OUR BABIES

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2776, 20 May 1916, Page 11

OUR BABIES

[BY htgeia/i Published under the auspices Aof the Royal Now Zealand Health Societym for 1 tho Hoalth of Women, and Children. "It is wiser to put up a fence fl-t jV-ue top of a precipice than to maintain ;an.lambu-. lance at the .bottom."- ' Misleading Advice. When writing last week on the( t\u|bject of the erroneous and misleading ife'vice and faulty directions liable tq be ghrein to mothers by prejudiced or badly-trained monthly nurses, I promised to givo some notes of a typical case of the kind w.'iu-eh came under my notice some time ngo.f Illustrative Case. The f case was oue of a baby bornstrcMg and healthy who had been brought fo end Ii a state, of debility by two months of niiiiguided nursing that tho mother in despair sought entry for herself and iier child to the Kantano Harris Uospit ai. Her baby, who was two months ot atWj was emaciated and weighed only 7;]ILA, though she. had weighed over 91b. a'-t birth, and should jn the meantime havv V increased l 'to. .12Jb.—iu other words, she\.>. was fully 41b. below her normal weight. : j The following is a resume of notes taken ! . down at the time from the parents. They were a young couple entirely wrapped up in their first-born, and most anxious to do their baby full justice. Their story was given with simple frankness and left no doubt in one's mind as to its being < quite reliable. . f Baby was strong, pluanp, and big. at ' birth, weighing over 91b.. The nurse got the mother to s-uckle every two hours throughout the day and to givo night feedings besides. Baby slept well and seemed satisfied; but as she cried occasionally the nurse thought she might be better with some change of food, and, though there was • more than" enough breast-milk, gave her two bottles a day of artificial food con. taining arrowroot aud oat jelly—one feeding being given at abouit 10 a.ni. and the other at 6 p.m., instead of-allowing the mother to stickle at these times.

The baby appeared to the parents to bavo been thriving ideally previously, and at first tho new food caused no appreciable change; but presently it;was remarked that the baby tended to vomit after the starchy feedings, though she kept down tho breast milk all right.

Perseverance in Wrong-doing. However, the' nurse said they should persevere, and it was not until the baby was thoroughly ill and obviously losing weight that any fuivther change in tho feeding was made. By this time the baby was six weeks old, and the parents were becoming worn out .with worry and broken baby crying on and' off the whole - 2-1 hours—the same baby who in the first week or two of life, when on the breast alone, had been an ideally sound , sleeper and a. model of plump content-, meut.

The nurse had used a dummy from the start, and baby had developed "thrush" ivhen only two weeks of age. When on breast milk alone the motions were nor-r-inl' and the bowels acted regularly, but sooir ai'ter artificial feeding was begum the bowels became constipated, and once, they did not act for three days. Further, baby, was troubled with wind and stomachache. . .

Change to Patient Food. The nurse now decided on a change in the artificial food,, and a';' particular food' as given night and morning; but this was vomited,' and as tho mother was feeling fforu out aud her breast supply was failing, a doctor was consulted. lie ordered 3oz.' and later 31oz. of peptonised milk to be given every two hours day and nightexcept ivhen baby happened to be asleep. As tho baby nevor'sjopt more than two hours,' it! follows that on un average 12: feedings were given in the 24 hours—the total quantity taken being abcut 350 a. She took her food ravenously and greedily, but as vomiting occurred after almost every feeding' much less than the quantity taken was retained. Errrors of Omission,. The nurse never hinted that any attention should be paid 10 the rate of feed' ing,' and when I drew the parents' atten'.tion:,.to'V;the ifact that- a..whole allowance l i.waa:;gh.lped down in three' minutes; they Said-the baby never took raoro than.tour' or five 'minutes''over a hbttle-feediiig. On: examining the teat I found the aperture so largo that the milk would How passively through it appreciableexertion 011.the part of the baby. (Sea remarks and illustrations 011 pages 87 and S3 of the society's book,' "Feeding and Care of Baby," showing how to choose and test rubber teats.) 1 Instead of removing the "binder" within the first fortnight, the nurse continued' its use, and we found the baby trussed tip with two binders—a flannel one and a linen one—at eight weeks of age, and sho was suffering from cxcoriated buttocks. Wrong Advice Given by Nurse. To complete the list 'of the omissions and misguidings of the nurse, I have only to add that the parents said she had tried to get them to keep tho baby in bed with them because it was winter time. Having full faith in the reliability of the , nurse, they would have assented to this but for tho fact that it had been strongly impressed ou them that the practice was a dangerous one. Had this last wrong been carried into effect there la no reason whatever to suppose that the baby would have survived. The debilitating effects of lying ia warm, muggy air and breathing the exlia'.ations of the par-ents-would,have so far lowered Uie'child's vitality that it could not have successfully battled against the other hostile agencies. As it was, the baby just won through When given proper systematic ?ai-c> and the baby tegan to improve, yud was doing splendidly.

As a result of the afternoon and evening entertainment which, was organised by a committee of ladies and held in St, John's Schoolroom last week, the sum of JCI23 is to be cabled to Chaplain 'Angus Mac Donald for the benefit of sick and wounded New Zealand soldiers in tho hospitals abroad, to be used entirely at his own discretion. The committee wish to thank very heartily tho anonymous donor of a sum of £5, for which they are extremely grateful. They also wish to thank everyone who assisted them in their effort either by money, loan of articles, gifts of entrance tickets, contributions of all kinds, and last, of all though by no means least personal assistance, all of which helped to make the afternoon salo of work and t'lic evening entertainment so successful in spite of the weather.

The hon. secretary of the Soldiers' Hostel -wishes to acknowledge with thanks the receipt of a regular supply of cut flowers from the children of. the Newtown School, which arc very much appreciated by the soldiers and staff; also a handsome picture from M«. Hay; cushions, blankets, pillows, ; etc., from Miss King, and" flowers from Sirs. Slater; books from Mrs. M. Scott, Mrs. Dick, and anonymous donations of literature and pickles.