OUR BABIES.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 30 March 1929, Page 15

OUR BABIES.

(By Hygeia.)

I Published under the auspices of the i Royal New Zealand . Society for tho Hoalth of Women and Children (PlunI ket Society). | FEEDING THE SMALL CHILD. We have s-elboted the following useful hints lor mothers from recent issues of the Australian magazine “Life and Health”: “Preparing dinner for the ad lifts and school children of the family and a 'separate meal for the about two-year-old requires more time than the average mother ran afford and yet it- is essential lor a child of this age to have specially planned menus. After study of the problem . . . the decision reached is that the best thing to do is rto adapt the meals of the grown-ups so that they are suitabi’e to the pre-school child. “Of. course, it is possible thalt in doing this some of father’ s_ food habits may need a bit of modification, but that ! will usually he to his advantage. ' “Til© great thing to do is to adapt the food so that the child will not feel that his portion is very different from the rest of the family’s. AVOID GIVING JUST A TASTE OF UNSUITABLE FOOD. “It should be emphasised, however, that giving ‘just a taste’ of- anything not on the youngster’s menu should be 1 strict" v avoided. There is no need to acquaint him with foods which are . highly ?easoned, and Which will make him discontented with his simple fare. ‘Just a taste’ of dliooolate cake is not going to make Jimmy anxious to finish his bread and butter. It is far more likely to cause the next family war, and ! is unfair to the child and to those who are attempting to establish correct eating habits. WISE GUIDANCE NEEDED. “Eating habits are learned from birth and wise guidance' is essential from the beginning if desirah’e habits are to be formed. The child learns just what he practises. Practice is not mere repetition of outward movement. It .includes what the child is thinking and i feeling at the time he performs the outward movement, which means that to make a child really learn a. desirable behaviour he must derive some inner satisfaction from the act. “Second' helpings -are, or should be, always available, but it is unwise to discourage the child by putting more on his -plate than he can eat. -Certain foods. dS course, appeal to the child f more than others, but before he can I have a separate helping of his favourite lie must eat the rest of his meal. I A FOOD HINT. 1 “The food of a small child should be simple in preparation—elaborate con- ] cocitions are out of p’ace—'and -bland in taste, and it is usually easy to adapt 2 the family menu to the needs _of the child bv simply using a kittle- ingenuity.” c AVOID PLAY WITH YOUNG BABIES. , "It is nob for the babys amusement that a grown-up plays with a baby; it is merely for the- older person's own pleasure. The less babies are played with, at any a.ge up to a year or more the better, unless .the praying is well v timed as to meats and bedtime. There .should be no -playing near meal times, i; {either before or after, nor within one for two hours of bedtime or napping j time. Injudicious playing with infants v tends to make them nervous and cross, r disturbs their sleep, disturbs their di- ti gestion and perhaps causes undesirableconditions in other repeets. If one mustplay with baby, let it be gentle, not boisterous, of short duration, and not wit-h a whole family or gallery of -spec- \ tutors looking oil — perhaps joining in.” j. Memo bv “Hygeia”: We do not r , mean that babie-s are- not to he allowed p to play or to be judiciously payed jj with. Play is the natural, joyous, overflowing expression of child life and q activity, and as such should be encouraged ; but the baby’s early play „ should bo mainly with bis first play- “ mate- —himself—bis own tiny hands _ waving in the air—his own ten toes. j : | ! TOOTH EXERCISE. | "All dental authorities fell us that-, p to be kept perfectly healthy, teeth, not p only need to be perfectly nourished p (hence the necessity of a diet contain- p lug all the elements of nutrition) and s to be kept ci'ean, but they -aiiso need || exercise, secured’ by the use of dry, || hard foods that compel exercise- of the gs teeth and jaws. jgj WHEATMEAL BISCUITS.

“Zwieback, or twice-baked bread, is good for this purpose, and iso is oatcake. Anotlier excellent thing is plain, hard wheatmeal biscuit. This is very easily made from whole meal, waiter and a little salt. Form into dough, roll out thin, cut into the desired shapes, and bake in a slow oven. Bran can be added to the whole meal, if necessary, sav one cup of bran to four of wheatmeal. “These hard, dry biscuits are an excellent and most wholesome: article. of diet, and wild furnish the teeth with the exercise Heeded. They can by eaten dry, or can, for a change, be eaten with butter, or butter and a thin scrape of mn.rmite. A taste: is easily formed for them, and they should constitute a r»art of the daily diet, pairticu-) la illy that of children.” i