OUR BABIES

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2729, 25 March 1916, Page 10

OUR BABIES

fBY HTGEU.I

Published under the auspices of tlio [loyal New Zealand Health Socioty lor tic Wealth 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." THUMB-SUCKING. As the habit of sucking the thumb and hugers is far from uncommon among inhints and small children, ihe following letter nmd the reply sent wiil be oi iu" teres! to mothers and nurses— LETTIJR. Dear "Hygeia,"—l have rather a serious problem with my youngest child, aged 10 months. A" of my children have been addicted to tho liabit of sucking thumbs or lingers, moro or less, so I didn't worry about this one until I saw that the habit was growing on her. Now I find that lier upper jaw comes further forward than the lower one, tbe lowor teeth, which ar» small and rather close together, going right under the upper ones instead of meeting them. Of- course, one can understand that this habit would have very, much the same effect as a dummy, ythenyise sho is a Very well-developed child, and has half of her time lived in the open air in all weathers.

I may say that sho has be'on paTtly bot.. tie-fed (according to your instructions, of course), but so has another one of my children, who has one of the most beautiful sots of teeth I have over seen—very square jaws, and large .teeth with good spaces between' them—in spite of tho fact that ho has had more soft food than the others have had. Owing, I suppose, to my ill-health for some months before the birth of this boy, he was delicate, and was given into more than he snould have been, although I always insisted on a certain amount of hard food. I don't allow my babies to have even their cereal from a spoon until they get quite , used to hard food.

I have compared these two, as they were brought up in the same way for the first year, and as the elder one gave up the habit of sucking his fingers when only a few weeks old, this seems to account w>r the difference, in tho formation of their teeth and jaws.

I should like to know whether I can da anything to counteract thiß, or whether I can merely prevent it from becoming worse. I feel so sorry for the poor child, a 9 it will be a serious handicap to .her health if not remedied.

By tho way, is prune juice suitable for babies a few months old? 1 have tried it when orango juico has failed to act, though my youngest ono has never Tequ'ir-, ed it. ,

Hoping you may be able to advise me, and thanking you in anticipation,—l am, etc. ' ' Memo, by "Hygeia."—Our correspondent has evidently thoroughly grasped the paramount importance to her children of the deve'opment of the' masticatory instinct. . REPLY TO LETTEE. . Tho habit which your child has acquired of sucking a tnumb must be very worrying- to you, and is, of course, injurious to the child. It is often quite impossible to assign any cause for one child acquiring a habit or this kind and persisting in it, while another shows practically no such tendency. Tho difficulty of curing this weakness may be very great indeed, but there is 110 doubt whatever that j you must counteract; the habit, and not' merely keep it from getting worse. I have no doubt that, by Resourcefulness and per. severance, you will win in the end, but it may lake some time. It is impossible to lay down any one single, specific. You must try . several means, and this not merely in succession, but more or less simultaneously. These ought to bo persisted in until you win the fight. Thus there aro several means by which tho hands can be kept away from ..the mouth—for instanco, by tying them to the sides or fixing them by cutting a hole in the end of a pillow-case (as described, tinder the 'heading "Eczema," in the second last paragraph of page 117 of the society's book, "Feeding and Care of Baby," IDI3 edition).

In such matters one has, of course, to be very firm and harden one's heart. I have mod children cured, at the Karitane Hospital, of very 'inveterate habits in this way, in the course of a short time, where every effort at home had failed. It cannot he said that this is duo to any hardness on the part of the nurses—they aro quite the re'verse of hard—but they have. the advantage of starting with a child who. has not known them previously, and who therefore has no reason to expect that it will get the better of them if it persists. The basis of this is very clearly shown on pages 149-159 of the society's book. Tho truest kindness consists in determining to conquer a bad habit which has really become a vice, and which must be pot rid of. Measures which fail entirely with one child sometimes succeed with another. Thus one baby may take no notice of the thumb being made bitter by the use of aloes or quassia, while with another such measures prove'very helpful. Again, there aro spmo children who will, give suckin? if the whole hand is kept in a fairly firm leather, glove (or even a glovo miwle with canvas) with no holes for tha fingers or thumb, while another will persistently suck, tho leather. ; The only way is to try different mea. wires, and patiently so on until the tendency is overcome. To effect this it. may he necessary to devote the wliolo of one person's time for several weeks, but I am sure yon will realise th'nt the battle must bo won .it all costs.' The older the child gets and the longer the habit has been nersisted in the more difficult it becomes lo eradicate. Almost anything can bs done with a. b*by, and, as T havo said, t have practically no doubt that you will succeed. Prime luico can bp given to a babv a few months old as a laxative, but it does not:suoply the vital nroperties present in fr?cli fruit Jnlce. Some fresh, nncoolced fruit juioe should always be supplied when a baby is artificially fed.