OUR BABIES

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 282, 17 August 1918, Page 5

OUR BABIES

[BY Hl'GSIi.")

Published under the auspices of the Eoyal New Zealand Society for the Health oJ Women and Children. "It is wiser to put up a fence at tho top of a precipice than to maintain an *mbulance at the bottom." PREVENTION AND CURE OF COLDS IN INFANCY. I have already dealt at some length with the simple hygienic measures that tend to make a baby robust and. resistive to disease; and, on the other hand, I have pointed to common practices and mistakes which lead to a general lowering of vitality and repeated colds. I »romised last week to answer a mother's question as to tho beet way of treating a baby when it has actually caught cold. This is not at all on easy thing to do, because so much depends on the way in which the baby has been habitually treated, especially in regard to fresh air, outings, clothing, bedding, and even foods and feeding habits. It is extraordinary how people foil to realise that the proper treatment of coughs and colds, and, indeed, the treatment of most of the common ailments of children, consists essentially in extra care along theso' simple lines. (See "What Every Baby Needs," pages 1 and 2, "Fending and Cars of Baby.").

The TJee of Oil and Eucalyptus.' Take a specific instance. The opccial question asked, in this connection, by one of my correspondents, is as to the desirability of rubbinc the chest with oil and uprinkliDß the pillow with eucalyptus. In eoneral, rubbins the chest with camphorated oil proves to be soothini and beneficial where there is any tendency of the cold to. apread to the chest, but the sprinkling of the pillow with eucalyptus is of very doubtful utility, and will not eiert the slightest influence over the microbes which have invaded the throat and chest. Of course, the mother thinks nuite otlieiwiso; and.this is scarcdly to be wondered nt, because, in the early days of the use of (intisepticß, the idea was Eenernl in the medical profession itself that by impregnating, or, rather, by merely Bcentiiif; the air with such substances as eucalyptus, carbolic, or, vilest of all, chloride of lime, it could bo rendered safe. It was supposed that traces of these so-called aerial antiseptics killed any perms present in the air; and though Koch showed by actual trial, over .1 ouartor of a century ajro, that eerms would continue to flourish ■where the air ivaa far more heavily charircd with antiseptics than would ever be the case in their ordinary use in a household or hospital, the early erroneous misconception has never died out, ana ■will probably survive for another quarter of a century. Ooddled Babies. How can we women at the Antipodes be expected to know any bettor, when one finds Oio -practice in London to-day Btill dominated largely by the mistaken notions of tho timo of Queen Victoria? A very wealthy lndy in the West Knd took me to see her grandchildren. They were two very pale, very llabby, pampered little weaklings, under the care of a fashionable professional nurse, who received three guineas a week for safecuardini; them. She kept tho poor little unfortunates in am atmosphere that was deadly warm and moist and sickly with camphor, because they had colds. No doubt she acted under directions, but it was obvious from what eho said that she was almost, as ignorant as to how an infant should be treated when ill as she this as how to look after it whon well,.with a view to preventing it falling a prey to disease.

' She was all for coddling babies, just anwe found the authorities in the hospitals of Vienna and Berlin, and with just, the samo results—viz., enfeebled vitality- and repeated colds, coughs, and Koro throats. In view of this later I shall tell in simple terras how babies are treated as regards clothing, beddinp, fresh air, etc., in the Karitano Baby Hospital, where the catching of colds in the institution practically never ocure. PRECAUTIONS WHEN A BABY HAS ; A COLD. " j If the baby has been sleeping in a room I without a fire, it is better to put it, in a aliehtly-warraert room (not above 60 deg. Fahr.) for a. few nights. On the other hand, the common practice of keeping a hnby in • a hot kitchen, when it gets a cold, is highly injurious, and ofton leads lo serious bronchitis. No extra, clothing is neodod. but special care should bo talten to prevent -undue loss of heat through the use of insufficiently absorbent napkins and failure to change napkins often enough. Babies would got rid of their colds much more quickly if we could make nil mothers realise the importance of providing proper nbsorbent pads (sph narteß 75 to 77. "Feedins and Care of Baby") for napkins. Forgo kicking exercieo for a few daj's, but rub arms and legs once or twice a dav to keep iip tone. Do not gko'up the warm bath, but take extra care to do everything very quickly, and bo sure that clothing on'd towels nre warmed and ready to hand. The chest mav be rubbed with a little camphorated oil. As regards feeding, .the main point to remember—whether a baby is being suokled or fed otherwise-is the fact that during the active feverish stage of a cold tho power to digest and absorb food is greatly diminished, and it is therefore finite n mistake to give the ordinary allowance nt =ii"h a time. If tho mother took th/> trouble to ,ol)6ervo the motions. s'i<! wrmld find that, during a fevori«h cold, there is ■ a tendency for undigested curd in phow In the Btools. It is best to dilute the food with water while tho child is feverish— the additional water beinic itself beneficial.