OUR BABIES

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 8, 4 October 1919, Page 7

OUR BABIES

|'B'» HTGKU.I

Published under (lie auspices of the Itoyal New Zealand .Society for the Health of Women and Children. "It Is wiser to put up r. fence at the top of n precipice than to maintain mi anibulnnco at the bottom," FOUB-nOURLY INTERVALS AND NO ' KIGHT-FEEDINO. Recently we published the resolutions passed unanimously by a medical conference of children's specialists, whfuh met in bondon at Die inaUuice ot the Local Government Board, Two of these resolutions read as follow:— That with very few exceptions nursing only every four hours from blrlh is best for mother unci child, though in a few caecs more fiegueut ici'ding may be desirable. That in general their should be an interval of seven or eight hours between the la,st feeding at night and the first feeding in the morning. We have long believed that fewer feedings in the 24 hours and longer intervals were better for mother and child, aud yet it did not seem advisable to advocate the change in this column until it could be supported by unquestioned authority and • a sufficient weight of undoubted, testimony.

Now that wo have th'i authority of a body of npccinlistß who have devoted thomnelves for yearn to the r.ttidy of baby feeding ami infant requirements, we no longer hesitate to advuc-Ue wrongly that in the case of norma! infants there should* be four-hourly intervals between the boKii'.iiinira of the feedings during the day and that there should he mi eight-hourly interval during the night. We shall givo eomo experiences with regard to this matter which have been forwarded to u« during the past year. '"EXPERIENCE OP ST. THOMAS'S EORHTAL, LONDON. "Under the direction of Br. I. 8. Fairbaim (Obstetric Physician and Lecturer on Midwifery and Diseases of Women, St. Thomas's Hospital) and Dr, Trub'y King, all the babies in the maternity ward (averaging" twenty resident bauies) are fed four-hourly from the start—i.u., five times only in 24 hours and no night feeding. U'tie only .exceptions are preiuuturos, iweighiug undor Sib. "The following results arc reported by the nursing BtaiE:— 1. liabiw more contented—much less crying. 2. No trouble to get babies to suclc at feeding times. They liavo the appotitc, and need no coaxing, i. .Tlley sleep soundly during the intervals. Ti'e mothers were, prejudiced against the' longer intervals (o start with; but now they frankly 'recognice the benefit to themselves and their'babies, and va hope they will keep up clock-like regularity end system on returning home. Thoro will be occasional visits paid to most of them. "Babies are being weighed before and after nursing in the 'hospital in all cases where there is any doubt as to the sufficiency or correctness of the amount the baby is drawing off from the brtaßt. So far almost every mother has had ample, the only exception, indeed, being a mother with advanced Brifiht's Disease."

AMERICAN EXPMIEKCiI. The following is an extract from what Dr. Ramsay (University of itiniicsoia, U.S.A.) said at the London Conference to •finch we have been referring:— "The ibejief in and thu practice of frequent feeding is still in existence. 1 havo in my pocket here an analysis of Jill) cnarte of new-born infanta in our hospial. All of them were fed by four-hour feeding, and only live feedings in the '1A hours, They wore weighed every day before and after each nursing during the ten days they were in'the hospital, and a complete analysis was made of everything pertaining to eacli of them. Mortality amongst them was extremely low, and they inrivcd belter and gained weight better-not in the first ten days, because only a quarter of them had regained their normal birth-weight at tho end of the ten days, buJ after that lime Uioy wont on much better than children who were frequently fell. Also we discovered interenjng fact in regard to the number of stools, 'i'he normal number of stools in the 24 hours, as given m most of the English, German, and American text-books, is from threo to six a day, but with only five feedings in the 24 hours the average number oi stools per day was two.

' 'We had no acute dyspepsia; the chil(lron thrived; tncy slept, all night; and tho mothers slept all night, too. is certainly 1b true that the ircjueiit feeding of young. babies and the waking of tho motherH at night is the reason why a grou; many cases axe not breast-fed; the mother becomes nervous, loses her slew, and her null; gradually disappears," ' Dr. Itamsay then went on to say that they had arrived at tho conclusion that the quantity of food allowed According to ago aim weighlj by ccrtaiu German authorities wax not applicable in .'the-firm two weeks. The 300 new-born infante already referral .to gained, most saimlactorlly oil about three-fifths of the quantny prescribed by the Germans, and they had iwu moyemtiitu of tho bowels dally; when they tried increasing to the full quantity advocated, the babies tended tu liave diarrhoea. Iu concluding, Dr. Itameay said: Aow, those are fundamental matter!, and those conclusions vwre come to by u ciose, careful, and intensive study of pediatrics by specialists who are devoting their time to the Bubject." PHOFESSOR SEDGWIGK'S WORK. In Minnesota, they havo brought their infant death-rate down to 7 per cent., mainly as the outcome of the strenuous advocacy of breast-feeding among ull classes, and four-hours' intervals, with no night feeding, by ProfcEsor fjcdgwiclt, thoir University Professor of Pediatrics. We must leave our oivn experience in Kcw Zealand for another article.