OUR BABIES

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 135, 3 March 1919, Page 3

OUR BABIES

I'B'i fiHGBIA.I Published under the auspices of the Eoyal flow Zealand' Society for tne Health of Women and Children. "It is wiser to put up a lence at tue top of a precipice than to maintain au ambulance at the bottom." BEBAST-FEEDING. In recent letters received fromi Dr. Truby King ho dwells on tho necessity for or« ing home the paramount importance oi breast-teeding if our. children are to■ oecome as capable, efficient, and ht aa, wey ought "to be. lie greatly deplores tut state of affairs in the Old »uuwyjAicg permiis of hundreds of thousands of children being abandoned to a^ 1 *? *"& ing whilo their mothers were engaßißß m munition-making, or other war worn, or were going to picture palaces. /I 1 ;*'",? says: "I am stalling everything on out-ana out breast-feeding, with no excusej or com promise, and I don't hesitate toM«« aB the meanest and most despicai K. loim of theft tho filching from the lla °i what God has made lor its sustoua cc, ana tho perfect foundation and grou « body, mind, and boul. . I go iw lll speak publicly of criminality and murder as not too strong terms to use in nection-indecd, borrowing adaptingfrom Olive Schreiuer, 1 oon t he tate to say that tho mother who could nurse, nei baby and does not do bo has no excMeloi drawing her shirts aside from any woman she may pasß on the pavement "The great curse of He present time as regards mother and child is the aordut abandonment of Mi°«"n d HW r ;f', °o thoiißands-oi babies which is taking place under the temptation of high wages ana the attractions of the streets and picture Pa Ma C ny mothers in the present day say eadly that they were most anxious to nur/e their babies, but, unfortunately, they wero not ablo to do so. In some cascß tills may bo true, but the largo majority who are able to give birth to healthy children would be capable ol nursing them if they could bejnduced to take reasonable care of themseivcs during tho all-important epochs of pregnancy and nursing. , „„.!., In this connection we advise prospectne mothers to apply to the; registrar the Plunkot nurse in their district for ft copy of the Government pamphlet, tne Expectant Mother and Baby s First Jlonth," which can be had free of uost We also, advise thorn to., ask tho Plunkot nurse to show them exactly how to do tne special exercises illustrated on page / oi the pamphlet. .FAILURE IN NUBSING. The following extracts from "Natural Feeding of Infants," issued by the. societj, will be helpful and illuminating to many mothers wn;> have resorted to ; bottlefeeding in the past:— ■ . , "o?he normal woman is designed for tno icomplete nursing of twins in case of neea, and she Bhould nave the power to. continue nursing for eighteen months. We cannot take these powers for granted nowadays; but it is something to be able confidently to assure the women of our present civilisation that, in Bpite of all moaorn mistakes, almost every mother can certainly fit herself to nurse one baby properly for nine months. "The first praotical step towards ensuring normal motherhood is to bring back to women faith in themselves, which is another way of saying faith in tie Almighty. Nothing militates inoro against the normal power to suckle offspring than lack of self-confidence; and it is still worse for motherhood where the woman actually starts gut with the definite oonviction that shb Is not' going to suc- ■ "A considerable number of mothers fail in nursing, not because they have too little milk, but, because they havo too much in the early Btages. Tho baby ia "egged-on" during the first month, by feeding every two hours, to take aa much as he can stow away. Being overfed, he may grow rapidly for a few weeks, but then he begins to suffer from repletion and .indigestion; his appetite fails, and ' he sucks less forcibly. At the samo timo the mother, worn out by lack of rest dny and night, niid now worried by the addwi anxiety of a crying, fretful baby, finds her milk supply going off. She then . . omits ono suckling altogether, giving a bottlo instoad; next, two bottles a. day are ÜBed, and so on; or she weans her baby right off because she is told that her milk is injurious. A mother who has tho capacity'to supply enough milk for twins often fails to suckle ono baby, simply because she starts by overfeeding him, and thus upsets both herself and her off- , Bpring.

WHAT IS BEING DONE IN LONDON TO-DAY.

A now departure in hospital treatment is being carried out in the maternity ward of St. Thomas's Hospital at the present timo which will materially help matters in this connection.

Undor Dr. Fairbairn (obstetric physician and lecturer on midwifery and diseases of woman, -St. Thomas's Hospital, London) anaVDr. Truby King;' all'the-babies in tho maternity ward,. 'averaging ■ 20 resident babies, are fed four-hourly from the start —i.e., fivo times only in twenty-four hours, and no night feeding-no {ceding between 9 or 10 p.m. and sor 6 a.m. The only exceptions are prematures, -weighing under 51b. ■ ~ ■

Tho following results axe reported by the nursing staff:— 1. The babies are more contented; there is much less crying. 2. They have no trouble in gotting the babies to suck at feeding times. They have the appetite and need no coaxing. 3. The babies sleep soundly during tho intervals.

The mothers were prejudiced against tho longer intervals to start with; but now they frankly recognißo the benefit to themBelvos and their babies, and it is hoped that they will keep up clock-like regularity and system on returning home. Tho homes will bo visited occasionally by nurses specially trahied in all the hygienic requirements of mother and child, who will aid the mothers to conserve their milk supply and increase it if there is any sign of failure, while seeing that the other essentials for health (see pages 1 and 2 of tho society's book, "Feeding and Care of Baby")' are attended to.

Babieß are being weighed before and after nursing in the hospital in all cases •where there is any doubt aB to the sufnoioney or correctness of the amount the, baby is drawing off from the breast. Se> far almost ©very mother has had ample, the only exception being a mother with advanced ■ Bright's diseaße. OUR EXPERIENCE IN NEW ZEAIiAND. Our experience of four-hourly fcodings in' New Zealand, though comparatively limited, is daily becoming more extensive, and it goes to show that babies, who have been fed flvo times only in the twenty-four hours from the start, thrive and grow well, and are contented and happy. The longer intervals give the mothers time to rest and recuperate, and they aro able to attend to the various duties of the household without constant interruptions from fretful babies. B.eoause of the rest, too, the mother's niilk supply tcndß to keep up. Mothers who bavo fed a third or fourth baby four-hourly after haviug fed their previous infants, on the three-hourly system Eay that their later children have been much happier and more contented, and they would not think of returning to tho old ways.