OUR BABIES

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 276, 10 August 1918, Page 2

OUR BABIES

[BY Hygbia.l Published under the auspices of tho Boyal Now Zealand Society for tho Health of Women and Children. "It i« wiser to put un a lence at tho ton of a precipicb than to maintain an anibulance at tho lwttom." . OATOHING COLD. A lIOTHEB'B -LETTEH.' The folloiviuß letter was received from ono of our corresiiondents:— I am one ot tjie.niany mothers who read with Eroat. interest your weekly article-.-. . and I : should like y.oui-ad-vice. I have two cliiidreii—a boy a little more than three years of ago and a baby girl aged a year and . niue mouths. . ■ ' ■. »*in;u three years old the boy weighed 3Ub. iu his clothes, lie sleeps well (13 or l<l hours daily), and looks a picturo of health. I am norry to say that ' he liiid had. three slight colds (one immediately following tho other) this win-tei'--mori! than lie had had buforo in all his life. He has always been brought, up by Plunket rules siuce about, two mouths old; but 1 am afraid he may have become a bit coddled while he had tho first of his three colds, for it is extremely diificult, iu a place whero. out of doora means wet grass, to keep a boy outside mucli in stormy, wintry : weatner. tach cold followed a visit to tho nearest town or a visit to a friend, both entailing'a long drive. However, 1 am making a very big effort to avoid more colds, paying special care to diet, fresh air, etc. lie liaß , always had plenty of fresh air by night. By tho way, would you kindly, give us advice bow to treat a cold, in case our children arc unfortunate . enough to take cold. I am sure many , othor .mothers would be glad to know that, too. PA—Prom birth, my children have . seemed very liable to have cold feet. They have always worn thick woollen stockings—frequently two pairs—but in spite.of tha-t their feet , are often cold, especially the girl's. I have always been ] rather'afraid, to try cold baths for them, partly on that aqeouut. ' . | BEHiY. . COLD FEET AND WARM STOCKINGS.The last paragraph of your letter is evidently an afterthought, as it appears in the form of a postscript, yet it his a.very important bearing on the tendency to catch cold. Of course, many mothers would think that they had dono remarkably well if their children had had ae few colds as you mention in tho.first years of lifo. However, considering the attention you have paid to fresh air and the other leading hygienic rcouironients, you are quite right in feeling that a . strong, healthy child such as your boy should not. get threo successive colds, oven though, as you say , , they havo beeu mild ones. Noi donbt the coddling after the first cold led,' as you suggest, to the subsequent attacks; but an equally fundamental question is tho subject of cold feet. Two of tho most curious and striking characteristics of "colds in tho head" are: (1) They are much more liable to occur where only a small portion of the body is chilled than where tho vrholo body. is subjected to cold. (2) Chilling of the resion whero tho symptoms arise—viz., tho head-is" less commonly,the exciting cause of cold in the head or sore throat than chilling of the opposite extremities-viz,/ the feet. . , ■

These faeffl arc familiar enouch to most of us; Many of us, indeed, are only too painfully conscious that half an' hour epent in damp boots in a cosy room will cause a warning tickling or soreness in the throat, or a curious feeling about the nose, and if we disregard the warning wo know from past experience what will follow. \ Br. Bosworth, who was Professor of Dis- ! eases of the-Throat in the Bellevuo Hospitnl, New York, in an admirable little book devoted solely to "Taking Cold," says:HOW DO WE .TAKE COLD? We do not take cold ordinarily from a draught of cold air; there must be , I Bonicthing olso. AVc do not take cold if tho cold strikes a portion of thb body which ia not accustomed to be protected. In tho present case ono cannot emphasiFo this point too strongly, Indeed, it may be tuheti for granted not only that tho,susceptibility of "catchinc. cold'-' has been fostered by excenßive coddling of the foot, but that actually the tendency to "cold lcet" has been increased and may have been duo solely to the same cauoe. Tho surest way to make <i baby's feet habitually chilly is to keep on bootees or stockings while he is in'-bed, just in tho name way as you may-render tlieifcot of an adult habitually chilly and unduly sensitivo by providing. night-socka. The explanation is very simple. The regulation, of tho amount of-hent produced in tho body and tho distribution ' of the blood to its various parts is brought abfiit through the nervous system: and (no. normal processes' , are. liable to bo gravely upset by keeping parts such as tho bond, hands, and feet (-which have enormous' numbers of nerve fibres distributed to them) unduly shielded from tho natural stimuli'provided by chanires of temperature.' Jf wo-go to bed with bare.feet, even thoueh there should be a hot. bottle in tho bod, we are never lons without. tho stimulus of chance, because the feet move freely from one part of tho. bed to another. J Tho benefit of the change Iβ obvious,'even to .tho senses, in -tin pleasurable feeling of stimulation 1 which results. Sothing of the kind occurs.if the feet carry their warm coverings with them. Tho foot.is a perfect network of blood-vessels-in other words, little tubes »m----rounded'by rings of uhibclub, over which the will-' has no power. Tho muscles of tho blood tubes aro normally kept-in- fitness and activity (like all the,other in-' voluntary inusoles of the body) by stimuli acting on the elan., tho impulses being conducted by myriads of nerve fibres from tho skin to thb 'central nervous system, and messaces being, sent back from tho nenso centre to the tiny muscles ordering them to coctr.ict aicd braise up tht doodvessels. In this way the fitness, or "tone"is kept up. If, on tho conirary. tho feet nre coddled'and not. habitually slimulatod. they become Eoft, liable, to sweat too much, and therefore tend to be chilly. Under' tlicso conditions tlfo" supersensitive feet aro' tho most fruitful sources of coughs, coldp, and sore throats. This is why the children who go to school in bare, feet are loss, liable lo catch cold-than the children who wear boots and stockings. At the Karitano Baby' Hospital none of tho babies wear , bootees or socks-in bod (unless temporarily in the case of very tiny, dolicate babies), and they scarcely over catch cold. Where occasionally a. old.has.been '-.auiiht tho matron tells me eli3 hae usually found it traceable to a nurse lifting thn baby from'Us warm bnj and taking it oil' into the open air.without being careful enough to'wran" it up properly, especially os regaiNiß the feet and legs. . ;