OUR BABIES.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3130, 28 January 1911, Page 4

OUR BABIES.

Published under the auspices of the Society for the Health of Women and Ch'lclron.

“It is wiser to put up a fence at the top of a precipice than to maintain an“ ambulance at the bottom.” (By “Hygeia.”)

ADDRESSES OF PLUNKET NURSES AND SECRETARIES IN NORTH ISLAND.

Wellington.—Tlunket Nurse Al‘Donald, 73 Aro street-/ Tel. 2425. Hon. tec., Mrs. M‘Vicar, 45 Majoribanks street, City. Tel. 2624. Auckland. Blanket' Nurse Chappell, Park street. Tel. Sol. Office of Society, 2 Chancery street. Tel. 529. Office liours Tuesdays and Fridays, 2.20 to 4 p.m. Hon. sec., Mrs.. W. ii. Parkes, Mannoto, fSymonds street, Tel. 240. Napier.-—Plunket Nurse Donald, Masonic Hotel. Tel. 87. Hon. sec., Mrs. E. A. W. Henley, P.O. Box 64. Tel. 147. New Plymouth.—Plunket- Nurse Murray, Imperial Hotel. Tel. 123. Office, Town Hall, Wednesdays and Fridays, 2 to 4 p.m. Hon. sec., Mrs R. J. Matthews, Fitzroy. Tel. 104. Society’s Baby Hospital, Karitane 1955. Demonstrations on points of interest to mothers are given by the matron every Wednesday afternoon from 2.30 to 3.30. All mothers invited.. Messages may be left at any time at the Plunket Nurses’ Offices or private addresses. The Society’s official sheet of instructions, -written by Dr. Truby King, price 3d (postage free), and all other information available from the hon. secretary of each branch. PLUNKET NURSES' SERVICES FREE.

HARDENING CHILDREN. INDISCRIMINATE U,-.. ATION There aro few matters on which “orthodox” opinion is more unanimous than it- is in condemning measures directed towards wliat is called ‘‘hardening” young children, .especially babies, often without- condescending to any definite details as to what it- means by "hardening.” Almost every book dealing with the care oi infants inveighs unhesitatingly against the cruelty of attempting to “harden” them. The following is the common style of warn-

ing : "When will mothers and nurses learn that the tender body of the child cannot be hardened and made more robust- by exposure to cold or any other hardship. Such ill-advised proceedings undermine the young being, and thus exercise precisolv the opposite influence to what is intended. We cannot too strongly insist- that children are made less resistive to disease and weather, not stronger, bv being subjected to unnecessary stresses. However well-intentioned, nothing is more cruel or foolish than to run counter to Nature by doing just the o- mosite to what any tender-hearted mother would be inclined to do if -guided by her own heart and common sense'-'-—and so on, and so on. The mother, metaphorically speaking, is “warned off the course” on the mere mention of the word “hardening,” and from that time forward she is apt to turn a deaf ear to any suggestion, however sensible, if it counteances proceedings which s.he has seen dubbed foolish and cruel, and which in any case run counter to her own “mother instinct” to coddle, shield, and protect her offspring

JUDICIOUS AND SYSTEMATIC HARDENING BENEFICIAL.

la reality, as I shall show presently, the best wav to “shield and. protect” a baby is to judiciously and'systematicaliy Linden it. The whole.crux of the matter lies in the question whether the steps taken are truly judicious and systematic or not. The woman who keeps a baby coddled all night long in a stuffy bedroom and proceeds to wheel it about the next morning, bare-legged and barearmed, hi a go-cart, with .a, view to haruening its system by extensive exposure of the skin to cool air is_ certainly acting in a dangerous, foolish, and cruel way—doing something neither judicious nor systematic—something, indeed which forcibly reminds one of the tendency of thoughtless mothers to unduly pet and then harshly slap their offspring—acting on the mere whim or passino- feeling, or want of feeling, of the moment. It is just such.mothers who, coddling and “hardening” (as they call it) by turns, have driven sensible, people almost distracted by their vagaries and inconsistencies, and who, in the last century, caused doctors and nurses to set their faces against anything in the name of “hardening,” as applied to babies. In order to illustrate the point, 1 shall give an extract from a generally good book on “The Rearing of Healthy Children,” written some 10 vears ago by Dr. Leroy. Yale, of New York which conveys what may be ca fed the orthodox medical advice of the \:ctorian era on the subject of hardening babies. Dr. Y 7 ale gave the following question and answer under the heading:— THE HARDENING THEORY. [Question.] I should like to ask vou a question about our 14-months-okl baby daughter, fehe is doing very w ell in everv way, and is considered by all who see her a strong and welldeveloped child. She is, however, subject to colds. Aly husband is a believer in the hardening theory, and thinks that it- would be well for her to get a cold bath every day, summer and winter, 6 von when she seems to ha/ve a running cold. I should like juui opinion on that subject before cooler weather sets in. She enjoys the cold bath very much at present.” DR. YALE’S ANSWER.

[Answer.] “To begin with, we have no opinion of the “hardening” theory ■except that, as generally interpreted,, it, is a great stupidity. We do not of course mean to advocate foolish coddling. The “hardening” method in anv shape should nob be begun on a little child. As to the cold' baths we note that you do not mention the kind of bath, but we presume you mean an immersion bath., “Cold” bath is- used very vaguely in common conversation, but to a medical man it means a bath between 50deg. F. and 70deg. F. Now,, a bath drawn from the cold tap in New York City, in the middle of a warm July day, is about/ Odeg. F.. (if there has been a -prolonged “hot

spell” it will mark something higher). This Oven gives a -distinct ciull when one enters it, which is soon lost to a strong adult; but the baby’s surface is much greater in proportion to its.mass than tfie adult’s, and it is in the same proportion more easily chilled. Suppose baby weighed 201 b, and his father 1601 b; baby’s mass to the father’s is I to 8, liis surface is 1 to' 4, and he chills twice as fast, making no allowance for the relatively greater impressionability of the child’s nervous system, which still further exaggerates the disparity. As the temperature rif the bath is lowered, the depression is projjortionately greater. In lever *tlic cold bath, ‘used with, discretion, and bv those, who know its effects, is a valuable remedy, but it- is potent for mischief is used stupidly. “As to ‘hardening,’ mice more we would say that we do not think well of cold baths, in the usual sense, for an infant or a little child. If the immersions are only for a few seconds they may do no harm, but in our opinion, in cool weather at least, a better bath for the purpose is tins: Stand the child in lukewarm water 110 more than ankle deep, and sponge it over with water of about 70dcg. F. from a bowl at hand. Any necessary washing with lukewarm water and soap to cleanse soiled parts of the person is to be previously doiie. By this method all the advantages of the cold bath are gained, without its drawbacks.”

Dr. Yale represented the old .school, and as I have said, the above was written about 10 years ago. I show next week that Dr. Holt, the leading medical authority on children in New York to-day holds very different- opinions. He approves and' advocates the use of cold bathing for young children almost as strongly as Dr. Vale condemned it.

Meantime, I may point out that in general one would not.be inclined to advise the use of the cold bath for infants before the age of 18 months or two years, and would stop, it temporarily when a child had a “running cold.” However, apart from excess of zeal in commencing cold bathing rather early in life for the average child and proposing to continue it during an active catarrh, the view of the father which Dr. Yale so unhesitatingly condemns, is in reality quite right and sensible. A healthy two-year-old child who has been ‘sensibly and suitably trained to take a cold bath every morning, far from finding the plunge or shower a depressing hardship, generally‘derives keen stimulation and exhilaration from it and the exercise which should always follow. Never is the word “hardship” or the phrase “passion for unnecessary, hardship” more- absurdly used than in connection with the- habituation of young warm-blooded animals, to the natural, pleasurable, and health-giving stimulation of the skin by fresh cool air and cold Avater. The value of the cold bath in early childhood is as rational and sound in theory as it is beneficial and satisfactory in actual practice. I shall enter into' this matter mere fully later on. The reader is referred, meantime, to page 71 of the Society’s book, “’Feeding and Care of Baby,” Avhicli conveys shortly Avhat appears to me to he the sensible course in this very important matter.