OUR BABIES.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1889, 25 October 1913, Page 11

OUR BABIES.

TBI Hroau.l

Published under the acspimj of th® Society for the Health of Women and Children. "It is wlwr to put up » ;«"» *t the top pf a praoipiof than, to maintain an wabalanos at the bottom." NOTE—The Boolety etxonirly disapproves of the uso of artificial foods as a substitute for mothers' or &u« ' maniscd milk. Full (Lirectloua for tho preparation of the latter aro contained in th© Society's pamphlet entitled "What Baby Needs." LONDON, August 81. THE LONDON CONGRESS ON INFANT MORTALITY AND CHILD WELFARE.

(Continued.) It is remarkable, as I shall show later, how little is being done in England in the direction of bringing the rising generation of doctors abreast of the scientific and practical advances made in the care of mother and child during the last twenty years —and especially during the last ten years. Not only is -this true as regards flio medical profession, but it is even more true as regards the great mass of the population. The general assumption here (in the Old Country) is that facilities for ."Education in Parenthood" (as Herbert Spencer put it) are needed only for the submerged or humble, whereas what strikes us most forcibly is the almost universal ignorance and neglect of many of the simplest essentials for establishing tho fitness of mother and child. This confronts us at every turn, wherever we go, not only in the country, but also in the great cities, whicli ought to be the centres of light and leading, and most strikingly among the so-oalled "educated" and professional classes who should bo setting an example to the the rest of the community. One wouldy imagine, for instance, ■ that by this time there would be a general con-' sensus of opinion and practice as to pure air, suitable food, adequate exercise, and the avoidance of well-recog-nised vices, Buch as the use of the dummy or comforter. Nothing of the kind—a few instance will suffice to show how hopelessly misleading and inconsistent are tho examples set, 1 even in the highest quarters. 0 ' DUMMY OR COMFORTER. One afternoon a garden party to the International Medical Congress was given at the London Hospital, and facilities were afforded for seeing over the institution. We went to tho children's wards, where there were a dozen or so of babies, and to our amazement they wore apparently all provided with "dummies." In most institutions it IB all the other way—thus in the "St. Paneras School for Mothers" a large notice in the hall proclaims that dummies are strictly forbidden; not only are tho mothers prevented from using them in the home, but every effort is mads to persuade them to give up the abominations outside the institution also. .. In this same London, only four years ago, John Burns said, emphatically, in his opening address at the great Tuberculosis Exhibition;— Now I come to another practical remedy for consumption—that is, the abolition of t'he "comforter" 'and the "soother." I believe'the comforter lias killed its tens' of thousands of little. children. What is more, doctors tell me that it subjects tho baby's mouth and throat to malformations, and, is a special cause of bad teeth. . . Further, the comforter is said to be responsible in many cases for adenoids. . . I / would endure the charge of being a ■ bureaucrat with pleasure if with one order I could make the comforter a public nuisanco and schedule it as a dangerous .instrument. I shall write later of the denunciation of the dummy by leading members of tho dental profession who attended the International Congress, though tho subject never came up for general discussion', simply because there was nobody on the other side. No wonder the mothers are puzzled and bewildered in such matters, and tend to do just as their fancy inclines them, in the absence of any reliable consistent authoritative guidance. DRAPED CRADLES. Returning to the children's wards of the London Hospital, we found babies in cradles of which the head-ends were draped round with curtains, in t'he usual absurd way. Subsequently iii a noted baby 'hospital in the West End we found every cradle, without exception, draped with practically impervious curtains, and in some cases these wero drawn round the upper foot or more of the cradle, though it was a close, midBummer afternoon, and in Bpite of t'he fact that there was no adequate provision for ventilation of the ward itself. Here, in a most costly institution, were stagnating cribs, placed in stagnating air, more than 10 years after the whole world had realised, or ought to have realised, that pure, fresh, cool flowing air is the first need for healthy existence—especially for tho health of young growing beings. It is hard to believe that over 50 years ago Florence Nightingale, tho idol of thi3 same London, proclaimed that, as far as she could see, judging from her experience in the Crimea, tho best temperature for a hospital ward was as near as possible that of the outside atmosphere; and that soon after (in the ago of crinolines) she wrote as follows to women of tho working classes in her simple, sensible, homely way:— "MINDING BABY." And now, girls, I have a word for you. You and I have all had a great deal to do with "minding baby," though "baby" wa& not our own 'baby; and we would all of us do a great deal for baby which we would not do for ourselves.

Now, all that I have said about nursing grown-up people applies a great deal more to nursing bab.y. For instance, baby will suffer from a. close roorji when you don't feel that it is close. If baby sleeps even for a fow hours — much more if it is for nights and nights —in foul air, baby will', without any doubt whatever, be puny and sickly, and most likely have measles or scarlatina, and not get through it well. Baby will feel want of fresh air more than you. Did Dr.. Oliver Wendell Holmes really write, over half a ccnitury ago:

God lent His creatures light and air,

And waters open to tho skios;

Man looks him in a Btifling air. And wonders why his brother dies.

Do I dream, or are we really in tho age of open-air phthisis sanatoria: openair treatment ot diseaso in general; sunbaths and week-end bungalowß, with ono or inoro Bides out? Are we really in the age of sleeping on verandahs and balconies? Did our parents really give up curtained "four-poster beds" becauso thoy found they were weakening and debilitating, and do our mothers and sorno of our medical advisers still countenance a greator irmlfling and halfsuffocation of babies? Are there still ito bo found, even in New Zealand, women who keep babies alongside them in bed? »