OUR BABIES
I'B'f HJGKU.I Published under the auspices of t-Jio Iloyal Now Zealand Society for M le • Health o[ Women and Ghildroit. "It is wiser to put up .1 fence at tne to]) of a precipice than t.o maintain au ambulance at the bottom.'' | THE SCOITKGE OF SUMJIEK, ' Whilo summer-time is delightful to all ' of us, and its warm days and bright sun- - shine tempt people into the ; ur :, 1 thus tend to banish. the voids. -oie t throats," and "cheat affections of f dumper chillier seasons of the yeai 1 this health-giving ett'ect of summer on young and old alike lii recognised. ' every temperate region of the world. « I is also found that summer kills Tai 111010 babies than any other season of the jear. Why is this? Why should summer not , bo the safest instead of the most dangerous time of year for infants " The reason is not far to seek. Jiojt - babies »re red 011 liquid food, which is • specially liable to ferment. 111 warm wea- • tlier. Jiilk becomes infested with ®'" ■ crobcs; in other wurd3, t ;oc f., ba f,J;' ld „,, v ' comes poisonous, more readily Ui..n any other food, and if we are not « ar^ fu ' ' in the selection of a milkman it ma} 1 have gone bad in warm weather before reaching the. home. So long as an muni ■ is suckled, and the mother is not W ■ regular, cleanly, and careful in her ha-Jit.. . but also gives the baby all lua_ fcimplo , primary visits (outing, fresh air, tun; . light, .exercise, etc.), there is 110 fcaiei ' season than summer. lint. howe\ercareful the mother may be as to geue J • hyifffle. summer is dnngerou 5 . and oltt fatal, if 1 hero is any carelessness in art.- . Ilcial feeding (whether resorted to in tl o carlv months or conmiu: in the ,i -x course later 011 .it \v<uuiifi£? or aftciwoiUb,, simply because microbes grow apace 111 1 warm weather if milk is not properly ■ attended to. Summer Diarrhoea. Why pliould diarrhoea- single oat babies and calves and leave tin; rest of nursi'lini s more or less exempt from ' curse of summer? In jvarm }{|" young of horses, pigs, dogs, cals, a:nd rest are almost mutormly- ncaltlij. iuhic calves iu all directions arc victims ol : "scouring," and few babies tho sumo scourge under the nauie of aiimui.. - diarrhoea." > Why Does Nature Single out Calvcß and Babies? 1 Calves aro 'sacrificed because man takes t tlio cows milt; for himself ™ f ; . calf out of a bucket, lho ba > is sat riflccd because the mothers bica-t w denied to it also, and iDipropci fo«l coi. 1 tauiinated with germs K substitute lor the pure, porfcct, Wood-warm, liyufc stream direct from tlie pi*°po r t?oxiret.. The important practical nuestion vhicn n-c have to face at the present momeiu and' piarrhoca InwitaW" During Hummer-timo foi Vi ia Babies who Uannoi bo Pncllc(l- - inly'not! In both eases I lie tioiiblt . arises, not. from the mere Jact of .irti lifial feeding, but beenußC propel pa-io is not ~ed to secure 1 and to prevent fermentation Fo h.iblM - humanised null; supplies by far the 11. »r ' .-st approach to tho mother 9 millt. ami if Uont cool and given according to tlic t directions contained in the ''ssued bvitlic society there would be nuie ■isofdiseiifc. Even with breast-feeding ' a baby may suffer from summer diarr-- • hoca, but immediate suitable treiUuiinitof ■ sue infants, of of thoso who have been • judiciously fed by artiflcia l . mops, soo.i brings about recovery in the gic.it ma jority of cases. Among toabics who e been improperly fed, on tho other• hiind ; ■ tho rielt of death from an atack °h ! diarrhoea, is very great indeed, and lafct • ing debility is often left where tho I'.ibj . docs not actually succumo. Coailt Toll of Diarrhoea. ' Professor Hndin showed that the number of artificially-fed babies who diod in 1 Paris per week was about 20 111 junter. i but that in midsummer the: dent,hs ro 0 . to almost 260 per ivcolt. This jsjciy 1 strikingly shown in a, diagram gnen on 1 page <10 of the society s pamphlet, What, jjnbv Needs." This diagram was enlarged and exhibited I'E.i ?i minion during liaby Week, 1917, and it can now be studied in most of tho L J lunket rooms. . ... A riso in lho death-rate among infant* .miliar to the above occurs in Now Zealand during warm weather, -varying witn the locnlity and the heat of tho P» rt,c ''" la.r summer. Knowing the ,<a i>iso. tho dwaso is one of the most casil> piuuit able. Tt in not Nature or Providence that inlliots tho curse of < Jl :', [ hoea. but the mother horsrif. rhn L ,'J" is literullv- and absolutely .true will; bo realised by anyone consulting ibo I'" 1 ? diagram, which shows that over 1000 !»j»cs died in si-" tlio weather warmest. Among broart-fe. ÜbWm the deatli-rate for tho eamo bci ml a« aued onlv 20 nor week. Tfic* tJi.it oui t?kJ' place in either class were inainly the result of ignorance and cilTl ! 1rl- ™ 3 i (esnr-cinlly crreloss feedmir of motliei and child, the use of the long-tube fenlor, lnA of fresh air and exercise, lrrcgul.n Mnts, failuro to i:eep the breasts and tho clothing covering them clean and ™° or comforter for t.ic bah>). Ing tho same three or four fatal svminer months scarcely a. death from 'liarrhoea, ™ rUI among the bnbies w\to.rn mo lie s were availing themselves of rational advice tendered at the four creches hen in Pnris on modem »nca. About hn.tr of these, mcro fortunnte babies puekled. .and the rest were bottlefort ivitii sunn'ied a.fc tlio flppcifll "Dailies' JlUk Ilepot." In the -provinces a eimilar result has been achieved. Thus fir. Dufour. the pioneer in Norreandy of the rational cat e of lmbies. including fh-> use of milk. Shows that vhil- <he death-".to "miintr infants averaged 55 for the four 'principal towns, the death-rate among I b'ibles whose mothers aUendrd the dene's and got proper advice and .oofl I less than 3 ner cent.—in other worjls. r.nlv one-twentieth of the moriality which too'.- place among fh--> lieliies ivhose mothers pevsisted in going their own way ip. spite of warnings and advice. The Plunkct Nurses. '"ill ho rind to see mothers and babies at the society's rooms. The nurses' services are fr?c, and nl' id ether? aro welcome.
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Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 74, 20 December 1919, Page 7
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1,055OUR BABIES Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 74, 20 December 1919, Page 7
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