OUR BABIES.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13907, 19 May 1909, Page 7

OUR BABIES.

NATURAL FEEDING OF INFANTS. An address given to mothers and nurses at the Kantane Home on Thursday, April 2Sth, by Miss Ckappell, chief I'luiikct nurse for Auckland. In our work as Plunket nurses we are shown more and more the necessity of getcing back to natural feeding. With this object in view we teach mothers how to perfect themselves for this function. There are so many dangers and disadvantages in artificial Feeding to both mother and child that our first duty is always to insist on the benefits of natural feeding, and to show what can be done to ensure this. I am quite sure that few people realise the great importance of this. It is growing upon me since being under Dr. Truby King's tuition. I once heard a doctor say that if sulphur cost a pound an ounce people would know the value of it, but because it was so cheap they did not appreciate it. This may or may not be true of sulphur, but it certainly is true of fresh air. Pure air is so absolutely free that we do not value it as we should if we had to pay for it. Air is a food, and fresh pure air is just as necessary for proper nourishment as good food is. Withof pure, cool, fresh, flowing air day and night the expectant mother: cannot reasonably expect that either she or her baby will be strong and healthy. She must have thorough ventilation in her bedroom, and thorough ventilation means fresh air flowing through the rooms all the time from the outside, and not a mere airing of the room. Ventilation is usually thought complete when the window is open a little at the top. Even if the .vindow is onen top and bottom there is very small circulation of air; but if th-3 window and door were open, and also'(lie window and door of another room opening on to the same passage, there would bf> a thorough current of air across the .-oonis, and the expectant mother would l-e lire"tiling fresh air all night. Some times in a small room a draught may tend to blow down on the bed, but this can he avoided by having the top sash closed and the lower sash up, a,nd by placing a screen so as to shield the bed from direct draught. Supposing Hie bize of a bedroom were 1500 cubic feet, and the inmates slept- with door and window tight closed, thev would have a supply of only 1500 mbic feet of auto last the whole night. If, on the other hand, there were a thorough current established as described, there would be three times that amount for each hour, or about 40.000 cubic feet for the whole night. This shows the importance of a properly ventilated bedroom. The mother must take exercise in the open air. This is best done bywalking, which should not he carried to the point of fatigue. She should rest when tired, and then go on again, and she should he out as much as possible. Not only must the mother have oxygen, but the baby also, and it is only through the mother's lungs that this can bo supplied—heucc the extreme importance of fresh, pure air for mothers above all people. Freedom of bodily movement is most important. I wish someone would set the fashion to dress in accordance with health. All women would be better if reasonably dressed, but the expectant mother MUST dress properly if she is to give the best physique to the life entrusted to her care. She MUST do all she can to help the little one to become as perfect as possible. With this object in view no corsets should be worn. Corsets prevent the natural movement of the breathing and digestive organs, and are the greatest special cause of ill-health in women. Clothes should be suspended from the shoulders, and perfect freedom thus secured around ths waist and hips. Otherwise the internal organs will be hampered, weakened, and displaced, thus materially increasing the sufferings and dangers of maternity, besides damaging the unborn babe. I find that there is usually no lack of mother love, but great lack of knowledge. This is the grave shortcoming we are trying to prevent. The diet of tho expectant mother should bo simple, nourishing, and digestible, and from a pint to si quart more fluid than ordinary should be taken daily by the nursing mother in order to promote the flow of milk. Meat should be taken sparingly, and rot. more than twice in the day. There should be three meals a day. part of which should consist of fruit (baked apples, etc.), and vegetables. Avoid drinking until the end of meals. Take no alcohol and little tea or coffee. The expectant mother must realise that the ordinarv amount of food is usually quite sufficient. Sho docs infinite harm by over-eating or by taking aii excessive quantity, of milk, etc and thus upsetting her digestion. H is often said that a mother lias "" time for attending to these things, but if less time were spent in making elaborate clothes for the coming hnby. and if the time so spent were employed in establishing a healthy plivsiono instead, it would be an inestimable advantage to mother and child through >ll the c-.niing years. If varVose veins are fronblesome. it is a good thing to avr.irl excessive .*•landing, and to re*-t with the lower limbs raised for some tii"o every day. The advantn"-"- of natural feed-'ng to TP"*her and child arc great. Breast milk" is always fhr> ri'/h f - temperature,- fresh fyr each feed, and (nut

having been exposed to the air) it is practically free from microbes. Thtis the risk of diarrhoea is much lessened. Breast-fed children rarely suffer from rickets. Rickets means a softening and deformity of the bones, caused by want of exercise, impure air, and improper feeding—especially by the use of starchy patent foods and condensed milk. Various deformities arise from rickets which women particularly should guard against, not only on account of the present, but for the sake of the mothers of the future. The Society for the Promotion of the Health of Women and Children wants to bring back all mothers to a condition in which they can and will be able to nurse their babies successfully; but until all are so able, we must teach the others how to prepare and use the food which is the nearest in composition to mother's milk, namely. Humanised Milk. Indeed, all mothers should know how to properly prepare and use Humanised Milk, because, even in the case of breast fed babies, it should be given during weaning, and for some months afterwr rds.

Leading authorities on the subject are coming to the conclusion that it is generally better to nurse the baby every three hours from birth, instead of every two hours, as hitherto recommended during the first month or so. My own practical experience seems to supjxirt this, because it is often difficult and may be undesirable at times to wake a voting baby up for its two-hourly feed. After four months the intervals may generally be lengthened to feeding •rsry* four hours, or five times in the twenty-four hours. The length of time for each nursing should be from ten to twentv minutes.

Over-feeding is a more common fault, than under-feeding, and I have found that lessening the time of feding by :l few minutes (the mother timing herself by a watch) will often make the difference between sickness and health for the baby.

Often indigestion is caused because some constituent of the milk is too high. In most of the cases if the mother would take the proper amount of open-air exercise and give due attention to ventilation, digestibility of food, regularity of habits, etc., the constituents of her milk would resume their normal proportions. To make sure of the proper progress of a baby, it. should b~ weighed regularly—either once a week or once a fortnight.