OUR BABIES

Southland Times, Issue 16687, 16 March 1911, Page 2

OUR BABIES

(By "Hygeia.”) The Plunkef Nurse may lie consulted at Allen’s Hall on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays between the hours of .‘1.30 and I.SiT p.m. Published under the auspices of the Society for the Health of Women and Children. DRIED MILK FOR BABIES. (Continued.) In paragraph 4 of Mr Nathan’s letter to "Hygeia” concerning Glaxo he says: —“Have you ever, after liquefying the Dried Milk, tried the use of rennet with It?” The answer is simple. I have tried the effect of rennet on milk heated to various degrees, and have thus verified the Well-known fact that the formation of curd becomes more and more Impaired in proportion to the degree to which milk is made to depart from its natural constitution. This change in the texture of the curd was the very point on which Budln twenty years ago based his confident but erroneous assumptions as to the advantages of using sterilised cow’s milk. He said: “It is alleged that the casein of cow’s milk gives rise to digestive troubles. Tills is obviated if the milk be heated in a steriliser to about the boiling point, or even to a lower temperature.” So long as "the point of view of tint physician had not extended beyond Uio idea of "Getting cow’s milk to sit on the baby’s stomach”: so long as it was not realised that one of the worst tilings for an i- 'ant would b to retain and absorb into its system an excess of unnecessary and actually harmful proteid so long as such Ignorance prevailed it was perfectly natural that all attention should be devoted to so dealing with cow’s milk as to ensure, if possible, that the child hould tolerate, retain, and absorb the vhole of the constituents of unmodified cow's milk. Rut such views are |u!te Inconsistent with our present advanced knowledge of the physiology of the child and the strides made of late years In the analysis of milk. We know now that cow’s milk contains nearly three times the proportion of proteid found in human milk, and that therefore it must throw three times too much work on the baby’s

kidneys if digested and completely absorbed into the system. Now, Budin had no such knowledge indeed, the analyses on which he had to depend seemed to show that there was practically almost no difference in the proportion of casein contained in cow’s milk and in that of the human mother. The erroneous and utterly mis-leading French analyses of the last century were equally depended on by English physicians and formed tire general basis for the artificial rearing of babies until quite rteoently. But why cling now to these errors of the past? After all, the important point is not what is the effect of rennet on cow’s milk (whether fresh or dried), but what is likely to be the effect of the milk on tire baby? VITAL ELEMENTS WANTING. Tliis leads me to the third objection to using Dried or otherwise Condensed and Sterilised milks. They are sterile or barren in regard to necessary “living principles” present in ail fresh milks. Mr Nathan says (paragraphs 3 and 5): Apart,from this question the point that interested me most was your statement: “The ‘life’ lias been heated out of them.” Now, this is a point that Dr Sommerville, of King’s College, London, studied for over six months, and lie was unable to make tliis statement. lam sure lie, as well as myself, would be glad to have your authority for the above statement. I would also be pleased -o know v.hac authority you have tor saying tnat tlie living principles are lacking in the Dried Milk. 1 am not concerned in Dr Sommc-r----ville’s failure to satisfy himself as to what was wrong with sterilised milks. It should suffice for mothers to know what lias been recognised and procla’med lor the last twenty years oy tlie leading authorities throughout tlie world on the rearing of babies viz., that infants fed on sterilised milks tend to develop grave defects of nutrition and impairs 1 restiveness to disease, that the/ tend not to make a good stand for life. If they become ill, and that they are specially prone to such conditions as indigestion; marasmus, rickets, and scurvy, SCURVY AND RICKETS. Multitudes of sailors fell .victims, to scurvy before man arrived at tlie knowledge that lack of the "living principles” found in fresh fruit and vegetables lay at the root of the disease. The search for tlie “etizymis,” or living principles present in fresh cow’s milk, ■ but destroyed in the process of boiling, itas been assiduously carried out in America, for the last fifteen years—cspecia ;• at tlie Wisconsin Experimental Station, by Babcock, Russell. Vivian, and Hastings, whose various reports should be, read by anyone who wishes to understand tlie facts and be i rings of tlii ; important subject. As for tlie more immediately practical side of the question—viz., me injurious effects noticed and reported by doctors to accompany or follow the use of sterilised milk in baby feeding, I must refer our ccrrespondent to the standard textbooks by the leading authorities in all languages. One dot not need to single out authorities in a matter where there is so little difference as to tlie main records of past experience. However, I may as well quote the typical remarks made in one of tlie leading English textbooks—viz., “Disease of Ch ren,” by Drs Ashby and Wright (fifth edition, page 206); “While it is certain that some <’ , ''tetlc error is the chief foe or in producing scurvy and rickets, there is much about its etiology whim is not perfectly plain. It is certain that tlie worst forms will be found to have had either preserved milk or peptonised food. “It would certainly seem that in the majority of cases, ; ( least, infantile scurvy is caused by an insufficient amount or absence of an elemen' which is lacking in preserved foods and present in fresh milk and also in orange juice; that occasionally tliis element is present in insufficient quantities in fres ■ cow’s milk, or In human milk; that absence of fresh air, life in stuf"-- bedrooms, depressing diseases such as bronchi'is and diarrhoea, are contributory causes.”

DR. TRUBY KING'S VIEWS. A letter from Mr Nathan has been submitted to me in which he says :—“I wish, when you are writing to ‘Hygeia,’ you would toll her thatJV Truby King is now a very strong advocate for the, use of ‘Glaxo.’ ” Having been for years an exponent of the views proclaimed by Dr King’ and the Society for the Health of Women and Children, it seemed to me incredible that he could have become an "advocate” for the use of any condensed milk, unless under such special circumstances as would warrant its use if properly modified and safeguarded. However, to make unite certain on the point. I communicated with Dr King, and have received the following reply ; Seaclfff, February 24, 1911. To “Hygeia.” . Dear Madam, —You are quite right in your supposition, but there is the usual misleading grain of truth in the amazing assertion to which you have kindly drawn my attention. Last year, when looking round for a reliable dried milk such as could be recommended for mixing with sugar of milk and cod-liver oil in order to prepare a milk-substitute approximating to tire composition of human milk for use wtiere cow’s milk was not obtainable. I wrote to Messrs Nathan and asked if it would be possible for them to let me have their “Defiance Brand” of ordinary dried con’s milk put up in air-tight sealed tins, instead of in tins with a mere closelylilting lid. They replied that they could do better —they could let us have Glaxo, which was in effect their original dried cow's milk "humanised" hy means of cream and sugar of milk added in just the proportions needed to bring the product into conformity with the standard composition of mother's milk. Not doubting for a moment that this standardisation was really carried into effect in Glaxo, 1 mentioned the latter at a medical meeting in Wellington as furnishing an apparently reliable substitute for mother’s milk where circumstances precluded the use of modified fresh cow's milk—for instance, at the Otira Gorge tunnel and oilier places \vhere cows were not kept. Later 1 received the Glaxo Baby Book, and was astonished to find that Glaxo was to all intents and purposes plain dried cow’s milk with merely traces of added fat and sugar of milk. The only materialadvantage of Glaxo over other brands of dried cow’s milk appears to me to be the fact that it is put up in pro-perly-sealed tins, and will therefore keep indefinitely. Two instances have been reported to me in which lins of ordinary dried milk which had been kept long in the shop showed signs of rancidity, and disagreed with the baby. On referring to the Glaxo Baby Book, T find it contains t lie assertion that Glaxo "is cow’s milk modified to resemble human milk ns closely as possible—(fie ’process of humanising the milk—that is to say, making it by the addition of milk-sugar, water and cream as nearly as possible of the same chemical composition as mother’s milk, and sterilising it—is accomplished hy skilled chemists, who have all the resources of a scientific laboratory at their disposal.” In another place the Glaxo Book says ; “Whilst, therefore, cow’s milk is the next best food to human milk, yet it should not be given to a baby unless it can be so modified as to actually resemble mother’s milk.” Yet, as we have seen, Glaxo contains double the average proportion of proteid found in human milk, and is. after all, essentially a Dried Cow’s Milk, and not a humanised milk. Assuming the composition of Glaxo to be as supplied by the proprietors, it could be used in the preparation of an emergency humanised milk, for use in cases where fresh cow’s milk could not be obtained. The usual precaution of giving fruit juice would have to be observed If the dried milk were employed for any length of time. The following formula gives about the proper proportion for making a food reasonably approximating in chemical composition to mother’s milk by means of Glaxo —viz. : Glaxo. f,4 ounces; sugar of milk, %- ounce ; cod liver oil, Hi -ounce, A similar milk substitute can be prepared at about half (lie cost hy using plain Dried Milk, for Instance, the “Defiance” Brand ; but so long as the latter is not put up in sealed tins, care should be taken to ensure its freshness.