OUR BABIES

Waikato Independent, Volume XXIII, Issue 3007, 13 January 1923, Page 3

OUR BABIES

(By “Hygeia.”)

(Published under the auspices of the Royal New Zealand 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.”

SUMMER DIARRHOEA.

Last week, when dealing with the subject, we pointed out that Summer Diarrhoea rarely attacks babies unless they have been a little “out of sorts,” or actually failing in health beforehand. Wc now enumerate some of the dangers to be avoided and the precautions to be taken. Keep Baby Genn-Proof. When will mothers and nurses realise that a child who has apparently thriven for months in spite of wi'O’ig Jrofttmcutj mwy suddenly fall a victim to Home malady against which his system would have been quite proof had he been kept in a state of perfect health and fitness, by paying due attention to all the simple laws of life and primary needs of infancy? A baby may hold out against almost any form of inattention or carelessness duviflg spring, arid yet succumb to the drink of tainted milk given to him on a warm summer’s day. The effect of such food on a perfectly healthy baby might be merely to bring on passing colic, or to cause one or more green motions; but if the system had been insiduously undermined previously (though there might have been no- | thing apparently wrong with the baby) the effect of a single feeding with risky food might be an attack of acute diarrhoea, ending fatally, simply because the child had not acquired enough stamina to put up a good fight. If a baby is fed artificially, and there is no means of keeping prepared milk below GOdeg. Fahr., the mother should heat up to Issdcg. any residue left ovor at the end of 12 hours after preparation, and then cool it down rapidly as directed on page 28, “Feeding and Care of Baby,” and keep it cool. If there is no thermometer in the house the milk may be mildly scalded as fol- t lows:—

Place the jug of milk in a saucepan of hot water, heat until the water boils, and keep boiling for 10 minutes. Then cool rapidly in running water, etc., keeping covered as directed in the Society’s book. Epidemic Diarrhoea.

Under the above heading Dr Ralph Vincent, senior physician to the Infants’ Hospital, Westminster, makes the following remarks on the diseasq more commonly known as “summer diarrhoea of infants”:— This disease is peculiarly liable to appear at certain times of the year, and is practically absent in other portions of the year. The conditions in which the disease arises occur during hot weather, and especially during a hot summer. The characteristic of the disease in regard to the date of its appearance is that it appears most towards tho latter end of summer, when the heat has continued for some considerable time. (Mem 9. by “Hygeia”: | The worst months in New Zealand are January, February and March). The Most Fatal Disease. As a mortal disease affecting babie3 Summer Diarrhoea is by far the most serious of all. The number of deaths depends on the temperature. If it is a cool summer the number of deaths is comparatively low; if it is a hot summer the number of deaths is very high indeed. (Naturally, the hotter the summer the more germs grow and flourish in the milk). The year 1901 afforded a sad illustration in E|gland. The summer of that year was very hot, and in many towns throughout the country nearly one-half tho babies under 12 months old died in the threo months, July, August and September. Those infants died because they were poisoned. (Poisoned, as Dr Vincent proceeds to show, mainly by the microbes contained in tainted milk, acting on babies who had not been kept in such a state of first-rate health and condition as to enable them to resist the attacks of germs.—“Hygeia.”)

Though all epidemic diarrhoea such as Summer Diarrhoea tend to attack tho bodily “unfit” rather than the “fit,” yet infants who are quite well may fall victims. Babies with Summer Diarrhoea inus-t be kept apart from other babies, and every precaution must be taken to prevent carrying infection to the food of a healthy child after touching the soiled napkins of one who has the disease.

How to Prevent Diarrhoea. Summer Diarrhoea can be prevented by taking the following very simple precautions—namely: 1. By always supplying ‘‘What Every Baby Needs, Whether Well or 111” (see the .Society's book, pages 1 and 2). Don’t irivitc the microbes to establish themselves in the interior of tho baby by keeping the soil ready prepary .;d for their growth. A stitch in time saves nine. Don’t be careless about