Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-10-27
Your Baby and Mine
BY MYRTLE MEYER ELDRRD.

We have great horror OF pelng
considered an alarmist or of being ac-
cused Of exaggerating the bad effecss
of any policy We believe, as perhaps
our readers have surmised, that q great
many different methods may be equally
successful. 1t is the natural tendency
of the human body to adjust itself har-
moniously to varying conditions, so
that the final result is very much the
same.
This, in part, answers the argument
so many persons put forth as to the
reason why some children, given every
care during Infancy. are often NJ
healthier or more robust than the in
FAINT who seems to thrive on neglect.
We have to thank nature for that,
for taking all kinds of materials ana
using them to the best advantage, 30
that a healthy child may result.
This likewise makes 1t possible 10
feed babies successfully. as far as
nutrition is concerned, on foods that
seemingly bear little resemblance 70
breast milk. This is the answer that
satisfies most mothers when they de-
eide to bottle" their babies: Babies
do just as well or better on bottles"
We will seriously question that answer.
In spite of the obviously successful
results of we'll thought-out formulas,
we still believe that mother should
consider the matter most seriously be-
fore she decides to wean her baby from
the breast early in life. Faced with
fat. healthy bottle" babies. it is na.-
ural that a mother should be inspired
to slough of the oEerous and ham,
pering duty of nursing the baby and
resort early in life to bottle. But
we are always tremendously sorry when
the mother of a 5 or 6 week old baby
grows discouraged because she isn't
Immediately successful as A nurse and
decides that the baby would be better
off if '?eaned. Once she has COLE
vinced herself Of this. she will wear
the baby, whether or no.
There is more than the desire Tor
good nutrition Important as that isl
behind the advice that babies should
be nursed. Perhaps it is possible To
mix up milk formulas that are almost,
if not quite, as good as mothers milk.
Perhaps bottle babies do gain more
even exceed them in weight by the end
Of the first year. Perhaps 1t Is easier
and less combining to feed the baby on
bottles than to be at his majeSty's
call every three or four hours. We
freely present and admit all these
arguments, but when all this is said
and admitted 1t isn't all.
No bottle-fed baby ever obtains the
feeling of warmth and security and
love which he obtains when he nurses
from his mothers breast. There isn't
a bottle made. however cleverly, that
is anything but a cold. mechanical al =
rangement for giving the baby milk
which can initiate but Eever approxi-
mate the breast.
No bottle can offer the baby the nat
ural resistance which he meets when
he has to draw milk from breast
He should work for his food. and the
good, healthy exercise for his jaw and
cheek muscles and the psychological
effects of this resistance and the effort
he puts forth to meet and overcome It,
are a mental stimulant and Jaw
developer which are essential to the child
Sometimes we wonder. and dare to
voice this wonder, why 50 few children
of this present generation seem able
to grow up without braces on then
teeth. We find no statistics on this
subject, but we see lots of growing chill
dren, and we feel that there 10 more
thar coincidence in the fact that most
of these children, with their badly de-
veloped Jaws and mal-occluded teeth
were bottle babies.
We see more than a coincidence IN
the fact that the baby who works hard
to act his food is less apt to resort
! to thumb sucking as a means OF slim
! ulating his little-used muscles.
| Many mothers have heard of the
statistics which go to prove that foul
bottle-fed babies die the first veal
as compared with one breast-fed baby
Fc- of them are aware that in y
late study of bottle and breast fed chill.
dren, the breast-fed group was actually
brighter" thar the bottle-fed group.
Too long nursing is never advised
but to nurse a baby the first six tC
nine months of his life gives him q
greater opportunity TO develop mentally
| ard physically as Nature intended.