OUR BABIES

Manawatu Standard, Volume L, Issue 111, 7 April 1930, Page 3

OUR BABIES

8 (By Hygeia.) Published under the,, auspices of the Royal New Zealand Society for th» r> Health of Women and Children (Plunket Society). ’ “It is wiser to put up a fence at (ho top of a precipice than to maintain ’ an ambulance at tho bottom.” • UNCOOKED FRUIT AND VEGE- ’ TABLE JUICES PROVIDE VITA- \ MINS FOR BABIES AND YOUNG - y CHILDREN. i We have taken the liberty of re- - printing the following extracts from nn excellent article by Miss Elizabeth McMillan in the Australian Woman’s 3 Mirror. This is knowledge which every | mother should possess k .“Some time ago a mother wrote to . me questioning the advisability of giv- . ing uncooked apples to young children 1 j ln^e . r two years of age, so I thought , it might be useful to mothers who read ) the Mirror if I explained the benefits i to be derived by including uncooked « fruit and vegetable juices ill the diet ■ of infants and young children. “When baby is fed entirely on a • cow’s milk mixture, which is heated in the making, raw fruit or vegetable juices are given to supply the vitamins ! (the fresh element) which are contained in mother’s milk and in fresh, unI heated milk from the cow, Cooking is ; found to destroy some of the valuable qualities in milk, fruit and vegetables . —qualities which are known as vitamins. “When these vitamins are omitted from a baby’s or child’s diet he very soon shows signs of failing to thrive in some way. even if the caloric or fuel value of tne day’s diet is excellent and the food components are in the right proportion for Nature’s need. . . “Alany mothers think that raw fruit and vegetable juices are given to baby to regulate his bowels. Certainly,, when first given, if not administered in tiny amounts and if the juices are not properly strained and the daily quantities very slowly increased until the baby’s digestive system becomes accustomed to the acidity and salts in them, the juices will act ns a purgative in many cases. However,, mothers must have noticed that when a baby has become used to these juices, or a child to fruit and vegetables, its bowels will not be unusually relaxed. “When the bowels do not net properly it shows that their muscular tone is poor. The simple causes of constipation, that a mother can rectify herself, are insufficient food, incorrect food, insufficient water 'drinking, 9 lack of regular, exercise, cool bathing, fresh air and sunshine, and insufficient sleep. The same things, of course, lower tne muscular tone all over the body, making the little one an easy prey to any infectious disease as well as to constipation. Then,, if baby happens to eat some fruit or vegetable which he has not had before, or perhaps eats it too . quickly and • without chewing it properly, he will contract diarrhoea. This, when so caused, is Nature’s way of getting rid of what the child’s body cannot deal with. When this happens the mother should not blame the fruit, but the mehod in which she has introduced it to her child’s diet. “If a mother knows her mothercraft and applies her knowledge in the daily cave of her child, she will find that when he is normal and regular in his habits he will digest all good wholesome fruit and vegetables if these are introduced into his diet gradually. At first oidy the strained juice?should be given,- Begin with five drops of fruit or vegetable juice in equal parts of water. In the city the water must be boiled for a-’baby under one year, and tank or river water-should be boiled for drinking till a child is at least five years of age. Cool the boiled water [' before adding the raw fruit or vegetable juice to it, for boiling water will destroy the vitamins. Increase the quantity of juice gradually, adding five drops more each week till six months, t when baby should be having a tablespoonful t<J a tablespoonful and a half of raw fruit or vegetable juice daily (if he is not getting any breast milk from his mother). Work up to two tablespoonfuls at nine months and the juice of a whole orange at one year, or the equivalent in raw vegetable juice. “Between 10 and 12 months, if a baby is normal (has not suffered during the first nine months of life from wrong feeding, causing diarrhoea or constipation, and has not had infectious diarrhoea, i.e;, summer diarrhoea) he should be given a raw ripe apple to munch. At first give.it to him for only five minutes; lie will be able to get very little off it. Increase the time about three of five minutes each day, and baby will graudally become accustomed to eating a-. whole apple daily. To prepare the apple, peel it, pass a piece of tape through the centre, and .tie it round baby’s neck so that he can hold it in Ills hands and at the same time not be able to drop it on the floor. ; “The best time to give baby his apple to munch is when you are haying your lunch after he wakes from his morning sleep. If you find he passes a few small pieces of apple you need not be anxious, as long as he is having a good bowel movement each day. Baby must never be left alone with, food in ■ case he gets too big a piece in his mouth or chokes. Watch him and teach him how to eat. “A good way to teach baby is to have an apple yourself and eat it. in front of him in the way you wish him toreat. You will find he will soon copy you. The raw whole apple given in this way will teach him to use/his jaws, to exercise and develop the jaws correctly and improve the supply of blood to the growing teeth. It will also help baby to cut his teeth. “At one year the pulp of an orange can" be gradually introduced into the juice. In the second. year baby may have an orange and an apple each day. When having three meals a day and able to chew his food properly, it is. a good thing to give him, a portion of his daily apple at. the end of each meal, as this helps to clean the teeth and keep the mouth free. from germs. The orange can -be given at afternoop tea time, so that the child will not feel that he wants some of mother’s tea. “The most valuable uncooked fruit and vegetable juices for baby are those of the orange, swede, turnip, tomato and carrot. (See page 40, “Feeding and Care of Baby,” by Sir Trilby King.) ' / l . “Apples and oranges are. the best fruits for children, but pears may also . be given. Bananas, if given, must be really rip© and soft, and must* b© masned for young children, and there is a tendency to. bolt the soft fruit without munching it. Ripe rock or water, melon may be given in the third year. Lettuce should, if possible, be given daily from the third year, and may be given earlier in sandwiches if the child chews well.” - - -7'