OUR BABIES

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 144857, 8 December 1915, Page 8

OUR BABIES

By HJGEIA.

Published under the STUB pice 5 of the Society.for the Health of .Women and Children. “It is wiser to -put up .a .fence at the top of a precipice than to maintain an .ambulance at the-hottom-” * ‘ Anxious Mother” writes 'asking me to give advice as to the sleep requirements of babies. I must say X feel somewhat at a less where to begin, the subject being so broad and far-reaching. Xu the first place, it should be understood that there is a clear distinction between the new-born babe find the adult in regard to the tlmo needed for the perfect rest and recuperation which only sleep can give. The young baby should sleep 21 out of the 24 bom's; whereas an old adage assigns to adults, “Six for a man, seven for a woman, and eight for a fool.” WHY BABIES NEED SO MUCH SLEEP. The younger the baby the higher the pressure at which the vital machinery is run. A 101 b baby needs to consume more than a third of the nutriment required by an average man in the prime of life weighing ioOlb—that is to say, the baby, in proportion to its weight and she, has to digest and turn into bipod, bone, muscle, etc., pr use tip for heating purposes five times as much food as a vigourous adult. By the time the adult has reached 00 the vital processes have so slowed down that his total intake of food needs to be no more than that of a year-old baby. What is true of the regular feeding requirements of babies and adults is equally true of their breathing requirements. We take air into our lungs in order to burn our food, and thus keep our vital machinery at work, and also to keep ourselves warm; hence it is that as Florence Nightingale wisely said, a baby has even greater need of pure air than an adult; and hence it is also that doctors have gradually come to the conclusion, on scientific grounds, that a baby should have as much roomspace as an adult. WORKING AND BESTING. The miracle of the body is that it can keep on all through life working and resting at the same time. It used to be said that once the heart had started it was never allowed to stop and rest as long as life lasted; but now wo know that the heart rests between every boat—actually rests longer than it works. And so it is with all the organs. If they don’t take long spells from lime to time, they must take frequent short spells, and this they do m hitherto quite unsuspected ways, as in the case of the heart.

THE HARDER THEY WORK THE MORE THE NEED FOR PLENTY OF SOUND SLEEP.

Seeing that the haby’s organs work much more actively than those of any adult, and that its tiny colls are always hard at it, not only in the way of burning and making the wheels go round, but also in the way of giving birth to countless tiny baby cells, and building up brick by brick. Seeing that the baby’s body is such a hive of industry, it follows naturally that there must be plenty of undisturbed sleep if justice is to be done to the young being. If all is to go well not only with the baby’s body, but also with the devloping mind and spirit, the mother must sacrifice anything rather than the sacred needs of her child. “For are not your bodies the temples of the Holy Ghost?”

'THE PICTURES’’ NO PLACE FOB BABIES.

If women only understood the wrong they were doing in taking babies (or, indeed, any young children) to picture palaces, there would surely be few' of them cruel enough to indulge themselves thus at the expense of the helpless little things entrusted to their care and protection. The taking of infants to picture shows is one of the greatest wrongs of our modern civilisation ; and if no other way can bo found of preventing vice of this kind, the Legislature should step in and make it illegal to admit not only “infants in arms,” but any very young children. The same principle applies to all unnecessary travelling and gadding about with babies—to all breaking in on their appointed times for sleep. Even with children up to live or six years of age, the “morning sleep” is precious, and every effort should be made to safeguard this time from invasion. Of course, this will sound very exacting and old-fashioned to a go<xl many self-indulgent, modern women; but the true mothers, upon whom the future greatness of the race depends, may bo relied oh not to fail luo children. in their hour of greatest need. How often one hears a woman say nowadays, “Oh, I’m not going to give up everything for the baby 1” Of course, there is no peed “to give up everything” ; but the spirit of being willing, and, indeed, glad to give up a great deal ‘ for the sake of the child lies at the very root of all true and noble motherhood. Mrs. Earle, who at 60, wrote her first book, and became, through her “Pot-pourri from a Surrey Garden,” the most intimate friend of tens of thousands of her fellow-women, says in her chapter on “Daughters” : In* the days long ago, when my children were children, and, as is apt to be the case when one is surrounded with a small,- growing-up family, half the population of the world seemed to mo to be my children, my thoughts were so centred on the subject that nothing else seemed to me of any great importance. Who can question that this breathes the genuine spirit that makes for national greatness—the spirit which of all things is most needed by our women now in our hour of greatest stress, peril, and sacrifice of life? The following brief, hut practical note is taken from the Society’s book, “Feeding and Care of Baby” SHEEP AND BEST. “A baby needs abundance of sleep. A newly-born baby normally sloops nine-tenths of its time: At six months it should sleep two-thirds of tho Ijjie. If it is sleepless, it is uncomfortable 1 , duo most probably to its being dyspeptic, irregularly or too often fed, overfed or hungry, wet and cold, or oppressed by excess of hedclothing and over-heating; or tho nursery, may he

insufficiently ventilated; or baby may be suffering from thirst or irritation of the skin.

“Children should’be put in bed regularly at a reasonable hour. “It is well to continue the morning sleep or rest until tho child is five or six years old, especially during the summer, when children wake early. This can easily be accomplished if there is a little firmness on the mother’s part. A short sleep or rest restores a child wonderfully, and tho result is that there is no crossness or fatigue at the end of the day.

Glaxo is used the world over in tho principal hospitals for children, and is recommended by leading doctors. Write to "Glaso,” Dept. 20, Palmerston North, for a free copy of the Glaxo Baby Book, containing 72 pages of advice, on infant feeding and on tho caro and training of tho child.—Advt.