THE DEFENCE OF THE BABY

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9674, 16 October 1909, Page 4

THE DEFENCE OF THE BABY

(Continued). On July 15 a mother took her baby, ten w'eeixs old, to the Karitane Hospital. It was a miserable, etarved-kwk-ing little mite, and had lost lib <L2oz 6ihce birth. ■ Previous History.-^-The baby weighed 81b at biithV and had been breast-fed throughout. At a fortnight old it began to dwindle. . The mother was advised to. give her baby one rusk a day. She was afraid to give eomuch, so she gave it half a rusk. She nursed it for a quarter of an. hour «t a time, but it was never satisfied — it was fed whenever it cried. • History Since.— On July 15, at three consecutive nursings, " the baby was weighed immediately before and immediately after. It was found that it had received only from loz to lfroz at e«ch nursing/instead of nearly Soz. (The weighing for this purpose must be quite accurate. A common spring balance will not doj a good grocer's scales are. necessary.) The/ matron of the Karitane Hospital arranged that each nursing should be supplemented wi*-h theproper quantity of specirllyadjusted humanised milk. The following weights show how the baby improved :— . . 1b ot July 15 . • • « .£ 4 /nmi't 1 . » « ♦ - 6 12* An-mt 9 . . . „ ."7 fl Atuniat 21 . . . . .8 4* Au«rn«t 51 . ... . . 97i On * August 31 the baby was bright— j"*tinir im an'l smiling. The mother then said to the mat Ton that she had "never been so thankful for anvthftu? as she was- for having wandered into th*» Karitn-ne Ho«pit«>l. JI T^e mother left the vei^honrh^cfi. &n^ the Plnn'^t jmiti* continued tb» "uidanee started by the tnatron of +h» B»»by Hosnitfll. &\e reports that th* Why wjj« h^virKj .JVw of a rnt^rtiire of half >"Tnaniped and h*Jf . rn*fn««B mil 1 ? in fd^+inn to e»ch hreast fe>*d\h%, on Sen+embT 5. A« the mother's milk presently wean.«»d " altogether. The following are the baby's later wei"M« :— Ib «r ' Sepfember 7 . • ... 10 7 -Fente-^ber 14 . , . .1.1 2' . Spp+e^Jwr 21 . . . .11 8 S«fetember 27 , . . .It 2 The baby has had pure humanised milk for- ijome time now. It is very bright and happy and a picture of health. Naturally the' mpther is delighted. , If E.V.J.. had dono likewise, she would have saved .herself an enormous amount of vague, sleepy anxiety, and her baby an infinity of pain and dw-comfort---let alone the irreparable damage represented by a long period of'defective nutrition. It is' always too lato for a: baby to be what it might have been. It ie rongli on babies that they can't select their nlothers ! The ; strongest advocate of the Society*6 work could not have shown more clearly how much need there w, in Taranaki, for th© services of a Pl'mket nurse thnn E.V:J. lierwlf has «one by writing these two interesting letters. LIBEL ON DOCTORS. As for what she said about her doctor, one cannot fairly judge him on E.V.J.'s assertions — they are probably as far-fetched .and inaccurate as the statements we have already traversed. If any doctor hod really said what she seta down, ho would have proved himself almost as unfit to deal wrth babies, and as ignorant .and incompetent, as the mother herself. However, I should be sorry to think that there are any. such ' charlatans masquerading as medical men. As for the assertion that "nine out of ten medical men will not recommend a diet of humanised milk " — ihow does E.V.J. know anything about what nine out of ten medical men would say when all she has to go on is the statement of one doctor, who, judging him by her own description, is hopelessly ignorant and misleading? However, if nine out of ten medical , men. throughout the world stood out against truth and the laws of Nature, the truth would not be altered ,a jot thereby, but the profession itself would b© confounded and discredited in the long run — that would be all. It's no good trying to hustle a glacier. The laws and forces of Nature don't turn aside' for man. He has to put himself in accord with" the eternals and immutables, or they overwhelm and destroy him. The Inquisition did : not change the rotation of the earth or Galileo's knowledge that it " went round." though it forced him to say that it didn't. However, the verdict of time recoiled on the Inquisition. DUTY OF INQUIRY. Nature wipes out the individuals, families and races that won't take the pains to conform to her laws and truth*, f—i, to adapt themselves to. the

particular r*quir«m«ttta of their times and circumstance*. Civilised hnmanit> has become very hishly endowed witb tho power to reason and the power to know and understand, but Nature hos not superadded these qualifieaticmn to primitive inrtinet — she has merely taken away instinct and has given us reason in its plac«. If the modern mother fails to use the hieher quality, she has nothing to fall back on — she and her offsp'rine must suffer acoordinglv. That is what is the matter wim B.V.J. Rhe should take the mural ot W. K. Clifford's Duty of Inquiry to heart. Her railings against Providence, Plunket nurses. luinifl r 'ii*ed milk, milk sugar, and method will no mot* nr'ove that they are wrong, than her advocacy of oane f u^ar or ' OTste*-s and " eo-as-vou-please " for babies will prrwe the absurd and irrational to be right. . -V who does nH-. +nke t v * trouble to acquire knowledge, but spreads her own ienorance abroad amon"; the comfnunitv, pusiht to b© fcrouffht to realise Tier rejswnßib.iHtY. Tt is not a question of merely relierin? her nerves and aoleen throu?h_ the rrwdiu^ of a newspaper. If wnv child w har^pd through what 8.V..T. hw* •written without tiVins the trouble to ira'ra proper inquiry to find o l^ + her i;«r Hews were correct. ' frf f*e«t.h or disaMlit^ of that child wi'l h> at h*"r door. v nrh peonle are n tneimee + o t.>© comr^Tnity and should not be countenanced. FABY'S RIGHTS. Af'un let me repeat th*t nil r>a*>W who for »ny reason are depri-n-pd of th^ir own movers' 101% have a riorht to the food which m#»t np*rl-v an^-roxin^tp* to it. namely. nnmaniser! mi'k. and all natur^ll^-fed *>nbies oneht r<j have sorfp .humanised mi'k at weamng-t' T ne and f^r some months afterwards. The method of preparation is perfect!* si^nle. and evp*~«" woman^ in the . dominion could easily make it. An-r mother who ft"ds that humant^(wi milk, as 'he ndmiriiFters it, peems to di«?«o;rpe with "her 'baby, ought to try to fi"d ont in -what r*pr*icnJ;>r •*»» herself is foUing short. Ts her method of nrer>* ration cormst P tfr* >d it wifh sucar of milk solution to H^rt with. *nd has^e oradnallv w"kpd tin to fniWt^eneth V>T»*"« i nsß«>< : ' m n k. us lav* down in the r>auvp ; blp + P Are the other "E?s«mi Hals for Health." which we h'ovp repeated over and over again, carefu'W attended toP Tf the m^th^r who cannot give her infant its >>irthri<srht wi'l carry "lit the rp^m^n hud down .in the of>mr>hlet on "The Ceding and Ore of the Babv »' shp will hflve a healthy, bapfrr chPd. and she will a'I»o have the satisfaction of knowing thnt she hps dr>n© her best to ensure its being wellrbmlt with the proper proportions cf the necessary constituents. Why allow your haby to Ket ill, whrn you cou'd so easily keep it health y throughout? - Mothers who bring *even a eomparativelv small degree of knowledge and intelligence to bear <m the proper care and feeding of their infants have rwy little trouble indeed. " It is to lessen iae widespread ignorance which is daily responsible for th" killing and maiming of our little on that -die Society for the Promotion 01 the Health of Women and Children is placing specially-trained Plunket nurses at the service of the pe'ude. We trust that all the readers of this column will join the Society without delay. Next week we shall answer "Biter's *' question. '