OUR BABIES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17698, 19 November 1925, Page 11

OUR BABIES.

By

HYGEIA.

Published under the auspices of the. Royal New Zealand Society for the .Health of "Women and Children (Plunket Society). •“ It is wiser to put m> a fence at the top of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom.” PRECAUTIONS. 1 Feeding Bottle-—No tube, perfect cleanliness. 2.—Food—Avoidance of cane sugar, condensed milk, patent foods, etc. Scrupulous care in making and safeguarding Humanised Milk. Eternal watchfulness in warm weather, when microbes rapidly accumulate in millions if given any opportunity. Milk or any other fluid used as baby-food must be. kept as cool as possible 3- Daily attention to the state of the bowels, and the appearance of the motions. The danger signal is green colour apparent in the stools at. the time they arc passed. Directly this is noticed put the baby on pure boiled water or sugar of milk solution, as previously instructed under the heading ‘lndigestion and Diarrhoea”; but if the first sympton is dealt with at once, there will" l>c no need, as a rule, to continue the restricted feeding so long as shown above. However, it is always safer not to give the. Humanised Milk of full strength again for a wpek or more after distinct evidences of disturbed digestion. A mixture of equal parts of Humanised Milk and Curdless Milk, changing to two of the former to one of the latter, may often be continued with advantage for a week or more. Indigestion may be brought on by excess of cream, or by excess of casein, or by giving the baby too much food. Undigested curd in the stools should be noticed at once, and the food should be properly modified to prevent dyspepsia or diarrhoea (as described under heading, “Curd in Stools.”) Marked foulness of motions|should also attract attention. Some greenness of one or more motions may occur from time to time without further manifestations of intestinal disturbance, but, as noted above, the sympton should always put the mother on her guard. A single meal of sugar of milk solution, followed by dilution of the ordinary food with whey or sugar of milk solution tends to improve the digestion by giving relative rest. The return of yellowness to the motions is the evidence of restoration to normal. A motion looking like chopped spinach usually for an immeidate dose of castor oil. If a baby happens to be taking grey-powder, calomel, or bismuth, the motions tend to be more or less green or discoloured on account of the medicine. 4.—A chill is often the exciting cause of diarrhoea; therefore special attention should be paid to having infants sufficiently clad at all times, but not unduly muffled up. They are made very susceptible to cold by being kept too much indoors, by living in stuffy, nnventilated, overwarm rooms, and by wearing too heavy clothing, especially when in Iho house. On the other hand, undue or untimely and careless exposure will not harden an infant, but will render it delicate and prone to catch cold. Quickness in bathing and in getting an infant dressed afterwards is of great importance. Many chills are due to dawdling at the bath. Plenty of fresh air and sunlight, proper-food, and regular habits are the true means by which to ensure strength and hardiness. CURD IN STOOLS. Mothers are apt to worry themselves unduly about the presence of a lfttle curd in the stools, and one sometimes finds a baby kept on too weak a milk mixture for a considerable time on this account. If there is much curd fiassed the food should l>c weakened, »ut the presence of a little curd at times may be of little or no consequence, and is compatible with good growth and development. However, the “passing of curd” is an important symptom, and should always put the mother on her guard to avoid any possible source of indigestion—especially irregular feeding, too frequent feeding, too strong a milk mixture, or a %Aongly-proportioned mixture.