Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1910-07-28
MOTHERS REALM
(By Eleanor Frances }
Baby Talk by Visiting Nurse.

nADI lam W - hoANANk NuNbEs
people seem to think that every
woman knows by instinct how to care
for her child" said the visiting nurse.
"If such an instinct was ever uni
yersal, and l doubt it, it has been
lost in the process of civilization.
Animals do possess such a faculty,
but even with them it is not always
manifested. Domestic animals are
most often lacking in this respect,
the higher grade pedigreed stock
showing least instructive motherli-
ness. with human mothers there is
always need for instruction until ex-
perience has taught the art, yet there
is no subject about which young
mothers are so sensitive as this.
The Work of the Visitor.
Our badge helps considerably to
establish our authority when we first
visit district. Often the mothers
have heard of us from others, and
have seen weak, puny infant trans
formed into a healthy, happy, little
kid. In that case they accept our
suggestions gladly. Even when these
upset all her race traditions the Ital-
ian woman will loosen the swaddling
bands of her baby and permit the lit
tie body to be bathed and made COM
Portable; though she ooes not always
adopt regulation baby clothes for
him. We have less trouble in in
,culcating the doctrine of unlimited
fresh air with this race than with
others for, in their own country, Ital-
ians live in the open both from habit
and from inclination. The German
Hebrew mother is most afraid of
draught, as she calls every breath of
cool air that blows upon her.
Fresh Air Parties.
The numerous Fresh Air Parties
On land and water, provided princi-
pally by private munificence, help to
renew the vigor of both mothers and
children, and refresh the nurses in
charge after their arduous duties day
after day in the we'll nigh insupport-
able conditions OF tenement house
visiting and summer heat. The neat
ness of the homes, as well as the
intelligence of the women varies
greatly and where we find a mother
who can read English or Italian, we
often give one Of the free baby books
gotten out by firms dealing in in
fants' foods. Written in plain, inter
esting style, these give practical
directions that insure the health of
the tenement house child, as well as
that of the child in better circum-
stances. The Nestle Food Company
supply an excellent, up-to-date baby
book that gives more space to the
general are of the child up to three
years of age, than to special informa-
tion about the food.
The Food Problem.
Food however is the main source
of the baby's health or illness. The
diet should be uniform, nutritious
and safe from contamination and, as
a rule, only enough GOOD for one feed
ing should be-prepared at once. Cows |
milk fresh and pure is the best
known substitute for the natural
food, but until it is modified the milk
contains an amount of proteids or
curds, that can not be digested by .
human baby though a calf thrives on .
them. In pasteurizing or sterilizing
milk certain benificent qualities are
destroyed as well as dangerous
germs, and reinfection is particularly
liable to occur if there is the sligh.-
est carelessness in handling the milk.
On the whole, the safest substitute
for mothers milk is a food contain
Ing milk in a concentrated form, and
requiring only water to prepare it for
use. Such a food is a real necessity
IN the tenement sections of large
cities, where the milk supply is often
worse than ordinary, and the facili-
lies for keeping it the poorest.
One large manufacturer of Milk
Food has established a feeding sta
ion and Day Nursery in the Italian
.enement section of New York City,
% demonstrate the simplicity of pre-
pairing the food, and its safety in the
hottest weather. Poor babies are fed
and cared for at the Nursery, and
hese thriving babies are a practical
demonstration to the mothers of the
leighborhood, of the benefits of
iafe and complete diet.