OUR BABIES.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13682, 26 August 1908, Page 2

OUR BABIES.

(By Hygeia.J

''lt is -(riser to put up a fence at ths top of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at tins bottom." AVith the above heading a regular weekly cohumi has been published m Dunedin for the last, fourteen months under the auspices of the .Society lor the Promotion of the Health of Women and Children. In response to request* from, other branches of the Society it has been decided to make the column more widely representative, while at the same time adapting it to the particular needs of each centre. This will be effected by the insertion of.items ot special local interest, answers to local corespondents, etc. Our broad aims and teachings have now become well known throughout the community by means of articles and reports of meetings which have appeared from time to time in the Press; but it is desirable that everyone interested should obtain the Society's 'pamphlet, "The Care and Feeding of the Babv," of which over 10,000 copies have been printed. This can be procured from the secretary of the nearest branch of the Society in Chnstchureh (Mrs. Pyne, Bealey Avenue), a charge of 3d per copy being made to cover cost of production and postage. In order to prevent our having to repeat over and over again the essential rules, recipes and instructions which every mother or nursa should have available for constant use and reference, we shall frequently allude in the column to passages in the Society's pamphlet, and trust therefore that our readers will, keep a copv at hand. . AVHAT AVE UNDERTAKE.

The Society's aims and undertakings in connection with this column are conveyed in the following quotation from the first issue of "Our Babies" which appeared in the "Olago Witness," 12th .lune. 1907: The Society for the Promotion of the Health of Women and Children has arranged for a weekly column devoted to the baby and its mother. The information will be authoritative, reliable, and abreast of the most advanced knowledge of the day; and no pains will ha spared in the direction of rendering all advice or instruction given as simple and practical as possible. At the same time, it must be understood that a main object of the Society is to stimulate interest and to raise the standard of knowledge and thought, among women on all matters affecting tha health of themselves and their children. These aims cannot be carried into effect by the issue of mere dogmatic assertions or instructions, and mothers can no longer trust to mere instinct. The complex conditions of modern civilisation demand the exercise of thought as well if we are to save the race from a continuance of the degeneration already in progress. This column., will not attempt to stifle inquiry and discussion, but will encourage them, under the conviction that this is the only effective' means by which prevailing fallacies, prejudices, and errors 'of thought and practice, can be eradicated and the truth established in their place. Ultimately the column will be devoted mainly to the answering of questions received from correspondents ; but in the meantime, as an introduction, we shall discuss certain matters of paramount importance' to the race. ■ '- _ • The first point to emphasise is that justice will never be done to babies until the community clearly realises that normal breast-feeding is immeasurably better for the health of both mother and child than any system of artificial feeding that- has been or ever will be devised. Even if, the mother's own milk were drawn off by means of a breasl-punip and given to the baby through-, a bottle, half the benefits of suckling both to mother and child would' be sacrificed, and half the disadvantages and dangers of ordinary artificial feeding would have to be faced . cooling of the. milk, infaction with microbes, sucking in of air, etc. The baby's worst enemy is not lack of affection on the part of the mother, but' her indifferent health and vitality, her neglect of the laws of life; and her lamentable ignorance as to the proper, course to pursue in the joint interests of herself and her offspring. In despair she turns from one course to . another, oblivious of the fact that, as Herbert Spencer says, " the. regimen to which children are subject is hourly telling on them to their lifelong injuiy or benefit; and for one. way of going right in this matter there are twenty ways of going wrong." < Our aim will be 'to point out the " one way of 'going right," so far as that way may be known, and to frankly give anyone who may entertain a contrary opinion- the opportunity of showing that the path we have indicated is not after all the best one. If nothing is brought for•ward to the contrary, we may assume that the advice we have tendered is tacitlv admitted to be sound. RETROSPECT.

In the fourteen months which have, elapsed since the above was' written, and during which the column has appeared regularly every week, none of the advice given has been refused or even challenged. On the other hand, a growing stream of correspondence has been received from mothers in all parts of the Dominion showing how their babies have flourished under the general care and system advocated by the society. Almost without exception these letters have contained the names and addresses of the senders, who have usually written, asking for further advice on some special point. At the present moment, however, we have in hand two unsigned communications from "Lux" and "A Grateful Mother." Correspondents should understand that no weight can be attached to such anonymous letters, however appreciative, since we have no means of assuring ourselves that they are genuine and bona fide. Neither names nor addresses of correspondents are ever quoted in the column without the express consent of the writes, names being asked for, merely to satisfy our readers and ourselves that all letters dealt with in the column are responsible and reliable. Communications may be sent to "Hygeia," care the Editor.

RUPTURE. Several letters have been received from mothers enquiring about the supposed risks of rupture or hernia, arising if th« support of an abdominal binder is not continued throughout the early months of infancy. The abdominal binder and other constrictions are unknown in some countries, and it is said that the consequent freedom of breathing and muscular exercise causes a rapidity of growth and development during the "first year of life practically unknown among ourselves —babies left free being able to stand and walk long before those who are hampered and swaddled in the customary way. There should hi nothing to impede the absolutely free play of the movements of the trunk and abdomen. The idea of supporting the wails of the belly is absurd. Anything which affords habitual support hampers muscular action and restricts free breathing. The walls of the abdomen, instead of being strengthened, are weakened by • tha use of a binder, and the tendency to rupture is increased, not diminished. There is rarely any valid excuse for using a binder after, say, about the first fortnight of 4ife, during which time it may

have been desirable. If a special tendency., to-rupture is present, or if there is mi actual hernia, a,, doctor should be consulted who ■ will'• treat the conditio!! himself or explain how .it can be cured by the mother or nurse without interfering with health and the free and natural movement of parts. It may interest mothers who are doubtful about this matter and cannot rid their minds of the prevailing idea that a baby's abdomen is not safe without support, to know that at the, Society's liaby Hospital near Dunedin, binders " are always dispensed with, within a week of the time of admission. One might as well bind a pair of bellows. From the point of view of breathing the chest- and abdomen should be regarded as a wind instrument, and as such should be as free to move as a concertina.