Show infant mortality from the prairie farmer Farm cr much has been said about the tile great mortality of infancy over one hundred thousand infants who are less lesa than five years of age annually pass from these united states to the city of pearly gates and golden streets intelligent physicians tell us that a large percentage of them are removed through the ignorance and carelessness of mothers that over feeding is the gre t cause of a large amount of this mortality and a much larger amount of infantile suffering bo so we wish to say w what hat we ma may y to prevent this slaughtering of the innocents the reports of our larger cities show that one third of all deaths are those of children under twelve months of life need this thia ead result occur we think a work is yet to be dono done to prevent so much inch cruelty to infancy the cause of all this cruelty to infancy is the kind of food these delicate creatures have and the way of giving it the young mother is irresistibly inclined to stuff her little ones with food till illness and aud sufferings come and i she unwittingly gly wiy thus causes her infants death 0 we o food la is so well adapted to the special needs of infancy in all the stages of its growth as the mothers milk and it should be given till time and changes in it its s development may fit its organs of digestion for other means of nourishment ment this natural food for the earliest years of human life is wisely changed in its composition from month to month so as to supply the wants and meet the needs of its continuous growth and acrivi ties its various organs need development and strength its muscles are mostly water and its bones are soft and pliable nature nearly always does her duties well unless art interferes and throws her off the track the he physician and the tho mother theu theo should watch her ways and try to follow her directions ions the mother should not be led astray by names maternal milk does not always mean food that is reliable in quantity or qua gua quality prenatal influences may alter its constitution may change the character of its constituents in quality and in proportions so that it is no better for infancy than the milk of other animals the mother mether may have germs of c certain constitutional diseases these may be such as to deteriorate the I 1 lactic fluid no less than other secre secretions I 1 s of the body the various organs or various systems are mutually so dependent upon each other it if one suffers from disease all suffer the mother maybe generally weak and feeble and so ail all the tissues may fail fall to do their duty the many glands as the liver kidneys pancreas and countless others may fail fall to purify the blood and so compel the mam maries to secrete milk from impure and vitiated sources the infant may have impure blood coursing through its arteries this is often increased and fostered by vitiated milk often the I 1 intelligent n dle eale cate phy physician a man desires to er eradicate a the morbid tendencies cles cies in the mother th e r and to instill into the pliable and susceptible frame of the infant atoms of matter that may form bet 1 I 1 ter and purer tissues thau than its imme lunce tunce orm ora caf all physicians know knows and all mothers should know that the nutritious value of food depends upon its composition upon its constituents and their absorb tion and assimilation mi lation regarding the quality of maternal milk it varies greatly the water lay may be in excess and so less nutritious or it may be diminished the may be increased and so digested with difficulty W watery abery milk from and anaemic women lacks butter the butter of milk is not dissolved as ad are the careine ca seine sugar and salts but hut float in the mass as fat globules glo bules butter is an important constituent of milk and aids aida the digestion of ca seine removing the butter from plau flau F lau iau au owr wana result as if it were in excess the milkman who skims his milk renders it less digestible and nutritious the plastic materials from milk are converted into the tissues of tho the body by the aid of fat or fat is essential to the forming of new cells fat nourishes growing infants so that if the fat globules glo bules or the butter are removed the infant who takes the milk grows thin the sugar contributes largely to producing heat the heating power of sugar is one half that of fat As it passes through the body it is partly changed to fat su sugar g arfa aria is apt to ferment in an fn I 1 the mouth and food canal if long retained and there is changed to acids that irritate the mucous mem brane the sore mouth of infants may be often traced to the excess of sugar bug sug added to their food nurses sometimes give infants as a drink molasses and water it soon ferments induces acidity and the sore mouth GO so common among those who have been unwisely fed sugar is often useful but let infanta infants have the purest and freest from the principle of fermentation we have been led into this train of thought by the fact that thelea the season seabon sealon is now upon us when we must expect a universal mortality in infancy infants are but tender buds unable to stem the tho many adverse circumstances by which they are encircled many a mother may ask what can we do to prevent the diseases peculiar to this geason season of the year we reply keep them cool by washing them specially the brain and spine three or more timea times a day with cold or warm water as their constitution may require reap keep the nursery cool by closing the windows early enough to keep out the heated air make no changes in their food unless ab soi eol necessary give them mu before they suck or feed barley water is an excellent form and may add weak borax water or tea made from the blackberry root or from the wild 9 geranium erani um be careful not to overfeed acid acidity ity and indigestion may maybe be checked by the borax water stop the looseness of the bowels at once delays are dangerous A coffee made from oats to which add milk sugar and beef tea oat coffee ia Is made by burning the oats oata as we do common coffee grind it coarsely add water and let it boil boll scotch mothers have great confidence in its power of checking diarrhoea allow us to repeat do not over teed feed if a child eruct ates atea its food give it less next time |