OUR BABIES.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1693, 8 March 1913, Page 11

OUR BABIES.

[BY Hygeia,]

Published under the auspices of tho Society for the Health of Women and Children. "It is wiser to put up a fenco at the top of a precijiico than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom." Glaxco Builds Bonny Babies..—Advt. OVERFEEDING AND UNDERFEEDING. In the past there was a general consensus of opinion that 011 tho whole more harm was done to babies through their mothers overfeeding them than through their being underfed. Where feeding is left to tlio mothers themselves this is still largely true, but tho tendency is rather the other way under the supervision of nurses. Whenever tho nursing mother finds her baby failing, fretful, or upset in any way, sho is inclined to give more food; she becomes distrustful of tho quantity and quality of her milk, and, 011 examining it, feels sure that it is not strong enough. Comparing it with cows' milk she observes that what she supplies is thin and waterly and looks very like whey. In reality, this is tho natural appearance of human milk, though it is just as strong and nutritious as cows' milk. The main difference lies in the fact that in human milk the solids are present mainly in more soluble form, and, therefore, do not thicken the milk and ; p ve it the appearance of so-called "body' or "richness" characteristic of cows' milk. In spite of appearances it is found, on testing chemically, that average huinrtn milk and average cows' milk each contains about 12 ounces of solid nutrient material in every hundred ounces of milk. . However, the mother knows nothing of these scientific facts, and sho jumps to tile conclusion that her baby needs a "bottle" or somo mashed biscuit or patent food, in addition to the natural supply. Then she commences what is called "Supplementing." SUPPLEMENTING OK MIXED FEEDING.

All authorities agree that when tho mother "supplenmnls" she almost invariably overfeeds, because slie rarely takes into account the fact that the baby tends to set an extra quantity from tho breast at the meal immediately succeeding cnuh bottle feeding. However, it must J not be supposed that the total quantity of ■ milk secreted in the 2i hours is increased r by missing a suckling—the reverse is the g case, because when one or more breast- i. feedings are omitted the breasts are less j stimulated. Stimulation of breasts at , regular intervals, by suckling is cssen- i fcial for the proper production of milk. j If supplementary feeding must be re- j sorted to, adequate regular stimulation J must be maintained by keeping tho babv j suckling at the breast just as long, and J just as frequently as if there were » supply. Indeed, stejis should be taken j to actually increase tho stimulation by j bathing the breasts with hot and cold < \wntor, followed by brisk rubbing: with a I rough towel; and twico a day proper sys- * teinatic massage should bo used. It those j steps were taken,* and if due Attention n were paid to the simple essentials for 3 health (daily outdoor exercise; pure cool 3 air (lay and night; simple appetising re- j "lilar meals; perfect regulation ot tho j bowels, etc.) there would be few cases in 3 which a failing milk supply could not be g : restored to the normal, both m quantity | and quality, in the course of a womb Hl or so.

UNDERFEEDING. While the mother tends to overfeed her babv, tlio tendency of the modern ijurse is often rather- in the opposite direction. This is specially tho case with English nurses* because ,tlicy' have been so much warned - against tho evils of overteoding, and because underfeeding is still the prevailing advice, not only of tho English medical text-books, but of the host oi little books J'or mothers and nurses issued under the authority of English physicians. Usually the advice is given to dilute cows milk vrith two, three, or four parts of water, and to give this (sweetened with a litt'lo cane sugar) in the- same quantity per fcediiig as human milk, though the food Lvalue Of sucli mixtures is only a, half or a' foyrth that of human or humanised milk.- ■: ■ * , I have just been slancing over a neat little book Baby," just publishecl in the "People's Books' series, and described as "A Mother ,s.Book, by a Mother" (by a "University woman). For tha artificial feeding of a babv a fortnight old, the authoress gives the following recipe:—Jlilk, ono tablcspcort; water, three tablespoons; liino water, two teaspoons; cream, one teaspoon; sugar, half a teaspoon. Give half an ounce every two hours (say nine or ten feedings in the 2t hours). This mixture has barely two-thirds of the nutrient value of mother's milk; yet the writer allows the baby only a quarter of a pint of it in tho 24 hours, though tho average suckled baby secures a whole pint of normal milk when a fortnight old. In other words, a' baby fed as recommended by this university woman .wouldi receive only a sixth of tho, normal or a quarter of "what the society publications give for a bottle-fed baby at this period. As a rule it is a mistake to try to get an artificially-fed baby to take as much as a breast-fed child, until it has passed tlio first month. Tho baby's digestive organs need to ba educated and framed to digest the full amount of any form of artificial food. .However, 1 Ihi's is no cxcu.co for starvation.

Dealing w-ith tho above subject in a book just published, an English physician says

"Many mothers and nurses overlook the fact that children require consant additions to their food supply, a want which the mother naturally provides when she iiup-es her infant; but with artificial 'frtding the necc&sar/ increase is apt to be delayed or fonjotton. This means tliat for days, or perhaps weeks, the baby is not receiving: enough nourishment, is hungry, and very fretful in consequence. Thcra'is, perhaps, to-day a greater tendency to underfeed than to overfeed children." ; Page 17 of "What Baby Needs" should be carefully studied by mothers and nurses. as it is intended to prevent the possibility of their underfeeding an infant, or failing to be properly progressive.