SAVING THE BABIES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 76, 19 March 1908, Page 3

SAVING THE BABIES.

I LAD* I'LUXKE'i'S MISSION. WORK FOR WOMEN. MEETING AT NEW PlAjlolTll. UcUecii .111(1 and 400 ladies r t —(KHiili'.t i" tlie iuviiatiun lo meet her E.\ccllcn-y I Lady Plunkct at New Plymouth yesterday iitu-t-iiuoit I'or the purpose of'estabI lisliiug a branch ot the Society I'or lac Protection of Infant Life here Tlie 'Mu.vor {.Mr. E. JJockriil) presided. flKll EXCELLENCY'S ADDRESS. I «»n rising to speak, her Excellent was received with applause. She said': I have much ])leasure in addressing this meeting, as its oliject is very dear to me, and 1 have hopes of not only helping to start this Societv in New i'lvliioutli, but also to enlarge Hie geneva i scheme by placing nurses in all the hi" wntres of \ew Zealand, and at leant two roving nurses who will spend tlio'r time travelling to all the out-of-the-way places teaching and advising mollieis on their own health and that of their children. In the Jirst place I -hoiild like to place before you brielly I :he main objects of the Society—(l, ' To encourage mothers to nurse" their t 'liildren; (2) to disseminate accurate jt inforniittion on matters ail'ecting the 1 lealth ot mothers and children ~\ \

iiii'aus of lectures, pamphlets, con •-■ pondence. and otherwise; (3) to provi h for preparation of humanised milk foi I issue to the public: (4) to,provide an! employ nurses ready at any time to give advice and instruction to mothers, in the home or elsewhere, with a vieto conserving the health and strengt'i of the. rising generation, and rendering lioth mother and offspring hardy anl health and resistive to disease; '(j) to promote legislative reform in matters pertaining to the health of women anl children, and thereby in particular--la) to ensure prompt registration 01 births, and (b) to ensure prevention of work inimical to health and vitality in factories, etc., on the part of women tor given limes, liefore and after idii'Mbiith, (c) to improve the provision- I'm the case yf waifs and strays, and esperi ally of children in licensed houses or Imarded out, (dj removal of duty from sugar of milk, (c) members of the coin I

mittee of this Society to have free access to Registrars' records, (I) examination, by a doctor before children are committed to licensed houses; ((i) to co-operate with any present or future organisations winch are working for any ol the foregoing or cognate ohjecis, such us—The .Sisters of the various Church organisations and religions order-. Si. .(nun's Ambulance Society. Iho Salvation Army, the Free Kindergarten, j and the Society for the Protection of Women am! Children: (71 to invos'igate the conditions under which warand -t i-:iv- are at present kc|il. especi ally dining the first twelve month- o life, and as far as possible to make provision for their proper care where (lice are found to be improperly housed or treated -|a I By gelling them placed ill suitable private houses under the ca e of women not dependent solely upon the tecs received, (hi in cases where proper provision cannot be made a- aha'-e indicated, to provide suitable accommo- j datton and nursing at the Society's ex-

pensc. ! NECESSITY FOR THE SOCIETY. Ihe necessity for this Society hi» liven ijuestioned, but nil who read the | papers will realise that the shocking waste of infant life and the deplorable amount ot needless suuering is appalling. Nature meant mothers to feed their oil springs; the unique and wotileilul food given to her la-longs to her child. The ingredients, strength and temperature, is absolutely suited to the imam's internal economy, and the woman who can, but won't, nurse her own child robs it of its proper food—probably mars its constitution, and e.v jMises it to debility, convulsions, and diarrhoea —because she hits to rosjrt to bottle feeding, and in eight eases out of ten sh c . has had no practical training on artilicial foods or the modifying ot cow's milk, which is a science in itself. In LiverjKiol the deaths front diarrhoea amongst children under three months' old. either wholly or partially fed on artificial food-, are 15 times as great :'- they are amongst an equal number of infants fed upon breast milk —that, out of I"00 breast-fed infants under three months in Liverpool 20 will die front diarrhoea, while amongst 1000 hand-fed infants at the same age the deaths will be no less than 300. MOTHERS' DIITTCILTIES. Now for those mothers who for physical reasons are unable to nur.-e thenown children. They are faced with the problem of finding a satisfactory substitute for mothers' milk. The dilli culty is stupendous. As a medical man points out, "anything aside from breast, milk that is put into an infant's stomach is a foreign substance, and the aim should be to obtain a food resembling as closely as possible huninn milk." How is a mother to know how to do this unless she is taught? She cannot guess over a thing that has taken doctor- vears and years to learn. FEEDINO THE CHILDREN. J hotisands of mothers have to feed their children as best they can. Amongst the very pour the prossest mistakes arc made. Infants are not infrequentty givcu .-uch articles as hard-boiled eggs, cheese, carrots, sops, and other items u l ' the comprehensive dietary known as "what we have ourselves." Assuming,

however, that the mother lias sufficient ' intelligence to avoid such lethal dietetic \ errors, she has three classes of food from which to select a substitute for Human milk—patent foods, condense! milk, and cow's milk, more or less modified. Generally speaking, these foods are deficient in fat, too rich in some* thing else, and kick the anti-corbutic elements. Also there is iu human milk an ingredient that helps to form food for the brain. An infant's brain doubles its weight the first year of the child's life. Cow's milk has not this, as a calf is born with as much intelligence as it will ever have. This alone must weigh with mothers. Condensed milk is deficient in nutritive properties. Lastly cow's milk. Though cow'u milk resembles human milk much more closely than do patent foods or condensed mirk, there are important points of difference. Cow's milk ha» a hardy curd, and is adapted for the digestion of an animal with four stomachs. The human infant has but one. and that is adapted for the reception of a milk with a soft So what mothers must aim for is a food that resembles as closely as possible human milk, and I think [ may state that, according- to medical opinion, a modification of cow's milk known as "humanised milk," is the liest substitute for babies, but even this is only second best. At the end of this mealing Sister O'Brien has most kindly undertaken lo demonstrate the preparation so that those present mar fully understand how this milk is niodifWl. WHAT OTHER BRANCHES ARE

1 DOING. n,ir branch in Wellington lia, already a trained nurse, and lias sent licr down to the Home for Infants startI eel liy J)r. Triiby King at Dunedin,

whore nhc i, augmenting her knowledge "f tin' fine and proper artificial feeding of infants. On her return she will give instruction and demonsfra- i. tions oil health and management 'I of babies, and will visit any mother s wli.i invites her to do so, continuing to i give her advice and help so long as the ea»e requires it. May 1 here make it c i|uite tlear that this Society does not , inlerfere with .mothers or attempt to force its advice upon them '( The ntnse ( only visits where she is welcome and | . invited to, and she is not allowed to . visit where a medical man is in attendance, unless sent for with his permit- , sioi). WHERE TO BEGIN. The experience which has been gained from the working of the Society at Diineilin, and similar societies outside the Dominion, shows that- the nurses' work ought to start before the birth of the child. Her training is of much a-rt'ttanc-e in pointing out to the prospective mother the life she should lead shortly before tile baby arrives so as to ensure a healthy child and to lit herself for her maternal duties, as the first aim of the Society is to induce mothers ' to nurse their children. 1 In this connection 1 have been asked " whether our Society could manage, in • absolutely necessary cases, to give the prospective mother help in her housewo/k. or where she is the bread-earner. I I KiJowance lor a stated period (o an ' her having to wean her child prevent <uieiy. T can only say tint very prema, '' cases we hope to do in such specia. -••ognisc the value of thin if the public r< -♦. »s with some our Society and suppoi., -. the mothLeiieroaity. Where. howeve.._ 'mi, the lev i- unable to feed her own ini,. -u,! I mil-si- advi-es on artificial feeding. .. i the mcihod advocated liv this Socie'.y . ' I i- humanised milk, which is generally 'recognised ■•- the hest julistitutc for | 1 mothers' milk. The nnf> will be ready ? to instruct mothers how to prepare f ' this milk in their homes so long as a . nublie fiipnlv of it can be obtained.

PREPARATION OF FOOD. Duuediu and Auckland are lovlunatt enough to possess philanthropic ownen of dairies, who at their own expense have installed up-to-date plants for preparing this milk, bottling it, and sending it out to customers. Needless lo say. Ihis has been done at a pecuniary j 10.-s, I'or the machinery and labor cost j a good deal, and the demand cannot, for j some time, at any rate, be sullicicnl to make the undertaking pay. However, I the proprietors of these dairies have big j hearts, and are satislied with the knowledge that they are helping the mothers and children of Xew Zealand.

THE QUESTION OF COST. We calculate that to support one nurse in Wellington, with necessary ex[>eiHcs, we shall require at least £20(1 a year. The municipality could also render us great assistance by a grant and by undertaking (as other nnmi.-i----jialities do) the preparation* and sale of humanised milk. In th 0 other centres this is met by memberships, donations, and subscriptions. lastly, we look to the Government for support in our different centres. We do not, however, think that particular I work we have to do is one that could

be as successfully carried out by the Government, and for this reason: Our visits and instruction are given only to those who invite them, and the very fact that the mothers know that our | nurses are not inspectors or compulsory visitors makes them far more ready to invite and ae.-ept their services. l'f

they were Government nurses there is a serious danger lest they should be confused with the lady inspectors who, have recently lieen appointed to guard against baby-farming, and cases of infant neglect. These ladies have a very important task before them, and there is no reason why their work and ours should clash or overlap. Moreover, our nurse is not solely for the poor. Her knowledge and experience can be taken advantage of by any mothers, whether their incomes be large or small. For not only will -he lake the place of a good-nainred neighbor or the experienced ''mother of 14'' (ten of which She buried), but she can lie called ill to give Ihe advice which a Gained and experi- I eiieed Engli-h head noise possesses—a 1 class of servant which is very dillicult > to obtain ill the colonies. s Government and municipal assistance j t wi'l we are confident, jender in the 1 I'm in c our calls upon private philau- ]> thropy a decreasing one. In the mean- I * while we ask the public to give us gen- C erous support and enable us to demon- o strate the value of our work. C The successful establishment of the ti

Society for tin' Promotion of Health of Women and Children throughout the Dominion moans endless anxiety ant sulYoring spared; it means a decrease in the appalling infant death-rate, an 1 it means more and heathier children for Xew Zealand and the Empire. (Applnwi. DK. I.KATII.UJ'.-' REMARKS. Dr. I.cathaui, in charge of the New Plymouth Hospital, followed. lie referred KJ (he diilieiilty of educating people to feed their children properly, infant mortality was far smaller noA' than forty years ago—a result due to if ore enlightened ideas on the feeding and care of infants. lie considered girls in school* should Ik' taught domes, tie economy in all its branches, including the feeling of children, lie endorsed the view that liuiuani*ed cow's milk was the host substitute for human milk, lie supported the objects of the society but he urged Lidy Plmikct to include in her programme a movement for educating girls in schools on the subjects. He assured lier of the support, of the medical profession, lie mentioned that Miss Rrown, matron of the Ho-pitil, was willing to prepare humanised milk for special cases. DR. WALKER'S ENDORSEMENT. Dr. Walker also spoke. He was in sympathy with the infant life protection cause. He mentioned that during the ten years in which he had been in Tar.v naki he had noticed a great improve ment in the treatment of infants oy the mothers. He quoted ligures Iron the Official Year Rook to show that infant life mortality was steadily on the decrease in New Zealand. Mothers seemed more prone than formerly to act upon the advice of the members of Tlio medical profession ill the matter of infant diet. CONCLUSION. Xiir.-e O'ltrien then gave a demonstration in the prcpuiatiun of humanised milk. A vote of thanks to her Excellency moved by the Rev. Evans, terminated the meeting. A committee of ladies has been formed to enrol members and establish a branch of the Society of which her Excellency is the head. The committee will report at a future meeting to the held at a future date.