OUR BABIES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22352, 28 August 1934, Page 13

OUR BABIES

By Htoeia. Published under the auspices cf the Royal New Zealand Society for the Health Of Women and Children (Fluckat Society). "/< is wiser to put up a fence at the top of a preeipiee than to maintain On ambulance at the bottom." DUMMIES AND FINGER SUCKING. Following our articles on teeth \v« feel -that it is expedient to say eoiiioI thing of the untold harm that is done :Tsy giving babies dummies to suck or | allowing them to suck their fingers. All the good materials that can be put into the building of good teeth, all the results o i correct feeding and feeding methods in infancy and childhood, can be undermined by indulging these pernicious habits. It is a fact that some mothers, as a routine, will give their baby a dummy to it into bis mouth as ebon as the feed’ ia finished. Surely St must be ignorance that allows a mother to do this, for anyone wh6 will pause to think must realise that no gOod can come of continual sucking. In early childhood the bones are soft and easily moulded, and the baby who sucks continually at a dummy, thumb, op fingers must certainly deform the bones of the mouth and nose. We find almost without exception the contracted or Y-shaped arch or hard palate, which interferes with proper dentition. The narrow, badly shaped jaw | causes the teeth t 6 erupt irregularly and to be mjsplaoed. Very often the upper front teeth protrude, and this induces ihouth breathing, with its consequent | ills, such as adenoids,, enlarged. tonsils, | etc., all these complaints lowering the i resistance of the child and rendering it more susceptible to disease of every kind.

Many children are predisposed _to defective teeth and jaws or to indigestion through i)j-bealth in the mother, imperfect methods of artificial feeding (such as a teat with too large a hole and the bottle not being held correctly during feeding), and the neglect of any of the factors | making for good health (see “Feeding and Care of Baby,” page I, by Sir F. Truby King), but the immediate exciting causes of mouth and teeth detects are the use of the dummy, sucking of fingers or thumb, a. bad type of teat, or wrong feeding methods in artificially fed infants, and subsequent pap feeding. these last three were avoided and reasonable care were exercised by mothers with regard to their own personal hygiene and that of their offspring we should liear no more of bad teeth. Ko one can pretend that the dummy is beneficial in any way. The most that can be said of it is that it sometimes affords the mother an easy, lacy means of keeping the baby quiet at'the moment, instead of finding out the reapog for hia disquietude and attending tq it. The nppearance of the baby is certainly not improved with a dummy projecting from his mouth ! think of the germs that are introduced into lbs mouth. How often is the dummy pro: fluced from a pocket, handbag, or picked up from off the floor and. given to the infant! Fi)th is introduced to tI)U mouth, and' baby ’develops a condition known as “ thrush.” Seldom does a baby accustomed to having a dummy have a clean mouth. So besides causing structural deformities of the pagal passages and jaws, the dummy, by introducing germs into the system, undermines the constitution. i It is rather extraordinary that many a mother who would w dream of giving tier baby a dummy ter suck will permit and even encourage him to suck bin thumb. Actually, from the matter of dirt, there is very little to choose between thumb sucking and sucking a dummy. The temptation to let a baby suck his thumb or fingers is a very real thing. He looks very attractive as he fumbles round and finally makes a successful grab and settles down to enjoy his illegitimate comforter. Ijut what looks so pretty at one month looks anything but pretty at twelve, and every week acids to the difficulty. Only recently while consulting a dentist I was struck with the number of plaster eagts of ill-shapen jaws and badly spaced teeth which were in readiness fof the day’s work. Being a Saturday morning, children were to be the patients, and, being interested, f was told what caused these defects, almost without exception were thumb and finger sucking and dummies given as the causes. One cast depicted the teeth on one side of both upper and lower jaws pushed inwards. This chi Id, the dentist averred, was in the habit of going to sleep with a doubled-up little list under his cheek. A simple, pretty habit perhaps, but what an unexpected and calamitous result, ! The child would be saved a lot of unnecessary pain and mental suffering, am) the dentist's bill also would be much less, if parents and those responsible for the child would only realise how much do- j pended on their knowledge and treatment of the teeth.

•Next week we intend to follow this article with one giving some suggestions for the prevention of thumb poking.