OUR BABIES.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2013, 21 March 1914, Page 11

OUR BABIES.

.fBY EIGIIA.I

Published under the »uspiee» of the Society for the Health of "Women and Children.. "It Is wiser to put up a, fenoe at tho top el o. prcolpico ttmn to maintain an ambuluce at the bottom." FAILURE IN NURSING. (Continued.) At the close of last week's article 1 referred shortly to a case where the failure in nursing was due solely to the mother being misdirected. I shall now give the particulars of the case in more detail, because I am satisfied that a large number of mothers, who would be perfectly capable of completely nurs- I ing their babies if properly guided, had to do so owing to cupplying tho baby not with too little, but with too much, milk in the first month. Apart,from tho human mother, there is no instance where the offspring is tempted and urged to suckle beyond its requirements. The most casual observation of what goes on in the fields among our domestic animals shows on all hands the tendency of tho mother to prevent too frequent or prolonged suckling. With ourselves, on the contrary, it has been the almost invariable custom'to try to induce the baby to nurse nearly twice as often as lie should and to fill himself to repletion. In this connection I have some very naive ind interesting notes, made by a professional nurse, showing perfectly clearly that the baby was suffering from overloading and indigestion at the very time when the nurse was jotting down in her daily record such remarks as: "Baby restless and peevish to-day; seems to be going off his food; very sleepy towards the end of each nursing; could not get him to take any more." These notes were made in a case where, under instruction, the baby was being weighed before and after each nursing, in order to ascertain how much 1 was being drawn from the breast in the 24 hours. The nurse had not taken the trouble,to add up the figures, which would have, proved to her that , the baby's troublo was due to over-feeding —not, as she supposed, to under-feed-'ng,—that he was actually getting as much as eight ounces beyond his proper allowance, as given on Page 34 of tho Society's book "Feeding and Care of Baby." ILLUSTRATIVE CASE. A mother, who had given birth neaTly six weeks previously to a strong, healthy baby weighing over 81b., wrote in great distress to say that the' infant had been doing very badly latterly—had been steadily losing weight, and now weighed rather loss than at birth. She had just been ordered to entirely- abandon breast-feeding on the ground that her milk was at fault, and even poisonous. The family were in comfortable circumstances, with every advantage as regards the home and assistance in the way of. servants, aud nurses. The mother -herself was the. type of 'normal motherhood,' not only physically, but by temperament and inclination. She was domestic, devoted to her children, and, of. all things, anx- . "ous to do everything she could ■ for them. She had failed to nurse her first two' children, but felt that this ought not to have been the case if matters had been managed properly. She had had the. society's books long before the last baby was born, and felt sure that all.would be well if she could only get the doctor and nurse to allow her to follow the general course advocated. However, when the time came.she found that they were tied to the,usages of the Victorian Era, and would not hear of fee'ding only every three hours, "'no night-feeding," etc. The baby was born plump and :healthyj;';and wcig ; h'ed,;Bflb.:.: ,;At"a! fortis ight "'she weighed 9ib.j and, 'as tho mother said, "was doing splendidly." The milk supply was ample, and the baby was suckled with alternate breasts every two hours, there being ten feodings ill all, including the night-feeding.' For tho next week things were not so satisfactory. Baby was fretful and irritable, .'and suffered from flatulence. She gained only a quarter of a pound in tho week, and the mother became worrieuj and slept indifferently. The next week there was a loss of a quarter of a pound,'and marked constipation set it, which the nurse treated with a daily dose of castor-oil, without consulting the doctor, who highly disapproved when some-weeks later he discovered what had been done.

In the fourth week a bottle-feeding was given in place of one of the breastfeedings, and by tho end of the fifth week baby wa3 getting four bottle-feed-ings. .Towards the close of the s'xth week the weight had gone down to Sib. 10oz., there; was extreme, constipation, baby was flabby, dull,' listless, dissatisfied, and irritable, and always > cried after being suckled. Complete stoppage of breast-feeding had been urged earlier, but was now insisted on, the parents being told that the violent crying of the child after the breast-feedings and not after the bottle-feedings showed that the mother's milk, was poisonous., However, the mother held out, and got a weighing-machine, which showed that at this stage the baby was getting from the breast under lOoz. in the twenty-four hours, being rather less than two-fifths of its normal requirement,. while the highly-diluted artificial feedings did not supply more, than another fifth. The explanation of the satisfaction after +he bottle-feedings and thq yelling after sucklings was very obvious, the 4oz. or more per feeding given by the bottle filling tho stomach and relieving thirst, which the 2oz. breast-feedings failed to do. ■ - , ■ THE NEW REGIMEN. Tho cause' of failure being not quite clear, the mother was given the following instructions:— (1) Feed only sis times in the 24 hours,-and, give no night-feedings. (2) Suckle the baby at each 'fe'edin" time. (3) Immediately before suckling balance the baby, clothes and all, and at tho end of suckling find out and note what weight has to bo added to balance again. This shows how much milk has been drawn off from tho breasts. (For details as to weighing before and after suckling see pages 57-59 "Feeding and Caro or Baby.") (4) Supplement with tho necessary quantity of Humanised Milk, beginning diluted, and working up to full strength in tho courso of a week. Tho mother had been using only one breast at each feeding, but as the supply was short sho was told she must' give both breasts each time, as explained on pages 6 and 7 of the Society's hook ("Feeding-and Care of Baby"), The result of this regimen was that tho baby started straight away to gain normally, and in the course of tho next month the mother's supply, instead of continuing to dwindle rose to nearly 17oz. a day. THE RESULTS. When baby was nearly 11 weeks old, the mother wrote, saying: "I enclose tho ■ weighings, and will send the ones for this week later on. Baby is doing splendidly. She is getting fat, and her cheeks aro quite a nice colour. Shois looking very honnio now, and I am suro you would be pleased with her. Tho doctor is delighted. . . . I tell him we are going by tho book. "Baby is getting very regular in her habits. Wo ':so tho rubhor enema when (The enema referred to is a tiny soft-hozzlod rubber bulb, holding only an ounce. Simple pure water at 70 degrees is used—no soap;) The baby's weight on December 12 was 101b. 6}oz., a gain of lOJoz. in 9 days. Just before leaving Tihigland we . received a telegram saying that baby was going splendidly, and that her weitiht on December 17 was 101b. llioz. This showed that sho had gained exactly a pound in tho fortnight. Glaxo Builds Bonny Babies.-iVlrt.