OUR BABIES.

Waipa Post, Volume IV, Issue 185, 4 February 1913, Page 3

OUR BABIES.

BY Hygeia,

Published under the auspices of the Society for the Health of Women and Children.

THE CURSE OF SUMMER. As this is the season during which Summer Diarrhoea tends to become rife among babies, it is important to emphasise the fact that the disease generally attacks infants who have been more or less out of sorts for some time previously. The immediate cause of the diarrhoea is fermentation and poisoning due to rapid growth and multiplication of microbes in the stomach and bowels. The seed is sown by the million along the course of the alimentary canal in milk which has not been properly safe-guarded from contamination and fermentation in the dairy, the milk cart, and the home—especially the latter. Imperfectly-cleansed, unscald ed milk-jugs and feeders, the useof “longtube feeders,” and the failure to rapidly cool the milk in water (if not quite cool at the time of delivery), together with failure to keep the milk jug loosely covered in a cool outdoor safe, instead of in the house —these are the means by which the '• enemy sows tares ” in the delicate interior of the little child. It is pitiable to think that in nine cases out of ten the “Enemy ” is not the “Devil,” but a loving mother —a mother ignorant of the simple laws and needs of child life, careless and incompetent as to their fulfilment—a lurid example of the loving devilry of ignorance! MOTHER AND NURSE. The following is one of a series of letters received recently which opens up a wide question with regard to the'future well-being of our children, and we appeal to all maternity nurses to ponder over it and consider the grave responsibility which they incur, especially when they undertake the care and guidance of the young mother with her first-born. A MOTHER’S LETTER.

A mother in the North Island writes:— I have to thank you for forwarding me a copy of “ What Baby Needs,” and enclose herewith stamps for postage. The book arrived about three days after my baby girl was born, but no matter what I said the nurse insisted on nightfeedings (at such a time one does not feel strong enough to fight much against those who have care of you !) and so brby always wakes and screams till she lias a drink, though I have tried to break her of the habit. However, now I am only giving her six feeds during the 24 hours, as follows : She wakes at 4 in the morning for a

feed (I); I bath her at half-past 6 and feed her by 7 (2); she then sleeps, if left alone, out in the open air near the house in the pram till 12 midday, and I then feed her (3); then at 3 in the afternoon (4); bath at half-past 5 and feed at 6 (5) ; and when I go to bed at night, between 9 and half-past (6). I have a great deal of work to do, and in my case, I find the lire hours that I get straight on end from, say, a quarter past 7in the morning til l noon a very great help to me, especially on washing and ironing days. This is far better than battling away at 4 o’clock in the morning trying to keep the baby quiet till 6 o’clock so that the other eight people in the house may get their rest. When I was trying to break her from the night feeding the crying kept everyone awake night after night and so I now manage as explained. MEMO BY HYGEIA. The feeding hours (4 a.m., 7 a.m., 12 noon, 3 p.m., 6 p.m., and 9 p.m.) which this mother has arrived at by a commonsense method of adjustment suited to the particular circumstances of her own life, are quite reasonable and proper, though it might be supposed that an interval of five hours during the daytime would be prejucial. However, this is not the case. The one thing essential in the feeding of a child is absolute clock-like regularity of the feeding hours from day to day. But

this does not mean, of necessity that the interval between feedings should be all equal. ’ We know that in the case of ourselves, as adults, precise equality of intervals is not the main point,bnt that we should take each of our three meals as nearly as possible at the same hour every day, whether we select 7, 12, and 5, for instance, or 8,1, and 7. One often finds that an extra hour’s interval once in the day is a very great advantage to the mother. Say she is feeding a young baby six times in the 24 hours at three-hourly periods. She is enabled, by making one of the periods four hours (say from 9 to seven or from 12 to 4) to get alonger interval for housework, outing, etc., and this does not appear to make the slightest difference to the baby. People are inclined to be surprised that a little baby can with impunity remain nearly four hours without food during the daytime. This is merely because they have got into the habit of thinking that a young infant should be fed every two hours or so. Not only is such frequent feeding unnecessary, but it has been abundantly shown that it is actually harmful to the child, and almost equally harmful to the mother. With longer intervals both mother and child get better rest, and we find that the tendency is for the breast supply to improve where this has been unsatisfactory. On the whole, for young infants, threehourly periods during the day are found to be the most satisfactory; but some leading authorities in Germany, especially Drs Czerny and Keller, have long contended that four-hour intervals prove quite satisfactory from the start of life. This method of feeding was tried at the North-Western Infirmary at Chicago, and the authorities found that the babies apparently did as well as when fed more frequently. I am not suggesting for a moment that it would be advisable in general to make the intervals between feeding longer than three hours, during the first few months of life, but all mothers should clearly understand that benefit rather than harm is to be expected from extending one of the day periods to four hours, provided that exactly the same time-table is kept every day—not a four-hour interval in the morning one day and in the afternoon the next day.