OUR BABIES

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 181, 26 April 1919, Page 5

OUR BABIES

I'BV HYGKU.I

Published under the auspices of the Royal Now Zealand Society for tno liealtli of Women aiul Children. "It is wiser to put up a fence at tno top of a precipice than to maintain an ambulanco at the bottom." Tho following > letter involves matters which X am sure will be of more or less general interest, and I shall deal "with tho points raised in it in the next lew issues. ' I read with much interest the notes on "Our flabios," and have derived a great deal of benefit from them at different times. There are a few points which 1 am anxiou3 to settle, and perhaps you will kindly answer the following qiies tione:— QUESTION I. * Would the milk sut for thin cream, in making humanised milk, bo seriously injured by being set for a longer period than six hours in hot and nine hours in cold weather? I find that it is quto impossible to arrange for making a supply of milk during tho afternoon (that is, from milk set about 7 a.m.), and wish, to know if the nights milk could be set and let stand m a very cool place for from 11 to 12 hours. Thou tho supply could bo made in tho morning as early as possible. EEI'LY to QUESTION I. The main objections to using evening milk, instead of morning milk, are:— OBJECTION I.—The liiitk has to be kept standing lor a longer period than is really necessary for the rising of sufficient tat. It is true that the additional time gives a "tliiu cream" or "top milk" somewhat richer in fat, and that therefore a . smaller amount of new milk would have to bo sot in order to arrive at the proper quantity, of "lop milk" of the right strength'. However, the gain in this direction is Blight' and if the night milk had to be kept, say, for 12 hours at the same temperature as that at which yon would keep the day milk standing for only seven hours the extra five hours would cause an enormously greater proportion of microbes to be present—a serious-consideration on warm nights. Tho progressive rate of growth of microbes is one of the astounding revelations of modern science, as you will seo by the following figures:— Sato of Growth of a Single Germ. i 2hr 31ir, 4hr. 51ir. 6hr. i 54dcg. P. 4.6 8 26 435 97dcg. P 23 60 215 1830 _ 3800 J You- will notice the enormous import- . ancu of quickly chilling the mill:, and ■ keeping it as cool as possible. The above table shows that when the milk registers 54deg. Palir. (or, say, about the average temperature of an ordinary water supply) the Tato of multiplication of germs, though considerable, is only about a tenth as rapi rl as when the milk is allowed to stand uncooled-thut is, at about .the temperature which obtains just after milking. If a ,iug is stood in air (even in comparatively cool air), the reduction of temperature is extremely slow, whereas, if'stood in cold water, especially tunning water," cooling is rapid. The time for which the milk is set at a gii'en temperaturo is equally important. Thus if set. for two hours uneoolcd, there would bo 23 .germs present at the. end of that timo for every one which had originally gained acccßß to the milk-jug, but at the end of six hours there would bo nearly 4000, and at the end of 12 hours there would bo some millions of progeny from tlio- Binglo germ -which had found its way into tho milk. I will now deal with tlio practical importance of theso facts—pointing o;!t wliat the mother should do. To ICeep Down Microbcs. (a) Got the milk from as clean a dairy as possible. Tho conditions for milking at many dairies are remarkably dirty, and you would he amazed at tlio black sediment, often found at the bottom of a milk can. (b) Keep the milk jug loosely covered to prevent more germs dropping in. Cool in running water if possible directly yon receive the milk. (c) All milk should be kept at as low a temperature' as possible (short of freezing) whether it is to bo used for tho ordinary'household or for babies; but if for babies it is dqpbly important to keep the growth of microbes within reasonable limits. On the other hand, do not worry about tho presence of a moderate number of ordinary microbes, because this condition is inevitable, and is not regarded as injurious to babies. Tho matter is one which it is rather difficult to get people to understand. They are inclined to say, "Oh,, well, if there are such a lot of microbes always present, I don't think it can make much diiferenco ■whether the baby swallows thousands or hundreds of thousands." It would bo equally unreasonable for a mother to Bay, "Oh, well, if my child can take tho hundredth part of a grain of strychnia, which our doctor orders him as a tonic. I don't think- a grain can do him much harm." Let her try a grain dose, and within a few minutes sho will seo her phild thrown into agonising convulsions and die inevitably. Jiveu a tenth of a grain will probably prove fatal in a short time, and yet, as I linvo said, a hundredth of a grain might bo actually beneficial. Tho conditions are precisely analogous. Microbes give ol[ substances which act as poißona in large doses, but may actually provo beneficial in certain circumstances in moderate doses.

(d) Keep the mill: standing as short a time as possible, especially if of doubtful. purity, and if it cannot bis rapidly cooled and kept below 60deg. Falir. In the latest editions of the society's book wo recommend standing tho millt lor seven hour 3 instead of nine when keeping set for "top-milk." We think this in general a wise precaution—though tho extra two hours' standing would do no harm under favourable circumstances with due precautions. llowover, iib wo have said, very little additional fat rises in tho last few hours, if standing is prolonged beyond six hours, When thq weather is warm and there are no adequate means ol cooling, it is prefcrablo to stand the milk for only five or six hours. OBJECTION ll.—The second difficulty in regard to evening milk is that there arc certain localities whero milkmen do not arrange for an evening dolivery. Unfortunately, tho tendency is to mix the evening milk with the morning milk and to deliver the compound as fresh milk. Whero tho feeding of a baby is in question, investigate and make suro that,you do not get a mixture of fresh and stale milk. ADVANTAGES OF EVENING MILK. ADVANTAGE I— In winter time Wiling milk is decidedly richer in fat than morning milk, and if the time elapsing between the evening and the morning milking is 15 hours or upwards the differcnoo may be us much us 1 per ccut., and average!? probably about 'i per ccyit. Thi3 means that you. would get as much but. tor-fat iu v tho top taken from 30oz. or 350z. of ovening milk as you would from 40oz. of morning millt. ADVANTAGK 11.-Thc night temporaturo tends to be a liltlo lower thau the day temperature. However, this is often 110 very great advantage as regards tho keeping of milk, because many -water supplies avo rather cooler iu tho early morning than they avo-in tho evening, and when one has to depend on exposed tank water one can always get a pailful- of it cooled duriiig the niglu for use the next day. Such points as those have to be dotermmcd according to local circumstances. GENEHAL PRACTICAL CONCLUSIONS. In cases where all the conditions are favourable, there is no objection to using evening milk for the preparation of humanised milk; and there is a slight economy in doing so throughout the colder months, when in any-ease thorn would not j bo so much objection seeing that the null- j tiplication of microbes is restrained by I cold. j Milk is richest in autumn, and therefore | during the next month or so, instead of using 40oz. as given in our pamphlet, 30oz. of evening milk should supply 10oz.' of sufficiently rich "top-milk" for the preparation of 30oz. of humanised milk. | To make herself suro. on this point, tho mother Bhould send a couple of ounces of tho'humanised milk she prepares to tho j iiearcsl available dairy factory, and get , it tested for "butter-fat." This testing is i a routine practice in all such' factories, j Tho proper proportion of fat is Anything j between 3.1 and 3.6 per cent. Thoroughly mix the.milk before taking tho sample in order to make perfectly suro that the "fat" is equally distributed. If I the sample has to be sent by post or if there is likely to be .any delay before testing, add live drops of formalin to the ] specimen. j