HEARTH AND HOME.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10106, 18 March 1911, Page 4

HEARTH AND HOME.

OUR BABIES. (By HYGEIA.) ' (Published under the auspices of the Society for the Health of Women and Children.) ■;• "It is wiser to put up a fence at the fop of a precipice than to maintain an ~„ ambulance at the bottom." f ADDRESSES OF PLUNKET NURSES -•', AND SECRETARIES. 6 Wunedin—Plunket Nurses Eliis and Laing. - Telephone 1136. Office of the Society, ••-..-." Health Department Rooms, Liverpool Street, Dunedin. Office hours, daily (ox- :. oept Sundaye), from 3to 4 p.m. Honorary' secretary, Mrs Edmond, Melvilln Street, Telephone £&. ' Phristchurch—Plunket Nurses Falconer and Hiokson. Office of the Society, Wardell's V Buildings, Cashel Street. Telephone Ssl. Office hours, 2 to 8 p.m. daily, except Saturdays and Sundays. Honorary secretary pro tem, Mrs C. Reid, Knowles '?•• Street, St Albans. Telephone 1071. Plunket Nurse M'Donald, 73, Aro :<•<" Street. Telephone 2425. Honorary secre--1: tary, Mrs M'Vicar, Brougham Street, - : • City. Telephone £642. '.'Auckland—-Plunket Kurses Chappell and Brier., Park Street. Telephone 851. Office °', of tho Society, 2, Chancery Street. Tele- " ' phone 829. Office hours, Tuesdays and ~ v Fridays, 2.30 to 4 p.m. Honorary Secre. {..' tary, Mrs "W. H. Parties, " Marinoto." ..J. Symonds Street. Telephone 240. ',','Jlapier—Plunket Nurse Donald. Masonic Ho- '"". ' tel. Telephone 87. Honorary secretary, -';'; Mrs E. A. W. Henley, P.O. Box 64. Telephone 147. £vJST«w Plymouth—Plunket Nurse Murray, Im- •.:•;.- perial Hotel. Telephone 123. OffiTS, Town 7,-' Hall, Wednesdays and Fridays, 2 to 4 ,'-' p.m. Honorary secretary, Mts R. J. Matthews, Fitzroy. Telephone 104. r tomaru—Plunket Nurse Bowman. Office of "' the Society, Arcade Chambers. Telephone ~"; 814. Office Jiours, 8.30 to 4.30 and 6.30 r>3 to 7.30. Honorary secretary, Mrs Smith'f( " son, Faillie, Sefton Street. Telephone 230. ~.|BTeroargill—Plunket Nurse O'Shea, Allen's "•£';'■ Hall, Kelvin Street. Honorary secretary, rS *. Mrs Hafedyside, Gala Street. ;-iihburton—Plunket Nurse Falconer, Office (Is of Society, Bullock's Arcade. Nurse in attendance every Saturday,from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Honorary secretary pro tem, Miss. Standiih. Society's Baby Hospital, Karitnne Home, Anderson's Bay, Dunedin. Telephone 1985. •"' Demonstration! on points of interest to S" . mothers are given by the Matron every i£| Wednesday afternoon from 2.30 to 8.30. All mothers are invited. ...Messages may be left at any time at tho "*-'' Plunket Nurses' offices or private ad- """ dresses. All other information available ; v -:- : from the honorary Mcretary of each - .' branch, v-' PLUNKET. NURSES'-SERVICES FREE, ir DMED MILK FOR BABIES. *•'■'■ In last week's / column I showed the iannful influence of the excess of proteid present in cow's milk, whether .:' given pure or in the form of condensed or dried milk with water. It will be ."remembered that while human milk iwas seen to average from 1.1 to 1.5 per .'cent of proteid, dried cow's milk such .'as Glaxo yielded, on dilution for use, • 8 per cent, or about two or three times - iinore than the proper percentage; in - other words, practically the percentage '■found in .ordinary cow's milk. However, in Mr Nathan's letter ho says: "i"'We could boast that there is no re-•-Bult to be found, in using dried cow's milk, as there would be in using even milk. The difficulty of the - djgestion of proteids is absolutely overcome." '..''■', The meaning of this is somewhat ob:;scure, but, assuming that the word "residue was intended and not result, it il, Mould appear to be contended that milk leaves an undigested residue in the alimentary canal, and ; that dried milk does not. j A gratuitous assumption of this kind iis quite absurd. All foods, even yrinothers' milk, leave some undigested /-.residue, but German scientific investi- >; gations go to show that, if not given in the absorption of the casein of ..•properly modified cow's milk is not inttferior to that of mother's milk. rv:> However, granted for a moment that ■--'bur correspondent is right, and that ?'there is really complete absorption of 4 the proteid of Glaxo into the blood, this would do away with the only argu£;ment we have ever heard advanced in £ justification of the use of cow's milk *BI which the proteid has not been re■rduced bo. as to approximate it to the 1 low percentage found in human milk. £.The stock reply made in extenuation :>di giving too much proteid is, " Oh, but possibly Nature does not re/nuire the baby's digestive organs to and absorb more of the proteid 2 than is needed—some may remain unt.digested in the intestine." Of course, fcsuch a stagnation of any large propor--..tion of the most putrescible of the constituents of milk would be highly dangerous, especially in summer, and is, ..indeed, regarded as a factor in the, -causation of that fatal malady—-sum-c.mer diarrhoea. But in order to escape , ifche imputation of danger from excessive intake of proteid and consequent o dyer-taxing of the kidneys, or poisoning of the system, those who v4q . not happen to advocate the of cow's milk, have in my own experience, ;. fallen back in argument on the hypothe. ,;6is of incomplete absorption of the excess of proteid. Now, Mr Nathan says ■that when Glaxo is used the whole of ..the proteid is absorbed, every particle ;;pf it, and if this is really the case there

lid; no escaping from the conclusion that %ne baby's poor little kidneys must be galled on to do daily two or three times /.as much work as Nature has designed ,;|hem to carry out. When the constituents, of any food are given in entirely -<&rfoneous proportions, " imperfect ab..Bqrption'* is, of course, the most obvious way out of the difficulty, and when this explanation is rejected and complete absorption is claimed thero is nothing to fall back on—the inevitable Conclusion being that the food will ipfove more or less injurious. Actual Experience confirms this. Excess of .proteid has been long recognised as the ijnain. objection to the use of unmodified cow's milk for babies—the main ..jsuse for its disagreeing. • ;' ; Mr Nathan says, in criticising a state,«»«ret I mads some time ago as'to the feady digestion of emulsified cod liver pil by babies: "I also notice that you make use of the words. ' the baby jligested completely.' Well I would ttketq point out that the highest authorities that we consulted, and under iip-hom we are acting, have pointed out Jo us that fats are- not digested in the ipjldinary sense, but are absorbed. That ja. why Glaxo is a much better preparaii'oa. and much easier of digestion than jiny 'humanised' milk." '. I need not pause to ask what is meant )>y the remark that in Glaxo "the char. acter of the cream has been changed into.a fat" ; and I fail to see what importance there is in splitting hairs on a technical question of terms in physiology, which falls within the province of |6e physician and somewhat outside

THE DO&VSESTEC CfIRGI«Ei

that of myself as a housewife or Mr Nathan as a merchant. However, we will ask his own authority, Dr .Robert Hutchison, to decide for us whether it is right or wrong to speak of the digestion of fats. In his latest hook, "Applied Physiology," page 34, Dr Hutchison says, under the heading "Fat": " The fat molecules of tho food, having been split up by digestion into fatty acids and glycerine, are absorbed in that form." I shall conclude this subject next week. GRANDMOTHER'S LETTER. Regarding tho little girl Annie, whose latest weight I was unable to give in a recent article, the following letter from her grandmother shows that she is not falling off in any way:— "Little Annie returned home on Monday. Sho is in splendid health, and weighs 3st lib." Three stone one pound is the average weight for a girl of six years. Annie will be six some months hence.

tons lo sink into while you iron on the wrong side, then run the iron once along the outside edge on the right side.