OUR BABIES

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 4, 30 September 1918, Page 3

OUR BABIES

|BY HYGJIU.I PiSll'hod under the a«»ptces of the Royni ifew Zealand Society for tho Health of Women and Children. "It ia wiaor to put ud a fence at the i top of a preclplcu than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom." PURE GOOL AIK FOR BABIES. If mothers could only bo brought to realise tho benelite oi puro air. proper feeding and oxerciso for lUeninelvoß and their_ babies, aiol; and delicate children wbum soon be as rare as they are now common. Further, pure uir constantly flowing through the house ivonld at tho same time improve the health of tho rest of tho family, so I make no apology for giving almost in full the following «dmir. able paper read some yeare ago at a meeting of the Americas Pediatric Society - : THE TWEN'rr-TJiKEE-HOUE TREATMENT. By W. P. Nortluup, JI.D., New York. This paper oontaiue but ona idea, pre6onts for conaitterution but one point. n uiiyuiia 6:iau uiiiuirc what the words of tho title mean, wiiat the cure, and why twiauy-ilirue, UiQt lUQUiry, i m3y ea,", iustinos the title. When i urge my patients to kp.ftp & sick or convalescent child iu tho open air many hours eacii (iay, .tust as many hours as rain, enoiv, an<l harsh, liigii winds wUI permit, I am uiwaye anewered with tho most compliicenl of emilea with r, manner of triumphant Batisfaction, "So wo do; we do juet that." X ho-vo talked myself to a standstill ovor and over «K«u; trying to impress parents and. uurso witu the fact that two hours in tho jnornins aiid" an hour and' a half in the afternoon fs uot all day, and uot enough, that tho long hours of the night count for .some, thing (in the way of frah air), that to get' tho good of the air tho child must livo in it. It mint sleep, eat, frolic, flpend twenty-three of tho twenty-four hours in cood, cool, fresh, ou'.door air. I ha.ve the habit of speaking of it aa twenty-three-hour treatment, or tho twenty-three cure. This in a- crude way aenms to suffgust what I want. They begin by asking; Why not twenty-four hours? What is to be done with the other hour? If they, do so ask it, is the fir3t cleam of light indicating that they can be moved by porsuasion, and are uot, of clayey con eistonce. Talking into a, clay bank kills. X Bubinit it is an inquiry:, Is _lt noi tho everyday experience for the frte'h-ait-favouring physicimi on catering unexpectedly the sick room or convaleswnt'e apartment to find the air exhausted, moist malodorous, "mousy," and then in direct Ecquence to lisfen to the best, of oicuses for its being in this condition. Iβ it not bo? It would seem that a special training must have been given to nurses for furnishing ready-made eicufe3 for foul aiv and omiesion to ventilate. They haw throe reasons for nouein? a child to ono for taking it out. For tho twenty-three cure the nurso should be export in everything but excuses. Dr. Northrop has probably not heard I tho following story told by Goneral lan Hamilton of tho late Lord Kitchener-n he nad ho coula scarcely/ have refraineu from quofiug it. An officer had failefl to carry out'whet lie had been instruct'"! to do. Kitchener: "You have given tho , lyest reasons I ever heard for not doing what I told you to ia. Now iro and do it." DR. NOKTHIUJP'S SAMI'IiE BAB St. "A young child of fifteen months had recovered from a twelve oays' bronchopneumonia. More hor sickness and after 'it ulie was backward, had scurvy, and still 'gad .rickets, blie wae always pale, flabby, pot-bellied, perspiring, and unable to stand. The excellent nurse who cared for the child during pneumonia left alter convalescence was established, and tho child IYUB 'returned to tho untrained but faitnful attendant. All my directions an to living in best obtainable oir aided in explanations and excuses. Tho child mi.not improving. She was what the oailora navigatins in equatorial waters would call in. tho doldrums. She m;vde no progress in any direction. In desperation 1 demanded, the former nurse's return, and wowptly put iiito execution what for tho first timo I designated twenty-ttao-hour treatment. ■ ■ ~,,,. j "Tho apartment in which tho «luld lived was on the fifth lloor, cornering on a, broad avenue and a, street leading straight into the park. The corner window had three wiudowe to west and two to tho BouTu. In the middle of this largo room in its carriage lived tho pale convolesceit all- tho hours of daylight. Tto months wero February and March (midwinter), the 'season stormy and about average temperature. The room was shut off from the wst of the house and swept with

bronzes. Incidentally, this condition of cold .precluded guestß from making long culls, and from fatiguing the child. "It ia unnecessary to Bay that the child acquired an appetite, digested its food, took on healthful colour of the checks, Blent, gained strength, learned to walk, and in every way developed into a normal child, catching' up rapidly to the scheduled requirements of her age. The facts moro important to mention are that ehe did not catch cold. In truth, beforo the winter had softened into spring 'she was facing into the raw winds of April, and every way resisting and ignoring the temperature, which no one in this room would enjoy without previous liardomng to it. Quite aa interesting is the total iudiflerence the nurse acquired to the cold. Her white nurse's drese seemed strangely out of keoping with the range of tho ihermometer. Tho little girl has continued to live the twenty-threo oure ever Bince, She makes cotton pies (enow) before open windows with an extra wrap of only a little shoulder ehawl. AH day and all night her room is swimming with outdoor air, and, she has not required a. doctor's prescription from that day to this. This is an exainplo of the twenty-three-hour treatment in a child of approxiniatoly two years. ESSENTIALS. '■1. The twenty-tln-ee-kour cure, or twouty-three-hour treatment, consists iu liviuir twenty-three out oi tlie twentyfour hours in the bwt obtainable cool, flowing, fresh air. "2. The quality of cold or cool flowing fresh air ia essential. Cold air may be etalo. Air may be oxygenated and free of odours and yet be warm. The air* should be flowing freely and cold. "3. Cold fresh itowing air has uniformly certain eßecis upon young patients. First, Ihoy sleep. They remain quiet so long as they are in the open air, and sleep most of the time. J'he quieting etfect is well proved. Second, they ta : ke more food and assimilate it batter. "4. Patients in tHe open air rarely catch cold—much lese often than those kept habitually in narm : rooms. Sometniug depends on the nurse, of eourse, but in a wide experience with different nurses selected by, ohance the patients have rarely caught cold. In.the whole winter's experience at Sea Breeze no child has developed pneumonia."

MEMO. BY "HYGEIA." Tho only waruiuf we need give in regard to following Dr.Northrup'fl advice is; "Don't suddenly change a baby who has been rendered delicate and unduly sensitive to cold by habitual conhnement in a warm, stully room into cool Bowing fresh air without taking due precautions." For the first few days especially guard against too much chilling of the surface of the body. The baby will need'more woollen wraps at first than lie will lator on when his tissues have become toned up aud hardened. Without overburdening him, make sure that his body is amply- protected day and night, by light woollen coverings, and keep him in a specially snug corner at first, or protect from draught by a screen. Day by day he will enjoy aud bo benefited by a freer current ef fresh air, as indicated in Dr. Northrun's article.

Pure, fresh flowing air haa been tho watchword throughout at tho Karitano Bitby Hospital, and it is wonderful how soon delicate babies can'.-be toned up and invigorated in this way. Few babies aro found to need more than a week'e training at the longest to enable them to stand a free flow of fresh air day and night. Once this point is arrived at the infant ie almost safe from catching cold, and whon the nurso leaves hini out in the garden in the early morning, she does so without auxiety, the only change beiiijj from air that is cool and comparatively pure to air that is cool and quito pure. This ie a striking contrast to the average mother, who anxiously scans the weather, fearful of taking her coddled baby out of doors because the day happens to bo cold or windy.