OUR BABIES.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 6 November 1926, Page 17

OUR BABIES.

(By "Hygeia.”)

[Published under the auspices of tlic. Lioyal New Zealand Society tor the tie at h ot women and Cuiidren (Piunkei Society).] THE, SCOPE OE THE PLUNKET NURSES. 'i'ne following article was printed in tills toiunm nearly eight years ago. As the misconceptions to which it refers are still prevalent, we fee that it may well be.,-place<l before, our readers again, especially as it gives point to the articos printed lately regarding the (•are of toddlers : “There ,seems to be a great need ioi a clear explanation as to the period which the PLunket Nurses are intended to cover in their services to the public. !n some quarters the impression seems to ex 1 r . that the nurse’s duties end when the baby is a year old. Vet the very name of the Society, which is not for*the Health of Women and Babies, but of Women and Children, shoud have prevented such an idea from ever growing up. That it has, however, grown up is proved by such remarks as the following, which 1 have heard quite lately:—‘Rabv is a year old this week, so this is the last time I shal bring him to tlie Plunket Nurse,’■ and T did have a copy of ‘Feeding and Care of Baby.’ but I don’t know where it has got to since baby was a year old.’ ill at tl'S dangers of the second year and onwards are not sufficiently realised is proved also by the difficulty the nurses sometimes experience in getting c os? ‘ion paid to detail after t.bfirst birthday is reached, although the mother may have been most systematic up to that point. THE SOCIETY’S PROTEST. “The time has come to protest energetically against this erroneous impression. it is strange that it .should have been entertained anywhere, for the Society’s text-book has large sections in it devoted entirely to the needs of the second or later years, and emphatic warnings are littered about the danger of want of knowledge and method when the time comes for solid food to be given. Some 30 pages towards the end of the book are given up to the care of the teeth and development of the habit of mastication, and the pievention of such diseases as adenoids and rickets. These important questions have their beginnings, certainly, in the period before birth and in the first 12 months, but successt or failure in these directions depends greatly on systematic care throughout the- second yesu onwards. Without tlii.s the child may be, and often is, ruined as regards his future health, even when he has thriven well for the first year.

NO SUDDENNESS IN NATURE,. “Moreover, the. baby does not suddenly become a child, nor the child suddenly a man or woman. Each stage merges imperceptibly into the next. Sensible parents will look and read ahead—not trying to take in every detail for months in advance, but in such a wav that they are always prepared for the next step. Such parents could not fail to realise that at no time does the need for knowledge and care .suddenly leave off. Tf takes 20 years to make a man or woman, and at any stage during those rears (in which we are building for the future all the time) ignorance and carelessness will seriously mar the growing structure. The younger a child and animal or plant is the more easily and lastingly it is damaged. That i’s whv the first year is considered the most important. PROBLEMS OF THE SECOND YEAR. “But the second year has problems al l , its own. by far the most urgent of which is the care of the tegth and the development of the habit of mastication, which has .such far-reaching effects on the whole future health of the child. 'The appalling state of the teeth of our children (those in New Zealand being as bad as any, if not worse than most) is our most .serious national question. Ik is a far greater menace to health than anv other disease, and has been at the bottom of a very large number of rejections for the army and of unfitness of every kind among the general public. Once again I say that the foundations of good health and sound teeth are laid before birth and during the ear'v months ; but the best beginnings can be ruined later on, and with them the whole future health and efficiency of the individual. A hundred other matters, such as sleep and exercise, exert far-reaching influence on the development of a child long after the first year is past, and the Plunket Nurses are always ready to help parents in these directions. At least until chi 1 - dren are of school age and come under medical supervision of the Plunket nurses. When this is done throughout the country we may hope to see a rapid lessening of the present widespread unfitness among school children. Much of this unfitness dates from the first year, hut much also from the time when the child was thought to> be past the need for special care.”