OUR BABIES

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2747, 15 April 1916, Page 11

OUR BABIES

TBI HYGEIA.I Published under the auspices of tlio Hoyal New Zealand Health Society for the Healtli of Women and Children. "It is wiser to put up a feiioe at the top of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom." When a mother, speaking of her baby, proposes "to leave well alone," she generally menus that she intends to continue in a wrong course as long as her baby is (xmtented and seems to be thriving. Our nursos are often confronted with tho "leaving well alone" fallacy when they try to ensure plenty of fresh air and exercise, or to bring about such Teforms as the giving up of the long tubo-feeder or the dummy, or to effect a change from a food known to be incapable of giving the best results with babies (even though they may. appear to do satisfactorily for a time) for a diet more perfectly in accord with the nature and necessities of the young human being. A Mother's Lotter. A mother 'Writes asking me repeated question: "Do you think _it is advisable to make any change in my baby's food, so long as he is doing well on. .it, simply becauso the Plunket Nurse says it is unsuitable for the perfect nourishment of an infant. The nurse tells me I should make a change at once, and not wait for the child to become upset, she says the Patent Food I am giving is starchy and sterilised, and does not contain enough flesh-forming material, let baby is looking, well on it and growing well/ 1 What do you advise?" Tho stock plea in these cases is: ' Don t you think it would lie a shame to Biake any change when we have hit on a food that agrees so well, and which enables baby to put on weight satisfactorily." _ The temptation to make no change in such circumstances is, of course, a very strong one j but it is a temptation to which no sensible mother would yield if she had any idea how much the constitution and future development of her child would be liable to suffer through the prolonged use of a'food not having the right nature and composition. A Lesson from Little Pigs. A flood of light has been thrown on the ■ feeding ..of all young creatures by wide--spread investigations into the rearing of pigs. One can experiment ■ freely with a litter of pigs in order to find out what foods give the best and development —what kind of feeding produces the strongest and most robust stock. Many people suppose that so long as young pigs grow quickly and look well that is all the fanner needs to attend to. As he is going to kill them in six months, they say, what matter whether tho nature and composition of their fcod is right or wrong? The,answer'is best given in the following extracts from "Feeds and Feeding," the masterful and authoritative book written by the Director of the Agricultural Experiment Station of the University of Wisconsin. After a full consideration of feeding experiments made on the Continent of Europe and in the United States (experiments proving that, in spite ot young animals appearing to do well for a time on- improperly-balanced foods, they fail in some direction later on) the writer proceeds:— ' ... "The experiments on tne nutrition o; pigs, made iu \vklely-sep&rat(kl States | countries, show that the frame of the growing animal and. the.vital. organs can bo greatly I 'modified. by improper nutn-, tion—the muscle's produced, by such.feeding being less than normal in size, the bones robbed of their, strength, the vital organs, such as■. the livev and kidneys, modified, and oven the blood reduced in quantity." , • ~ Broad Lessons for Breeder and Feeder. The observant feeder, and breeder of swine studying these trials- must; be_ .impressed with the plastic character .of the body of the growing annual. He learns that the bones and muscles, as well as sohio of tlio'internal organs of can be thrown out of their normal relation one to another through an unbalanced ov improper food supply. He sees it possible for immature animals to live a long 'time . without showing disease, while being dwarfed in form and made prematurely fat. Ho learns that Nature s plan is .to grow tho framework first and lay on fat afterwards. He concludes, rightly, that if. a pig or other young animal is m#li.nurtured so as to, modify ' its .bones, muscles, and vital, organs ever so little, I-'and the animal 1 , so affected is later used for breeding purposes, the descendants likewise being mal-nurtured, the cumulative ill-effects may in a few generations become very-marked. . . • By the judicious use of feed mixtures 'he ' secures aninials of great ■ vigour, and, selecting tho best of these in framework., and constitution, ihe holds his herd to a high standard.. : In conclusion, let me quote the following from. the.. Society's- Book, "Feeding and Care of Baby," page 61. Patent Food and Condensed Milk "Bottle- ' Feds." However attractive these may appear as -bahies, they don't develop into the best men and women, and. even as children the fact' of their having been built out of the wrong stuff shows itself directly they become, ill. Shch babies; "catch whatever's going," and readily succumb to any illness. . Even where they don't die, they pick up slowly, and tend to make iuperfect recoveries. This is in striking contrast to the baby who is properly fed throughout on the best air and the best food. If such, a child does chance to get ill, he "throws off the germs as the how of an ocean liner /throws off. the spray—the is pretty well germ-proof." • Dr. Chapin' says:' "Many people feel that after something that 'agrees' and causes gain in weight is .found, the problem of successful feoding has been solved ; but the ,future of the infant may be completely wrecked by such a method of feeding.".. An infant is receiving as much fat and sugar as is found in human milk, but'only a quarter to a half as much proteid (flesh-forming material). Baby is fai, gaining weight, and may look healthy, yet probably he will get rickets or succumb to the_ first serious illness. Extensive experiments, made on the above lines with little pigs and other . young stock, 6how that the. wrongly-fed animal may grow as fast and look as well from the outside as one whioh l has been properly treated; hut when the two are out across, the body, of the one is found to be built principally of fat, while that of the other is mainly good bone and muscle. "A food that causes gain in weight may. not be a good food for an infant. The scales alone are 1 not a safe guide."

Mrs. Suisted ia tlio lion. secretary, and hor untiring energy is a. very great umiulus to the yuild. Mr. Veitcli, M.P., opened the display, and lie said that ho could conceive nothing better than the services rendered to the nation by the guild's _ baud of helpers in its work of supplying' com. forts for tho soldiers. The Hon. Gil. Bert Carson, M.L.C., also spoke, and paid a high tributo to the work of tho guild.

Oil the previous day Captain-Chap-lain 131amircs—who has spent many months in Egypt mid at tho front, and who is thoroughly conversant with tho men's requirements—visited the guild's rooms, and carefully inspected the ad. mirablo assortment of work now ready for dispatch to Egypt. Ho expressed himself as more than pleased with what ho saw. Especially was he pleased with the fact that the garments were not only well made, but that they were in every instance mado of high quality, and consequently good wearing material. "You have got here," Tie said, "just what the men in tho hospitals oyer there require, just what_ they will appreciate." No better testimony (states the "Wanganui Chronicle") to the organising efficiency and discriminating judgment of capable womenworkers could be desired. The excel, lent work of the Military Hospital Guild, and of its kindred organisations throughout the Empire, is certainly worthy of public display as showing how women have risen in this war to the height of a supreme occasion. They have been quick to perceive the issues at stake, and they have been no less instant in the action to meet them. Their self-sacrificing labours call for and deserve public encouragement and assistance.