The Hawaiian gazette., 1885-10-13
what ha. the Baby to do with

| tTho following article, written by Mrs julia
/ McNair Wright, well-knoEn writer on temper
ance subjects. has been sent 10 the w. g. L. U.
press committee for publication?l
/ We propose to show that before the baby s MIND
can receive any impression in regard TO temper,
| ance its body can receive strong bias toward
\ alcoholism. And this bias is often given ignor-
antly no doubt, IN temperance families We desire
here to make plain. clear presentation OF daily
| facts We call in aid of rhetoric or special
pleading to re-enforce our case-the baby vs.
alcohol.
said a Young mother 10 me one day, 'Ihave Just
been to a lecture on The Care of Infants and
am frightened, Mortified at my own practicesI
"What is alarming in your practicesF
'sThe lecturer warned especially against the use
of any alcoholic stimulants about the child, either
externally or internally We were told that by
administering alcohol TO infants, a tendency to-
ward alcoholization could be produced. Now, ny
baby has always had alcohol In the water in which
he was bathed, and every night he had a sling
before put him 10 bed
"And what induced you TO begin such practicesf
81 knew nothing about babies had no mother
to advise me. My monthly nurse began that way
| with baby. l supposed she knew what was exactly
right, and went on rs she began. She IS called
very skiful. Bur from this day on, shall b1nisn
all alcohols from the nursery. l suppose If had
mentioned my methods TO other mothers, either
they would have approved as doing the same thing
themselves or they would have been silent, as not
wishing to Interfere with my AFFAIRS In SIX months
I miy have seriously injured my child
Careful investigation proves to me that espeel-
alIy in cities the monthly nurse makes large use
OF alcohol in treating the baby.
The giving of gW sling irbtskey sling to infants
| for collie is very common. The immediate Ell
feet may be to dislodge portion of wind from the
stomach, but Mt the same time it provokeSintiam-
nation and indigestion and creates hatuency.
Instead of administering alcoholic remedies, the
child should be relieved by rubbing, or by care
full use of mild, warm tea of sage, mint or other
herb.
An infant who is dosed with alcohol soon shows
a decided taste for the stmulant relishes it, cries
after it; IS restless rie deDrired Of lis drum. Thus
in children, fatal thirst Tor strong drink may be
early developed. But not only may the alconol
mania be induced in our baby by feeding 1t with
alcoholic potiOns and by using alcohols for baths
or congresses, but even much more dangerously
by the medium Of the mother or wet-nurse:
Many women who are nursing an infant imagine
that they must keep up their strength and IN
crease the flow of tactical hnid by frequent use OF
beer, porter, ale wine or tOddy." Statistics OF
reformatOries and homes for dipsomanlacs show
that as high as half the cases Of drunkenness
among woman arise from this blneful practice of
nursing mothers 1t is well known that the food
and drink of the nurse pass quickly into tie milk
so tina; medicines unhealthy articles OF diet
have an effect on the nursing, even before the
nurse is affected. When nurses use malt, alcoholic
ef1HeHfed liquors, these enter very quickly into
the system of the child. The babe, partaking OF
alcoholized milk falls heavily asleep-in other
words, is drunk-and its health, its perspiration,
its symptoms indicate drunkenness. From the
constant presence of this destructive, unnatural
element in its food, the child of the drinking
mother has not over three or four chances out OF
ten for its life There is enormous percentage Of
iHttHt mortality among babes HHrSed By persons rho
Nse alcohol o. matted liquors. Not only this, but,
as has been amply proved, the vitlated milk
avakes an abnormal craving in the infant 1t
shu rs horrible preference for the alcoholic sus-
ten Ince, receives 1t with ayidity and rejects with
cries unauthorized natural food. Shocking as it
appears, 1t is a plain statement of facts
hon, u1 tbarH a gf,f nE tn ODllund
TO seek wet nurse for the baby, she should re
member that love of drink dlpsomanla-B
even more likely to be transmitted to the child by
the nurse, than tendency to scrofula, cancer or
other physical disease. From the drink-loying
nurse the fatal inheritance of inebriety can come
to the child of temperate parents Among the
most heart-rending spectacles have witnessed
were the struggles, remOrse, falls, shames, of
gifted Young physician child of rigidly tenn
perate family who had unhappily committed his
infancy to II drunken wet-nurse. The love OF
liquor grew with bis years; 1t maddened hun; he
was at with himself; from his parents he had
received temperate principles, and temperate ex-
Rmpes and training; he loathed and desplsed al
cohOlizatIOn; from his nurse he had received
Craving for drink and early habtuatlon to alcohol
he longed for It; the alcohol taste was cousum-
ing fire within him, and in the frenzy of this state
he was often on the verge of suicide. There was
a time when Psychologists would have said, 1.-The
liquor passes quickly and entirely out of the sys-
TEN; 1t eau be used with IMMUNITY by the child
before the time when its moral nature can be
perverted by drink. The danger TO the child from
liquor is moral not physical This can no longer
be pleaded. The danger to our baby is physical.
True, the alcohol goes out of the system, but 1t
leaves open doors behind it, While it is in the sys
tenn it makes potent, lasting, disastrous changes.
Danish, then, from the nursery every form OF
use of alcohol. The baby can not protest in Its
own behalf but let the president heart of the
mother protest for her little one, and let her use
her instant earnest endeavors to save herself from
the woe of drunken children, by guarding the
child from all contact with alcohol, not only while
it lies i'll its CRADLE but before size has its face.