OUR BABIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3823, 21 June 1927, Page 68

OUR BABIES.

By

Hygria.

t’ubllshed under the auspices of H>a Royal New Zealand Society for the Health at Women and Children (Plunket Society). “It Is wiser to put up a fence at the tep of a preeiplre than te maintain an ambulance at the bottom.”

PLUNKET NURSES, ETC., DUNEDIN BRANCH. NURSES’ services free. Nurses O’Shea (telephone 2348), Isbistcr (telephone 7566), Thomson, Scott, and Ewart (telephone 116), and Mathieson (telephone 3020). Society’s Rooms: Jamieson's Buildings, 6 Lower Stuart street (telephone 116), Office hours, daily from 2 to 4 p.m. (except Saturday and Sunday) and 10 a.m. to noon on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays; 515 King Edward street. South Dunedin, 2 to 4 p.m. daily (except Saturday and Sunday), and .10 a.m to noon on Fridays; also 125 Highgate, Roslyn—Monday and Thursday from 2 to 4 p.m.; and at Kelsey-Yaralla Kindergarten. Mondav and Friday from 2 to 4 p.m.; and at 99 Musselburgh Rise, Wednesdays, 2 to 4 p.m. Out-stations: Baptist Church. Gordon road, Mosgiel, Tuesday afternoons from 3 to 4 o’clock; Municipal Buildings, Port Chalmers, Wednesday afternoons from 2 to 4 o’clock.

Secretary, Miss G. Hoddinott, Jamie son’s Buildings, Stuart street (telephone 1161. Karitane-Harris Baby Hospital, Anderson’s Bay (telephone 1985). Matron, Miss Fitz-Gibbon. Demonstrations given on request every Wednesday afternoon from 2.30 by Plunket Nurses and Karitane Baby Nurses. Visiting hours: 2 to 4 p.m., Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday.

“ WORRIED MILK.” This week we republish an extract from an article which appeared in this column some years ago, because it affords an interesting comment on a difficulty we have not so far mentioned —the difficulty caused by worry or nervous upset on the part of the mother. This is an intangible, but none the less real, trouble, and one which calls for thought, courage, and self-mastery in the overcoming. If the mother could realise the tremendous importance of the first few months of the baby’s life, and put aside worries and the minor irritations of life for his sake —putting him first for that time: a very short time when all the years to come are considered; —if husbands, relations, and friends would rally round the mother, pouring oil on troubled waters when necessary, or at least refraining from rocking the family boat, how many cases of early unnecessary weaning could be avoided !

The following is the extract referred to, which" commences with a quotation from “Feeding and Care of Baby ” (page 10) “ Every means should be taken to avoid undue excitements, worries, and sources of annoyance, because the emotions have so much to do. with determining the composition and quantity of the milk, and affecting in other ways the health of both mother and offspring. “ The following passage from Charles Reade’s ‘ The Cloister and the Hearth,’ is most suggestive and entirely true: “ ‘ The child is poisoned.’ “‘Poisoned ! By whom? ’ “‘By you. You have been fretting!’ “’’Nay, indeed, mother. How can I help fretting? ’ “‘Don’t tell me. Margaret. .1 nursing mother has no business to fret. She must turn her mind away from her grief to the comfort that lies in her lap. Know you not that the child pines if the mother vexes herself (The italics are ours.) Many eases of premature weaning or failure of suckling can be traced to domestic and emotional upsets, which should never occur if people understood how important it is for the nursing mother to keep calm and placid. The following examples from real life show how easily the flow of milk can be interfered with, and how simply the matter can be set right by those who know how to deal with the cases. Illustration I. Years ago the mother of several young children was expecting an addition to her family. She made all her arrangements, and as she had a very devoted maid who had been in the family for several years she felt quite happy about everything. The baby arrived safely, and there was a good supply of milk. Hardly had the mother taken her place again in the family circle than the “ devoted ” maid gave notice and left. This worried the mother so much that her milk dried up, and her baby was subjected to the perils of bottle-feeding. Any capable friend with sufficient knowledge to realise what was taking place could have gone into the house, taken over the responsibilities of it and the other children for a few days, got competent help, and thus have saved the situation, and the baby would have been breast-fed instead of bottle-fed. Illustration 11. An interesting case took place in a Mothercraft training institution. The matron wanted to prove to thos2 in training that even where a mother had to work for her living she could still nurse her baby well. From a Salvation Army Home the matron got a young mother with a normal, healthy baby to act as housemaid in the institution. " For several weeks everything went well, and the baby increased in. weight, the consecutive weighings being recorded on a ciiart; then, seemingly without rhyme or tsason, the baby ceased to gain in weight, then it began to lose. The matron, and staff were greatly puar.led, as everything seemed to be going on as usual. The child was weighed before and after each feeding for a whole day, and it was found that the quantity of breast-milk had fallen some

ounces below the requirement of the child. Then the matron suddenly discovered that the housemaid and the cook were quarrelling. She asked them both to come and look at the chart, and she showed them how well the baby had done up to a certain point, and then, when they began quarrelling, how the baby had suffered.

This greatly impressed the cook, who exclaimed. “ Well, I’ve never been accused of damaging a baby before.” The dispute was settled, and very soon the baby began to thrive again.