OUR BABIES.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 14285, 29 August 1910, Page 3

OUR BABIES.

' a WHY SHOULD NATURE FAIL TS. "Accuse not. nature, she lias 'lone lier part-; do thou but thine." —-Milton. Last week I dwelt at some length on the fact that the ilow of milk .should j be regarded as the natural response to (the stimulus given to the mother's i brea.sts bv the regular act of suckling, : and that to a large extent the ijuantity I of milk forthcoming corresponds to the 'amount oi stimulation —a oucstiou of supply and demand. Another illustration ol' ih:s uoiut is afforded by ihe iaet thai l\ in tile first weeks of life a baby is feeble and the milk supply is imsar^l'aeto.ry. ihc I'mw may be properly established by ihe mother partially suckling lor- the time being an active, healthy baby in addition to her own—a common practice on the Continent of Eurone. .Finally 1 may point out how all-im-portant it is that the young mother should regard the flow of milk as '.Nature's almost unfailing re-i-ou-e to , the regular normal act of suckling on the part of her child. Provided she has ' I'.aid reasonable attention to ben- health there should be- no misgivings whatever as to an adequate How of milk becoming established, if the baby is put- to the breast within I'2 hours o'i ; its birth, and regularly thereafter. The frequent- failure to do this is one of the lending causes of deficiency or absence ; of supply of breast milk. -V.any a mother and baby arc subjected to all the pains and penalties liable to attend and follow artificial - feeding, simply because the baby has j not been put r,a the breast until the : second or third day, under the mis- | guidance of a, nurse or friend imbued : witli Popular Error Xo. VI (sec '■Feeding and -Care of the baby.'' page 90). ' where this matter is fully explained. By the way, 1 may mention that the reference therein to the "Appendix" should have pointed to "A Roman on Alothcrhood," page 140. ! Last week we got so far with the history of the baby that when the , ascertained deficiency in the quantity jof Jood which he was receiving was 'made up to ihp standard quantity for ' his weight and age, "he seemed contented and slept (luring the afternoon." J From this time forward there was practically no trouble of any kind. The baby went ahead by leaps and bounds, and his weight, which had been below r the. aveiwge soon increased, -crossed the average line, and lias remained above it ever since. (See table at end , of column.) i The mother's health improved very greatly too, and, although her milk supply never came up to the full quantity necessary l'or the complete nourishing ot her child, she lias been able to | continue partial nursing up to the present time. At Jirst there was a, slight increase in the quantity of milk secreted, probably due mainly to i'r»''edoin from worry and anxiety resulting from the baby being now contented ami happy. The following notes may be of interest. t On the day following the first use of supplementary feeding ihe baby was quite satisfied as usual with his mother's milk aione at the G a.m. feeding. (He was never weighed at the early feeding, as he always appeared satisfied with what he received at- that hour). At 9 a.m. he got Sox from his mother. This was the only time ho was weighed on that dav. Half a pint of supplementary milk (made no of llunonised .Milk 60j5 and Sugar of Milk Solution 4c.-/.) was given in the 2-1 hours, and he was much more contented. The following weigh,in£rs. noted by the mother at the time, show the actual quantities received by the baby from the, breast at successive nursings:— 0 a.m. 12 noon. 3 p.m. 6 p.m. ox, oz. 07.. Friday ... -1 Saturday 3 3 2J 2 Sunday ... 4 22 2 Monday ... 3J 2.V 2 Tuesday ... 3| 3 22 "Wednesday 3| 21- 2.'- 2} Thursday 3 2-i-It- is extremely interesting to note - the tendency to decrease in ihe quantity i of milk drawn oft at- each successive ; feeding during the day. This is usually a marked feature oi' breast-feeding, where the total milk supply is below the needs of the baby, and shows how imi portant it is to weigh the infant before , J and alter suckling at several successive ' j feeding times, or if weighing can bo j ! done uidy once, to -select a mid-feeding \ or one towards the end of the day. ' However, a single weighing never gives , a reliable basis for estimating the pre- ■ else quantity needed for supplementary feeding.^ " After the first four days the supplet mr-ntary milk used was full strength t standard Humanised Milk, and J. have a - note, "Baby looks very well, and is s sleeping much better.''* , A fortnight later the note is, "Baby looking very wed; sleeps from S p.m. till 6 a.m., hardly waking up for its 10 o clock meal. Yesterday aud to-day had sufficient from mother at the i) a.m. feeding." i iwo mouths later: "Baby looks very bright and happy. Is having more supplementary milk now. He sleeps 16 | hours a. day.' 1 A month later: "Baby n a erv jolly and bright. Xo trouble at ail. Xo teeth yet. JTas a bone to bite .* at, V.'eiglit 171b Goz." .. -Tne lolioiy.ne; month: "Baby very t bright and lively. House still too ; warm and close. This prevents his being as firm and rosy as lie might be. t f^ e !l S ' l - L ;bt cold yesterday, but is ' better to-day." i ihe last note brings us to the question of Fresh Air. That is really the hardest tiling of all to win for the babies. Once the mother has been " taught, she will generally take ahuosc I nny amount of treuhlo in tiie prcpara- : tion of food, weighing the baby frequently, feeding with clock-like regularity, clothing him properly, giving him exercise, taking him out of doors several times a day, and walking about with liiui, but it seems almost impossible tq ensure a really good supply of tres.i air when the baby is not actually outside With his mother, There is always some reason at hand when one finds the babv in a close stuffy kitchen. •Tv'e have just this moment come in,;' or "We are inst going out," or "We have iust closed the window," or "Ho gets plenty of fresh air—ho is a terror for it—ho er.ir-s when L bring inm in." Sensiblo babv! He knows when he is leaving the beautiful, clean, pure air and going into the stuffy house. His system instinctively resents the change. . Ti i en : "We can't leave h.'m m the porch because the noise of the other children wakes him," or "I'm afraid of the cats or dogs." It hardly seems to occur to women, who ensure fresh air for their meat butter, and milk by keeping such food in an outdoor sate made with perforated zinc, that they can give their baby the benefit of the same inestimable advantage without risk from marauders i.v the use of an enclosuie made oi wire nettni"' costing about 2d a yard. They don t put their canary inside a. <4os'e bos—otherwise called a. house; they put it in an open wire cage, and if" they . know anything about canaries they keep 1 the cage out of doors as much as possible. It has been found in practice that • fov. li, which were supposed to specially 1 need warmth (which meant stuffiness), do best when ailowod to roost- in trees, or if, when housed, the fronts of the sheds are left entirely open—with a mere wind-■ scree;.! to prevent excessive

draughts. The same applies even to lions and tigers—they do best in cool i rcsh air, though ihey come from the tropics. Ihe lollowiug shows the progress oi' the baby as regards weight, before and a iter the period when supplementary I ceding was commenced:— lbs. ozs. At birth 7 0 7 weeks <) 4. 8 weeks 9 S 9 weeks 10 0 10 weeks 10 4 II weeks 10 8 The baby was now lib below the average and was not thriving. He was therefore weighed betore and after feeding. and thereafter the breast- milk wa-. supplemented by.the necessary qu.imitv of humanised milk. f- weeks 11 (, lo weeks ... ... ... 40 14 weeks ... ... ... 40 8 \o weeks '. 43 0 10 weeks 13 3 Xote that baby s weight lias here reached the normal average. 5 months ... ... ... 15 0 6 months ... ... ... 1(3 43 « 7 months ... ... ... 47 8 months ... ... ... 43 y Xote that the baby is now 31b above ■the average weight for his age.