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Show 1 A MOTHER'S VIEWS ON BABY'S HEALTH its - Concerning MMk, Whooping Cough and Other Matters k ' Vital to Small Infants "j By CLARE BROOKS ifci TT requires temerity on a mother's B JL part to venturc to say anything W about the feeding of a baby Most fig, doctors have only contempt for vjg.1 J mother's ideas on the aubject. As not Siji I more than one woman in ten can nurse 2 i ner children, and as the propoitlon J5 grows smaller as civilization advances, fg this la an Important matter. Certain S ! theories have become laws for many fit I physicians, and sometimes tho Indlvld- tlHp ual baby seems less important than the 55 general theory. 5 ' ' Tho parents of a certain baby bought JJ? I L n cow before the baby s birth, tho ji'J mother having been unable to nurse yf. ' her llrst child. A veterinary Eclcctcd a , &ne cow; the milk wca of the right age i i nmd of proper quality. However, 'thAt w l' l particular baby did not relish cow's Cj fc mluk but throve and waxed fat on oort- 5 ; - fleihsed milk. Theories are against ctrin-fc& ctrin-fc& !' doused milk, and no mother should gfve m' lt 'without consulting a doctor .and try- JJ', ing his formuke for modlilert cowo ijaf w milk, but thr'-vr and waxed fat on con- JJ3 and weight, grow bones and tqeth on JM that food and no other, throw theory i&jSL ' to the winds and give tho child con- J7? v vdensod milk. 4 Tho Baby Must Havo the Best. To economize on the baby's food Is the greatest extravagance. Rather buy plain clothing, a cheap crib and a cheap baby carriage, and bparo no expense ex-pense to get the bent milk and to get It fresh. If you live In a city get certified cer-tified milk, or that from the laboratories laborato-ries which make a specialty of milk for infants and invalids. This milk needs neither sterilisation nor pasteurization, unless tho child has bowel trouble, In which cao milk should be sterilized or pasteurized to render it less liable to fermentation. The milk modified at the laboratory is very expensive, and theio Is no reason why an Intelligent mother should not modify it at home" Jf sho Is not willing will-ing to do this, unlej8.shc has a trained nurse for,her baby, the mlllc should be prppavr-d t a laboratory. J should never trust an ordinary nursemaid to prcp.tre' a baby's food, or to feyd It if I cpuld do it myself The mother should keep a notebook or dlarv especially devoted to the feeding feed-ing and growth of tho baby. In this sho can have a chart showing tho 1 changes In. weight, and the height at tegular Intervals. Above all, beginning with the very llrst feeding, the vailous formula! should bQ written down, vItn the date and age of tho baby when tho formula was begun. If Indigestion oc-cuis, oc-cuis, shown by constipation, diarrhea or omltlng a note should bo made of the fact. Such data, In black and white, are more helpful to a physician than hazy recollections on tho mother's part. Of course, this notebook has nothing In common with the elaborate volumes gotten up by publishers for the chionlcllng of baby's doings and sayings, and for holding photographs and locks of hair If a mother has time sho may find such a book an amusement. amuse-ment. Theoretically, nothing but a sugar so-lutlori so-lutlori and Hmewater should bo used to modify an Infant's milk before the ago of six months, when the ilow of saliva 13 established Practically 1 have found barley water made from barley Hour much better for modifying milk, as it acts mechanically In preventing tho formation of largo curds. Cradlo Cap. Brown patches known as "milk crust" and "cradle cap" often form on the heads of young babies. These sometimes, some-times, reiurn at Intervals until the child Is a yeur old The trouble 1? due to a disorder of the sebacequs glands and Is caused by an .oxcesalvo, production produc-tion of oily shales. iMvre dally washing wash-ing with soap and warm water will .not always provent thl3. ' Af tor tho cru,t han formed, the greatest care must bo taken to remove It nil every day "Warm olive oil should be thoroughly rubbed Into the scalp about half an hour heroic the baby's dally bath. The scalp should then bo washed with warm watr" and castllo soap. An old ptecp of cloth is better than a sponge for this, aa It removes the crust better, and can be Immediately burned. Tho "Hardening" Theory. ''Too much cannot be said against the fashion, which for tho sako of supposed sup-posed beauty, domands that children should be dressed in a way tu leave tho knees bare." writes Dr. Starr. "Even In the hoUflo and except In extreme tropical weather, this barbaroua practice prac-tice Is Injurious, as It exposes a considerable consid-erable part of the body to constant chilling The physician knows tho bad ettects of such protraoted abstraction of body lieaU Every child is supplied by nature with a certain definite quantity quan-tity of nerve force destined to bo expended ex-pended each dcy in maintaining the functions of tho body, namely, breathing, breath-ing, circulation of the blood, digestion, heat production and so on. If an undue un-due proportion of this norve force be consumed In producing body heat, as must be the caso whon so largo a sur-faco sur-faco is left bare, the other functions will be robbed of force From this robbery rob-bery the digestion suffers most With feeble digestion comes constipation or its oppoolte diarrhea. "Again, If the surface be chilled, the blood which should circulate In the skin Is dilven to the Interior of the body nnd the vessels of the mucous membrance boromc surcharged This causes the1 condition known as catarrh, which, affecting tho lining mombrano of tho alimentary tract, causes vomiting vomit-ing and diarrheal and, In thp case pf th6 lungs, brohohitls One great argument argu-ment advanced by the ad,voc,at,3, qf, barb kheea is that In olden timq all children We're clad with arms and neck.. s' well au kiice3 bare No one says' how many died by the waysldo." Dr Yalo says: "The baby's surface are.i Is much greater In pioportlon to Its mass than tho adult's, and it Is, In the same proportion, more easily chilled Suppose Baby weighed 20 pounds nnd his father lr)0 Baby's mass to thf fathers' Is l-s: l surface la LI, a-nd he chills twice as fast, making no allowance for tho relathiiy greater impressionability of the child's nervous system, which still farther exaggerates the disparity." Mistakes With a Comic Side. We were scourged for so many months with whooping cough In our household that the period during which we ouffered from that fell disease has become a sort of epoch in our domestic hlstoiy. Wo designate Important fam-llv fam-llv events as having occurred "before the children had tho whooping cough." ''while the children had the whooping cough," or "since the children and the whooping cough." Our children did not come down with the disease together, but as ono became well the next became. be-came. Ill, and we had It in various stages for seven months. Our neighbors neigh-bors and friends were sympathetic, and vie with each other in recommendinc remedies "never known to fall" After several futile experiments with these "never-failing" remodles wo lost our pilmltlvo faith and listened incredulously incredu-lously when new curc3 wcro extolled. Our minister's wife gave a reception. There a now act of people heard of our misfortune, and a new set of remedies came pouring in upon us Among theso was Squld'3 Embrocation. It was an English remedy, and the bottlo was wrapped In a yard of testimonials The dlrcqllons said. "Rub the child in th pjt of 'he stomach with this embrocation. embroca-tion. ' . . ! 'Wo did not' soe how the pit of the rt(omat;nrjcot)ld have any connection with 'vhodphig cough, but we decided ihav'Ve'clId'not know definitely where tho jt'ef the stomach was. I looked y tUe. 'dltftloriaiy while my husband held the bottle, ready to rub the child, with the embrocation when ho should have learned Where The dictionary gave us this Information: "The pit of tho stomach la tho depresnlon on the middle line of the epigastric region of tho abdomen at the lower end of the Btcrnuni: the Infrastornal depression.' "I n in gplng to rub the stuff on the chest," said my husband, after he had heard this definition "It stands to reason rea-son that the cheat la tho place to rub for whooping cough. I don t believe thl3 13 anything but goose grease: but If you call It embrocation you pay a dollar and a half for a four-ounce bot- He laid the bottlo bcsldo hhn on the bed while he rubbed tho oil Into the poor child. When he got up the spring bounced up tpo. Tho bottlo bounded off the bed. and tho spread and the tug got a doso of Squid's Embrocation from which they never recovered. When the whooping cough was over and wo had thiown all the remedies (?) Into tho ash barrel, wo were amazed to find what a sum we had spent upon thorn. |
