Volume 1

The diseases of infants and children / by J.P. Crozer Griffith and A. Graeme Mitchell.

  • Griffith, J. P. Crozer (John Price Crozer), 1856-1941.
Date:
1927
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The diseases of infants and children / by J.P. Crozer Griffith and A. Graeme Mitchell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    26/894 (page 6)
    tive loss is also greater. Thus in 400 infants examined by him, the 7-lb. children lost of their body-weight, and the 5-lb. children only }?{q. However, Pies'1 studies and those of Bergmann2 do not show any rela¬ tively greater loss in the heavier infants, and Kirstein3 in a study of 1768 new-born infants observed an average loss of 7.8 per cent, of the initial weight, whether this were light or heavy. Adair and Stewart4 found that first-born infants lost a larger percentage of their total body- weight (8 per cent.) than later infants (6.4 per cent.). This was due, in part at least, to the fact that the infants of multiparse received larger feedings than those of primiparse. The loss of weight is, as stated, chiefly physiological, and therefore cannot usually be entirely prevented. Observations carried out by Gittings and myself5 on 61 infants confirmed the results of Cramer6 and others, that by wet-nursing from the beginning until the mother's secretion is established, the initial loss of1 weight could be reduced very considerably, yet that this offered no advantage. Studies by Schick7 gave similar results, except that it was found that forced feeding was often necessary, merely putting the infant to the breast not being sufficient. It has also been recommended by a number of writers, as by Adair and Stewart,8 Benedict and Talbot,9 Bailey and Murlin,19 Williamson11 and Bachmann12 that artificial feeding be commenced in the first days of life, using solutions of lactose or glucose or milk-mixtures, in the effort to prevent the loss of weight; but, as with early wet-nursing,7 this does not seem to be required in healthy infants. Keilmann13 found that when artificial feeding was commenced immediately after birth, the infants, although losing somewhat less, regained the initial weight more slowly than did those who had been nourished solely at the mother's breast. It should be said, however, that Bachmann's14 observations in 511 infants do not confirm this view, those who were fed artificially in the first few days of life regaining the original weight more promptly than did the others. Faber15 finds artificial feeding unnecessary, because os^rjIT oa 2nd and 3rd days will supply the caloric needs The diminution of weight continues until the 3d or 4th day and sometimes even longer, but cannot in the latter event be called physio¬ logical. The greatest loss takes place on the 1st day, from 3.5 to 4 per cent^, and the nelt upon the 2d day, 2 to 2.6 per cent, of the birth-weight. “■ the cases of Adair and Stewart,16 however, the greatest loss was on ,.e 2nd being 44 per cent, of the total loss. The 3d day shows usu¬ ally but little loss or the beginning of gain. The original weight is not regained before the 8th or 9th day, and often not until the 14th day. n a study upon 600 infants by Schulz17, 228, or 48 per cent., had regained 1 Monatsschr. f. Kinderheilk., Orig., 1910 IX 514 2 Zeitschr. f. Kinderheilk., Orig., 1916, XIV, 149 Zeitschr. f. Geburtsh. u. Gynakol., 1918, LXXX, 448. 4 Jour. Amer. Med. Assoc., 1922, LXXVIII, 1865. 5 Loc. cit. 7 Wochenschr., 1900, XLVII, 1585. Zeitschr. f. Kinderheilk., Orig., 1915, XIII, 257. 8 Loc. cit. ’ 9 Loc. cit. 10 Loc. cit. 11 Arch, of Pediat., 1923, XL, 253. il foai> Dis* Child-> 1923, XXVI, 349. Lihrb. f. Kinderheilk., 1896, XLI, 312 14 Loc. cit. ' “ ^mer- Jour- Bis. Child., 1922, XXIV, 56. 16 Loc. cit. 17 InauS- Bissert. Greifswald, 1903. Ref. Arch. f. Kinderheilk., 1904, XXXIX, 207.