HEARTH AND HOME.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9919, 6 August 1910, Page 4

HEARTH AND HOME.

OUR BABIES, (By.HYGEIA.) t (Published under the auspices of the Society for the Health of Women and Children.)

" It is wiser to put up a fence at the top of a precipice than to- maintain an ambulance at the bottom."

ADDRESSES OF PLUNKET NURSES AND SECRETARIES. Dunedin Plunkat JCurses Matheson and Ellis. Office of the Society, Health Department Rooms, Liverpool Street, Dunedin. Office hours: Monday, Thursday and Saturday, from 2 to 3 p.m. Telephone 1186. Honorary secretary, Mrs Car. 8, Heriot Row. Telephone 1774. Christchurch—Plunkat Nurses Falconer and Hickson. Office of the Society, Wfirdell's Buildings, Cashel Street. Telephone 851. Offico. hours : 2 to 3 p.m. daily, except Saturday and Sunday. Honoraiy secretary pro tern, Mrs C, Reid, Knowles Street,' St Albans. Telephone 1071. "Wellington—Plunket Nurse M'Donald, 73, Aro Street. Telephone 3425. Honorary secretary, Mrs M'Vicar, 45. Marjoribanks Street, City. Telephone 26-12. • Auckland—Plunket Nurse Chappell, Park Street. Telephone 851. Office of the Society, 2. Chancery Street. Telephone 829. Office hours: Tuesdays and Fridays, 2.20 to 4 p.m. Honorary secretary, Mrs \V. H. Parkes, ""Marlnoto." Symonds Street. Telephone 240. 'Napier—Plunket Nurse Donald, Masonio Hotel. Telephone 87. Honorary secretary, Mrs E. A. W. Henley, P.O. Box 64. Telephone 147. Palmerston North—Plunket Nurse Henderson, care of W. Park, Bookseller. The Square. Telephone 20. Hours: 3 to 4 p.m. daily. Honorary secretary, Mrs M. Cohen, Grey Street. Telephone 58, Now Plymouth—Plunket Nurse M'Carthy, Imperial Hotel. Telephone 123. Office, Town Hall, Wednesdays and Fridays, 2 to 4 p.m. Honorary secretary, Mrs K. ,T. Matthews, Gover Street Tolephone 104. _ . Timaru—Plunket Nurse Bowman. Office of the Society, Arcade Chambors. Telephone 814. Office • hours: 3.30 to 4.80 and 6.30 to 7.30 p.m. Honorary secretary, Mrs Smithson, Faillle, Scfton Street. Telephone 230. Ashburton—Plunket Nurse Falconer. Office of ths Society, Bullock's Arcade. Nurse in attendance every Saturday from 11 to 5 p.m. Secretary pro tem, Miss St an dish. Hastings (Hawke's Bay).—Plunket Nurse Mitchell. Office at Mr Bates's Pharmacy, Hastings. Hours: 9 to 10 a.m. and 2 to 8 p.m. Telephone 5. Honorary secretary, Mrs T. W. Lewis, Hastings. Telephone 285. Society's Baby Hospital, Karitane Home, Anderson's Bay, Dunedin. Telephone 1985. Demonstrations on points of interest to mothers are given by the matron every Wednesday afternoon, from 2.30 to 3.30. AL mothers aro invited. .... Messages may be left at any time at tne Plunket~Nurses' offices or private addresses. Tho Society's official sheet of instructions on the feeding and care of the baby, written by Dr Truby King, price 3d (postage free), and all • other information available from tne honorary secretary of each branch. PLUNKET NURSES' SERVICES FREE.

ONE MAN'S FOOD ANOTHER MAN'S POISON

When wo began to deal with the above apborLsm, such a wide field was opened up that the subject seemed likely to extend much beyond the limit for a single article, therefore we have decided to traverse the remainder of the, letter from Nelson before considering in detail the broad question of personaf idiosyncrasy. Firat we shall briefly reply to Rachel's question as to whether, knowing that vegetable marrow tended to disagree with her at ordinary times, she was wise:— '

(1) In refusing to be tempted to take a little vegetable marrow while still in bed?

(2) In trying gradually to habituate tli© baby later to tolerating the disturbing effects which, judging from her own previous experience, a little marrow taken by herself might tend to exercise over the quality of lier milk in the direction of making it disagree with the baby. REPLY. (1) There is not the slightest doubt that when laid up in bed after childbirth a woman should avoid anything and everything that she knows by previous experience tends to upset her in any way. It does not suffice to adopt a regimen which may be perfectly suitable to ninety-nine women out of a hundred placed in similar circumstances, ii such regimen includes, for instance, a single article of food (let us, say vegetable marrow) which has tended in the past to interfere with digestion or with, feelings of comfort and well-being. It does not matter in. the slightest whether this tendency to disagree arises from tho intrinsic nature of the food, or is due to the fact that the mother has not been in the habit of chewing it sufficiently, or to a 1 personal peculiarity in her own digestive organs. A period of invalidism, such as the first fortnight after childbirth, should never be chosen as the time for making experiments of any kind. The food taken by the lying-in mother should be of a kind that previous experience has indicated as beneficial and suitable, not only in its general nature, but _suited to herself; and, let me emphatically repeat, the diet at such times must not include food materials which past experience has already indicated as tending for any reason to disagree. (2) The second question, which I will repeat for sake of clearness, is not so easily answered Was the" mother wise in trying gradually to habituate the baby to tolerating the disturbing effects which, judging from her own previous experience, a little marrow taken by herself might probably tend to exercise over the quality of her milk in the direction of making it disagree with her baby ? REPLY. People in general are far too apt to judge of the intrinsic digestibility or indigestibility of a food material by the results which they have observed to follow on the tairing of such substance by themselves, or the report of similar experiences by others. Disagreement is regarded as unquestionable evidence of indigestibility, whereas, in reality, it may be nothing of the Pain in the abdomen, discomfort, j flatulence, etc., arising after taking food is assumed to afford a simple illus--1 tration of cause and effect —the food alone being taken into account, not tho way in which the food has been dealt with by the person taking it. A noted physician was in the habit of telling his patients that they suffered from indigestion because they did not take enough indigestible feed. The seeming paradox is not difficult to explain. Digestion means, in general, the process by which food is dissolved

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