OUR BABIES.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 601, 10 September 1913, Page 2

OUR BABIES.

"Pal ished ,ui ' i ihe . u-pite-, of the Society for the Health of Women ana Children.

" It is wiser to put up a fence at the top of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom."

ADDRESSES OF PLUNKET NURSES AND SECRETARIES.

Wellington.— Plunket Nurse Morgan ; assistant, Nurse Mackintosh.. Society's Room, 86 Vivian street. Tel. 2425. Hon. Sec, Mrs McVicar, 27 Brougham street. City. Tel. 2642. Auckland. Plunket Nurses Chappell and Morgan. Tel. 851. Office of the Society. 2 Chancery street. Tel. 829. Office hours, Tuesdays and Fridays, 2.30 to 4 p.m. Hon. Sec, Mrs W. H. Parkes, Marinoto, Symonds street. Tel. 240.

Napier. Plunket Nurse Donald, Marine Parade. Hon. Sec, Mrs Hector Smith.

Hastings.—Plunket Nurse Purcel!. Office of the Society at Mr Bate's Pharmacy. Hon. Sec , Mrs T. W. Lewis. Tei. 285. Dannevirke. P'unket Nurse Wright. Hon. Sec, Mrs Bickford, Bank of New Zealand. FRESH AIR. Last week wo urged again the necessity for an ample supply of pure, fresh, free-flowing air for all children if we wish them to grow up strong and capable.

As bearing up the extreme importance of this factor in child life, and the amount of attention which ia being paid to the subject, the following extracts from a paper by Dr Edwin E. Graham Professor of Diseases of Children in the Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, are most instructive. The paper was read at the annual meeting of the American Pediatric Society, and was published in the Archives of Pediatircs in February, 1909.

FRESH AIR IN THE TREATMENT OF CHILDREN.

My first work in fresh air treatment began some eight years ago in the children's wards of the Philadelphia Hospital. The wards were large, the milk fairly good, enough nurses were on duty to keep the children fed according to my directions, they were hathecl regularly and kept clean; but in the wards where the very young infant?, mostly foundlings, were placed the re3uits were very unsatisfactory. Much depended upon the physical condition of the infant on admission. A frail infant, perhaps premature and under normal weight, would again for a few weeks, finally gradually lose weight, begin to have diarrhoea, and die. Robust infants on admission often did Well fur three months. The, same symptoms after this psriou began to develop in them as in the infants admitted in a condition of malnutrition, and in spite of my best efforts many of these robust children died.

The same type of infants in my private practice were, almost without exception, doing well. Convinced that neither the food, nursing, nor general care of these hospital infants was at fault, and that the so-called, "hospitalism" was nothing but lack of fresh air, and lack of outdoor air, I ordered these children in the month of January —winter time in the United States of America—to be place for two hours each day on the fire escapes. The cribs were simply moved out upon the fire escapes, and towels pinned over the top of both ends of the cribs as wind shields. The infant mortality began to lessen immediately, and I began to see some hope for my infant hospital patients. In the following two years during my service in January, February, and March of each year I had the children for a number of hours each day, unless it was raining or snowing, carried down to a large open space facing the hospital buildings, and kept in small hammocks. These infants were always bundled up in blankets, and their heads well covered. They dk. remarkably well—so well, in,fact, that instead of my infants dying, most of them began to gain in weight and health, and the deaths were almost entirely in infants under three months of age whosß condition was disitnet'y bad upon admission to the hospital. During the past five years the infants have been placed in the new, modern, and up-to-d«te building of the Philadelphia Hospital. The wards are large, the air space ample, the milk the very best; porches surround the hospital on two sides, the infants practically have an abundance of fresh air day and night, and they do as well as could be hoped for. I am no longer a pessimist when in the infants' ward, but an optimist. In the new Jefferson Hospital, where I am on duty the entire year, the children have an ideal ward on the eighth floor, large windows on three sides with a large roof garden adjoining.-the latter fitted up with every convenience, such as hammocks, shade, wind shields, etc. The roof garden is used all the year round, winter and summer, and the results are most encouraging.

Of all the factors which have contributed to the reduction of this inafnt mortality fresh air has, in my opinion, been the one of prime importance. We shall pause here and analyse what Dr Graham has been telling his medical confreres.

With large wards, fairly good milk, competent nursing, and skilled medical attendance, twelve months ago infanta in the Philadelphia Hospital pined and died. They lacked pure, freßh free-flowing ak\ :\nd when that wis supplied t ) ii i^t-ci vei> ma I e h IU Qan to i 1 f death. 1 i ' those in p j i londui i i 1 aion. i i i" h j 1 ii Is t

Ica i hear mothers say: "That i s all very well in an expensive, modern, up-to-date hospital, with all the latest appliances, but what can we do in our little houses?" KARITANE BABY HOSPITAL. If these mothers would only go to the Karitane Hospital some afternoon they would sea how equally good, if not better, results can be obtained in at: ordinary small house. If there is any meaning in language, I should say that the results at Karitane are infinitely ahead of those described by Dr Graham in the sentence, "the babies do as well as could ba hoped for." Our babies thrive and grow in a truly wonderful way, and the rasults have gone far beyond our most sanguine hopes. As 1 said above, the Karitane Hospital is only a six-roomed cottaae to which a verandah and an additional small ward and four very small rooms have been added in the most economical way. However, before the additional accommodation was thought of the babies lived an cut-of-door life, and slept in rooms through which a broad stream of pure outside air flowed all night long. In the winter the temperature was sometimes down to freezing point, but the babies slept peacefully in their co e y beds, breathing the pure air streaming in from outside. Of course, there were screens to keep off any particular wind whick might directly blow on to a baby, and all the babies were sufficiently clothed. During the summer the babies are out by 7 o'clock in the morning, and they remain out of doors all day long, and after they are bathed and fixed up for the night they are frequently put out on the verandah again WARNING. Of course, if mothers have been in the habit of coddling their babiei they but gradually habituate them to pure fresh air. This then can be done by opening the window a little wider every night, and gradually placing thfl baby's bed where it must get practically pure air. The Plunket Nurse will gladly advise mothers about the best place for baby's cot.

Remember that a baby must n«ver sleep in bed with its mother. It must have a separate cradle or cot.