OUR BABIES.
fBl HieniA.l Publialied under the auspices o! the wq ety for the Health of Women and Children. "It is wiser to put up «. fence at the top >i a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom." Colds and Catching Cold. If I could only get our readers to understand tho root of this grave evil, and how to avoid it, I should feel justified in writing on nothing elso for a whole year. Now, in midwinter, we are free from extreme anxiety with regard to Infantile Diarrhoea; but this is the Bcason when we find babies all over the country suffering from coughs and colds, som throats, bronchitis, and pneumonia. .These diseases pull them down, damage their whole breathing apparatus, 'givo them adenoids, prevent the proper development of their chests, and tend to' make them catch cold again and again throughout childhood and afterwards. This appears to me to be the most serious side of the matter, the damaging and weakening of thn whole budding organism, through want of a little forethought and common sense on the part of parents, and their failure to get a e;rip of what is necessary in the way of prevention.' High Winter Death Rate. i _' But there is another side to the question of Jetting infants catch cold— namely, the large part which it plays in piling up the death rate. Turn to ourannual statistics, or the annual statistics of any country, and you will find that while children die of diarrhoea in summer they mostly die from colds and chest affections in winter, and it should always bo borne in mind that a very largo number of those who do not actually succumb in infancy, through catchiiifr rold, fall a prey later on to) tuberculosis. ■ All this miserable train of evils would be avoided if parents could only be brought to realise that prevention is easily achieved and can be achieved in o\iP way only—namely, by. pivint; every child its natural rights of abundance of pure, cool, fresh' air, plenty oxcrciso and anting in the open air, aroi'Jaiico of coddling in warm, stuffy rooms at any time, avoidance of excess of clothing, and, above all things, avoidance of carelessness as to clothing. It is difficult to Echool oneself to speak with patienco on these matters. Daily ono sees little children taken from warm beds in warm kitchens (whore they ncver_ ought to be) out into the. open air with bare- arms, bare legs, and totally insufficient wrappings—iand then the mother, finding that her chiJd catches cold, blames Providonce or the cold, pure air for the results of her own stupidity. Again, look at.the children placed in draughts, on the floor, or just inside an open doorway, or, worse-still, propped up on a pillow in front of the fire just after a warm bath, "toastinp, its.toes," as shown in the picture and described on page 67, "Feeding and Caro of Baby." ' ■■ ■ Toasting Baby's Toes. This last crazy custom is less , prevalent than it was when it first oamo prominently -under our notice nearly 10 years ago, nnd I think the society's picture has had something to do with bringiug home a conviction of the folly of the proceeding.. "Toasting the baby's toes" used to be one of our besetting troubles. Almost every new nur'so brought the same fatuous idea with her, and, in spite of all warnings, wo used to find the babies lying in the draughtiost. place in the room with, damp h,o,ids, flushed faces, and cold,, blue little bare legs,: supposed to be warming up after the bath. And the nurses would defend themselves by saying that it was the custom , or that the leading doctors nowadays preached fresh air, nnd said you could not have too much of it.' A Personal Reminiscence. How well I remember a capable, clea* headed n-.other, full. of common sense herself, saying to me in despair regarding her baby:—"Georgie is always catching cold, and the nurse nearly drives me. to distraction: She came to me with tho highest recommendations, she is really capable and weJl-trained in most matters, regular as to food and habits, clean, tidy, most attentive, and very fond of the baby; but on the matter of fresh air she is simply mad. I try to reason with her, t Tvhen I find baby placed in a direct draught near the open door or toasting his toss in front of the fire, and never a screen at any time, but she actually ousts you up at me, saying that you and. Dr. ■ say that people can't have too m-uch fresh air!" ... Such things always call up in my mind tho clever saying of an eminent authority on' the fresh-air treatment of consumption, when dealing with the stupid lack of common sense often shown by over-zealous partisans: "Some people have a positive passion for unnecessary discomfort." As I have said, it is very difficult sometimes to write calmly about the unnecessary pains and penalties imposed on babies by their pa-rente and guardians , and I am certainly not in a calm mood just now. I am told .that a mother's first-born (who bad been brought to do well, and was quite on the right track after a more than ordinarily clieoiuered career, due to .errors in'feeding) is now laid up' with ''bronchitis. Of course, tho parents ivill put the attack down to a "visitation of Providence," -just'-as Herbsrt Spencer tells us parents did last century, whenever their children got ill. What Herbert Spenoer Says, "Parents commonly regard sickness as a misfortune—as. a visitation . of Providence. Thinking after tbe present chaotic fashion, they.assume that these evils com© without causes, or that triecauses aro supernatural. Nothing of the kind ... generally parents themselves are responsible for all this pain, this debility, this misery. . . . In utter ignorance of tho simplest Jaws ; of lifo, they have been undermining tho I constitutions of their children, and so i have inflicted disease and premature death." ... How are we to get all parents to grasp the fabt that neither chance nor Providence fornes : bronchitis, or , any other such malady, on us or our child-, ren; but that we ourselves actually arrange ahead for t-hcir. coming—we give the microbes a standing invitation to 'invade our bodies and'take possession. Strangely enough, we are surprised and annoyed when the germs accep.t our open invitation, and upset the whole household. Parents could keep their children always strong and almost proof against disease if they would only conform to the simplest primary laws and needs of healthy living, as shown on pages 1 and 2 of the society's book. But there are plenty of people who won't take the trouble—won't take any trouble—until the baby is ill; then, too late, they are ready to spencl or do anything in order to cure what they could so easily have prevented.
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Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2247, 5 September 1914, Page 3
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1,144OUR BABIES. Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2247, 5 September 1914, Page 3
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