 p.m. Hon. Secretary and Treasurer, Mrs O. Asheroft, View road. Tel. 335. Nelson—Plunket Nurse Wix. Office, 13 Selwyn place. Tel. 125. Hon. .Secretary. Miss Ledger, Trafalgar street. Tel. 271. Oamaru.—Plunket Nurse Roy, Tee street. Tel. 367. Hon. Secretary. Mrs Haines, Bank of New Zealand, Oamaru. Pctono and Hutt.—Acting Plunket Nurse Honcyfield. Office, Council Chambers, Peton'e. Hon. Secretary, Mrs W. C. Burd, 37 Cuba street, Petone. Taihape.—Acting Plunket Nurse Rogers. Hon. Secretary, Mrs Arrowsmith, Taihape. Timaru. —Plunket Nurse Cameron, "Bella Mona," Bank street. Office of the Society, Sophia street. Tel. 314. Office, hours, 3.5 C to, f 1.30 p.m.; Saturday, 2.30 to 4 p.m lion. Secretary, Mr Ernest Hov/den. Wanganui District.—Plunket Nurse Feutz. Tel. "949. Office of the Society, T.Y.M.I. Buildings, The Avenue. Office hours, 2 to 4 p.m. daily, except Tuesday; Saturday, 11 to 12 a.m. Secretary, Miss R. N. Cummins. P.O. Box 81 Wellington.—Plunket Nurses Seater. Mitchell, and Neil. Society's Room, 3 Cour-

tonay place. Tel. 2425. Hon. Secretary, Miss G. Kirkcaldie. 71 Thompson street. Westport.—Plunket Nurse Wynn Harrold. Hon. Secretary, Mrs C. G. Curtis, Peel street, Westport. Lei. 121. Society's Baby Hospital, Karitane-Harris Hospital, Andersons Bay, Dunedin. Tel. 1985. Matron, Miss Morgan. Demonstrations on points of interest to mothers are given by the Matron every Wednesday afternoon from 2.30 to 3.30. Besides the above centres, where Plunket Nurses are already at work, branches of the Society have been formed at the following- places :--Amberley, Akaroa, Blackball, Balelutha, Blenhc'm, Bluff, Cambridge, Cromwell, Darga viile, Denniston, Eltham, Geraidme, Cisborne, Granity, Green Island, Greymcuth, Hamilton, Hawera, Uelensville, Henct, liokitika, Ingiewood, Kaiapoi, Kaikoura Lawrence, Maraia, Masterton, Mataura, Mayfield, Milton, Mosgiel, Naseby, Orepuki, Otautau, Patea, Picton. Recftcii, Richmond, Riverton, Roxburgh, Stratford, Sumner, Tapanui, Taumarunui, Temuka, To Awamutu, To Kuiti, Thames, Waimate, Waihi, Waipawa, Wakefield, Whangaroi, Winton, Wyndham.

PLUNKET NURSES' SERVICES FREE. THE SOCIETY'S BOOK. The Soccty's book, entitled " Feeding and Care of Baby," can be obtained from the Matron, Kaiitane-Harris Hospital, the Plunket" Nurses, and the honorary secretaries of the Societies. Price, Is 3d. As the book has now been registered to go by magazine post, the postage is only ljd, including the war stamp. "Feeding and Care of Baby " can also be obtained from the leading booksellers throughout the Dominion. NEW GOVERNMENT BOOK FOR MOTHERS. The new book, " The Expectant Mother and Baby's First Month," prepared by the Society and issued by the Public Health Department free of charge, can be obtained on application (including for postage) from the Matron, Karitane-Harris Hospital, the Plunket Nurses, the Honorary Secretaries of the Branches, and the Registrars in the principal towns.. The Society is specially anxious that every prospective mother should receive a copy of this little book long before the birth of her baby, and we feel sure that if this is done very great benefit will accrue to mother and child and much trouble and sickness will be prevented. Our readers will do a good service if they draw the attention cf any of their friends, who would be benefited by the book, to the fact that it may be had on application.

THE SCOURGE OF SUMMER, While summer-time is delightful to all of us, and its warm days and bright sunshine tempt people into the open air, and thus tend to banish the "colds," "sore throats," and "chest affections" of the damper, chillier seasons of the year —while this healthgiving effect of summer on young and old alike is recognised, in every temperate region, of tin; world, it is akso found that summer kills far more babies than any other season of the year. Why is this? Why should summer xot be the safest instead of the most dangerous time of year for infants?

The reason is not far to seek. Most babies are fed on liquid food which is specially liable to ferment in warm weather. Milk becomes infested with microbes; i\' other words, goes bad and becomes POISONOUS, more readily than any other food, and if we are not careful in the selection of a milkman it may have gone bad iii warm weather before, reaching the home. So long as an infant is suckled, and the mother is not only regular, cleanly, and careful in her habits, but also gives the baby all his simple primary rights (outing, fresh air. sunlight, exercise, etc.). there is no safer season than summer. But, however careful the mother may be as to general hygiene, summer is dangerous, and often fatal, if there is any carelessness in artificial feeding (whether resorted to in the early months or coming in the natural course later on at. weaning or afterwards), simply because microbes grow apace in warm weather if milk is not properly attended to.

SUMMER DIARRHOEA. Why should diarrhoea single out babies and calves and leave the rest of nurslings more or loss exempt from this special curse of summer? In warm weather the young of horses, pigs, dogs, cats, and the rest are almost uniformly healthy, while calves in all directions arc victims to "scouring,'' and few babies escape the same scourge under the name of '■summer diarrhoea." WHY DOES NATURE SINGLE OUT CALVES AND BABIES? Calves are sacrificed because man takes the cow's milk for himself, and feeds tho calf out of a bucket. The baby is sacrificed because the mother's breast is"denied to it also, and improper food, contaminated with germs, is substituted for the pure, perfect, blood-warm, living stream direct from tho proper source. The important practical question which we have to face at the present moment is this: ARE ILL-HEALTH AND DIARRHOEA INEVITABLE DTJEING SUMMER TIME FOK CALVES AXD BABIES WHO CANNOT BE SUCKLED? Certainly not! In both cases the trouble arises, not from the mere fact of artificial feeding, but because proper care is not exercised to secure suitable food and to prevent fermentation. For babies humanised milk supplies by far the nearest approach to the mother's milk, and if kept cool and given according- to the directions contained in the instructions issued by the Society, there would be little risk of disease. Even with breast-feeding a baby may suffer from summer diarrhoea, but immediate suitable treatment of such infants, or of theso who have been judiciously fed by artificial means, soon brings about recovery in the great majority of cases. Among babies who have been improperly fed, on the other hand, the risk of death from an attack of diarrhoea i.s very great indeed, and lasting debility is often left where the baby does not actually succumb. DEATH TOLL OF DIARRHOEA.

Professor Budin showed that the number of artificially-fed babies who died in Paris per week was about 20 in winter, but that in mid-summer the deaths rose to almost 260 per week. This is very strikingly shown in a diagram given on page 40 of the Society's pamphlet, "What Baby Needs." A rise in the death rate among infants similar to the above occurs in New Zealand during warm weather, varying with the locality and tho heat of the particular summer. Knowing the cause, the disease is one of the most easily preventable, and the mother who allows her baby to succumb during the next few months should feel, in nine cases out of ten. ..that she has herself to blame. It is not Nature or Providence that inflicts the curse of summer diarrhoea, but THE MOTHER HERSELF. That this is literally and absolutely true will be realised by anyone consulting the Paris diagram, which shows that over 1000 babies died in six weeks when the weather was warmest. Among breast-fed babies the death rate for the same period averaged only 20 per week. The deaths that did take place in either class were mainly the result of ignorance and carelessness (especially careless feeding of mother and child, the use of the longtube feeder, lack of fresh air and exercise, irregular habits, failure to keep the breasts and the clothing covering them clean, and use of dummy or comforter for the baby). During the same three or four fatal summer months scarcely a death from diarrhoea occurred among the babies whoso mothers were availing themselves of rational advice tendered at the four creches then established in Paris on modern lines. About half of these more fortunate babies were suckled, and the rest were bottle-fed with milk supplied at tho special "Babies' Milk Depot." Tn the provinces a similar result has been achieved. Thus Dr Dnfour. the pioneer in Normandy of the rational care of babies, including tho use of humanised milk, shows that while tho death rate among infants averaged 55 for the four principal towns, the death rate among babies whose mothers attended tho depots and got proper advice and food was less than 3 per cent.—in other words, only one-twentieth of the mortality which took place the babies whose mothers persisted in going their own way in spite of warnings and advice. THE PLUNKET NURSES will be glad to see mothers and babies at the Society's rooms, Jamicson's Buildings, Lower Stuart street. Dnnedin, every afternoon between 2 and 4 o'clock (Saturdays and Sundays excepted). The nurses' services are free, and all mothers are welcome.