Building up infants’ immunity

The English-educated elite in India are the ones who most often have a slavish mentality. For them, institutions such as UNICEF, WHO and NASA are the ultimate authorities.
Building up infants’ immunity

The English-educated elite in India are the ones who most often have a slavish mentality. For them, institutions such as UNICEF, WHO and NASA are the ultimate authorities. I remember how as young IAS officers we were trained in the sugar and salt technique for treating diarrhoea. One pinch of salt and three pinches of sugar. We were told that this could be made at home. And then slowly, the oral rehydration salts packaged by multinationals made its way into the government system and private medical shops. Had the government chosen to spend the same crores of rupees on our own diarrhoea treatment technique, we would have had far more effective systems in place. We have Thayir Chundi Choornam and a host of other medicines in Siddha, which can treat diarrhoea. Similarly, Dadimashtaka Churanam is a very effective Ayurvedic drug.

It is, however, in the newborn care that I find that we have become completely enslaved. While breast-feeding is important and needs to be encouraged, the practise of giving ghee or honey when the mother’s milk has not been fully established in the first couple of days has been completely discouraged. Oiling the infant is a complete ‘no-no’. In the south, we have a fantastic tradition called Urai Mathirai, which is used when the baby is about two months old. Western-educated paediatricians have put the fear of god in new parents and they abuse the mother and older women who suggest that the traditional practice of Urai Mathirai will prevent colic, colds, coughs and fever, and keep the baby healthy and happy. Urai Mathirai was made at home by older women who would happen to have the ingredients, and use them in the traditional way.

The traditional Urai Mathirai consisted of Vasa or Vasambu (Tamil for Acorus Calamus), Rasna or Chitharathai (Tamil for Alpinia Galangal), Haritaki or Kadukkai (Tamil for Terminalia Chebula), Mayaphal or Maasikai (Tamil for Quercus infectoria), Jatiphal or Jathikai (Tamil for Myristica fragrans), Sunthi or Sukku (Tamil for Zingiber officinale).

The grandmother would keep these or a few more herbs depending on the tradition of the family. After the baby has had its bath or feed, the grandmother would lay out the traditional stone (a kind of grinding stone on which chandanam would be normally rubbed) and all her wares. She would get a little breast milk from the mother, put it on the stone and rub each one of the herbs a certain number of times according to the age of the baby. The resulting mixture would be given to the baby in a traditional paladai or sanku.

The baby would have no colic, no cold, no cough, no fever, and would go through its infant years without being treated with harmful antibiotics. Think of how enslaved we are, that we were persuaded normally to replace our natural and very effective traditional systems with toxic substances. Many of us also abused our elders who ask us to stick to safer traditional options. So, young mothers out there please rediscover the traditional systems you may have in your family before they are completely lost. For those who need a quick ready-made one, SKM pharmaceuticals in Tamil Nadu are doing a yeoman service for young mothers by painstakingly making Urai Mathirai, which will keep infants healthy and mothers happy.
The writer is retired Additional Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu. She can be reached at sheelarani.

arogyamantra@gmail. com/arogyamantra.blogspot.com

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