OUR BABIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3442, 2 March 1920, Page 53

OUR BABIES.

By Hyghia, Published under (he autpleeti 6l the Royal New Zealand Society tor the Health at Women, and Children. “It Is wiser to pul up f tones at the . ' lop ui wiedplce than tr maintain a« ambulance *i ti e nottom.’’ '

TWO QUESTIONS. A mother, -writing of tho early days after her baby’s birth, asks whether she wai wise in refusing to bo tempted by a little vegetable marrow, because she had previously found that marrow sometimes disagreed swith her. She puts a further question, asking if she would be wise in trying gradually to ( habituate the baby later to tolerating the disturbing effects which, judging from her own previous experience, a little marrow taken by herself might tend to exercisa over the quality of her milk in the direo- . don of making it disagree with the baby. As other readers of this column may bay# similar questionings with regard to pa® ; ticular articles of diet, we shall deal the matter on general principles. ' REPLY. (1) There is not the slightest doubt when laid up in bod. after childbirtM a woman should avoid anything everything that she knows by previoui experience tends to upset her in any way. It does not suffice to adopt a regimen which may be perfectly suit- i. able to ninety-nine women out of af hundred placed in similar circara- - stances, if such regimen includes, for / instance, a single article of food (lafi t‘ us say' vegetable marrow) which has tended in the past to interfere with M digestion or with feelings of cornier® and well-being. It does not matter i4> the slightest whether this tendency t€ disagree arises from tho intrinsic nature of tho food, or is due to the foot that the mother has not been in the hahif of chewing _it sufficiently, or to a per* sonal peculiarity in her own digestive organs. The first fortnight after child* birth should never be chosen as th* time for making experiments of any kind. Tho food taken by the lying-iif mother should be of a kind that pro* vious experience has indicated as beneficial and suitable, not only in its general nature, but suited to herself; and,, let me emphatically repeat, the diet at such times must not include food materials which past experience has already indicated as tending for aay reason to disagree. (2) The second question, which 1 will ra* peat for sake of clearness, is not n easily answered— Was the mother wise in trying gradually to habituate the baby to tolerating th< disturbing effects which, judging front her own previous experience, a little marrow taken by herself might pro* bably tend to exercise over the quality of her milk in tho direction of making it disagree with her baby? REPLY. People in general are far too apt t( judge of tho intrinsic digestibility or n* digestibility of a food material by th/ results which they have observed to folio* on tho taking of such substance by them*' selves, or tho report of similar experience/ by others. Disagreement is regarded &C ; unquestionable evidence of - indigestibiliiy. ! whereas, in reality, it may be nothing of the kind. Pain' in the abdomen, discomfort, flatulence, etc., arising after taking food, ia assumed to afford a simple illustration of cause and effect —the food alone being taken into account, not the way in wluoi* tho food has been dealt with by the person taking it. A noted physician was in' th® habit of telling his patients that they SUFFERED, FBOM INDIGESTION BECAUSE TEEf . DID NOT ‘TAKE ENOUGH INDIGESTIBILE FOOD. The seeming paradox is not difficult tot explain. Digestion means, in general, the process by which food is dissolved and. absorbed into the circulation; and naturally' those substances will be most readily and quickly absorbed which need the least worl to be done on them by the dL ostive juica.' in order to enable them to hr a stafy of clear fluid into the celt 1 tubes o( the body. Judged from th . standpoint “prodigested” foods—that is to say, food that have been partially dissolved by sub jection to the action of extracts of tin digestive glands of the lower animals (e.g, peptonised milk, peptonised gruel, etc.)— would bo regarded as the most desirabli and digestible of foods; and so they may be sometimes for temporary use during sickness : —yet the habitual adoption of sue* foods would tend to render the digestive powers of the individual weaker and weaker, on account of their failing to give 4 adequate work to the mouth, jaws, teeth, stomach, intestines, _ and various digestive glands of the individual taking them. A mother confined to a, peptonised diet; would tend to become gradually unable" properly to complete the digestion of eventhe most soluble of such preparations (much' less would she be able to digest ordinary" normal food). Thus, it is that in the end the most easily digestible materials ar»‘. capable of bringing the whole organist* into a state of extreme inefficiency—th< degeneracy of idleness, —while the habitus use of foods needing a considerable amoun of work to be done on them prior to swat lowing would bring the whole digestive apparatus, and along with it the whole organism, into a state of high efficiency and . good health. In the case of a nursing , mother th i former state would be associated S with absence or unfitness of milk supply, while the latter would naturally tend in the reverse direction—there would be a free flow of healthy milk. This subject wall be continued next week.