OUR BABIES.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 13702, 17 September 1908, Page 2

OUR BABIES.

By Hygeia

It is wiser to put up a fence at the top of a- precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom. HOW TO KEEP WELL We possess to-day a closer grip of the conditions of health than has ever been possible before. - - • are no * able to show clearly what a man should do-who "would live a healthy life. Medicine is no longer an affair of drugsuseful as these are in their place. . - - An organism badly bom and badlv biel, always, placed under unwholesome conditions and elowlv saturated with disease, finally breaks down and is brought to the doctor." to be drugged into health. It is a sorrv task for medical science, and what is of much more consequence, it involves fearful expense, not merely io ilie individual, but to all those with whom he comes in contact—expense of money, expense of happiness, expense of ife. The key-note of our modem methods is not cure, but prevention, and while this task is more complex, it is also far easier. It is to a svstem of healthy living, and by a perpetual avoidance of the very beginnings of evil, that our .medical, science is now leading us. LEGIONS OF INVISIBLE FOES. Every fresh discovery lof a microorganism causing disease io a promise by no mean? necessarily of a cure for that disease, but of the possibility of se.ting up an effectual barrier aga nst : its invasion. We are surrounded -b-- legions of invisible foftj, always ready to take advantage of a false step, of the least crevice in our armour. And it is satisfacioiy io feel ai«sured that our right counie of action does not. lie in s'watlrng ourselves (or our babies!)—either literally or metaphorically—in antiseptic cotton \tool. We have another and better thield for allowing ud to move, for the most part, untouched among our enemies. 'Fresjy air and reasonable garments, cleanliness- in the full cense of the word, pleasant work and varied exercise, wholesome food, the healthful play of the secretions and excretions—these are the things.—Havelock El- . lis. HOW TO RESTORE HEALTH. Havelock Elite might have gone on to say that not only is the observance of simple hygiene the most essential measure for preventing dicease, but that it also gives us the key to dealing with illness after it has arrived. Hygiene is the natural line of cure, whatever other Btepa the physician or surgeon may find it iieeccssaiv to takeA leading New York professor of ch"ldren's diseases sums' up the position today as follows: There is a growing tendency on the part of leading specialists in the affections of childreen to rely upon dietetic and hygienic measures in the management of infants. The belief is growing stronger that among children, even more than amoug adults, success depends, upon preserving nutrition and putting the body in the way.to-resist disease. These views have recently been expressed by Professor Holt, who believes that dietetics and general hygiene are the two important factors in the treatment of tick children. If women could only be brought 'o realise this, the main difficulty confronting ilie doctor in .dealing with the treatment of the s ck baby in its own home would be at an end. In vain be tries to persuade the mother, in a case of acute diarrhoea, for instance, that the most'essential step after evacuation of the bowels is to give, it may be for a daj- or more, nothing but boiled" water, and to provide a free wtpply of pure air. Nine mothers out of ten have an equal dread of free ventilation and of what they call starvation— what, lor the time being, indeed, starvation. It is no use reasoning wiih ;ji distracted mother, and telling her that, temporary s arvation is beUer than .a coutinued drain and rap d exhaustion. t>he has been tauglft, nothing beforehand about nursing and the needs of babyhood, and in her unstrung fctatc she' is* quite incapable of taking, in the let*son. THE DOCTOR'S DILEMMA. I. nder these circumstances (he doctor -may not attempt to pursue, or tendi, to desist from enforcing, what would.be the bust line of treatjiieut ii it. were practicable the treatment, that would be followed as a matter of conr.vo in hospital. He often finds himself obliged reluctantly to put up with a compromise, which inav result in protracted illness or in the death of the baby. . TRAINING FOR MOTHERHOOD ESSENTIAL. All women ought to be trained before motherhood, in the essential needs.of babv I'fe. So long as women are allowed to enter on ma.entity ignorant oi everything it is most essential that tliey eiiould know in 'lie interest* of uth»prmg, tuc ptv&vui sh.uiiet'ful lon* of infant, life and widespread mining of heal h will continue. Ncarlv all b.itues are born healthy; thev ate naturally subject. to few. "forms of difcase; they are tenacious «>f life and hard to kill; yet it has been recentiv "-id in Frame. "The new-Worn babe less chance than a man of 90 of living j for a week—lec* chance of Jiving through a year than a man of four score.'' This i* ihie »»entially to parental ignorance and carelessness, not. to intentional' cruelty, not to primary weakness of the baby. The practical training of women in esMiitial.t is t4i* only means of reform the only meaiii by which we can ensure the rearing of a strong and healthy race. Th* following case of infantile diano hoe.v which came under lh« r,no of the I'lnnket Nurse in Dunetliti jdiows how all orh«r me.uis of ticatment may prove futile in the absence of some on*' simple hygienic need which most niothei* wuuld suppose could havn little or nothing to do with keeping up th<> malatlv. CASE OF DIARRHOEA IN STCFFY AIR. The mother'of a baby'a few months old, which was suffering from infract «.!»!•} diarrhoea, applied to the Central Hospital for out-patient aid. Suitable medicinal treatment was prescribed. Tho filing was entrusted ti» the l'lunkct Nur>c, who pursued the course advocated in the society's pamphlt t, but though «he vi*it-d the home >he wax unable to peiMiade *h- jMients t<a allow ventilation. The baby continued 1«> go <}ou n lull. :iinl t)i,, iiur>o then appliod to have 'he home visits! hy a doctor. He jn >i»t<*d u|»,n tho imuu tires ,»ho had already advocated, but. without avail. One of the patents wss Miffd ilig Ji'iiii chrome < "iiMiinpt ion, and Imth ha/1 an a!>»olut-j dn-ad of fr. sh .lit especially night a:;'. Ihe n»g the daytim- the b-ibv \ta„ kept, in j the kilt hen. .tiid the tin- ih-ii .'tiMircl j a ccjt.uii jnt"init. of incoming Jir. but. ) i h-- supjiiv iv,i» •prl t iii.nicfjil.itc and th'* j :'"in «.i-- t»>.» «jiii! |-"urth<!. fii-ie l «.»» n« \ i iii.;! if !'i!i at. ntgli'. on changing ■ to tiie I. ■!].-, in 1; wa> that j l-KiNt'o't- ilio h.itv might Or- .»ut : !r"til Mibr-.-u!"-!-. H>>wv«r, in • • r :y , a»r. the |-!«-|» •'! •■{ lecuvej v .ij f f-.r-d f. th- d'H !<•: h"p«-l<-.-.s und'.: | ■ . irnilir-! hit- I" • i;e 'io-ii -.1 .u-.-img i'i i !»•- ?)i!1'«"«?lU I ll«,*}-ltal l='.t to take Ml babic- w •- Vmdh ; •Jail.,}. ai,.| tilr :!-.fa:it. -a-u-. ..dmii'-.t l-'«s Ming n !-ii p: i,j»-r!y giadr-i ir.:liia:i;v. i} : llidk. f II),] ':••.1, .it I >. : .<«•! !"• liin.uU l».:rv « •.•inp.nj w >» •-i; | | r -i a: 3-.<■*jt-vi. atet th<* I>»by ! , a ral'id In !0 d \y- ;• h >d , ••:, ,r-- d a: f „. t ■ "U v.-n-i tjoti. -.re! ; ' - n: i-.-mr „ 1' -li, : t.j th- U:t. r, howevr, st ?h='u!d b- ■

that the mother herself appeared to l>s affectionate, and was careful and attentive to instructions, with the exception of admitting a proper supply of cool, fresh air. There its no reason whatever that the parents could have treated the baby with perfect success in their own home had they been open to reason on the subject of ventilation. The baby w-as not tuberculous, the case was one of simple diarrhoea, but it could not be cured in the stuffy air of the cottage, though the size of the rooms was ample. MOTHERS HARD TO CONVINCE. The above is not an isolated case. . On the contrary doctors, nurees, and visiting 6inters alike deplore the fact, that it is almost impossible to induce the average j mother to allow .free ventilation, even in j the daytime,' while she is terrified at the mere suggestion of windows kept wide open at night—dreading both night air and burglars - . INFLUENCE OF PRACTICAL PROOF. The society in Dunedin finds that its most effective means of overcoming popular prejudice against freely admitting pure air lies in inducing women to vi-sit* the Karitane Baby Hospital. There they can see for themselves how delicate infants fare in." a. simple six-roomed house with the windows kept wide open day and night. This practical object-lesson specially-" impresses. the actual motheis of the babies.'.... .They. «je with surprise, and at fiist with some anxiety, tliat the windows are really wide open even in winter time, not- merely up or down an' inch or twin they feel the coolness and freshnees of the air in the rooms; they can feel also howcosy and comfortable tfre babies are in their light warm woollen wrappings. By .the time- the, baby is ready to leave the institution its mother is mtrre or less a convert to pure air. To complete her conversion, a specially trained -nurse sees the baby comfortably- established in its own home. She shows not only how purity of air is' to be maintained under the new conditions, but {joints out anything that would conduce (o the home life. Thus Ihe whole family comes to share in the benefit of practical lessons in hygiene, learned ■* and acted on in the immediate interests of the baby. Iu addition there are the weeklv demonstrations at the/Baby Hospital, open to all, and the practical instruction given by the Plunket Nurse on her daily rounds. These influences all acting in the same direction*; meet effectively raise, the standard of health not. only among women and but throughout the whole community.