OUR BABIES.

Evening Post, Volume LXXX, Issue 134, 3 December 1910, Page 15

OUR BABIES.

(By- Hygeia.) Published under the auspices of the Society for the Promotion ol tha-H6»lth ,'•/ Women , and Children. "It v wiser to put up a fence i>t ths 'top of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom." 'ADDRESS OF PLUNKET NURSE AND SECRETARY. Wellington— PJuaket Nursfe Jl'Donald, 73, , Aro-Btreet. Tel. 2425. Hon. aec, Mrs. M'Vioar, ,27. Brougham-street. PJunlfet Nurse's services free. ' EFFECT OF FOOD ON TEETH. ' To show bow the effect of ordinary food on teeth is mainly a question of the structure and texture of the material, and only secondarily a question of its chemical composition (or so-called "nutritive value"), one has only to mince meat or express- the juice from sugar-oane and gjve the child the oonoentrated sugar itself to practically destroy the "exercising" virtue proper to either foodstuff in ife more jistural state." The following extract from- the' society's. 'book, "Feedjng and Care of the Baby, throws more light on this matter: — > FAR-REACHING- EFFECTS OF , MASTICATORY EXERCISE. .-Perfect, oapaoious . jaws and sound, beautiful teeth cannot be built without fulfilling all the simple and universal requisites for health throughout babyHood and childhood — especially ample daily exercise of the mouth organs. • The mouth is indeed a great primal "driving-station" whence the nerve-libres carry impulses to the nerve-oentros, which quicken the life and , activity of every tissue of the body. When tho jaws are doing natural, honest, hard work, the whole of the rest of the organism is impelled to activity— the heart pumps quicker and more forcibly, the presure of blood in the arteries rises and it* stream flows more rapidly, even in the very fin-ger-tips; at the same time the digestive juices are poured out freely, not only into the mouth, but also info the stomach and bowels, as the result of messages transmitted from the mouth when busily engaged in mastication. i Apart altogether from the consideration of the building of the teeth and jaws, active "mouth-exercise" is thus necessary for the nutrition, growth, and health of every organ of the body. "Feeding exercise" 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 the ideal 'of strength and "fitness."' Feed, tfce same horse with soft mashes, made -from similar food materials, and he will become soft and "out of condition," simply because his whole ' organism will then laok the primary stimulation of d^ily, normal, active exercise which formerly he hdd to devote to crunching the oats, etc— activities which are- not called forth when, dealing with food provided the work has been already done by millstones and mashing" 1 outside the animal body The same applies to ourselves — particularly to the_ young who are always nearest to Nature! \Ye need the exercise of active mastication, and the only effective means of ensuring this is to start training- at the dawn of life. Never let a, healthy infant take a meal ou which he is not compelled to do active work in the form of sucking or chewing. We must begin with the baby and foster his natural tendency to masticate, instead of doing everything in our .power to. make the function die out by disuse. The mother should banish from her xnind the idea of "pap-feeding* ' or "mince-feeding" being the natural course to pursue With a child who has teeth. Even milk should be used sparingly after eighteen months — a rjint a day being certainly ample, perhaps more than is desirable. Diluted with water, milk should then be used as a drink at the close of meals, not as a fluid in which to soak and so spoil food which would otherwise need chewing and insalivating. No doubt the children of the poor are often unduly stinted with regard to milk, but children in_ general tend to be given too ;nuch milk and cream — too much ready-made fluid food, which merely drains into the stomach— to the exclusion of cruder ' materials on which work would have to be done, suited to the natural tendencies and activities of infancy. Parents who once grasp the fact, that the more exercise a child can be given for mouth, jaws, and teeth, the more he will tend to thrive, will not be at a losri to find means by which the carrying out of what is needed can be ensured. Further, they will not let the tyranny of hide-bound custom or conventional propriety stand in the way of the health and development of their offspring. Thus, the email allowance of meat that a child may have is best given in the form of a -bone, from which he can gnaw and tear off with his teeth what is eatable. The more extensive the bone surface to which the meat is attached the better, but even a jmall_ nmtton_ chop, eaten in this way — especially if it happens to be somewhat lean ana "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, made especially with a view to ensure thorough chewing and insalivation, are excellent as an occasional change from bread-crusts, toast, oat-cake, or hard bis«suit: the only objection to these patent prepared cereals is that though not more dutntjous than ordinary whole-meal, they are decidedly expensive. The above list of foodstuffs, capable of ..Hording proper exercise for jaws, teeth and digestive glands, can be added to indefinitely, especially in the direction of raw ripe fruits, nuts, almonds, etc. Ow- i tng to the prevalence of hydatids, one I lannot feel safe as to the use of raw salads in New Zealand, except where the Sircumstances preclude the idea that they <nay be infested with hydatid eggs/which are so common in the excreta of our dogs ad other animals.