OUR BABIES.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 143647, 15 November 1911, Page 8

OUR BABIES.

By HYGEIA. Published‘under the auspices of the Society /or the Health of Women and Children. * 4 lt is wiser to put up a lence ,wc the top of a precipice than to tain an ambulance at the bottom, A MOTHER’S LETTER. The following letter was received last month I take the liberty to write to you for advice about my little girl, who is now nine mouths old. She has been on humanised milk /our and a-half months. 1 was advised to take her from the breast as she was continually getting attacks of diarrhoea. She has done well on the milk, but ior some umo has hoop slightly troubled with indigestion, with an inclination to get diarrhoea. About a month ago there was much curd in the motions, and they were getting very frequent, so I put her on to boiled water, as advised by the Society’s book. This only gave temporary relief, ns she lias been unwell off and on ever since. Sometimes she is quite well for a few days, and we think she is going to come on fine, but the trouble returns again, and it is necessary to give her castor oil, and to add whey to the milk to keep her anything like well. So we have not allowed her to get really ill, though it scorns impossible to keep her quite well; and the most annoying part of it is that she is not gaining in weight. She has been at a standstill for about a month; but probably her teeth may have something to do with this. She is a small child, weighing only 161 b.; but she is quite strong, can sit up, and is not in any way backward.

The milk I am giving her is from recipe No. 3, being 60oz. of new milk set for seven hours to get 15oz. of top milk, and we think the fault must lie in the milk. I am sure our system is not at fault. Baby gets fed regularly five times a day. She gets abundance of fresh air day and night, and everything is kept clean and sterilised.

I am forwarding loz. of the milk with four drops of formalin added, and if you would he kind enough to let us know what you think of it, and advise us what is best to be done we would be very grateful. Wo would have more confidence to go on if wo were sure the milk was right.

If you consider an immediate change is necessary in the milk, please send a collect wire. There is a telegraph office near here. Baby is digesting her food at present, but I am adding loz. of whey to each meal. I started adding barley- jelly, but it seemed to irritate her, so I have stopped it for the present. ANSWER TO MOTHER’S LETTER. The impression convoyed by your letter regarding the baby is that there has been throughout and that there still is a digestive weakness, because practically the same trouble has occurred in connection ivith the artificial feeding as manifested itself when the baby was breast-fed. The natural inference is that the milk was not specially, if at all, at fault in either case, and it would probably hfivo been wiser to continue breastfeeding, while devoting every possible attention to bringing your own health into the beet possible condition, and attending most carefully to all the essentials for health (see pages I and 2 of the Society’s book) for the baby.

Do not imagine I am doubting that yon have left almost no stone, unturned —your letter shows clearly what an amount of care and attention you have bestowed. lam morel,\ pointing out that the trouble apparently lies mainly in an inherent weakness on the part of the baby which she will probably outgrow if you can keep her quietly growing and developing in spite of little reverses from time to time. What you describe is a fairly common experience, but usually on careful investigation one finds that there is some little tiling left undone which would improve matters. Indeed, it is rare to find, for instance, that mothers truly and literally give their babies the full benefit of pure, cool, outside air day and night.

Y’ou ivoiild probably find that a change to the formula (on page 142143, “Humanised Milk, No. 11. simplified”) would be followed by improvement. You might commence this by giving two parts of the milk to one" of boiled water, gradually reducing the water day by day and correspondingly increasing the humanised milk until baby is taking pure humanised milk. If there was a tendency to green motions or diarrhoea, the milk could be boiled for a time r Sometimes the addition of some of the white of a perfectly fresh egg added raw to the mill: after it has been prepared and cooled proves beneficial. You could try a teaspooiiful at first, and work up to three tcaspoonfula a day in the course of a week, if it seemed to agree. Don’t go beyond this quantity.

By the way, it occurs to me that you" may he slightly over-feedin.g the baby, which would account for excess of curds in the motions, and woulfl prevent gain in weight more effectually than moderate under-feeding. The baby’s probable daily requiremcn of human or full strength humanised milk is about 350 z., and would not exceed 40oz.

Probably the addition of a little cereal jellv would prove beneficial. that there has been a tendency to relaxed bowels, I should advise yon to start with rice jelly (see page 22), r-t’ier than oat or barley jelly. 1 shall he glad to hear how baby gets on. About the ninth month weight often remains stationary for a good many weeks —indeed, this is usually the period of slowest growth in the first twelve months of life.

The percentage of fat in the specimen of humanised milk which you sent is only 2 per cent, instead of 3.5 or 4 per cent. The milk set must have (icon of poor quality; or there must have been some mistake in the method of preparation; or the milk cannot have been properly mixed before the specimen was taken from it.