OUR BABIES

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 125, 19 February 1921, Page 5

OUR BABIES

(By

“Hygeia.”)

Published under the auspices of the Royal New Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children. “It is wiser to put up a fence at the top of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom." DIGESTIVE DISTURBANCES IN THE SECOND HADF OF THE FIRST YEAR. After six or seven months of age babies sometimes fail to gain in weight for a week or* two, or they may go off their food, or they may have other slight disturbances of digestion. Such troubles are very worrying to young mothers, and I am sure the following letter and reply will be helpful to many of our readers:— A MOTHER’S LETTER. ’’Until the last few weeks I have had no worry at all with baby, but now he is > becoming very constipated, iind if you ■would tell mo how to diet him to overcome it, I would bo most grateful. “Ho is 10 months old, weighs 2031 b., had eight teeth when eight months old. is very active (crawls and pulls himself on to his feet with the aid of his pram, etc.), Is the picture of health, sleeps well, and as a rule, is very good indeed. About six weeks ago I giving him patant barley, and at flr«t it seemed to agree with him very well, but then I noticed that his bowels did not move so freely, and he also began to vomit, which he had never done before. So I stoppad the barley, and for a few days tried oatmeal jelly instead, but as ho still continued to vomit I stopped that too. I weakened his food, but nm now strengthening it again, and giving him forte- feeds a day. each one haying 6oz. humanised milk. loz. raw milk, loz. water: for the last two days I have added one tea spoonful of cream to each bottle to see if it would help him. Yesterday and to-day used half magnesia when making his food. His tongue and Inside In's lips have been slightly rented with white for the last few days. I hope I have given yon all the facts you need to get a, correct idea of his case, and j that you will be able to help me to get him into good habits again.’’ REPLY. I should think the condition is due to some passing disturbance, and that he will soon be himself again. Still, you are quite right to take every care and trouble. From seven or eight months onwards till towards the close of the first year there is apt to be a good deal of trouble in dealing with feeding and digestion, dim In part to the disturbances associated with the cutting of teeth. It often happens that a baby will go off his food more or less for a week or two. and get unset tn the way you describe. Owing to this a month may pass with little or no gam in weight. , You have acted wisely In not pressing food tender the circumstances. Your baby has plenty of stored fat reserves to draw on and while there was any tendency to vomit, the best course was to reduce the daily allowance of food, and not to worry over the possible loss of a. few ounces in weight, instead of the normal gain. I notice that the onantity of food yon quote—viz., four feedings, each containing «oz. humanised milk, loz. new milk, and loz water, is eouivnlent to only 2Boz. of milk. The four teasnoonfuls of cream might bo eouivnlent to about 3oz. of milk, which would bring the total up to 31 oz. This ration won’d scarcely snflleo for any gain in. weight, but would prohnhtv be about enough for maintenance without ]os« of weight. If ho could deal satisfactorily with an additional ounce "f milk at each feeding be would probably gain all right. But bv this time Im ought .to bo taking week by week a- gradual increase in ernsts. the imo of which is not, onlv rood for promoting and general alertness and activity, but is also specially good for ipem-nving th“ jews nnd the te»th wh’oh will come through later, nnd for preventing sluggishness of the bowels. Crc.am nnd Constipation. It is a mistake tn snonnse that cream is necessarily a. good thing for oongfine. tion. <Vt-r it nets t-Hv the oth“r way. beconso bablno find difficulty in digesting anything hev't’d f.- very moderate e.llowance of the fa* of cow’s milk. On th*” Recount it would ho wise to give, instead of the four teasnoonfuls of two ten«?r»HH’nfnlA nor fljnvw, of % Tr , ixtn‘ r ’o > of penal quantities of olive oil and cod liver oil. Malt Extract. Another change that won'd be worth making would be to use two level foa. , spoonfuls of a good malt extract in making the humanised milk. a"d tn allow for this by leaving on* n level tablespoonful of the sugar of milk. Baked Apple. Another measure that would tend in the direction of lessening any tendency to eonetination would he Io gradually got the baby into the b-ihit, of taking daily. s"y. a loyal 1 nhlcsnnonfiil or move of the pulp of haired npnle—starting -dth. say, a t»o--snoonful a, day .and wort-igg nn in the of two or fkinnp o t ’ <i- wnnth to the larger onnntitv The nnlo of stow, ed nrunes could h° need instead of the annle but it would bo i-*w to use looa—say. n, half nr two.fhlr.lr, of U-o abOVCOn the whole, baked iw-ib is better. Fruit or Vegetable • Juice. You do not mention whether you. use frosh orange juice or fresh vegetable juice as recommended on pane 'll) “Feeding and Care of Baby.” The juice of grated swede turnip is excellent for this purpose; it should be diluted with water, just as in the case of orange juice.