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17.
Breast feeding versus Artificial feeding.
Epidemic diarrhoea is caused by bacterial infection
and the bacteria are derived in most cases from milk
or some other article of food which has been allowed to
become contaminated. The fouling may occur during
milking of the cows and may be due to contact with the
animals excreta or may originate from the dirty hands
or nails of the milker, or from some other cause. It
may also occur on the premises of the wholesaler or
retailer but in the great majority of cases the contamination
of the milk takes place in the homes of the consumer.
Breast fed babies are much less subject to
diarrhoea and other ailments than those brought up on
the bottle and of the 60 cases notified as suffering from
epidemic diarrhoea only 8 were entirely breast fed at the
time of the onset of the diarrhoea. Mothers and potential
mothers should be taught that there is no real
substitute for breast milk, as the composition of the milk
of cows and other animals, even when humanised, is not
the same as that of human milk. There is also a serious
risk of artificial foods becoming contaminated unless
the most stringent care is taken in their preparation and
storage in the home. Gross contamination by dirty
hands and utensils and exposure of food to flies and dust
are of course unpardonable, but even ordinary cleanliness
is insufficient in dealing with infant feeding. Special
but easily learned methods are required to secure what
doctors call bacteriological cleanliness. If artificial
feeding must be commenced definite instructions should
be obtained from a doctor both as to the kind of food
best suited to the individual case and as to the steps
necessary to ensure the cleanliness of the food. Improper
reeding and contamination of the milk arc the two most
fertile causes of diarrhoea in infants.