OUR BABIES

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 131, 26 February 1921, Page 5

OUR BABIES

(By

"Hygcia.")

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.”

Last week we were co.n'Uderine a letter In which a mother detailed how, in his ninth month, her baby bov. who had cone ahead splendidly up to that time, had had a setback, and suffering from plurnt vomitiner. constipation, etc. There was a white coat ins* on the toneme apd inside his lips. We dealt with certain a pacts of the matter then, and now continue tne subject. REPLY TO MOTTTFP’S LETTER. (Continued.) The little whiteness in the mouth. m £ n ; tinned in V°nr letter was nrobnblv due merelv to slight »enrenlv be thresh (see nnsrr 120. f -eninu end Care of Baby”), which causes d rtmet Intensely white catches with cleailv defined mareins. ' Massage. ■Where n. baby gets out of sorts for a while, and there is a tendency to be lan euld. sluggish. and sleeny. it Is a copa thine to stimulate the skin and the circulation bv rubbine the skin briskly and massagin'? the muscles bv de'-npr several times a day. No special skill is needed, the main point to understand being that you work from the hands and fe«t, towards the body in order to nrqmete the natural aunerficinl flow towards tne heart and not away from it. I see you say your babv is ecnersu.y very active: but in any case it is quite a Rood nlan to rub the limbs for a fewßoutes twice or more a div. and the tri ..K can be rubbed with advantage at hatpin-, time. I mean hand rubbed in addition to Tubbins with a towel i*i connection wttn drvins. I shalLbe triad to hear how von ret on. Don’t hesitate to inquire further 11 there Is anything in which I can helo yoil. A SECOND X.ETTETt J’ltOM THE ’ correspondent. "X am clad to say that our small son was on the mend before vour letter came (it was delayed n week bv a snowfall). After I wrote to you he lost 40z.. but today he has reached 2131 b.—a cain of IZoz. In the last fortnight; so that is better. "He tunes hia full 1003. humanised mi lie at each meal now, and a little oat jetty morninc and evening, and to-day I gave him a tcasvoonful of baked apple at noon. He seems to enjoy Ins food again, and keeps it all down. "He has had fruit juice since lie wan quite small, and I am clad of your »iwgestlon to use swede turnins for a chance. “There Is one thine I do not understand in your letter. You ask if I heat the mlla when I nrenare the humanised milk. Yes, I put all the ingredients into a jug. stand it in a saucepan of boiling water, pad bring- to 155decr. F. Do you think it better to mix them cold, and’ just heat enough for each meal as needed, in which case it would be practically all-raw milk, wouldn’t it? i I’d be very grateful if yon would explain this more fully, as I haven't heard of it before. “How long should a babv sleep? One boy goes to bed soon after 6 n.m.. and we - seldom hear him till about 6 am. next morninc. He sleeps about three-quarters of an hour between this and his next meai and bath. After that he goes on the verandah. and is put down again about 11.30 a.m.. and may sleep an hour—seldom any longer. In the 'afternoon lately hfd has obfected to sleeping at all. and when left in.his cot slmnlv vellt—no tears —but smiles as soon ns lifted. Is there any cain in letting hire stay there crying, or might he just ns well be with ns. wherever we are? He, is such an active little person all day that one would think ■he would be so weary that he’d be. clad to co to sleep; but not he!” REPLY TO SECOND LETTER. If you can get clean fresh milk and cream which has. been separated just after milkinc there Is no need to hent the milk nt all. Of course, von should cool the milk down as rapidly as possible, and keep it in a cool outside safe. In warm weather it might, be necessary to bring up to 155dec. Fa. any of the prepared milk remaining at night if it were to be used in the morning. Illustrative Case. Acting on a neighbour’s advice, a little baby bov had been weaned and nut on a patent food. He was doing very badly, ’ and when first seen at about three weeks of age the mother was too much run down and worried to permit of any hope of the maternal supply being restored. This baby was fed on unheated milk throughout infancy. At first when on No. 1 humanised milk the whey had to be heated to 155 deg. F, to kill the rennets otherwise the humanised milk would have curdled when heated to lOCdeg. F. at finding time. The baby's father used to gel the proper quantities of separated cream and new milk, and he prepared the humanised milk himself. Of course, when humanised milk No. 2 was used the ingredients were mixed together. and the preparation was kept cool; then the milk had merelv to be heated up to lOOdeg. F. at feeding time, just as you would have to do. I tnftv say that the little boy did exceedingly well, and is now a fine, sturdy, intelligent schoolfiby. It would not be safe to advise the general use of unhealed milk, because most people get their milk from a dairy, and it may not be fresh nor clean, and the cows may not be healthy. I took for granted that you would have good cows, and would be able to get clean, fresh milk. Baby’s Sleep. A baby at a year should sleep for about 15 hours. Your baby seems to sleep only 13? hours. It is better to put him to rest in any darkened place, even if he docs cry a. bit He will ret used to bein'’ left, and if you do not lift him up he will soon stop crying. It is better to induce good habits, and he will thrive all the better for the rest and quiet. Children should be trained to rest every inorniner until five yejirs or over—even if they do not steen they rest. ~ It, is a good plan, to undrer.s them. If put to bed in their ordinary clothing they are ant to shiver on vetting up, and they sometimes look “peaky" for a time. wnt« ndreS ' e i d f on j^ e othcr hand, they wako up jolly and warm; they are soondressed again, find they jock bright and hanpy. This is quite natural, because the L l lrin r 'n Sln ‘ r nncl . temporary cooling of the nn? ,H» e i" ? nd u ton c‘ un the "bole body and stimulates, the breathing and the cir cidution. More fuel is burnt in the body hea , t > 3 Produced as the re°‘lt oi an forms cf temporary surface ch?T<c coll? water. affOrded by exDOBUrc to a ‘r or Purced Spinach. In case of constipation, as an alternative to baked apple, a teaspeonful of very finely nureed spinach may be given at 10 or 12 months of age. The spinach must be minced very finely, and made quite smooth and creamy, but no cream must be added.