OUR BABIES.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 260, 20 July 1915, Page 3

OUR BABIES.

(BY HTGEIA.)

(Published by request of the Taihape

Blanket Society.)

WATER. Last week \vc showed what a vital necessity water is, not merely for the health, but for the very life of cells. All living things, including the baby, wilt and die if they are not kept properly supplied witli water. Three or four days of “water starvation” will kill the strongest baby, though a child would hold '.at for three weeks <r a month against m-moleta “'.■>■[ s<-.,-\a-tiu, ’ if kept s i’{died with pare water.

Half the danger of diarrhoea and of most other ■ diseases of infancy and early childhood, would be obviated if mothers could be made to grasp the simple fact that when a child gets an attack of illness (whether the illness bo diarrhoea, bronchitis, a common “cold,” or any other form of feverish attack) the digestive organs strike work more or less completely for a day or two, and crave for rest. Nature takes away the appetite, and thus tries to give the stomach a holiday, but the mother does all she can to fight against, this beneficent provision.

The one idea that dominates the mother when her child refuses food and lies lump and listless. or erics and frets, is that the poor little mite will starve if FOOD is not taken promptly in some form or another. If pay-food is refused, .a little tempting jelly may be tried; and, if this fails to overcome Nature’s commonsense, the tiursty child is tempted with ‘'something to drink. ’ ’ Water, which is all that is needed, is not given plain, but always food-and-water!

What to Do when Baby’s Stomach is Upset.

Such folly would cease if the mother realised that when the baby’s “stomach is upset”' —to use the common phrase —the stomach should be given a rest, and the microbes and the baby should both be starved for the time being. This soon soothes the microbes, because they can’t stand being left without food in an empty stomach —the stomach juices soon kill them if there was no food present to neutralise the digestive fluid and feel the germs. Fermetation is always caused by microbes, and when fermentation ceases the poisoning of the system comes to an end also, and the baby tends to pick up rapidly. What is the Mother to Do when the Child Fights Against Nature?

I have said that Nature’s kindly tendency is to take away a child’s appetite when it should not have food, but it often happens that the sick child will crave for anything that may tend to dispel discomfort or pain at the moment —however much harm may be done in the long run. Hence it is that the mother may have to be very wise and firm when dealing with an attack of sickness and diarrhoea; and if she wants to be kind to her baby she must never fall back on the silly saying, “I can’t be so cruel! ’ ’

If the mother is weak and ignorant she will be sure to gve in to the infant who craves for food when it ought not

to have any, even though she might not try to tempt or force an unwilling child. It does not occur to her that the child could be satisfied and made comfortable with water alone, though this would be so if she would only remain firm and persevere—l2 hours or more of total abstinence from food may make a world of difference where there is a tendency to vomiting or diarrhoea, or both.

A child, not being used to take water alone in the place of food, may refuse it at first (just as it would refuse a new form of food, or even a slight change in flavour), but this tendency can soon be overcome. Pure Water. The mother must always be careful with regard to purity where water is concerned. In this connection we cannot do better than quote the conclusion of an address delivered by Dr. Barnett, five years ago. at the annual meeting of the Dunedin Branch of the Society.

“Not only are bacterial diseases like typhoid, cholera, and dysentery spread by bad water, but in New Zealand—which, as you know, is a country largely devoted to the sheep industry —hydatid disease may be transmitted to man in this way. It is a parasitic disease, spread by the dog, and human beings get this disease from two sources—(1) By drinking water that has boon contaminated by dogs; (2) By allowing dogs to lick the hands or faces, plates, dishes, etc. I have at different times spoken and written in considerable detail upon this subject. Prevention of Hydatids.

“I am not going to take up your time or weary you with any further reference to it, except on these two points: —Never drink water that has not been through a fairly good filter, like a Pasteur or a Berkfeldt, and if there is no such filter available see that the water is boiled. Keep dogs in their places, and that is outside of houses, and never allow dogs to lick the hands or face. Microbe and Man.

“In conclusion, let me summarise my remarks thus:-—I have tried to direct your attention to the parasitic enemies that are seeking our injury or destruction on every hand. I have tried to indicate that it is many ways possible to prevent these parasites gaining entrance to our bodies by care in regard to food, by keeping the mouth and teeth in a clean, wholesome condition, and by attention to general hygienic surroundings, and so on. When once these parasites have gained entrance it may be possible to remove them by medical or surgical means, but the most important, the most valuable of our defences against the attacks of bacteria and other parasites lies in our own powers of resistance, and these can only be kept at their best by following o-n the lines of Nature, by living what I have tried to dindicate as the natural life.”