OUR BABIES.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLVI, Issue 13, 29 March 1911, Page 60

OUR BABIES.

(By

HYGEIA.)

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

"It is uiser to put up a fence at the top of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom.”

ADDRESSES OF PLUNKET BUSSES AND SECRETARIES. Dunedin.—Plunket Nurses Ellis and Doing. Tel. 1136. Office of the Society, Health Department Rooms, Liverpool-etreet, Dunedin. Office hours daily (except Sundays), from 3to 4 p.m. Hon. sec., Mrs. Edmonds, Melville-street. Tel. 53. Christchurch.-—Plunket Nurses Falconer and Hickson. Office of the Society, Wardell’s Buildings, Cashel-street. Tel. 851. Office hours, 2 to 3 p.m. daily (except Saturdays and Sundays). Hon. see., pro tern., Mrs. C. Heid, Knowles-Street, St. Albans. Tel. 1071. Wellington.—Plunket Nurse McDonald, 73, Aro-street. Tel. 2425. Hon. sec., Mrs MeVicar, Brougham-street, City. Tel. 2642. Auckland. —Plunket Nurses Chappell and Brien, Park-street. Tel. 851. Office of the Society, 2, Chancery-street. Tel. 829. Office hours, Tuesdays and Fridays, 2.30 to 4 p.m. Hon. see., Mrs. W. H. Parkes, Marinorto, Sy-monds-st. Tel. 240. Napiier.—Plunket Nurse Donald, Mason ie Hotel. Tel. 87. Hon. see., Mrs. E. lA. W. Henley, P.O. box 64. Tel. 147. Jfew Plymouth.—Plunket Nurse Murray, Imperial Hotel. Tel. 123. Office, Town Hall; Wednesdays and Fridays, 2 to 4 p.m. Hon. sec., Mrs. R. J. Matthews, Fitzroy. Tel. 104. limaru.—Plunket Nurse Bowman. Office of the Society, Arcade Chambers. Tel. 314. Office hours, 3.30 to 4.30 and 6.30 to 7.30. Hon. see., Mrs. Smithson, Faillie, Sefton-sbreet. Tel. 230. Invereargill.—Plunket Nurse O’Shea, Alien’s Hall, Kelvin-street. Hon. see., Mrs. Handyside, Gala-street. Ashburton.—Plunket Nurse Falconer. Office of Society, Bullock’s Arcade. Nurse in attendance every Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Hon. sec, pro tern., Miss Standish. Society’s Baby Hospital, Kamitane Home, Anderson's Bay, Dunedin. Tel. 1985. Demonstrations on points of interest to mothers are given 'by the matron 'every Wednesday afternoon from 2.30 to 3.30. All mothers are invited. Messages may be lef t at any time at the Plunket Nurses’ offices or private addresses. All other information available from the hon. secretary of each branch. PLUNKET NURSES’ SERVICES FREE.

Dried Milk for Babies. In last week’s column I showed t'he harmful influence of the excess of proteid present in cow's milk, whether given pure, or in the form of condensed or dried milk with waiter. It will be remembered that -while human milk was seen 'to average from 1.1 to 1.5 per cent of proteid, a dried eow's milk such as Glaxo yielded, on dilution for use, 3 per cent., or about two or three times more than the proper percentage; in other words, practically the percentage found in ordinary cow's milk. However, in Mr. Nathan's letter, he says: “We could boast that there is no result to be found in using dried eow’s milk, as there would be in using even humanised milk. The difficulty of the digestion of proteids is übsolutely overcome.” The meaning of this is somewhat obscure, but, assuming that the word “residue" was intended and not “result,” it would appear to be contended that humanised milk leaves an undigested residue in the alimentary canal, and that dried milk does not. A gratuitous assumption of this kind is quite absurd. All foods, even mothers’ milk, leave some undigested residue, but German scientific investigations go to ■how that, if not given in excess, the eliseuptlon of the casein of properly modified cow's milk is not inferior to that of mother’s milk. TTowevr r. grant for a moment tint our eon-respondent is right, and that there is T' alia . ”mpl< to absorption of the proteid of Glaxo into the blood: this would do

away with the only argument we have ever heard advanced in justification of the use of cow’s milk in which the proteid has not been reduced so as to approximate it to the low percentage found in human milk. The stock reply made in extenuation of giving too much proteid is, “Oh, yes, but possibly Nature does not require the baby’s digestive organs to digest and absorb more of the proteid than is needed —some mav r remain un-

digested in the intestine.” Of course, such a stagnation of any large proportion of the most putrescible of the constituents of milk would be highly dangerous, especially in summer, and is, indeed, regarded as a factor in the causation of that fatal malady—summer diarrhoea. But in order to escape the imputation of danger from excessive intake of proteid and consequent over taxing of the kidneys, or poisoning of the system, those who do not happen to advocate the “humanising” of cow’s milk have frequently, in tny own experience, fallen back in argument on the hypothesis of incomplete absorption of the excess of proteid. Now, Mr. Nathan says that when Glaxo is used the whole of the proteid is absorbed, every particle of it, and if this is really the case, there is no escaping from the conclusion that the baby’s poor little kidneys must be called on to do daily two or three times as much work as Nature has designed them to carry out. When the constituents of any food arc given in entirely erroneous proportions “imperfect absorption” is, of course, the most obvious way out of the difficulty, and when this explanation is rejected and complete absorption is claimed there is nothing to fall baek on—the inevitable conclusion being that the food will prove more or less injurious. Actual experience confirms this. Excess of proteid has been long recognised as the main objection to the use of unmodified cow’s milk for babies—the main cause for its disagreeing. Mr. Nathan says, in criticising a statement I made some time ago as to the ready digestion of emulsified cod liver oil

by babies:—“l also notice that you make use of the words, ‘the baby digested completely.’ Well, I would like to point out that the highest authorities that we consulted, and under whom we are acting, have pointed out to us that fats are not digested in the ordinary sense, but are absorbed. That is why ‘Glaxo’ is a much better preparation and much easier of digestion than any ‘humanised’ milk.” I need not pause to ask what is meant by the remark that in Glaxo “the character of the cream has been changed into a fat”; and I fail to see what importance there is in splitting hairs on a technical question of terms in physiology, which falls within the province of the physician and somewhat outside that of myself as a housewife or Mr. Nathan as a merchant. However, we will ask his own authority, Dr. Robert Hutchison, to decide for us whether it is right or wrong to speak of the digestion of fats. In his latest book, “Applied Physiology,” page 34, Dr. Hutchison says, under the heading FAT. “The fat molecules of the food, having been split up by digestion into fatty acids and gly cerine, are absorbed in that form.” I shall conclude this subject next week.

Grandmother’* Letter. Regarding the little girl Annie, whose latest weight I was unable to give in a recent article, the following letter from her grandmother shows that she is not falling off in any way:— “Little Annie returned home on Monday. She is in splendid health, and weighs 3 stone 1 lb.” Three stone one pound is the average weight for a girl of six years. Annie will be six some months hence.