OUR BABIES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16496, 5 August 1921, Page 9

OUR BABIES.

(By

“HYGEIA.”

Published under the auspices o£ the | Jtoya.l Now Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children. “ It is wiser to put up a fence ot the top of a precipice than to maintain an ambuiauco at tho bottom." the care of milk. In a recent article we -were den ling xvitn tho difficulties and dangers of the artificial feeding of babies and calves —practically the only two mammals which are ever deprived of their natural birthright—i-e., their own mothers’ milk. We pointed out how germs grow and multiply in milk if it remains for ) any length of time at about, the ternj perature of blood-heat—namely, 100 •degrees Fahr. ; how necessary it is to have cleanliness in tho milking shed, rapid cooling of the milk immediately after milking, keeping tho milk cool and loosely covered to prevent the entrance of impurities. Wo also pointed out that temperatures over 120 degrees Fahr. .or below 40 degrees Fahr. are very unfavourable to the growth of microbes a lid arc therefore safe for the keeping of milk. We now go on to the matter oi' safe-guarding milk in the home, and in this connection we make the following extracts from an exhaustive report of the Special Milk Board of tho Massachusetts State Department of Health, published in 1910. ENSURING A CLEAN, SAFE MILK. Dr Henry Helmholtz:, of Chicago, a high authority, says on this subject:— There arc those who think they could prevent all infant mortality if they could only give all children of the tenements a pure, clean, raw milk. There are those who would accomplish the same end by giving them, one and all, pasteurised milk. In each cab© they do not realise that infant mortality is a very complex problem, and that neither of these things may be the main cause of disease or death.” 1 EDUCATING MOTHERS. The report goes on to say: The contamination of tho milk aftoi delivery at the home is perhaps our most common present source of danger No matter how pure and clean tho

supply, dud added in the home renders the article just as deleterious as dirt added at any point previously, allowing only for the length of time between pollution and use and its proportionate bacterial growth. AVe have laws and regulations which, according to our experience, are controlling the producer and the dealer to some degree—many believe to a large degree—but we have no way of reaching by legal means tho consciously or unconsciously dirty woman in her home.

The dirtiness is both visible and invisible. whether added hv the producer or tho housekeeper. There is no excuse for visible dirt in either case; it can be explained in only one way. Bacteriological dirt is not visible, and its presence rnqy h© duo cither to ignorance, to carelessness, or to a, wilful disregard of teaching. Women do not want their babies to die. AVI ten they are, told where tbe danger lies, and really believe that it does lie there, there is not much wilful disregard left. If the teacher can check up how well her instructions are being carried out there is not much room for carelessness. Most women' with a young baby have not mflK.li time to go to school, nor can they leave their babies unattended while they do; therefore the school must bo made to come to them. THE VISITING NURSE. So far we have evolved just on© agency that answers thes© requirements the visiting nurse. The mother believes that the nurse knows What she is talking about; that she is not visiting her to make capital out of her, but to protect her baby ; that she is a woman and cannot help loving babies; in short, she gives her her complete confidence. The nurse’s visits are frequent,, and the mother does not have, much time to get rankly careless between them. At each visit the nurse brings th© school to the horn© in lessons graded and fitted to tho personal intellectual capacity of the woman. Combine this system of education with a pure milk supply, and w© have the framework of our present-day methods in the attempt to reduce our infant mortality rate. Associations and institutions all over the civilised world aro using this method with universal success. AY HAT •THE PLUNKET SOCIETY HAS BEEN DOING. It is gratifying to know that ever since tho society started, ? over fourteen years ago, tho policy laid down in the Massachusetts report has been carried out—at first in Dunedin and gradually throughout the whole Dominion. ■One of the first acts of the newlyformed society (in 1907) was to try and procure as pure a milk supply as possible. Some members of the committee visited a large number of dairy farms in the vicinity of Dunedin and, having selected tbe most desirable—one where the surroundings were clean and the milk was cooled down rapidly immediately after milking—they subsidised the farmer to help him to make certain improvements in his milking shed in order to ensure greater cleanliness. They then arranged that the supply of milk from that particular farm should be available for babies who had to be artificially fed. At tho same time a nurse—the first Plunket nurse; — was employed who modified the cow’s milk to make it lit for a human baby and saw that tho modified milk was sent out cool and clean. She visited the homes, showed the mothers how to, safeguard the milk, where to keep it cool and how to cleans© and purify all vessels used either for holding th© milk or feeding tho baby. There have always been. clear, definite instructions with regard to the cooling and keeping of milk and tho cleansing of all utensils in each edition of the ’ society’s book, ‘‘Feeding and Care of Baby,” since it first appeared in leaflet form in 1905, until the present edition, where details are given on pages 2S, 29, and 86 to 90. R EMEMBER. (1) The milk jug must be thoroughly cleansed. First rinse with cold water, then wash thoroughly, and lastly scald well with, boiling water and turn the jug upside down till needed. (2) Keep the milk cool and loosely covered. If milk has to he pasteurised or boiled it must be cooled down immediately and kept cool.