OUR BABIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3711, 28 April 1925, Page 31

OUR BABIES.

Br

Hygeia.

Published ontha auspices of tin Reyal New Zealand Society for the HealtJi ¥ Women and Children (Plunket SeOety). “It la wiaer ta put up a fence at the tap of a precipice than ta maintain an ambulance at tha bottom.”

PLUNKET NURSES. ETC.. DUNEDIN BRANCH.

nurses’ services free. Nurses Thomson, Scott, Ewart (telephone 116), and Mathieson (telephone 3020). Society’s Rooms; Jamieson’s Laildings, 76 Lower Stuart street (telephone 116), and 315 King Edward street, South Dunedin (telephone 3020). Office hours, daily from 2 to 4 p.m. (except Saturday and Sunday); also 125 Highgate, Roslyn—Monday and Thursday from 2 to 4 p.m. Out-stations: Baptist Church, Gordon road, Mosgiel, Tuesday afternoons from 2 to 4 p.m.; Municipal Buildings, Port ChalmerA, Wednesday afternoons from 2 to 4 D.m. Secretary, Miss G. Hoddinott, Jamieson’* Buildings, Stuart street (telephone 116). Karitane-Harris Baby Hospital, Anderson’® Bay (telephone 1985). Matron, Miss Buisson. Demonstrations given on request every Wednesday afternoon from 2.30 to 3.30. Training Institution for Plunket Nurses and Karitane Baby Nurses. Visiting hours: 2 to 4 p.m., Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday. A SOUTH AFRICAN FATHER’S LETTER. The following letter, notes, and a chart were forwarded to us by Messrs Macmillan and Co., the publishers of “Feeding and Care of Baby”;— THE LETTER. “My wife and I feel very grateful to your Society and to Dr Truby King for your publications, and while we have been unable to follow the methods indicated continuously, we realise that lack of skilled advice nas no doubt been the cause of the forced resort to artificial food rendered necessary in our case by the alarming failure of our infant to put on weight. “We acknowledge with pleasure the obvious good derived from humanised milk, as well as the many valuable suggestions contained in ‘ Feeding and Care of Baby, and are forwarding tne following notes in case they may be of service in other cases. From them you will see that we tried very hard to adhere to humanised milk throughout. Trusting the accompanying notes will bo of some service to your Society.” SOME NOEES ON THE DIET OP E K ■. Born noon Alarch 2, 1924 —Breast. March 2 to Alarch 10—Partial breast feeding, due to abscess forming on mother’s breast. Cow’s milk and water given. March 15 to 80 —Breast. March 80 to May 11, 1924—Lactogen. Alay 11 to June 22— Humanised milk No. 1. June 22 to July 18—Low diet, on account of diarrhoea. June 27 to July 18—Whole cow’s milk. July 18 to August 13—Humanised No. 2. August 13 to September I—As above, with one teaspoonful of cream added. September 1 to November 16—Humanised, modified by test to average of 3.8 per cent, butter-fat. November 16—Reverted to Lactogen, plus a local product called Nutrine. “On the 11th May we first heard of humanised milk. Previously (as shown by positions B and C of the curve) the child had been progressing admirably on Lactogen. Portion F of the curve shows the effect of whole milk. “On the 13th August, on medical advice, we started adding cream to each bottle, but as it was apparent that we soon reached the point when the child began to refuse food, we started to stand larger quantities of milk to bring the resulting mixture up to 3.8 per cent, or thereabouts. “Normal humanised milk as tho result of following your recipes only averages 2 per cent, in Johannesburg. This is the result of many analyses and mucTi research on our part, and can be taken as quite accurate. It probably is due to Friesland cows being much favoured by the dairymen; their yield is high in quantity, but poor in butter-fat. “At the same time, the remedying of the low fat content did not altogether effect the improvement hoped for, and, as we could not obtain skilled advice, we reverted to Lactogen with a few modifications.” REMARKS BY MOTHER IN REFERENCE TO REARING OF BABY. “Weight at birth, 61b 3oz. “During baby’s thirteenth week we went for a holiday, and continued the humanised milk diet until the sixteenth week, when baby had an attack of diarrhoea. At the first symptoms I cut off the food and took all the precautions outlined in your book for 36 hours. “On resuming weak humanised milk diarrhoea occurred, and was sufficiently alarming to justify calling for a doctor. This doctor prescribed three days’ albumen and barley water only, and then whole milk sterilised in a sealed jar (i.e., under pressure). This had the desired effect, and was continued for three weeks, when a return was made to humanised milk No. 2. “About tho twenty-fifth week, being dissatisfied with baby’s appearance, which, while generally healthy enough, undoubtedly appeared to be under-nourished, a doctor was again called in, and ordered the addition of cream to each hoftle. For a week or two this procedure gave encouraging results, but resulted at length in tho refusal of the food. “My husband then suggested standing greater quantities of milk to raise tho fat content of the resulting humanised recipe, which was conscientiously followed until the poor results in the direction of weightincrease led me to try feeding Jelly, barley ielly, and cereal gruels for ono or two feeds. Baby liked it at first, hut soon rejedod ‘A after several foods. She dislikes spoonfeeding intensely. “The child Is admitted by doctors to bo healthy and normal in every respect but that of weight and size. No teeth have

been cut as yet, and for the last thr®® months her appetite has been very All norma! motions (i.e., except in the ca s ® of illness) have been most regular and satisfactory.” A reply was begun regretting that th® mother had not had the advice of a Plunket nurse in the early stages, when no doubt breast-feeding could have been re-estab-lished and carried on throughout the whole nursing period, etc. This with the South African letter, notes, and chart wore submitted to Dr Truby King, who wrote to our correspondent as follows: DR KING’S REPLY. “I have just been shown a letter from yourself concerning your baby, and a partial reply, which is quite in accord with my opinion, though there are several points not drawn attention to which have an important bearing on your difficulties—e g.: “The chart shows that your baby gained no less than lib 6oz in the first fortnight on Lactogen—lOoz a week. Such a gain would be excessive for a normal, full* weight, breast-fed baby per week in its second month), and would be a proof of overfeeding. In the case of an artificiallyfed baby, the overtaxing of the system Vf’ould be still greater if such a gain in weight were induced. The gain in the latter case should not exceed lOoz in a fortnight. That the ‘ limit of tolerance’ was exceeded at the end of the first fortnight on Lactogen is shown on the chart by the slight fall in weight (instead of a gain on the fifth week of Lactogen). What follows is quite characteristic of the aftermath of overfeeding—viz., several months of digestive disturbance, including diarrhoea. “However carefully the feeding had been conducted, yon would have had some difficulty once the digestive and assimilative power of the child had been seriously overtaxed ; but the duration of disturbance would not have been long if you had had the advice and help of a Plunket nurse. “It was quite a mistake to change suddenly from a super-heated dried milk to any unboiled fresh milk preparation, such as humanised milk. A few weeks’ restriction to super-heated milk makes the averagt baby quite incapable of dealing satisfa*. torily with an unboiled milk, and in such cases wo make the change very gradually, boiling the milk for at least a quarter of an hour at first, and feeling our wav very cautiously for fear of causing a further upset. When the baby's digestive organs* first struck on account of overwork, they should have been given a complete holiday (no food, only boiled water) for a day, and then humanised milk (made with wellboiled milk) diluted with at least twice its volume of water could have been tried. No attempt should have been made to make the baby gain weight for a week or two at least.” SCHEMATIC REPRESENTATION OF THE GROWTH OF A BABY FROAI 1 to 12 MONTHS. A: The ideal weight curve of a normal breast-fed baby. B: The ideal weight curve of an artificiallyfed baby. C: The more usual weight curve of ihe infant fed artificially.

“The above rough diagrammatic representation by Profesor Grulee, of Chicago, may prove interesting and illuminating. It must not be taken too literally, but it is very ingenious and highly suggestive. As a matter of fact babies fed artificially under the care and guidance of the Plunket nurses, if taken in hand after breast feeding for the first month or six weeks, generally keep not far below line A, even in the first six months; but it would bo a great mistake to suppose that, babies who reached only B or C at six months would generally make up fully for lost time in the next six months, and be of quite normal weight and development at a year old. ‘lt is always too late to be what we might have been.’ However, the tendency is for the baby always to do its best to make up towards the normal if given a fair chance. “I really think that you and your wife are to be congratulated on having piloted your baby so successfully as the chart shows, and I think there is every probability that tho child will be little, if at all, below normal weight at the end of tho first Of course, you should allow for the fact of the birth-weight being a pound below the average.”