OUR BABIES.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXV, Issue 32, 6 February 1913, Page 7

OUR BABIES.

(By Hygeia.) Published under the auspices o! 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.” THE SOCIETY'S BOOK. The Society’s little book, entitled “What Baby Needs,” can be obtained from the Matron, Karitane Harris Hospital, the Plunket Nurses, the honorary secretaries, and the leading booksellers throughout the dominion Price, Gd; posted, 7d. MOTHER AND NURSE. The following is one of a series of lettters received recently which open up a wide question with regard to the future well-being of our children, and we appeal to all maternity nurses to ponder over it and consider the grave responsibility which they incur, especially when they undertake the care and guidance of the young mother with her first-born. A MOTHER’S LETTER. A mother in the North Island writes: I have to thank voir for forwarding me a copy of “What Baby Needs,” and enclose herewith stamps for postage. - The book arrived about three days after ray baby girl was born, but no matter what I said the nurse insisted on night-feedings (at such a time one does not feel strong enough to fight much against those who have care of you!) and so baby always wakes and screams till she lias a drink, though I have tried to break her of the habit. However, now I am only giving her six feeds during the 24 hours, as follows :

She wakes at 4 in the morning for a feed (1); I hath her at half-past 6 and feed her by 7 (2); she then sleeps, if left alone, out in the open air near the house in the pram till 12 midday, and I then feed her (3)1 ; then at three in the afternoon (4); hath at half-past 5 and feed at 6 (5); and when Igo to bed at night, between 9 and half-past (6).

I have a great deal of work to do, and in my case, I find the five hours that I get straight on end from, say, a quarter past 7 in the morning till noon a very/great help to me, especially on washing and ironing days. This is far better than battling away at 4 o’clock in the morning trying to keep the baby quiet till 6 o’clock so that the other 8 people in the house may get their rest. When I was trying to break her from the night feeding the crying kept everyone else awake night after night, and so I now manage as explained. MEMO BY HYGEIA. The feeding hours (4 a.m., 7 a.m., 12 noon, 3 p.m., G p.m., and 9 p.m.) which this mother has arrived at by a commonsense method of adjustment suited to the particular circumstances of her own life, are quite reasonable and proper, though it might ho supposed that an interval of five hours during the daytime would he prejudicial. However, this is not the case. The one thing essential in the feeding of a child is absolute clock-like regularity of the feeding hours from day to day. But this doe© not mean, of necessity, that the interval between feedings should be at all equal.

We know that in the case of ourselves, as adults, precise equality of intervals is not the main point, hut that we should take each of onr three meals as nearly as possible at the same hour every day, whether we select 7, 12, and 5, for instance, or 8, 1, and 7.

One often finds that an extra hour’s interval once in the day is a very great advantage to the mother. Say she is feeding a young baby six times in the 24 hours at three-hourly periods, she is enabled, by making one of the periods four hours (say from 3 to 7 or from 12 to 4) to get a longer interval for outing, housework, etc., and this does not appear to make the slightest difference to the baby. People are inclined to be surprised that a little baby can with impunity remain nearly four hours without food during the daytime. This is merely because they have got into the habit of thinking that a young infant should be fed every two hours or so. Not only is such frequent feeding unnecessary, but it has been abundantly shown that it is actually harmful to the child, and almost equally harmful to the mother. With longer intervals both mother and child get better rest, and we find that the tendency is for the breast supply to improve where this has been unsatisfactory. On the whole, for young infants, three-hour-ly periods during the day are found to be the most satisfactory; but some leading authorities in Germany, especially Drs Czerny and Keller,have long contended that four-hour intervals prove quite satisfactory from the start of life. This method of feeding was tided at the North-Western Infirmary at Chicago, and the authorities found that the babies apparently did a® well as when fed more frequently. I am not suggesting for one moment that it would be advisable in general to make the intervals between feedings longer than three hours, luring the first few months of life, b,.t all mothers should clearly understand that benefit rather than harm is to be expected from extending one c: the day periods to four hours, pis .'..1 that exactly the same time-table is kept every day—not a four-hour interval in the morning one day ard in the afternoon the' next day. To recapitulate:— (1) Feed only six times in the 21 hours for the first four months, and then only five times. (2) Never feed in the night, say b>

tween 9 or 10 p.m. and 5 or C a.m. (;.i) Write out a time-table which will best suit the circumstances of your case, and strictly adhere to it. MOTHER’S LETTER CONTINUED. Baby weighed 811) when horn, and has gained steadily each week, and to-day was 11-Jlb —just JO weeks old. So she is thriving satisfactorily so far. In connection with regular feeding, using dummies, etc., etc., I think it is the maternity nurses and not the mothers who require most teaching. For the first fortnight in all cases, in some even longer, the maternity nurse is the “boss,” and lays the foundations of the baby’s habits, and the mother has to * follow on, very often, whether she wants to or not. The remainder of the mother’s letter will he given and dealt with next week.