OUR BABIES.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 11110, 6 May 1911, Page 11

OUR BABIES.

(By Hygcia.) Published ujider the auspices of the Society for tho Health of Women and Children. "It is wiser to put up a fence at the top of a precipice, than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom." HEPLY TO "ANXIOUS PARENT." (Continued.) (3) Effect of breast feeding on the developing teeth. As compared with artificial feeding, normal suckling is much more likelv to result in a well-formed mouth and jaws and sound, long-lasting teeth, but one not infrequently sees children with bad teeth, notwithstanding that they have •f hcen breast-fed, while on the other hand children who have been bottle-fed from birth may have excellent teeth. Mother's milk alone will not ensure tliat a child shall hare good teeth, any more than it will ensure- proper all-round growth and development of the baby generally. Something else is needed, though so many women think they have fulfilled almost their whole duty towards their offspring when they have suckled it. Mothers who do not take enough daily exercise throughout pregnancy and during the nursing period, and who fail to take other measures essential to sound health, may supply such poor milk that the baby's development is gravely preju ß diced. Tho child may increase in weight satisfactorily, and yet the teeth and other organs may be imperfectly formed. However, it must never bo lost sijrht of that' comparatively poor human milk, drawn by the infant direct from the breast, is safer and better than the milk of any other creature, however carefully modified, given .by means of a bottle. From every point of view, a bottle is a poor, clumsy, risky substitute for the mother's breast. Fresh air, sunlight, exercise, regularity, etc., are. almost as important as proper feeding. (4) Cleansing "the teeth and avoidance of "sweets" and "pieces" between meals. The improvement noted by our correspondent in tho teeth of. the second child is the natuial result of care in this direction. If she will carefully read and act on tho advice given in tho society's book on Pages 1 and 2, 41 to 49, and from 109 onwards, she need have little doubt that the teeth of the baby girl will be sounder and better than those of her brothers. Case of Elder Boy with Bad Teeth. It will bs remembered that though only eight years of age, this boy's second teeth are already decaying, and that he suffers much from toothache, headache, indigestion, . and malnutrition. The vital question for the parents is-what can bo done in the direction of counteracting these evils—thus giving the child a chance of.putting on some condition and making a stand for good all-round physical development, without which in tho long run even his mind, temper, and character must suffer gravely along with tho body. ■ . What to Do. (a) Extraction.—Every decayed tooth which cannot be "stopped" should be extracted. (h) Stopping.—Get the tooth attended to by the best dentist. Remember that cheap dentistry means careless, slipshod work, especially when it comes to "stopping," because to do this effectively needs much time and patience. Bad stopping is worse than useless. (c) Promote as thorough mastication as possible.. ■ I can. imagine- our correspondent saying, 'as many another troubled parent has said when the same advice has been given: It is all very well to recommend thorough mastication of food, but we asked your advice mainly because our little, boy won't—and, indeed, can't —masticate properly. I told you that he has a poor appetite, but even when ho lias the inclination for food the pain of eating would usually I prevent his chewing thoroughly, and in any. easo he has got so into tho habit of taking soft- things and avoiding anything hard or dry that we fail to see how wo are to bring about reform. If our child had a good set of sound teeth we could enter on the task of reforming ]iis habits" with some, heart and confidence, but our problem is: How are wo to get a child to masticate satisfactorily in tho absence of proper masticatory organs—in other words, without serviceable teeth? I admit that tho problem is not a simple one; that mucli time and patienco will have to be devoted to making reparation for errors and omissions of the past, and that the final result must fall far short of what would havo followed unerringly on a. simple oose-rvance of the laws and dictates of Nature throughout the last nine years; but that is no reason why the little boy should now be abandoned to his fato without an effort to save him. Indeed, assuming that the parents havo unwittingly failed in their duty towards their offspring, that fact would afford the best of all reasons for doing everything in their power, to make up for the shortcomings of the past. Let us fairly see bow the matter stands. By careful "stopping" and extraction actual pain can bo lessened, probably abolished, though this beneficent result cannot be counted on as the immediato effect of attention to the teeth. Toothache has been described by a great German authority as "the prayer of the nerves for healthy blood." As long as indigestion, poor blood, and fceblo health persist, the child will tend not only to bo dull and listless, but also to suffer from all kinds of pains and aches. How to Ensure Proper Mastication in the Absence of Back Teeth. However, we will assume that by proper caro and attention we have so far improved the state of tiio mouth and jaws that the act of mastication is no longer habitually accompanied by toothache, 'though there may still bo attacks of such pain from time to time. H,ow ■are we to induce thorough mastication in such a case if all the back grinding teeth arc gone and only the dozen front teeth remain—six in each jaw? What can be done if the child has become toothless ? Without teeth at all the act of mastication can bo carried out with comparative efficiency, provided that due care is exercised in the selection of suitable food, and the child is trained to take ample time over meals and to givo full work to mouth, tongue, jaws, and aalinary glands. Tims old people sometimes maintain wonderful digestive power and health, in spite of tho total absonco of teeth. Dr. Pickerill, Professor of Dentistry at Otago University, insists we. should never forget that the tengue is first and foremost a masticatory organ, and only secondarily an organ of speech. Dr. Waggctt, a leading London specialist, says most significantly:— Allow an infant to suck your finger, and you will be struck with iho force that the muscles of tho tongue can exert, even in tho first' month of life. At your next meal, please notico that it is your tongue which does most of the work in mastication, pressing your food out between the. teeth, and crushing it against tho bard roof of the mouth. Tho tongue is tho dominant organ, the jaws and teeth being tho junior partners of the firm. The moral is: Don't despair because a cliild has lost his tcetli, but do your best to make reparation.