Getting ready to be a mother

by Carolyn Conant Van Blarcom

It will mean much to the coming generation if the expectant and nursing mothers at large are able so to compose their diets that they will provide not only the requisite fats, proteins, carbohydrates, minerals and water and yield the necessary calories, but will contain, also, all three protective substances: fat-soluble A, water-soluble B and water-soluble C. It can be demonstrated that when these food factors are not present in the mother’s diet, they will not appear in her milk, and accordingly will not be supplied to her baby.

That is the crux of the whole question. If your diet is faulty, your milk will be faulty in the same respect and your baby, being incompletely nourished, will start life with tissues that are lacking in those substances that are needed to make them sound and to promote health. That is what we have in mind when we say that the mother’s milk must be satisfactory not alone in quantity but in quality as well, if the baby is to be well nourished.

In order to make quite clear how damaging are the results of diets which are deficient or lacking in protective substances we shall have a word about rickets and scurvy, the two diseases due to faulty diet, that are so serious for babies.

Rickets is a nutritional disturbance, common among babies who are fed solely or continuously on heated milk, either boiled or canned, and on proprietary food and sweetened condensed milk. Rickets may develop, also, among nursing babies whose mothers are on faulty diets.

The chief characteristics of the disease are arrested growth and softening of the bones, with dwarfism and deformities as a result. It is essentially a disease of infancy, occurring as a rule, between the fourth and eighteenth months but some of its unfavorable effects, such as bone deformities and poor resistance to disease, may persist throughout life. Although babies rarely die of rickets alone, it is one of the most serious of all health problems since it predisposes to such diseases as bronchitis, pneumonia, tuberculosis, measles and whooping cough and in general greatly weakens the powers of resistance and recuperation.

The common, early symptoms of rickets are irritability; restlessness, particularly at night; a tendency to have convulsions from very slight causes; digestive disturbances and profuse perspiration about the head. The baby may be fat, but is likely to be flabby and have a characteristically white, “pasty” color. The fontanelles are large and late in closing; the abdomen is large and the chest narrow; teething is usually delayed and the teeth may be soft, when they do come in, and decay early. But the most conspicuous effect of rickets is upon the bones which are soft, easily bent and broken and often misshapen. Their growth is likely to be retarded and the ends of the long bones may be enlarged, causing swollen wrists and ankles and the little lumps on the chest, so commonly called a “rickety rosary.” The bones in the arms and legs may become curved as the baby lies or sits in his crib, making him either bow-legged or knock-kneed. Since the soft bones are easily bent their deformity is increased by the baby’s walking or by the bunch which may be formed between the thighs by a large, improperly applied diaper. The spinal column may be curved, or too weak to permit the baby to sit straight or stand alone. The entire chest wall is often deformed, producing the familiar “chicken-breast” and so decreasing the size of the chest that the baby’s breathing space is cut down. This is one reason why pneumonia is so serious with a baby who has, or has had rickets. The forehead is prominent and the whole head looks square and larger than normal, while the pelvic deformities in girl babies often give rise to very serious obstetrical complications later in life.

All of this, with the misery which it entails, is due to faulty nutrition.

The sovereign remedies in rickets are cod-liver oil and sunshine, in addition to general good care. But the treatment is a long, slow process, taking from three to fifteen months, and it is doubtful if the damage which the disease works can ever be repaired.

Rickets is more common during the cold months of the year, winter and spring, than during the milder summer and autumn seasons. A possible explanation for this lies in the higher value of the cows’ food during the warm months when green things form the diets of animals. Since it is now recognized that milk is not a constant product, but that its properties vary with the food of the animals that produce it, cows’ milk would be favorably influenced by their being put to pasture.

Similar evidence of such an influence is seen in the fact that although rickets is not seen among breast-fed babies whose mothers are on satisfactory diets, it may and does occur in breast-fed babies who are nourished by mothers who are, themselves, on dietaries which are poor in milk and fresh fruit and vegetables.