Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-06-29
BABYS SECOND SUMMER.
Fresh Air and Care of the Diet Would
Save a Great Many Little Lives.
WRITTEN FOR THE DISPATCH

Save a Great Many Little Lives.
| WRITTEN FOR THE DISPATCH
The summer has leaped upon us like q
ravenous tiger. The human frame has be-
come enervated by the long rainy season OF
April and May, the pores of old earth have
| opened wide and the atmosphere is murkv
and clings to the flesh and the lungs like
wet wool, robbiDg the muscles Of strength
and leaving no soundness Of nerve within
us. Our appetites cry out against the or
dinary consumption of food, and our diges-
tions adapt themselves but languidly to
their duties.
1t is a critical period for grown people,
but how much more for child-life and those
poor little morsels OF humanity who have
not yet weathered their second summer.
How many city babies have seen enjoying
apparently exceptional health until the
slow, sullen June suns, so particularly try
ing to babies everywhere, have visibly and
mysteriously changed these conditions. The
pretty head droops and sways like a slowly
withering flower, the once hard muscles be-
come haccid, and the breathing grows more
and more labored in the still hot air. He
eagerly Graves liquid nourishment, and the
poor little stomach soon rejects the unac-
customed quantity of food; his eyes grow
dull and heavy, or perhaps unDaturally
large and clear, until the poor mothers
heart grows faint with nameless forebod-
ings.
This is the experience of almost every
mother to whom several children have al
ready been granted, and it is true that while
drugs in and of themselves alone never did
nd
babies must go out of town and have instant
change OF air and place, or else-go out of
life. Early or late summer heats will surely
undermine the vital strength of every city
and bred baby. The young mother, no
less than the one of three or more young
children, should so order ber domestic ar
rangements that short sojourn IN the coun-
try can be undertaken at days notice. An
abundance of pure, sun-warmed, living air,
whether it be from the mountain or the sea,
without exposure to damp draughts or to
the direct rays of the midday sun; this is
what baby needs, what you need, what we
all need.
In choosing a summering place for fam
lily put baby's Interests in the foreground.
Why is it that with such constant and in
creasing demand as there certainly is, so
few country boarding houses and hotels
make speciality OF studying and supplying
baby's needs, ana inviting rather than
sighting the little charges.
1t is a ridiculous prejudice to suppose that
the second summer of a baby's life is more
precarious than the first 1t demands fewer
victims, and any sensible physician will
lndorse my statement. But the second
summer costs more lives than it ought to.
The fault lies not with the second summer.
nor with the children, but with the heat
and the parents. Summer heat combined
with bad diet frequently becomes fatal All
mothers know that sickness among children
in summer is caused by some arrangement
OF the digestive organs, and that were these
organs not permitted to become diseased IA.
tai cases might be averted. Now it is usual
ly the second summer In which we begin the
artificial feeding of our babies. Hence it is
to the Ignorance and negligence in the selec-
tion and cooking of the Iood that we owe the
slaughter OF our innocents and not to the
second summer. With proper food and in
telligent care lew, il any, babies need suffer
from stomach or bowel troubles. And the
rules Tor the wholesome ieeding of children
are SO simple Perhaps It is their simplicity
that causes their non-obseryance. Can any,
thing be more preposterous in the matter of
feeding children than allowing them to par
take of every possible article Of food placed
on the family table.
What does the child eat?" was the first
question asked by dear old German physi-
clan, famous Tor his treatment OF children's
diseases.
Anything" or, SIT eats whatever is on
the table" was the usual reply.
"Ei hi? he would exclaim. "Candy,
sour milk, fresh bread, sausage, coffee and
tea, raw fruit and vegetables. The result?
or course, diarrhoeal diseases and DEATH
And then you say the cause OF death was
second summer! Ach, mein GottP'
+. K. r. WADE.