OUR BABIES.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18518, 15 March 1930, Page 15 (Supplement)

OUR BABIES.

WHAT IS A PLUNKET BABY? Very often nowadays one hears the remark, “Of course, he’s a Plunket Baby,” or “What a beautiful baby! Is she a Plunket baby?” One catches the echo of the term even when one is not listening to it—on tram and train, in the country, under the best and worst conditions the towns afford. One looks at the babies for whom the claim is made, and at the mothers who make it, and, if one did not know, would greatly wonder what really makes a “Plunket baby.” A Contrast. Lot us look at two babies for a little, each, generally speaking, typical. A True Plunket Baby. The mother of this first baby may, and does, proudly and lovingly assert the claim to Plunket babyhood. The “beautiful one” is naturally fed, as it is his right, and her delight, that he should be. He is fed regularly every four hours—five times in the 24 hours —and not at all during the eight sleeping hours of the night. The actual feeding times are adjusted to suit the household, but the intervals and the hours are always the same. So, you see, he is having the only perfect food, his digestion is having time between the meals to make full use of that food and time to rest before the next meal, and he is having the unbroken rest at night which he so greatly needs for every part of his rapidly growing little mind and body.

Of course, he is thriving like any other little creature under the best conditions, but he is not too fat. Every bit of his flesh is firm and clear, his eyes are bright, and one has only to hold him. a moment to appreciate his muscular tone.

He is not treated as a plaything, made to laugh and crow, or show off to every visitor to please his parents’ vanity; yet he is the happiest thing alive, gambolling with his natural playthings, his own hands and toes, as interested in the new and wonderful things that come within the ]jange of his vision, as full of abounding vitality as the puppy playing in the yard. He sleeps and kicks out-of-doors as much as the weather allows, and sleeps as night in the airiest bedroom, though he is carefully protected from draughts. He sleeps all the morning after he has gone through his regular performance of bath, being “held out,” and having a normal movement, and his breakfast. If he wakes a little before his next meal time„ probably all one knows about it will be a suddenlyglimpsed fat little leg and foot lifted energetically from his cot for exercise and inspection, or a vigorous jerking of his pram. He likes and expects his outing and his nursing in the afternoon, but he has a sleep also, and is too well and too happy to grumble if he has to entertain himself alone more than usual.

Indeed, he is one joy from morning till night and from night till morning, to himself and all around him—a perfectly beautiful, truly “Plunket baby.” A So-called Plunket Baby. Now, here is our other baby, whose mother also makes the claim. He looks “nervy,” he is never still; his little face totally lacks the sweet, content, satisfied-with-his world expression our first baby habitually wears. He is fed on humanised milk, made according to the directions given by the Plunket nurse, and on that his claim to “Plunket babyhood” is based. But that alone is not enough. His mother has thought the food was all that mattered, and that it was unnecessary and. merely foolish fussing to follow the carefully-thought-out advice for building her baby sound and healthy through and through. Perhaps there is a tradition in the house that the baby is fed every three or every four hours, but really the clock is not much regarded in timing the intervals. If he is awake and fretful he is fed more often, and if he is asleep “it is a pity to wake him,” and he “will not” sleep all night without a bottle.

He demands attention whenever he is awake, and seldom lies good for many minutes. He is bored by his fingers and toes, the waving of a curtain, the rustle of the leaves have no fascination for him—he has learnt thus sadly early to want excitement and amusement. He has learnt, too, that he gets what he wants if he cries hard enough and long enough, and this he regularly does. But presently the fun wearies him; he thinks he is hungry, and so does his mother, and he is fed before he is ready for food, when all

he needs is rest and sleep. But he sleeps little and irregularly, i because of the over-stimulation and nervous excitement to which he has been subjected, and when he does his little circle tip-toe round, afraid to disturb him. I think he has a dummy, because “he will not go to sleep at all without it,” and his mother “can’t be so cruel as to teach him the rudiments of selfcontrol in anything. Which is the Better Baby. Which of these babies is the happier? Which is “mothered" ,in the truest sense, most wisely, kindly, with the longest vision? Which baby is being given the greatest advantage towards fulfilling the ideal of happy, healthy, self-controlled, and useful citizenship, mind and body equally balanced? Can there be any question? Then let us all help to sweep away the old misconceptions and prejudices which make the opportunities so unequal and hamper our children’s progress.