OUR BABIES

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 56, 30 November 1918, Page 5

OUR BABIES

I'D* HVGEIA.I Published under tiio auspices ot the lloynl tfew Zealand Society for tho Hcnlth of Women and Children. "It is wiser to put m> a fence at tho top of a precipice than maintain au Miibulancc at tho bottom." NATUKAIj KEDINfI. In the English edition of the society'« book, "Kiitural Feeding of Infants, winch has just come to hand, there is an entirely new section which X am sure will appeal specially to the fathers,'and 1 piirposo publishiii!! it in full. H tlioac who have tho New Zealand edition cut out this and the following article and paste them at tho end ot their copies of natural Feeding," they will then have the coinHow 0 NatiiriY Feeding in Infancy Bcncnls Evory Tissuo and Orfiiin of the Body Throughout Life. lu my own experience no argument or illustration used in Iho past in favour of breast-feeding has proved mi telling or convincing to people in eencral as the following drawn from a recent conversation with au able merchant dealing specially in wool and hides. He said: "1 dont need convincing ns to what mothers milk must mean for the child-I know it already from my own business. Why, I can tell you lidw your hoots were fed!" lie then proceeded to explain and demonstrate his point:— ' "In the trade we know the highest Brado of calfskins as Paris calf. That in because calves reared on their mother s milk to provide the l'uest veal for Paris have also incidentally set tho standard for the whole world as to what is best in tho way of calfskins for tanning;. "Suppose the hair has not been removed. It is smooth and glossy, not harsh or dry, and it all lies the' light way. Or take the leather: it isn't natchy. Tho whole hide is more or less uniform, smooth, and fine grained. When you feel and handle it.you find that it has a certain body and firmness, and yet it IB pliable and elastic. It's nice to touch and handle; there is a kindly feeling about it. Why (pausing to think of an illustration), it's like the face of a sleek child that is' doing well compared with ono that's not flourishing." What about tho other kind?

"Oh, you mean tho "bucket-feds." Of course, there is evory grade and degree; but, speaking generally, tho hide is patchy; it's not, all over , alike. It tends to be harsh and dry, nnd has a more or less dead feeling. Thevo is not the panic body in it, and it hasn't tho fine grain and pliancy of Paris calf. It's not kindly to the touch. Why, look here, when handling a ilrst-rato calfskin we say to ono another in the trade, 'Bv Jove I that's a good piece of stuff. Why, that's milk fed I'"

This affords more than a niere sugges•ivo parallel: it preeenta, practically speaking, the identical.problem we have to face to-day in regard to the saving of the teeth, the proper rearing of the child, and the building up of the race. It is all oiu story. Hair, nails, and teeth arc equally known to science as "skin appendages," They are all formed in the same way out of the "skin layer" of tho embryo. Nutritive checks in prenatal life, or during infancy, not only damage the skin and its appendages—they leave their brand on the future potentialities of every tissue of tbo body. If wo examine one of tho lijghcr cells of tho brain of a child under the microscope and compare it with. tho highest that the brain of a frog or a lizard ever attains to, it will bo'i-een how very much greater is the extent and ramification marking tho, powers and capabilities in tho caso of the child than in that of the frog or tho lizard. Yet the brain cells of each start from what appear to be practically identical'microscopic specks of the same "skin layer" of tho embryo which gives birth to skin proper, hair, nails, and teeth. But, whoroas the skin itself and tho hair and nails arc always being reformed, more or less, throughout life, the crowns and protective enamelling of tho first teeth aro practically finished at birth, and no now higher brain cells are created after the baby ,is born.

I3y Uio tiino the infant is . a year old the woiit of forming mid cnanicllius Iho second teeth is far advanced, and the growth of tho brain in flowing down. By three or four years of age the crowns of the second teeth nro almost coinplcto; and, though tho body will po on growing for another 20 years, tho child can now wear his father's hat. The brain has almost ceased growing; the size and quality of tho engine and tho future potential horse-power of the great human feeling aud thinking apparatus have been mainly determined. The home-rearing and surroundings and the school training and onyironinont will be the main factors affecting what use tho child can mako for lifo of tho dowry of potential bodily and moiital efficiency or inefllciency given to him by his parents before echool ago. Ko may well ask of his mother—when ho comes to kuow what makes or mars a human being more than any other factor iu life—"Did you givo me the milk 'which the noocl God gives with every mother,' or did you rob ino of my birthright?" Every mother ought to bo told the full' extent of maternal responsibility and privilege. If she really understood in time, she would rarely fail to fulfil tho most primitive and sacred of ail trusts. IVo !myo allowed the mother to ein in equal ignorance of the wrong she was doing to herself and her child. (To be' continued.)