OUR BABIES.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 13908, 6 December 1910, Page 4

OUR BABIES.

(Br Htgbia.)

(""Weekly Press and Reforee.")

EFFECT OF FOOD ON TEETH. To show how the effect of ordinary food on teeth is mainly a questioni of the structure and'texture of the material and only secondarily a question ot its chemical composition (or so-called "nutritive value' r ), one has only to mince meat or express the juice from stigar-cano, and give tho child the concentrated sugar itself, to practically destroy the virtue proper to cither foodstuff in its more natural state. The following extract from the Society's book, "Feeding and Care of the Baby," throws more light on this matter: —

FAR-REACHING EFFECTS OF MASTICATORY EXERCISE.

Perfect, capacious jaws, and sound, beautiful teeth cannot be built without fulfilling all tho simple and universal requisites for health throughout babyhood and childhood—especially ample daily exercise of the mouth organs. Tho mouth is indeed a great primal "DRIVING-STATION,'' whence tho Nerve-fibres carry impulses to the Nerve-centres, which quicken the life and activity of every tisue of the body. When tbe jaws are doing natural, honest, hard work the whole of the rest of the organism is impelled to activity—the heart pumps quicker and. moro forcibly, the pressure of blood in the arteries rises, and its stream flows more rapidly, even in the very finger-tips: at the game time, the digestive juices are poured out freely, not only into the mouth, but also into the stomach and bowels, as the result of messages transmitted from the mouth when busily engaged in Mastication. Apart altogether from the consideration of the building of the teeth and jaws, active "mouth-exer-cise" is thus necessary for the nutrition, growth and health of every organ of the body. " 'Feedingexercise' is the most primitive, fundamental and essential of all forms of exercise." A horse fed mainly on hard, dry food (and reasonably treated in other respects) becomes tho ideal of strength and "fitness." Feed the same horso with soft mashes, made from similar food-materials, and he will become soft and "out or condition," simnly because his whole organism will then lack the primary stimulation of daily, normal, active exercise which formerly he had to devote to crunching the oats, etc , activities which are not called forth when dealing with food provided ready ground and softened, food on which the work has been already done by millstones and mashing outside the animal body. lh e same applies to ourselves—particularly to the younz who are always nearest to Nature.' "We need the exercise of active mastication, and the only effective means of ensuring this is to start training at the dawn of hfe. x /""* healthy infant take a meal on which he is not compelled to do active work in the form ot sucking or chpwinrr » We most begin with°t__ bZ _Y,d foster his natural tendency to m-wti cate, instead of doing ev ?mhS- in

Th. mother should rom her mmd the »* "mmce-feeding* being th who hag course to pursue with » ™ l d b ufied teeth. Even milk * b ° ul " o nthß--a sparingly •^.^ h Jg_i_jfTSipto* pint a day «"* perhaps more than ~{? woU l_ then bihited with water ™dk ?ou of h 0 used as a dnnk.at the c meals, not as a fluid m * h w soak and so f''M, „ d insaliotherwisc J*jrg «£, dren of rating. No doubt tne g d the poor are often una *]d j with regard to milk, but cbtfa general tend to be c " r h readvmilk and cream-too much read? made fluid food, which.merely j «™ f into the stomach-to the^ *****£ cruder materials on WI "~j to the would have to be done. natural tendencies and activities OT infancy. Parents who onco grasp the fact, that the more exercise a childj»n be given for mouth, jaws, and teeth, the more he will tend to thrive. «ill not be at a loss to find means by which the carrying «>»* of £„£lj. needed can be ensured. 1' «rtn f, they will not let tho tyranny of hidebound custom or conventional propriety stand in the way of health and 'develonment of their offspring Thus, the small allowance of Meat that a child may have is best given in the form of a bone, from which he can gnaw and tear oft with His teeth what is eatable. The more extensive the bone surface to which tho meat is attached the better, but even a small mutton chop, eaten in this wav—especially if it happens to be lean and "wholesomely tough — will "afford a considerable amount of very healthy, stimulating, and enjoyable recreation. . Fortunately, the hands and lips are not unwashable! > Some of the modern dry cereal foods, mado especially with a view to ensure thorough chewing and msalivation, are excellent as an occasional change from bread-crusts, toast, oat-cake, or hard biscuit: the only objection to theso patent prepared cereals is that though not more nutritive than ordinary wholemeal, they are decidedly expensive. The above list of food-stuffs, capable of affording proper exercise for jaws, teeth and digestive, glands, can he added to indefinitely, especially in the direction of raw. ripe fruits, nuts, almonds, etc. Owing to the prevalencD of hydatids, one cannot feel cafe a» to tho use of raw salads in New Zealand, except when the circumstances pre-, elude thc idea that they may bo infested with hydatid eggs, which are so common in the excreta of our dogs and other animals. NUTS AND OAT-CAKE. Nuts and Almonds are more highly nutritious, weight for weight, than wheat or oats, but it is not from this point of view that they are to be recommended for children. So far as direct building properties are concerned, all nuts form extremely expensive food in this country. When deprived of€heir shells their average cost ij, about a shilling'a pound, or, ten times the price of flour or oatmeal. However, children are extremely fond of nuts. and can readily be taught to expend an amount of energy in grinding them into a paste, quite, beyond the work they would ordinarily devote to masticating dry toast, hard biscuit, or even oat-cake.' The last named forms an excellent substitute for nuts, and. wo should uso it far more than we do in the feeding of our children. It is very difficult to convinco parents that more satisfactory growth will tako placo if a large proportion of the oatmeal ueed as food is given in the form of main oat-cake, than if the meal is used solely in the form of porridge, which slips down unchctted. HECIPE FOR OAT-CAKE. Oatmeal lib (say two breakfast cupfulc), flour .lb, (say one breakfast cupful), water f pint (say one breakfast cupful), butter,. lard or dripping io* (say a level deis6rt&poonful), salt ono level teaspoonful, baking soda one-half level teaspoonful. Melt the butter in the boiling water, and thoroughly mix the ingredients. Roll out to about an eighth of an inch think. Bake in a slow oven -until dry and crisp, or use a girdle. The moro fat we use in making oat-cake, the less easily is it digested}. Indeed, some of the old folks in Scotland say that there should heno fat, but it will bo found that children take this food with much more relish if it is mado palatable and crisp by the use of a little fat nnd soda. It should always be borne in mind that food tends to be more beneficial if thoroughly- enjoyed, than if eaten with indifference. Children should, not be pampered, but there is no greater mistako than that of arbitrarily forcing distasteful, food on them. If a child is healthy, and takes sufficient out-Soor exercise, it can generally be trainod with reason* able tact, to take and enjoy almost any good, wholesome, plain food, provided the meal is commenced with such food, and not with more attractive articles of diet. HYGIENIC HABITS. It would be a great boon to the race if every mother could be brought to realise the paramount necessity of gradually and systematically training every cliild to thoroughly exercise its jaws and teeth as soon as they are capable of work. Much can he done during the first year of existence, and more during the second. There is, indeed, no period of life when _ a human being, in proportion to his si»e, ehould: bo more fit and capable, as regardmastication, than towards the end of the second year. At that time h-a should be equipped with a practically brand-new set of perfect teeth, capable of comminuting and grinding any ordinary food, and intended by Nature to give him much pleasure and profit in the process. Yet nothing is more common than to hear a mother say, fatuously: "Oh! you can never rely on a child chewing liis food until he is six or seven years of age!" In reality, by the time the Sixth or seventh year is reached, the golden opportunity for building strong, capa-, eious jaws, and sound, long-lasting, shapely teeth has passed, if the mother h.s.. not been in the habit of giving plenty of hard food, and paying due attention to training her offspring to eat slowly and chew thoroughly. If she has not done tiis, she has let slip the'period specially intended by Nature for the efficient building of org.fns which should last strong and good for the wrst of life, but which so eeldttm do so nowadays.