OUR BABIES.

Wanganui Herald, Volume L, Issue 14698, 1 September 1915, Page 8

OUR BABIES.

■ ■■•s' '• BY HYGEIA. Published under the auspices of the Society for the Health of Women and Children. “It is wige.r ; to; pjjt up a fence at the top of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance- at’the bottom,” / POOD.. > At the request of, some of our correspondents pur rbcefit artitles have been dealing with the first two essentials for health in the life of all.ani-mals-—namely, Air and Water. we now,come to the third primary essential—Pood. ■ However, before going on to the general consideration of Food, we must here state emphatically: ■ Mother’s milk is. the best food. for the baby. If is created Tor the baby, and the first duty of every mother is to ensure by foresight a proper supply of the only perfect food for her infant. Mother’s milk is the baby’s birthright. WHAT IS FOOD? It is usual to think of food as the posed—“what we eat,”. We find prac.material of which our meals are comtically that if we eat when we are properly hungry we are supplying what i our system requires for its comfort and well-being. 'We. seldom inquire further. We don’t ask for a definition of the word "food,”’and yet the answer to such a question would be specially helpful ill tne rearing of ail young creatures. . , The following definition of*‘‘Fdocl,”

taken from a standard dictionary,"piay be accepted to be scientifically correct:— . . . “Food is any substance that, beingtaken into the body of animal or plant, serves through organic action to build up normal structure or supply the waste of tissue.” - / We all know that certain plants do well in one garden, while in another they tenet to Ibe puny, and are not worth growing. The conditions with regard to situation, rainfall, sunshine, and temperature may be similar;..but one family of plants will not’ flourish in a clay soil, while another kind-will hot thrive ill peaty or sandy soil. Each class requires its own particular kind of food as' well as other .favourable conditions, if it is to reach the highest standard. For example, rhododendrons and azaleas must hgve a large admixture of peat in the soil to attain perfection, while roses mo best wnere there is clay, etc. The same applies to animals. Some are carnivorous, and others are vegetarian, and each much have its appropriate nourishment if it is to attain to its best growth and development. Cats and dogs cannot live On grass, while horses and cows naturally turn aside from flesh of any kind. ’ ’: THE EARLIEST FOOD FOR MAMMALS-tFHLK.

In the scheme of Nature all mammals. provide the tirst nourlsnment—food —for'their offspring from their own bodies. Soon after birth nourishment for the young is secreted in the form of milk suited to the requirements, of the particular creature. The milk for the young of each kind of mammal diffeia more or less from the, milk provided for every other species, the difference being naturally ' very great in! creatures so widely apart from one another as a puppy and a rabbit, on the one hand, or a human baby and a calf oh the other hand. Milk provided by Nature for a rabbit would not suit any of the other three, and cow’s milk is ,Wrong for a baby. We are far too prone to think of milk as just milk, and are apt to forget that milks differ in composition one from another, and that the difference between them '.boars, a definite- relationship to the building up of .animal structure or supplying the waste of tissue of the creature for which it was designed. - COMPOSITION OP MILK, , The main constituents of milk are Avater, sugar, salt, and proteid. There are also some salts. Each, of these substances plays, an Important part in the life and health ' of the creature for which it was designed, and each, provides more'especially for some particular requirement.Let us take them in order: Waldr.—We have already shown the paramount importance of water for the life of every living thing; therefore we need not dwell further ,oh the point. ' Sugar.—The sugar in milk provides especially the energy by which 'the. young creature exercises its powers. PaL —-The fat is mamly concerned in maintaining the temperature of the body (the animal heat). Proteid. —The prdteid is the matterial used to build up the rapidly-; growing body, and to enect the repairs necessary to make up for the wastage of the : working structures. In tne adult, of-jegurse, there is no general growth to be provided for,' and the need of proteid is practically limited' to the repair of waste and wear , and tear. In the case of the bany the proteid 'or flesh forming material) is largely, required for the purpose of enabling rapid growth to be made, not merely in building up what we ordinarily call “flesh,” but also in building cartilage, bones, teeth, hair, etc. THE MOST IMPORTANT DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MOTHER’S MltK AND COW’S MILK; The most important practical - difference between Nature’s milk for the baby and that provided for the s calf is that cow’s milk contains , two or throetimes the proportion .of., fleshforming material 1 found in mother’s milk: This is due to tne, fact that the calf is intended to grow three times as quickly as the baby. The calf should increase from 601b a. birth to 3601b at six months of age, whereas the bab,y Ln the same time only -doubles its - weight. , As we'shall show next week, it a baby is fed on mere cow’s milk,’this difference is a very : serious matter, , causing on the one hand, a great .tax on the baby’s digestive organs, through their being called upon -to dissolve and absorb a large excess of tough. leathery curd, and-on the otherr hand through the kidneys being overworked in their efforts to expel-from the system the excess of flesh-formingi material that has been absorbed into the blood. The indigestion, diarrhoea, and other grave maladies of artificially fed babies are largely due to' the ignoring of these * simple facts. Unfortunately the evil results are not confined to childhood. The kidneys, are weakened for life through this flouting of-Nature. -There can'be no ques- . tion that a child .so treated will be much more liable to break down -in adult life and suffer from Bright’s disease and .other-kindred maladies*, than if the baby had been fed rationally.