OUR BABIES.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1710, 29 March 1913, Page 11

OUR BABIES.

. ' . [By Hygeia.] ' Published under the auspices of the Society for th© 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." ADDRESSES OF PLUNKET NURSES AND SECRETARIES. Dunedin.—Plunket Nurse • Laing. 'l'pl. 1136. Plunket Nurse M'Laren: Tel. 2?11. Office of the Society, Post Office Building, Liverpool Street, Dunedin. Office hours, daily (except Saturday anil' Sunday), from 3to 4 p.m. Hon. .Secretary, Mrs. Edmoud, Melville Street. Tel. 53. " .• Christchurch. —Plunket Nurses Ellis, Hansard, ; and liilgour. Office of ilie Society, Chancery Lane. Office hours, 2 to 3 p.m. daily (except Suuday). Hon. Secretary, Mrs. H. Pyne, Bealey Avenue, Tel. 285. ' . '' Wellington.—Plunket Nurse Morgan; assistant, Nurse Mackintosh. 'Society s Room,' 86 Vivian Street.' Tel.. 2425. Hon. Secretary, Mrs. M'Vicar, 27 Brougham Street/City. Tel. 2642. - Auckland—Plunket Nurses Chappell and Morgan. Tel. 851. . Office of the Society, 2 Chancery Street. Tel. 829. Of-, fice hours, Tuesdays and iridays, 2.30 to i p.m. Hon. Secretary, Mrs. W. H. Parkes, Marinoto, Symonds Street. Tel. Napier.—Plunket Nurse Donald, Marina Parade. Hon.; Secretary, Mrs.' Hector Tinm-u.'—Plnnket Nurse Bowie. Office of. the Society, Sophia Street. Tel: 314. • Office hours, 3.30 to 4.30 p.m. ; Saturday, 2.30 to 4 p.m.. Hon. Secretary, Mr. "Erafest Howden. - InvercaTgill.—Plunket Nurse, 0 Shea, .' Allen's Hall,, Kelvin Street. Hon Secretary, Mrs. Cruickshank, Gala Street. Hastings (Hawke's Bay).—Plunket Nurse

Purcell. Office of the Society at Mr. ' Bates's Pharmacy.. . Bon. Secretary, Mre. T. "W. Lewis, Tel. 285. district.—'ltavelUng i'lvmket .Nurse, - Edmondstone. Secretary, .Uisa ■ Newcome. ' . . ' . ' Uamaru District.—Travelling Plunket NuAe Denniston. Hon/. Secretary, Mrs. Bank of Now-Zealand. Dannevirke.-Tlunket Nurse Wright. Hon..Secretary, Mrs. Bickford, Bank at New Zealand. AsMmrion—Plunket. Nnrse_ liilgour. Hon. Secretary, Mrs. Christian. Society's Baby Hosiptal, Karitane Har--ris Hospital; Anderson's Bay, Dunedin. 01. 1985. Matron,. Miss Campbell. Demonstrations 011 points of interest to mothers are given by the Matron 'everyAVednesday afternoon from 2.80 to 3.30. . PLUNKET NURSES' SERVICES FREE. THE SOCIETY'S BOOK. The society's -little-boolr, entitled "What Baby Needs," can be obtained from the Matron, Karitane Harris Hospital, the Plunket nurses, .the honorary secretaries, and the leading booksellers throughout the Dominion. Price, tid.; posted, 7d..

' ' CASTOR OIL. ' < The following letter recently appeared in an Oamaru paper, and is an interesting illustration of,the way in which people will rush into print, simply because they. JinVe themselves misread or misapplied some perfectly clear and correct advico or instruction. In the present case the Plunket mute made no mistake when she ordered, a small dose of castor oil for a baby suffering from diarrhoea, and Ou~ Bubies Column.was equally right in warning mothers that a.doso ol' castor oil iniy kill a chiid who had been suddenly seized, with acute abdominal pain, to appendicitis; further, it was only fair to tell the public that, the common practice uf.dosing children with castor oil for cuns:ipation is a most injurious, proceeding. We merely warned 'niot!nrs against tho indiscriminate giving of n'l or any other drug—not against their prnncr uses.

THE LETTER. _ . Sir,—l have . been extremely interes'cd' in tho work of the Society for the Promotion of Health of Women and Children tor a number of years and latterly in the articles appearing in your columns under the heading of "Our Babies." But I must confpss that my faith received a rude shock by perusing the article on Saturday last dealing with cantor oil, contributed by "Hygeia." Therein was contained a general condemnation of castor oil for use in babies' troubles, and it has been hard for me to' reconcile this fact with my case when occasion arvsu to call in the Plunket. nurse for baby. About four and a half ycirs ago in Wellington I attended the lectures of the society's accredited nurse, and a little while aftor had to seek her aid in the case of baby's troublesome diarrhoea. The first thing she asked me was whether I hrid.castor oil in the house, and as I had not any she told mo to get bottle, from which she administered a dose to the

child, and she told me if the child was ever bad again just to give it a dose, and all would be well. This was Ihe fiist occasion I used castor oil for biby-on the 'recommendation of a Plunket nurse—and have kept it in the house eve- since in caso of an emergency. If "Hygeia" can reconcile id y experience with her (perhaps his) decrying the use of the article all will be well, for I feel quite sure that many -uvutiier mother must have beon misled by Wellington's nurse the same as I lookea upon castor oil "as a friend, in time of need," whereas "Hygeia" looks upon it as a specious concoction for babies troubles.—l am, etc., ' NOT UNDERSTOOD.

, COMMENT. The Wellington nurse not only did what the mother might have found recommended in the various publications.of the society, but in, practically speaking, all authoritative books 6n babies written-' in any language ,iii the world. • It may be interesting to our readers to know that some years ago- the question was, raised in Dunedin as to whether a •Plunket 'nurse might under any circumstances order medicine for a baby. A conference, attended by the leading members of the society and the leading members of the medical profession, to deal ' wdth the sphere of work of the Plunket nurses, decided that in the case of diarrhoea it was right and proper for the nurse to give a small dose of castor oil; anil that in the same way it would be right , for her to recommend a pinch of baKing soda for a baby doubled up with colic—these being the only two cases in .which medical opinion favoured the entrusting of tho Plunket nurses with the recommending of. drugs—namely, the two household remedies found in most homes, and both generally recognised. as suitable for the particular circumstances. As for the "general condemnation of castor oil," which the Oamaru mother • assumes to have been contained in my article, I have' merely to say again that what L was inveighing against was the unwise and indiscriminate use not only of castor oil, but of all drugs. Let me quote my own words: "It is a safe rule never to give a child medicine of any kind without a very definite and clear reason, anil never to givo a second dose except under a doctor's order. The less drugging a child gets the better. "Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes proclaimed with profound wisdom half a century ago: 'A medicine—that is, a noxious agent' such as. blister, an emetic, or a purgaalways be presumed to be hurtful. It is always directly hurtful. It may sometimes, be indirectly beneficial.' . Let me quote further from the 6ame article by Wendell Holmes:— "The presumption always is that every noxious agent, including medicines proper, which hurts a well man hurts a sick one. '■ ... , Let me illustrate this proposition before you decide upon it. If it were, known that a prize-fighter were to have a drastic purgative" administered two or three days before' the. -, contest, or a large nlistef applied to : ,hi"s . back, no 'one wiL question that .it would afiect .the betting om his side unfavourably; we,will say to the amount x ot. 5 percent. Now. the draiu upon the resources of the system produced in suoh a case must be at its minimum, for the subject is a powerfulman, in the prime of life'and in. admirable' condition. If the drug or the blister takes 5 per cent, from his force of resistance, it will take at least as large a fraction from any invalid. But this invalid hail to fight a champion who strikes hard but cannot "be hit in return, who will press him sharply for breath, but will never, pant himself while the wind can, whistle through his hes'hless' rbs. Tho suffering-combatant, is liable to want-all his stamina, the 5 per cent, may lose him the battle.. ...All noxious ..agents, all appliances which are not natural,food or. stiniuli, all.medicines proper, cost' a patient, on tho average, 5 per cent.'of'his vital force, let us say. Twenty;, times- as -much waste of force produced ' by ■ aiiy ol' them,_ that is, .would exactly kill him—nothing iess than kill him,' and nothing more. If this, or something like' this is true, then all these medications are,' prima facie, injurious. Yet A'ho can say that .Wendell Holmes failed to recognise the beneficence _oi drugs when properly used.. After quoting Sir Astley, 'Cooper- to the effect Ur-t on the whole more harm than. good is cluiio bv medication,',he continues: ' "Throw out'opium, which the Creator Himself seems to prescribe, for we often see tho scarlet poppy growing in tho,cornfields, as if it were foreseen that wnerever there is hunger to be fed there must also be pain to be soothed; throw out a few * specifics and the vapours which produce 'the miracle / of anaesthesia, and 1 nrmly believe that if the whole materia uiedica, as now used, could be sunk to t:ie hot? 'torn of the sea,. it'would be'all the oetter for mankind-and all the worse for tjlie fishes." l . I shall have something more to say about castor oil next week, inoludiug the - advice given in tho society's books, etc. Glaxo Builds Bonny Babies.—Advt.