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MOTHERS AND CHILDREN.

By Hyoeia.

Published under the auspices op the Society fob, the Promotion ,qf the Health of Women and Chiedbek.

CARE OF BABY'S TEETH.

The care of the teeth is of-extreme importance, and the following rules should be carefully attended to:

1. Do everything to maintain good health.

—Essentials for Health—

(a) Air. —Abundance of pure, cool, outside air flowing fresh and free day and night. Remember that ventilation means a current across a room, which:cannot be got by means of a , mere open window. Keep the baby out of direct draught. (b) Water.—Must be boiled. Bathi ing waler should be boiled also if of doubtful purity. . „ (c) Food.—Suitable food, with) pro-per-intervals, and nothing between ; the regular feedings. Best foodhealthy mother's milk. Best substitute —humanised milk. Baby should need no- other food whatever for first nine months. Beware of patent foods,, condensed milks, and "pieces." . (d) Clothing.—Must be non-irri-tating, non-constructive, light, but sufficiently warm. (c) Bathing. —Cosy corner. Bath and dress very quickly—no dawdling. (f) Muscular Exercise arid Sensory Stimulation. —A large amount of exercise should 1 be taken from a very early age m,the form of active sucking, kicking, "waving the arms,_ etc., and later on, by 1 crawling. Airing of skin, bathing, and. plenty of sunlight outing are essential. (g) Warmth. —Warmer air and surroundings are essentials for prematures, and necessary at first for those who have been coddled. Babies, like adults, benefit enormously by being kept m pure, cold air if properly clad. (h) Rest and 1 Sleep.—These depend mainly on the above. Remember to turn the baby m his cot, and remove wet napkins, cold bottles, etc. (i) Regularity of All Habits. (j) Cleanliness. If the , above "Essentials for Health" received proper attention, there would be very little sickness indeed among babies. The mother should cleaxly realise that every illness a baby suffers from entails more or less idamWge for life —particularly damage to • the teeth, which are being actively formed throughout childhood, but never so actively as during the first 12 months. If anyone has a serious illness, a furrow across the nail can be readily seen and' felt, owing to the fact that the nail grown during illness is poor and thin. The same principle applies with regard to the enamel of teeth formed during illness. The thin portion of nail does little harm, but a thin portion of tooth enamel will lead to premature :decay"-,of the tooth. 2. Give baby a hone from six months onwards. At first he will merely bite or munch it. but even this serves to promote the development and growth of jaws and teeth, and to promote the eruption of the latter. . After nine months, ecive a crust,, rusks*,,toast, etc. Teach him to chew profperly. and don't let. hip bolt any of his food,, whether-solid or liouid. 8. In the second year and onwards a fair proportion of the food should be dry, hard, or touch —e.g., crust, of bread, : toast, rusks, etc., and later —when the child lirs been trained to masticate properly—oat-cake, raw ripe .'a»T)le, and even: nnts may be given. The exercise involved develops the jaws^ and teeth; thus tendencies to decay, overcrowding ;and irregularity of the teeth are prevented.

4. Cakes, sweets, biscuits, and chocolates should be given very sparingly, and they should never be given at bedtime. 5. The teeth should be carefully brushed every night and morning, at first with warm water, and later with a good dentifrice. 6. The first or temporary teeth, as well as the permanent ones, should be cleansed, and carefully watched for any signs of decay. In any case the child should ho. taken to the dentist periodically if possible. N.B. —If the first teeth decay early, there is a very poor chance for the second ones.) The following is from Dr Harry Campbell's article on Mastication. UAUSATIUJM 01 D&K'&VXLS/ti JtI&yTIUA'i'JLON.

We have now to enquire into the various causes or lneuicient masticatiou.

boftness" of J*'ood. —By far the most important of these lies m the nature or tnenood taken. iue sort rood or xouay is tor the most part sort aim pa.jjpyj.or a Kind, that is, winch does not compel thorough mastication, This reature is especially noticeable m the case of children's met., At the seventh or eighth month all Kinds or artificial soft roods, m liquid or -semi-liquid form, are poured into the child's stomach; later he is fed on such viands as mashed potatoes and gravy, rusiss soaked m milk, milk puddings, bread dipped m- bacon-fat, pounded mutton, thin bread-and-butter, and the like; and we are glibly told that this is the Kind of diet best suited to the young of man from the time of weaning to me end of the second year. The same pernicious methods are tollowed subsequently. " perhaps the great majority of children, after they have got their complete set of temporary teeth, have," writes JJr bim Wallace, " a dietary such as-the following: Ureakra6t: Bread-and-milk porridge, milk, tea, cdtfee, Pr cocoa, bread-and-butter, perhaps'an egg. iHnner: I'otatoes, or gravy or meat, milK pudding. Tea: Milk or tea, with bread-and-butter, jam, cakes. Supper:. Bread or biscuit and milk."' IMow, food of this kind does not invite mastication, and m consequence finds its way all too readily into the stomach. Small wonder that the child nourished oh such pappy foou acquires the habit of bolting, and learns to reject hard, 'coarse foods m favour of the softer kinds. Everything nowadays must, be tender,: puitaceous, or "short." Given a choice between a food compelling little or no mastication and one necessitating prolonged Mastication—as between, say, fresh Vienna oread and an Abernethy biscuit—and ia.nineteen cases out of twenty the:one which "gives the least, trouble m eating wiU.be chosen. 'JJo such absurd lengths; m this harmful predilection , carried that even bread-crust ia avoided by many; witness the fashion of eating bread-and-butter""with ia minimum of crust. And when we trace-the diet of the modern from childhood upwards it is the came' story: the^food tends to remain tsoft and ,pa.ppy to the' end. Animal .food, : especially, as ut comes to the'tables -the well-to-do ,necessitates Very' little, mastication, and the coarser varieties of- vegetable food, which alone call put the full functional activity of the masticatory apparatus, are absent altogether. The vegetable food of to-day—cooked potatoes, greens, peas, beans, and the like-—can be, and generally is,, swallowed without any mastication worthy the name; and our flour is so carefully deprived of its fibrous portions before being worked up into bread, cakes, and pastry that shall eat light and short that these articles also give very little opportunity for chewing; while such products as rice, vermicelli, tapioca, and macaroni ..are, tas served at table, so soft' that :they. slip\down . into the stomach almost as readily,as water. Let anyone run .through his daily dietary, and lie :will realise how very little work his masticatory -apparatus is: called upon to perform. It will read something like the following: Breakfast: Porridge and milk, eggs, bacon, bread and marmalade. Lunch: Fish, tender meat, boiled vegetables, some 'sweet," and cheese. Tea. Bread,.butter, cake. Dinner: Much the same as Jtmch. What opportunity, I would ask, does such a bill of fare afford for the adequate exercise of the jaws and teeth and for the proper functional activity of the salivary glands?

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Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AG19090929.2.48

Bibliographic details

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXI, Issue 7913, 29 September 1909, Page 4

Word Count
1,217

MOTHERS AND CHILDREN. Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXI, Issue 7913, 29 September 1909, Page 4

MOTHERS AND CHILDREN. Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXI, Issue 7913, 29 September 1909, Page 4