OUR BABIES.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VIII, Issue 714, 21 October 1914, Page 6

OUR BABIES.

Published under the auspices of the 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." A MOTHER'S LETTER. Inquiry as to whether four feedings a d««y are necessarily too faw for an eight months old baby. Dear "Hygeia."—My baby is nearly eight months old, and I have nursed him entirely myself. For the last few weeks I have not wakened him at 10 p.m., and he has slept right on from 6 at night till 5.15 in the morning. I feed him at 5.30 and 10 a.m. and 2 and 6 p.m. in the day time. He rever wakes through the night. 1 have taken him up once or twice at 10 p.m. just fur experiment, and he has wakened at the same time in the morning as ha did when I omitted the 10 pm. meal. Does he need the 10 o'clock drink or not? I feel the benefit of the rest, but will waken him if you think he needs the food instead of the sleep. a Re is perfectly healthy and Btrong, although below the average weight; but he gains every week, and is now 16£lb. Hoping it will not be too much .trouble to give me a replym your valuable column. —I am, etc., MOTHER. REPLY. All of us might learn something from such a letter as this—a document giving the actual experience of the mother herself in the rearing of her own baby. The mother wants to know whether a deviation from tha course of feeding we recommend Bhould be allowed to go or, or whether an effort should be made to get the baby to conform to the number of feedings which extensive experience has shown to produce the beat average results.

I scarcely think this is a case where a definite and dogmatic answer can be given off-hand. Had the mother asked six months ago how often she ought to feed hpr baby, one would have had no hesitation whatever in saving, "Don't feed more often than ever three hours during the dHy time; don't give any night-fesding; fsed regular, allowing six feeds in the 24 hours." In the course of a month or two the feedings can be reduced to ever four hours, giving only five feeds in the 24 hours. Some authorities believe in the longer intervals from the start, never allowing a baby more than five feedings a day. There is no doubt that babies do quite well on this —possibly as well as they do on threehourly feedings, and certainly better than they do when fed every two hours. However, taking a safe and conservative view, I think you would be. wiße to adhere strictly to what i 6 laid down in the Society's book, "Feeding and Care of Baby," which is practically what I have been explaining. This, as I have said, is the advice 3 should have given if 1 had been asked how to feed the baby sis months ago. Mow, let uu consider the case a it stands. The baby weighs 16Jib atbarely eight months. Supposing he weighed the normal average of 7?>'b at birtb, hia present weight Bhould bd about 17£ Ib, or gib more than he actully weighs. Probably he would have weighed a little more if he had not given up the fifth feeding; but there is nothing to prove that Ib'Slb ig really below his proper weight. It ia perfectly natural for one normal baby to weigh more or less than another at a given ag*, just as it is natural for one adult to weigh more or less than the average. Thus 161b, 171b, or 181b would all be normal weights for given babies at eight months; but 141b or 201b, could scarcely be considered normal. However, it would be entirely wrong to assume that there is any absolute standard in the matter of a babys' weight at a given age; and weight is not to be regarded as the sole criterion.

MISTAKEN PRIDE IN OVERWEIGHT. One finds that parents tend to ba proud to have their babies over-heavy. In general, I should prefer a baby who has was only the normal weight or not much anove the normal, rather than one who was excessively heavy. There is no virtue —quite the reverse —in over-feeding and over-growj'ng during babyhood. All cattle breeders are agreed that if you want a good, smart, dairy caw rather than a fat, beefy bullock, you should feed the calf well, but in strict moderation. The same principle applies to babies! The following paragraph is taken from the Society's book, page 55: "Mothers arid nurses should be warned against taking pride in gettting a baby to advance over-rapidly in weight. A regular gain at the proper rate is safer and better. Excess of food causes a baby to put on ex-

tra weight for a time; but his tends to be followed by indigestion and loss in the long run. Besides, we don't want mere weight; we don't want to fatten babies like prize pigs, but to ensure a steady, normal development of good, firm bone and muscle." My correspondent does not give an idea of the height and weight of her baby when born. If he weighed 6£lb and 71b—quite common birth weights—he has grown at the standard rate; but if he was born weighing 81b or 91b, his rate of growth has been below the average. One would specially like to know what the baby gained during the last month. If hiß average gain is now 3oz or 4 a week, I should not think o£ giving more feedings, because, as babies approach a year old, four feedings a day suffice, though the more common practice is to give five feedings for a little longer. It is certainly very doubftul indeed whether at tbiß stage a baby who appears to be doing well on four feedings should be changed to five, seeing that a reduction to four feedings would be the natural procedure in any case before long; and every chang9 of habits tends to intrefera with the even course of progress for a few days or longer. Even though the increase in weight during the last month or so should have been less than the normal, that fact alone would not necesaarily indicate th.o need for more feedings. Why not give an extra half-oun:e or ounce if needed at each feeding, and Bee what effect that has? If baby is in the habit of completely emptying both rests at every nursing of course, he would have to be allowed some supplementary food —say half an ounce or an ounce of humanised milk. This Bhould be given by bottle after each suckling and the lact of giving some food in this way would facilitate weaning when it has to be done a little later. 1 shall be glad if "Mother" will give further • particulars in another let er so as to the points I have raißed. Further, I should like to know how the baby gets on in the next ten months.