INFANT FEEDING

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 232, 28 June 1944, Page 3

INFANT FEEDING

The Way Of The Maori

In the course of an interesting address, at a meeting of the Plunket Society and kindred organizations in Hastings, Dr. 11. M. Wilson remarked that there was still much to learn and to know in the handling of different cases of infant feeding. As a matter of professional interest he had asked a colleague to obtain for him some information concerning the methods followed by the older Maori mothers in feeding their children. It appeared that in former times, Maori women breast-fed their babies for many months. It was not uncommon for a baby aged 14-18 months to be stilt naturally fed. Solid feeding was, however, commenced at an early stage, four-five months, first with vegetable juices—e.g., puha water. Then followed penu penu (mashed puha and kumera), and next, fish and so on. If the mother was unable to feed her baby, another woman was detained. Kakahi water (juice from boiling a special type of mussel) was sometimes substituted for milk. Unlike the pakeha, the Maori baby was not fed at regular intervals. The baby was fed when it cried. It was never wakened to be fed. So long as the baby slept, in the opinion of the Maori, it was not hungry.