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OUR BABIES.

fBT HTGEU.I

Publiohml under the auspices of the Society for the Health of Women and Children. * "It la wlror to put up a- lence at tfiß top of a precipice than to maintain an amunlanes at the bottom." THE'DESTINY op the baby. -The natural and proper destiny of every baby : is, of course, to grow up strong and well to normal manhood or womanhood, and it was this destiny that tho founders of tho great Moscow Foundling Hospital had in view when thev started tho institution. No human imagination could have conceived that only five in 100 were to attain to perfect manhood or womanhood. One questions whether any humanitarian project ever failed more completely than tho Russian scheme for improving the lot of its foundlings. BY ORDER OF THE CZAR.

To quote from the article, entitled 'God's Rako":—

"Foter tho Great was considered a great civiliser when he issued a decree ordering tho Church 'to institute hospitals at the Church boundaries-; an;l to circulate tho ukase that foundlings 'should be handed over to these institutions.' .Since then many Tsars and Tsarinas have fought the problem, i'eter's widow, Catherine tho First, and;his daughter, Elizabeth, built sevhospitals; and Catherinetile Great built tho vast Moscow Hospital. She issued a decree saying that tho 'dom' was 'for the good education of innocent children.' It was to bo a' model institution Ito save many thou sands" of lives.' The male foundlings, when they attained manhood, were to marry serf girls, who, by virtue of tho marriage, were at once to be set free. This pious intention was frustrated'by the fact that more tharf half the babies, male and'female, died before they were .twelve months old; that not one.in 10 reached the ago of 10; and that not one in 20Veached an old .enough age to marry, and liberate a 'serf girl."

The practical bearing of the above and of what has appeared in tlio last few articles may b© summed lip in the

above words Pure, cool air, exorcise, regularity, and National feeding for the baby,versus warm, muggy, used-up air, passivity, and carelessness as to food and feeding. The most outstanding feature of the countries, places, ajid institutions where wo have found Babies' faro worst and infantile death-rates are highest is neglect to provide j.he simple essentials for healthy, vigorous life. - It is often hard to say whether more harm ■is dono by lack' of pure, fresh air and exercise or by lack of proper food and foeding. Tho fact of having emphasised theso uoints makes it easier for me to answer the following letter •WINTER AND THE BABY. A mother writes from Central Otago saying she notices that great stress is always laid on the risks that babies run in summer, and inquiring whether there are no dangers wliicli should be specially guarded against in winter. She says: "I .quite understand that babies run more risk of damage or death from summer diarrhoea than fronV any other cause in the' first year of life: but I havo got over the summer all right. In spite of having had to feed my baby artificially with humanised milk for the last few months. I have managed to keep her well and strong. She is now ei<rht months old. and. weighs just over 181b.. and though a little fretful, owing, I think, to cutting two teeth, she gives us no cause for anxiety. All I want to know is, can you suggest anything to guard against the risks of winter on the same lines as the_ warnings you give about tho special risks of summer?" REPLY. Special Risks of Winter. Unquestionably tho special risks tho baby runs in the colder months of the year are risks not due to cold, but to what is called "catching cold" which is quite another matter. Tho way to prevent a baby "catching cold" or getting soro throat, coup, bronchitis, broncho-pneumonia, pneumonia, pleurisy, or, indeed, any trouble connected with the breathing organs, is to rear the child from the beginning as a' "fresh-air baby." By a "fresh-air Why" 1 mean one who is never kept coddled in a warm, stuffy room, and who, therefore, is subjected to no severe strain when taken out into the pure, fresh air of tho coldest day. Of course, the mother must safeguard her child by clothing it properly whether it is to he carried in her arms, put in a perambulator, or laid in its cradle. Half tho coughs and colds of infancy would be prevented if mothers would master the simple method of making tho baby's bed described and illustrated on pages 8o and 160 of tlio pocietv's book, "Feeding and Care of In conclusion I cannot do better than refer the mother to the opening page of tho book. PURE AIR AND SUNSHINE. Clod lent His creatures, light and air And waters open to_ tho skies; Man locks him in a stifling lair And wonders why his brother dies. —Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes.

Babies pine and die because they aro irregularly and wrongly fed, and

Icept indoors in warm, stuffy rooms instead of living outside in the open air ,and sunlight by day, and in pure, cool, fresh, gentlv-flowing air at niglit. Keep baby out of the direct lino of draught; but don't be frightened of tho air being cold. Pure,, cold air is invigorating, and prevents "catching cold." Warm, stutfy air is poisonous and devitalising, and makes babies liable to "catch cold" when taken out into the open. There is no danger, but actual safety, in gently-flowing night air. Glaxo Builds Uonnr Babies.—Advt.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19140509.2.93

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2144, 9 May 1914, Page 11

Word count
Tapeke kupu
934

OUR BABIES. Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2144, 9 May 1914, Page 11

OUR BABIES. Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2144, 9 May 1914, Page 11

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