OUR BABIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 4048, 13 October 1931, Page 60

OUR BABIES.

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Hygeia.

Published under th* auspices of the Royal New Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children (Plunket Society). It is wiser to put up a fence at the top of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom.”

PLUNKET NURSES, ETC., DUNEDIN BRANCH. Society’s Rooms : Jamieson’s Buildings, 6 Lower Stuart street (telephone 10-216). Office hours: Daily from 2 to 4 p.m. (except Saturday and Sunday) and 10 a.m. to noon on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays; 315 King Edward street. South Dunedin, 2 to 4 p.m. daily (except Saturday and Sunday) and 10 a.m. to noon (telephone 23-020). NURSES’ SERVICES FREE.. Nurses O'Shea (telephone 23-348), Isbister (telephone 10-866), Thomson, Scott, and Ewart (telephone 10-216), Darling (telephone 23-431). and Mathieson on Fridays; also 125 Highgate, Roslyn— Monday and Thursday from 2 to 4 p.m.; Gospel Hall, Mailer street, Mornington— Monday and Wednesday, 2 to 4 p.m.; Kelsey Yaralla Kindergarten—Monday and Friday from 2 to 4 p.m.; Baptist Sunday School, Sunshine—Monday and Wednesday from 2 to 4 p.m.; 211 Main North road, North-East Valley—Tuesdays, 2 to 4 p.m.; Kindergarten. Caver-sham-—Thursdays. 2 to 4 p.m. Outstations : Baptist Church, Gordon road, Mosgiel—Tuesday afternoons from 3 to 4 o’clock; Presbyterian Church Hall, Outram—alternate Fridays. 2 to 4 p.m.; Municipal Buildings. Port Chalmers — Wednesday afternoons from 2 to 4 o’clock; also Hall. Macandrew’s Bay—Fridays, 2 to 4 p.m. Administrative Secretary, Miss G. Hoddinott, Jamieson’s Buildings, Stuart street. Dunedin (telephone 10-216). Karitane-Harris Baby Hospital, Anderson’s Bay (telephone 22-985). Matron, Miss Hilditch. Demonstrations given on request every Wednesday afternoon f r om 2.30. Visiting hours : 2 to 4 p.m., Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday. “ BABYCR AFT."—TALK 111. If baby is to thrive properly he must have the best food—his mother’s milk; failing that. the second best —sonic mother’s milk and humanised milk. Should his mother for some special reason be unable to feed baby naturally, baby should have properly graded humanised milk. During the first year of his life baby grows more quickly than at any other period. The foundation of good health throughout life is laid in infancy, and nothing can later compensate for any harm done by wrong feeding. The harm, once done, can never be repaired. Why is milk so necessary in the first year of life ? Because it contains everything that is necessary for good nutrition and is for babies and young animals the perfect food. All foods are divided into groups or classes and contain proteins (or body-building material), fats, sugars, starches (carbohydrates), water, and m addition mineral salts and vitamins. Most of our foods contain water—even those that are apparently dry, such as flour, oatmeal, etc. The body requires a great deal of water to enter into the circulation of the blood apd to carry the foods to the different parts of the body. Mineral salts are found in our food, but only in very small quantities, and vitamins, which the fresh element provides, are so small that they cannot be seen. Without them food does not nourish the baby properly, and baby would die if they were entirely cut off from his food. Milk contains all the to 1 egoing—proteins, fats, sugar, mineral salts, and vitamins — hence its high food value. Children get protein from the following foods: —Milk, fresh eggs, or meat. They get fat chiefly from milk, butter, dripping, and cream; sugar and starch chiefly from bread, porridge, pudding, potato, fruit, and vegetables; mineral salts from fruit and vegetables: vitamins from green vegetables, fruit, milk, buttermilk, and brown bread. Many mothers still think that orange or fresh uncooked vegetable juice is given to regulate the bowels or to correct constipation. If these fresh fruit juices aie completely withheld from the diet of the artificially fed baby he is liable to become ill. Until baby is nine months his food should be breast milk or properly graded humanised milk and fingers of twicebaked bread. Weaning begins at the tenth month, but may be delayed if baby is ill or the weather very hot. Weaning is always done very gradually. New foods are introduced one at a time, and at first only a small quantity is given. Cereal foods, such as oat jelly or barley jelly, are given, and properly graded humanised milk is baby’s main food from nine to twelve months. The twice-baked bread and cereals are given for the purpose of teaching baby to chew, their main value being educational in that they teach baby to assimilate new foods. I have appended some notes that will, I hope, be helpful. NOTES. Food for the Baby. First and best : Mother’s milk only—i.e.. natural or real feeding. Second : Some mother’s milk and some humanised milk—i.e.. partly natural feeding. Third : Humanised niiljt only. Xature’s way is for every kind of baby to have its own mother’s milk—cow’s milk for the calf, goat’s milk for the baby goat, mother's milk for the human baby. The milk of each kind of animal is quite different, specially made for babies of that kind. Xo other milk can be "just as good.''

Following are the reasons why natural feeding is best for the baby:—

(1) It is safer. Out of every six babies who die five are bottle-fed.— (2) It is most nourishing, and contains all the materials to build sound bodies and brains. (3) It is most digestible. (4) It protects the baby from disease. Breast-fed babies “ take things lightly ” or escape altogether. (5) It is best for the teeth and jaws. (6) It is always clean and fresh and living. (7) It is always the right temperature for the baby. (8) It is an economy, and saves the mother time, worry, and.money. (9) It is best for the mother as well as the baby. (10) It is Nature's way and baby’s birthright. Almost all mothers can nurse their babies if they have the right advice and help from the beginning from doctor and nurse. The mother needs a healthy, outdoor life, with good food. sun. exercise, and rest: plenty of water to drink; happiness and freedom from unnecessary worry. I Regularity is most important. Healthy i babies should be fed every four hours— ; five times in the day and not at all at night. The Plunket nurse will weigh the baby | before and after feedings to find out if he is getting too much or too little milk. Getting too much milk is the commonest cause of babies being upset on mother’s milk, and this frequently happens during the first month. Difficulties can be put right if taken in time. • Baby should have some mother’s milk for nine months if possible. If the mother has not enough she should always give the baby all she has at every meal and make up the deficiency by bottle. Every drop of mother’s milk is precious and helps to digest the artificial food. Every week that baby can be naturally fed is a help to him for life. If the mother is ill she should consult her doctor before putting the baby Oil artificial food. A mother’s milk is not her own, it belongs to the baby. Bottle-feeding for the Baby. If bab.v cannot be naturally fed. the best substitute is humanised milk. Humanised milk is milk modified to resemble mother’s milk as nearly as possible. To humanise cow’s milk it is necessary to dilute it with water to a little less than half-strength and then to add a proper amount, and kind of sugar and fat. Sugar of milk is the best sugar, because it is the same natural sugar as is present in mother’s milk. The best kind of fat is a special preparation of emulsified cod liver oil. Cow’s milk cream is more difficult for young babies to digest, and is apt to be full of germs. Proper emulsion is more like the fat of mother’s milk, contains no harmful germs, and is rich in vitamin D. which prevents rickets. Every bottle-fed baby must hare some orange juice daily lor other uncooked fruit or vegetable juice). Strain the juice and give between meals with a little warm water. Do riot heat the juice, as heating destroys the fresh properties. To make milk safe from harmful germs it must always be properly scalded, quickly cooled, and kept clean, cool, and covered. To scald, bring milk quickly just to the bod. stirring constantly. Cover pan and stand aside for five minutes. Strain the milk through boiled muslin into scalded jug. cool quickly in running water. Stand jug in dish of cold water, cover with damp muslin, and keep cool in draughty place. At feeding time stir milk well, pour out required amount into bottle, and warm this to lOOdeg Fahr. Directly after feeding wash the bottle ami teat. Boil these once a day. The normal baby should be fed every four hours —say at 6, 10. 2, 6. and 10. and take 15 to 20 minutes over the feed. Hold the bottle and see that he sucks hard. Never put bab.v down with his feeding bottle unless there is someone to hold it. From si.r months give baby bones to gnaw to develop his gums and teeth. Be sure the bone has no loose bits of bone or gristle that might choke baby. In the ninth month baby may start having baked crusts to chew. The normal babv needs no other food till nine months old.’ In bottle-feeding see that the hole in the teat is not too large. The baby should have to work hard to get the milk through the teat, otherwise his tongue and jaws will not get sufficient exercise.