OUR BABIES
fßr HYGBIA.I
Published under the auspices of tlio Itoyal Now Zcutand Society for tho Health of Women and Children. It IB wiser to put hd a fence at tho ton of a precipicu than to maintain an ambulanco at the bottom."
THE SOOUJIGB OF BUMHEIt. Whilo summer time is delightful to all ol ue, and its warm days aim bright suuuliiQO tempt peoDifi into thu open air, and thuu watt lo Daiiibh the "colds," sore throats, and "chest aifeotioua" of the duiqper, chillier seasons of the year—while this bmlth-givius enect of summer on young and old alilw is recognised, in every temperate rogiou of the world, it is also found that summer kills far more babies than any other season of the year. Why is this? Why should mimincr not bo the eufest instead of the most dangerous time or year for infants? The reason is not far to Beck. Most bauits are fed on liquid food which is specially liable to ferment in warm weather. Milk becomes -infested with microbes; in oilier words, goes bad and becomes poisonous, more readily than any other food, and if wo are not careful in thq selection of a milkman it may have gone bad ia warm weather before reaching the home. So long as an infant is suckled, anil the mother is not only regular, cleanly, and careful in her habits, but also gives tljo baby all his simple primary rights (outing, fresh air, sunlight, exercise, etc.), there is no safer season than summer. But, however careful the mother may be as to general hygiene, summer is dangerous, and often fata!, if there is auy carelessness in artificial feeding (whether resorted to in the early months or coming in the natural courso later on at weaning or afterwards), simply because microbes grow apace in warm weather if milk is not properly attended to. SUMMER DIAHBHOEA Why should diarrhoea single out bablct and calves and leave the reel of nurslings more or less exempt Irom this special curse of summer? in warm weather tho young of horses, pes, dogs, cats, and the rest arc almost uiuiornily healthy, while calves in all directions ai'e victims to "scouring," and few babies escanc tlio slime scourge under the name of "summer diarrhoea." Calves are sacrificed because man takes tho cow's milk for himself and feeds the calf out of a bucket. The baby is sacrificed because the mother's breast is denied to it also, and improper food, contaminated with germs, is substituted for the pure, perfect, blood-warm, living stream direct from tho proper source. The important practical question whichwe have to face at tho present moment is this: Are ill-health and diarrhoea inevitable during summer time for calves and babies who cannot bo suckled? Certaiuly not! In both cases the, trouble arises not from the mere fuct of artificial feeding, but because proper care is not exercised to secure suitable food and to prevent fermentation. For babice,.humanised milk supplies by far the nearest approach to th.* mother's milk, arid if kept .cool and given according to the directions contained in the instructions isEtied by the society., there would be little risk of disease. Even with Ireast-teeding a baby may suffer from summer diarrhoea; but immediate suitable treatment of such infants, or of those who have been judiciously fed by artificial means, soon brings about recovery in the great majority of casee. Among bajjics who have been improperly fed, on the other hand, the risk of death from an attack of diarrhoea is very great indeed, and lasting debility is often left whpto the baby does not actually succumb. DEATH TOLL OF DIARRHOEA. Professor Budin showed that the number of artificially fed babies who died in Paris per week was about 20 in winter, but that in mid-summer, the deaths rosu to almost 260 per week. This is very strikingly shown in a diagram given on pagu 40 of the society's pamphlet, "What fiauy - Needs." A large poster of (lie diagram was placarded iu many places throughofcS the Dominion during Baby Week, and must have been studied by large numbers of readers. • '■'
A rise in the death-rate nmoiig infants similar to the above occurs iu' New .Soehland (luring warm weather, varying with the locality and the heat of the particular summer. Knowing the cause, the disease is one of the most easily pr'iiventible, and tho mother who allows her baby to sueeumb during the next few months should feel, in niue cases'out of ton, that she has herself to blame. It is not Nature or Providonco. that inflicts tho eurao of •uuminer diarrhoea, but tho mother herself. That this is literally i-nd absolutely .true will be realiseeTby anyone consulting the Paris diagram/which' shows that, over' 1000 babies died in six. weeks when" tho" weather was warmest. Among breast-fed babies tho death-rate for the same period averaged only 20 -icr weeli. .Tlje deaths that did take place in either class was mainly the result of ignorance and carelessness (especially careless feeding of mother and child, the use of tho long-tube feeder, lack of fresh air and exercise, irregular habits, failure to keep the breasts and tho clothing covering them clean, and use of dummy or comforter for tho baby). During the samo three or four fatal summer months scarcely a death from diarrhoea occurred among Iho babies whose mothers were availing themselves of rational advico tendered at the four creches then established in Paris on modern lines. About half of these more fortunate babies wore suckled, and tho rest were bottle-fed with milk supplied at tho special "Babies' Milk Depot." In the provinces a Eimilar result has been achieved. Thus Dr. Dufour, the pioneer in Normandy of tho rational cave of babies, including the use of humanised milk, shows that while tho death-rato among infants averaged 55 for the four principal towns, tho death rate among babies whose mothers attended tho depotß and got proper advice and food was less than 3 per cent.—in othor words, only onetwentieth of tho mortality which took place among the'babies whoso mothers persisted V going their .own way iu suite of warnings and advice. The l'lunket Nurse will bo glad to gee mothers and babies at t.he society's rooms, 3 Courtcnay Place, Wellington, every afternoon between 2 and 4 o'clock (Saturdays and Sundays excepted). Tho nurse's services aro free, and all mothers are welcome.
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Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 81, 29 December 1917, Page 2
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1,064OUR BABIES Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 81, 29 December 1917, Page 2
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