OUR BABIES.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIV, Issue 26, 24 September 1912, Page 7

OUR BABIES.

(By Hygeia.)

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."

Why Children'G Teeth Decay. In last week's article I said:— The blood supply to any part of the body is dependent mainly on the amount of work done in the particular area or organ and in its neighbourhood. Hence it is that when we work with our hands and stimulate the palms the circulation and food supply sent to nourish the cells is increased, and a thick horny layer is formed—a protective covering analogous to the enamel of teeth. Applying these considerations to the building of mouth, tongue, jaws, teeth, nose, and throat of a baby, we realise how it is that the Maori was so perfect in all these respects,' and that we on the contrary are so degenerate. Feeding Exercise. Normal suckling involves at least two hours of active exercise a day. In the case of the Maoris, this was usually continued for about 18 months, where- [ as our women rarely nurse for more than half the time, often for only a few months. There is no valid reason why bootle-feeding should not be so conducted as to afford ample exercise; but unfortunately the idea of exercise in connection with feeding rarely enters the .mother's head. Mistaken Advice. The following incident shows how completely oblivious the average woman is as to the need for baby to work hard at meal times. Some time ago, a short pamphlet, intended to give simple, sound advice to mothers, carefully prepared by a committee of earnest women, was submitted to me for review, and the compilers were much surprised when I pointed out that their advice as to the artificial feeding of young babies was quite erroneous.' In order to avoid the risks of germs and uncleanliness in connection with indiarubber teats, they thought to solve the difficulty by advocating that, ho'weyec young the baby, it sliould lie straightway fed by means of a spoon if the breast supply gave out. Bottle-Feeding—Right and Wrong.' Of course there is bottle-feeding and bottle-feeding. The baby who imbidas his milk passively through a laiye hole in an indiarubber teat isi.no better off as regards exercise than a spoo-wdd baby, and tends to be worse off as regards cleanliness. One scarcely knows how to express one's contempt for the woman who says impatiently, as one so often hears the modern mother say, "Oh, I can't spend my time holding the bottle." . /

j There is not a .so-called "lower animal" that refuses, to spare her offspring time to take its food, yet we often find the human mother declining to "waste her time" over the baby's nieal, . though . she , would .have had to do so but for the fact that she has failed to fit herself for the natural motherhood. The greatest curse of babyhood is maternal laziness and carelessness, superadded to failure on the part of the mother to fit herself to feed her offspring in the natural way. By care and attention any woman can do much to compensate the child for her own shortcomings, but the woman who says she "won't take the trouble" -to do so is more than unnatural; such conduct is criminal, since it involves the addition of untold suffering-and often death to the primary injustice done in having failed to supply the best food—namely, mother's milk.

The following extract from the Society's hook, "What Baby Needs," describes the best method of bottlefeeding. Best Method of Bottic-feeding. The feeding-bottle should be simple and easily cleaned, and the nipple should- be readily turned inside out. There should he no long tube. The smaller the hole in the nipple the better, provided the baby can be induced to take a sufficiency of food in from 15 to 20 minutes. This can only be done by holding the feeding-bottle and maintaining a certain pull on it, so that the teat is kept towards the front of the mouth. By his means, and by moving the teat in the mouth, the baby is brought to suck much more actively, and the whole of the body is stimulated and thrown into action. Observe what takes place if you pull and move about the feeding-bottle of a baby who has gone to sleep with the bottle propped up on a pillow. In a moment there tends to be vigorous and widespread action, even though the baby should not w«ake up. What Baby Needs. Copies of the Society's little hook, "What Baby Needs," can be obtained from the Honorary Secretaries of the Societies, the Plunket Nurses, and the local booksellers throughout the Dominion; price 6d, posted 7d.