OUR BABIES

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 84, 3 January 1920, Page 5

OUR BABIES

I'D'/ Jlvg::U.l Published under lite auspices o* tho Royal Now Zealand Society for tno Health of Women and Children. "It i.i witier to put li|i -:i fence at tho top of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom." SUMMER DiAItIUiOKA. Last week, when asalins with this subjeet, \vc pointed out th:il sunuiifrdir. r 11WC1I rarely atUickb babies unless tary liarc beiiii a liltlo "c-jt of soils, or actually failinir in health beforoluiiul. . Wo now Minn of tho uangers to bo avoided and the prwautious to be UkCn ' KliKl' UAIIY GER3I-PEOOV. Wl'on will molhera and unisea realise that a child who has (ipparenUy thrivim for months in t;r»ilo of ircntnieut may suddenly l'rJl a victim to maliicly ;igsiiu?l wilier Jii?' £y?ncui would h.«\o been unite pi'OilE i'.ad iio been i;npt in a Rt.atn Of perfect- bcaltli and iitne:s, by I paying due atic-nlioit lo all the tiiniple laws of lii'o and pi'iiuary needs of titfancy? . . A baby mav hold out a,most any jorni of "inattention or eareleso/iesa during Boring, and yH liueeutnij to tho first ttriu'i; ot tainted milk given to him on a. warm Eummer's day. 'i'he client iii food on :i perfectly healthy baby might bo merely to bring on passing cone, or to caueo one or more green r.iotioni!; but if the oystcm had been ijisiduot:?iy ti'.:dermi:!cd p:e\ii;ilsly (though there iiave been nolhtni; appare.'itly wrong with the baby), tho elicit of a siuglii frtding with risky food might be an aitacl; oi ;tcu(e <li'ari'j!-n:t. esidiui? fatally. rinply b..-ja :se 'he cliik had not aeiuiirca enough ftumiiia to put up a C.'Ort fljht 11' a uaby is fed artluciaUy. and there is no mean? of keeping prepared milk below ffldeg. rani'.. Use /ncthci' uho'.ild heat, up [j louleg. any renidue left 'iver at tile end oi IS Honrs alter preparation, and then cool ■it down rapidly ai directed on pi-ge 2-5, "Feeding and Care of Uaby," and tseep it cool. II there is no thermometer in tile hotwo the miik may be :uildly scalded as follows:— llow to Scald Jlilk. Place the jug of mill; in a, saucepan c[ hot water, heat until the water boils, and keep boiling lor 10 juin-utcu. Then cool rapidly in ninniug water, etc., ':oepiiii; covered as directed in the society's book. EPIDEMIC DIARItUOEA. "Under llio abovy heading J;r. itnlph-Vin- j cent, senior pnysician to ihe lr.h.ius' Hon- | pital, Westminster, makeii the following remarks on the -disease mure vontuioniy I knoivn as "summer diarrhoea cf_infants": This disease is peculiarly liable to appear at certain timi's oi the year, aiul is practically absent in other portions of inc year. Tlte i.onriitiblH in which the disease arises occur during hot weather, and especially during a hot summer, 'i'ne characteristic oi the disease ;ii regard, ta tho date of its appearance is Unit it appears nifaitly toward.-, the latter iiKl of sunimvr. ivhon tiie heat has eouiintieil lor some considerable time. (Memo, by "hygein": The worst moiuhs in Kcw Zulaiul arc January, l-Voruary, and Jiarch.) Till} MOST TATAIi BtSßAfili. As a mortal disease aiTecliug babies, epidwnic diarrhoea is the mcst siriouj of all. The innr.iier of deaths depen'is on the, temperature, if it, is a, cool r.un-mer Hie number of deaths is coiaparavively bur: if it is a, hoi summer llio number of deaths is very high indeed. (Naturally, the hotter itie summer the more the Eerniß prov/ and tiourk'Ji i;i ihe mill;.I The year'l9o4 alfordetl a sad illustralion ia luigliiml. The summer of Mint year was very hot, and in many towns thn ugh out the country nearly one-half the babies tmdeif twelve i*inl,lis old died in the liireu mouths JiUy, August urn! September. These infants died because they vero poisoned. (Poisoned as l)r. Vincent proceeds to shew, raujnly by the microbes contained in tainted' milk, acting on ha. bits who had not been kept in st.ch a 6tato of iirst-ralo health and eoiuiuiuii as to enable them to resist tho attachb of Bonus—".ll'ygeiii,.") Dr. Vincent emphasises the fart that- Iho name "Upidcmic Diarrhoea" is iiab!r ; to bo somowhat misleading, because, although all epidemic diseases tend to attack tho bodily "unfit" rather than Hip "Jit," yet people who are qui to well may fall victims. lIOW TO PJtEVIiNT DIAKKIIOKA. fu. tho case ov so-called epidemic diarrhoea of infants, however, the disease is strictly avoidable. It can be avoided by taking the following very simple precautions, namely:— 1. By always supplying "V/hat Every lis by Needs, Whether Wei! or 111" icee tho Society's book, pages 1 and 2). 'Don't invite the microbes to establish themselves in the interior of the baby by keeping tho soil ready prepared for their growth. A stitch in timo saves nine. Don't bo careless about tho babe's health merely because tho sea-sen happens to bo good and he appears to bo flourishing .and seemingly in no need of special attention. Don't omit anything that lie is rightly entitled to have, and tlir\t tends to keep him alwe.ys at tho highest pitch of health and fitness. 2. By not feeding hira with germ-laden, poisoned milk or any other improper food.