OUR BABIES.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 14346, 26 October 1910, Page 8

OUR BABIES.

iDy " Hygeia.”) Published under tho auspices of the Society lor tho Promotion -of tho Health of Women ami Children. IGNORANT MOTHERS. Recently attention was drawn in our column to the very pertinent remarks made uy the lion. Dr. Collins on the need fur teaching girls matters or such practical importance m Hie as the composition ol milk, iiie‘ fermentative changes liable to take place m it, the eneccs ol boiling and oi pasteurisation, and the methous ol mouiiyhig or humanising milk—all this, said Or. Collins, coma be legitimately tunglit. *‘i believe you could not teach the young people anything more interesting than the study ot nuns.” Resides being encouraged as far as possible to lead a healthy life while at school, and to avoid all unhealthy habits and undue stress in any direction during girlhood and adolescence, undoubtedly every girl ought to be made to grasp and clearly comprehend the interesting why and wnerelorc of the simple essential measures needed lor ensuring the health of herself, the home, and tho family—getting these things thoroughly ingrained into her being in a practical way during the most impressionable and momentous period m die. in other words, our gins ought to lead healthy lives and form ami practise healthy lito-habits while at school, and they ought to bo taught those tilings which will be indispensable lor tho successful making ol homes of their own a little later on. Most people will, i think, agree with the general spirit of what 1 have been saying; but some at the present time would dissent from tho idea ol instructing girls in such details as the food value of milk, what harmful changes are liable to come over it in the household, and how these can bo avoided in practice. Still more would they dissent rrom tho idea of entering, as Dr. Collins suggests, on learning how to I ‘modify or .humanise mills.” But, after all, why not? THE STANDARD FOOD. Milk is Nature’s primitive, simple, complete typo of food lor young mammals, and on the composition oi milk all other complete diets must bo based, however they may bo modified in accordance with the requirements of later life. Milk forms the natural startingplace from which to gain a clear view of the infinitely complex dietaries of tho growing or mature human being. Omitting water and mineral matters, there are only three factors in the chemical composition of milk—namely, sugar, fat, arid protoid—and these throe give us also the essential, and practically the only, constituents of every mixed food taken later in life. From the cottage dinner to the Cord Mayor’s banquet it is a question of ringing the changes on the proportions of sugars ! (or starches), fats, and flesh-forming 1 materials which are present in nil milks i in the respective forms of milk-sugar, butter-fat, and protoid. It is quite easy to grasp the fact that 100 ounces* (five pints) of cow’s milk consist, roughly speaking, of Sugar 5 ounces. Protcid 3 to 4 ounces. Fat 3 to 4 ounces. Water 87 ounces. FUEL FOR THE BODY. Explain to quite a small girl that tho Almighty puts butter-fat into milk lor the same reason that her mother puts oil into tho “herosene heater,” and she will be interested at once. She easily grasps the fact that butter is burned to keep tin* body warm, just as the kerosene is burned to “noil the kettle.” Haying realised this, she becomes quite excited when it is pointed out that if the baby bad been intended to live naked in cold water, instead of being clothed and set in air, ten times the proportion of fat would have been allowed in the hiilk, on account of the rapid escape of heat. She is almost fascinated to learn that the baby whale is actually given thick cream to drink—in other words, milk containing ten times the proportion of fat that a human baby draws from its mother’s breast. BUILDING THE BODY. Later she will as easily understand why Nature puts over It/ per cent, of flesh-forming material into the milk of the mother rabbit and only 11 per cent, into the milk of the human mother—especially if her attention bus been drawn to the fact that her pet rabbit doubled its weight in a week ; while it takes a baby over five months to grow from 81b. to 101 b. The girl now sees how absurd it would bo to give a baby unmodified whale’s milk or unmodified rabbit’s milk, and she goes on from that to a clear vision of the fact that a baby should not have unmodified cow’s milk, seeing that a calf grows three times as quickly as a baby. She is satisfied now that when cow’s milk is used for the j baby it needs to be specially prepared or modified. HUMANISING MILK. It is explained to her that the process of adapting or modifying tho milk of any animal so as to fit it for a young human being is called “humanising” the milk, and she is all alive to see how this can be ,effected. She enters with zest into the practical “humanising” of the milk needed for some neighbour’s baby who lias to lie artificially fed. Later still, when she has had some simple elementary lessons in physiology, the method of modifying cow’s milk for tho use of tho baby can he made the text for practically interesting the girl in the functions of digestion and excretion. She can be shown the mass of tough, hard curd (mainly “ilesh-iorm-ing material” or protoid) which it has been necessary to take out of tho cow’s milk by menus of rennet in order that the baby’s digestive organs may not bo overtaxed ; and in order that its tiny kidneys may not have two or three times as much work thrust on them as they arc designed to carry out. Taught in this .simple, practical, progressive way by easy stages, the meaning of the term “Excretion,” and an intelligent idea of the work involved in getting rid of waste products, is readily Drought home. This further enforces what has already been taught as to the need for thorough mastication, for not hurrying over meals, for the avoidance of indigestible food, and the taking of too much meat, etc. I have tried above to show how easy it is to teach and interest oven a young girl in some practical matters concerning health, grouping these around milk, which Dr. Collins regards as such on excellent subject for practical school training. If such lessons are readily

instilled and made interesting in early girlhood, how easily would they be grasped if intelligently taught towards the end of school life. PHYSIOLOGY. In my own opinion tho simplest elements of physiology, such ns help in tho formation and establishment of healthy habits during childhood in regard to fresh air, food, exercise, etc., should he taught by the parents at homo. One can scarcely begin too soon. Every parent would derive benefit from reading Coleman’s little “Health Primer,” published by Macmillans, and I advise all to procure a copy. It is sold retail at eigbteonpt'nce in the Dominion, and its instruction, and advice arc sound, practical, and applicable to everyday fife. Tho quotation given on page 118 of “Feeding and Care of Baby” will convey some idea as to the simple, common-sense way in which necessary lessons are made acceptable and convincing to the child, and often the parent becomes at the same time, learning what is invaluable to the whole household. , lam not of opinion that much physiology should be taught to either girls or boys, but they should know enough to help them to intelligently form healthy haßits ami to avoid the ordinary pitfalls and dangers to health which mar tho lives of the majority more or less in the present day.