OUR BABIES

Dominion, Volume 15, Issue 42, 12 November 1921, Page 5

OUR BABIES

(By

"Hygcia.”)

Publitbed 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 thasi to maintain an ambulance at the bottom."

BREAST-FEEDING IN MINNEAPOLIS. Last week we indicated that the low death-rate of infants in Minneapolis, as compared with other largo American cities,’ was mainly duo to the campaign in favo'iM' of breast-feeding which had boon instituted by Dr. Sedgwick, Professor of Pediatrics (tho care of children) in the Untverstty of Minnesota. A paper giving a summary of the methods and results of a year’s work done with the s-Mj object of promoting ■'the breast-feeding of all the infants born in Minneapolis, wAi< read by Professor Sedgwick at tho last annual meeting of the American Pedialgia Society. Before dealing with Dr. Sedgwick’s work it 'should bo stated that Minneapolis has 400,000 inhabitants, and is the second largest city ini fTAs Stat'o of Minnesota. "Minnesota, situs,ted in the very heart of tho continent, is bounded by Lake Superior on tho east ifild by Canada on the ,north, so that the climate is anything hut mild. The area of the State is less than that of New Zealand, and its population is about, double ours. . Minneapolis is a flourishing business centra, with the advantages .and disadvantages of extensive factories, and its university is one 6* the best endowed anil most progressive in America. This applies particularly to its great medical school; and the most distinctive,claim of that school is tho firm establishment of tho cult and practice of breastfeeding. due to the systematic teaching and advocacy of suckling as inculcated by Professor Sedgwick and the graduates he has trained and inspired. /Tlfl's statement might seem to -imply that there had not been due recognition •‘of tho supreme advantages of breastfeeding over artificial feeding elsewhere in our time, but this would, of course, be quite wrong. There h-rve been plenty of aro’ent and uticomproinising champions of. the rights of the child to h’P natural food, but the special distinction of Professor Sedgwick and his colleagues is that they have brought, every available agency to bear in the direction of converting and winning both the medical profession and the laity to rimkc the successful practice of breast-feeding tho ■ aim and heart’s desire of every mother irrosnective of class orTSntion. Further. Professor Sedgwick centred the great resources of his Influential position, aS' professor nt the University, on ■ the intensive investigation .and study of the best, methods of establishing and maintaining breast-feeding in the first instance, and of re-establishing it where tho mother had given up nursing too early—where the baby had been comp’etefv weaned for weeks or even for a month or more. ?,faiiy thousands *of cases have been systematically dealt with, and the results recorded, during tho course of the last 10 years, and W confirm in the most complete way the conclusions arrived at by iiivestiqatorsrfi'i the Old World, particularly by ceriatn French and German physicians who* announced similar conclusions as far back as 20 years ago. The special feature of Professor Sedgwick’s work has been his constant a.nd consistent devotion do the one issue, and the infinite pains he has given to every practical detail of the technique of breast-feeding, and the education and winning of the profession and the community to be satisfied with nothing else. put. shortly, f.ho Minnesota School of Pediatrics has confirmed and reaffirmed tho fact Tint in spite of the debilitating tendenotes of modern civilisation practically every mother can nurse at least one baby fbr the full term, and that. she is the better for doing so. Cow s milk in its essential nature is always objectionable, and, in addition. ?b generally more or less seriously damaged before use, -and is often diseased. , It, is an axfiom p” if he Ssogwick .-chool that every mother s n>G* sprrrs with her. baby, and every other milk tends to Qinaffpc mor** 07* Icrr. r.<ven. whoro tho nipplc.v are flat or inverted; so that the milk can bo got oil > neither I'7 direct «ue.kttng or by the use of a breast-shield. Sert-n-ick has shown that ..here is no dilPcSlty in . ensuring comm-ato bnmstfeeding provided the mothftr is taught the simple technique needed for expressing tho milk. „ It.is gratifying io the society that nil Tie notnts mentioned above have been simultaneously taught and advocated throughout New Zealand, and that the results here have been equally on..enraging and satisfactory. The strange thing is tttat. England should still be so very - far behind in this all-important matter, and that the example set by tho Mothercraft Cent’ro esthft'.Tshed In London on "Karitaim- lines” sqouid. have pro ved stun n revelation and surprise as is indlcatia by /the following extract from tho -e--m.irks of Dr. FiTrbatrn (a lending specialist in midwifery) given in the last report of the Babies of the Lmpiio Society’:— ... V The wonderful success of Dr. iruoy King’s methods, and l*ie enthusiasm inspired among those who every day witness the living proof of it. should be studied by a visit to Trebovir Road bv all those interested m the infant welfa.e movement. The results hi promoting breast-feeding among mothers who had previously failed are remarkable, but still more striking is the re-establishment of a flow of breast milk, auequaie w <*r a ven exceeding- the infants need, after ns Jong as even six or seven weeks wea-nin? from the breast. A few years ago such results would have been looked upon as bordering on the miraculous; - now they are an everyday occurrence at Trebovirßoad. . - The work dope within the four walls of the home is but a small fraction of the contribution cf the Mothercraft Training Society to the nuhlic good The knowledge of the method a learnt there and spread throughout the land by the nurses, midwives, and doctors who have studied them, and even by the mothers themselves in their gratitude for what-has been done for them and ■ their babies, is something which cnnnot be shown in any report or by any statistics.