A COMMON MODERN DIFFICULTY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1770, 7 June 1913, Page 11

A COMMON MODERN DIFFICULTY.

HOW TO OVERCOME IT. Tho following letter, just to hand from tho back country will appeal to many mothers who find their milk-supply failing before weaning-time has arrived:— , To "HygeiaV' Dear Madam,—For some time I have been an appreciative reader of your column, and now atn writing to ask you to send me all the society s literature concerning the care and feeding of babies. Ido not know the price of it, but will send it if you let me know. My baby is nearly six months old, and has.been entirely breast-fed-until now; but I am afraid I have not quite enough for her now, and would like to try one or two meals a day of humanised milk. The recipe for it will, I suppose, be among the literature.. REPLY. As lack of stimulation of the breasts causes the milk supply to fail, our correspondent was advised to continue nursing her baby >at each feedin»-time instead of substituting one or two bottle-feedinjrs a day. If her supply was insufficient, she was instructed to supplement at each nnrsing with tho quantity of properlygraded humanised milk required to make up the deficiency. Her attention was drawn to the passages in "What Baby Needs," which refer to the subject of her inquiries, more especially to the paragraphs dealing with "weighing immediately before and immediately after suckling." Slic was advised to procure accurate scales, and to weigh baby as directed to find out exactly how much milk sho was. gotting at each nursing. At tho same time the mother was advised to attend carefully to her own health—to see that her habits were regular, that the diet was simple and nutritious (threo good meals a day with no food between),

that she took a sufficiency of fluid (about two pints more than when not nursing), that she took as much active outdoor exorcise as possible, that she lad a' current of pure, fresh, outside air flowing through her room all night, etc. She was also advised to feed baby regularly overy four hours in the daytime—that is, five times in the 24 hours. . It was pointed out that, when baby was fed regularly with a sufficiency of food, she would most likely becomo contented and happy, and as a result the mothor would cease worrying. This freedom from anxiety, taken in conjunction with the effects of leading a more healthy life on the mother's part, would tend to make her milk supply improve both in quality and quantity, and in a short time sho would be ablo in all probability to nourish' her child without the aid of supplementary, feeding. Remember that the common practice ol giving three or four "breast-feedings" and the rest "bottle-feedings" is a great mistake, beeauso tho stimulation of tho breasts by suckling repeated regularly

( every three hours during tho day is the j best means of keeping up tho flow. Fur- |. ther, when the supply of mother's milk [ is short, sho should use both breasts at each nursing, reversing the order of suckling every time. Thus, if tho right L breast is taken first at ono suckling, the left breast should bo taken firet at the nejt. Allow, fay, five or six minutes for emptying each breast and fivo or ten | minutes for tho bottle. ' SUPPLEMENTARY FEEDING AND WEIGHING. One of tho Plunket nurses recently.sent . ma the following notes on cases which have such, a direct bearing on onr correspondent's difficulty that I quote t u em in full, and trust they will bo helpful to other mothers also: — Caso 1. The baby boy, weighed on very accurate scales, was B}lb. at birth. His mother nursed him, but at four weeks of ago ho weighed only 81b. lOoz. _ His appearance v*:<; pinched, liis expression hungry. Ho was fretful aaid sleepless. The mother also woro a wearied, worried expression. It was decided to procure the loan of a good, reliable grocer's scales. Tho baby was weighed before and after each nursing for'2i horn-s, and it was found that he wag getting not more than IJo%. at each feeding from his mother, instead of Iris rightful doz. No wonder, then, that h© was peevish and fretful. Tho mother was shown how to make a grade humanised milk, and was also instructed how best to improve her. own supply by sufficient diet, fresh air, exorcise, sufficient rest, and so forth. She still nursed her baby every threo hours,, but instead of leaving liira hungry gave him the extra nourishment needed in the form of humanised milk diluted. Very qufcldy his whole appearance altered, and lie lay smiling and contented if awake, but now spent much time in sleep. By tho end of tho week lie bad gained lOoz. in weight. Two months later ho was still improving, now weighing 12J1b., and his mother's supply was found to have steadily increased. Caso 2. > In another case whero the baby weighed the same weight at four weeks that she had weighed at birth, a good grocer's scales was procured for a week, and the baby systematically weighed every threo hours before and after the nursing. It was found that in tho early morning ba'.iy got a fairly good supply from her motiier, but as tho day advanced "the supply tended to decrease. This supply was supplemented by hunianised milk. At the beginning of tlie week baby was getting 16oz. of milk from her mother; at tho end of tho week 19oz. in tho 21 hours, showing a gradual increase in amount. Tho gain in weight was very marked at first, l'rom Gilb. at four weeks she had readied 12Jlb. by lier third month. Moreover, she was particularly bright and intelligent, laughed and cooed, and noticed everyone. Sho lived in the open air, and delighted in it, and was full of lifo and movement. By the sixth month she weighed 171b., and still was the picture of health and contentment. Case S. The third case gcea to show that where one breast is injured in any way (for example, if an abscess forms), the mother should continue to sucklo baby at the other, supplementing if necessary. In the following case there was, fortunately, an abundant supply from the sound breast. "Another mother sustained an injury in ono breast, necessitating an operation, and tliei thought of the weaning of her baby was considered; but it was found ; that ho was obtaining an ample supply from the other breast. Moreover, it was agreeing with him, and he was gaining steadily in weight. At a fortnight he weighed 8lb.; at three months 1311b. "His was. an interesting caso from another point of viow. His mother had to , go out washing, and from a very ea)rly date his meal hours had frequently to be lengthened out to four hours. This did ■ not distress him.. Sometimes ho demanded a drink of boiled water in between, but otherwise was quito content. His limbs were particularly firm and chubby, and lio' looked tho picture of hoalth. At six . months he weighed 1611b., at nine months 1831b., and at a year well over 201b. He , still showed a marked liking for his drink of boiled-water."