OUR BABIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3101, 20 August 1913, Page 62

OUR BABIES.

Bt Hygiia.

-Published under the auspices ol the Society lor the Health of W omen and Children.

“It is wiser to put up a fence at the top of a precijiico than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom.”

MASTICATION

The following from Dr Harry Campbell emphasises what we said in a prev.ous article:

means of ensuring efficient mastication. In order to secure the full advantages accruing from the use of the jaws and their appendages, it is above all necessary for them to be adequately exercised during the period of development. If this is done the masticatory instinct will establish |tsCit as a permanent force, so tljat the individual ■will tend for the rest of his life to subject even soft foods to thorough mastication. The tongue, the hps, and the jaws of the .newly-born child find their natural exercise at the mother’s breast, and wo should therefor do our utmost to get the mother to suckle her child. If, unhappily, we fail in this, we must see that the teat of the feeding-bottle is so constructed as to compel the child to earn his meal by, at any rate, some exercise. Directly the disposition to bite hard things is manifested, for instinct- - for instinct it is—should be gratified. ine instinct becomes more and more pronounced as the time for the eruption of tne teeth approaches. It is now more than over necessary to provid- the child with haid substances .on which to exercise his jaws and gums. A groat deal of the trouble ot teething is duo to tho disregard, or the ignorance, of this fact. What, then, are wo to emplov for the purpose.' though ivory, coral, ~ and the like hard, smooth substances may be useful in their way, it is far better to give tho child something which is not only hard, but also nutritious and pleasant to the taste—something which will at one and the same time exercise tho chewing apparatus, excite the taste organs, and provide a certain amount of nutriment. To this end wo may, as the toothing time approaches, give a chop or a chicken bone from which practically a'l the moat has been removed. From such bones a small amount of nutriment can bo extracted, and this of a kind most acceptable to the infant stomach, for wo must not that the young human being is essentially carnivorous. Chicken and chop bones, yielding ns they do to the pressure of the gums, arc, moreover, just the right consistence for the purpose in view. Bv thus providing the masticatory apparatus with suitable exercise wo shall do much to facilitate ihe eruption of the teeth and the growth of tho jaws and their appendages (including tho salivary glands), and so to prepare the mouth for the reception of vegetable food. This should, of course, not be given until the teeth appear, and it should be notrd that the order in which these make their appearance gives some indication as to tho time to administer vegetable food to the child.

WHEN TO BEGIN GIVING STAKCTIY FOOD. The lower incisors are first erupted (seventh to eighth month) ; then follow the upper incisors (seventh to tenth month). These teeth enab'o the child to BITE, but not, be it observed, to masticate, for which function the molars are necessary. No\s, the first molars do not with us appear until the twelfth to the fourteenth month, and it seems certain therefore that our primitive ancestors, unless they cut their molars earlier, could not have obtained starch in any quantity until they had reached ties age. Those considerations suggest the desirability cf not giving more than the smallest quantity of starch before the twelfth month. Before the twelfth month we should be careful to give the child its limited supply of starch in a form compelling vigorous mastication. If given, as is the custom, in the liquid or poppy form, it will pass down «; crude starch into the stomach, and will bo likely to cause indigestion; but if we select a form which obliges the child to chow properly, not only will the jaws, teeth, and the gums obtain the exercise for which they crave, and without which they cannot properly develop, hut much of the starch will ho converted in the mouth into maltose. Nothing can bo more foolish than to upset the child’s digestive system by deluging it with liquid starch, and then seek to make it well by ordering it (as is so frequently done) malt extract—the very substance— i.e., maltose—which the child can. and ought to, manufacture within the laboratory of its mouth. There is only one way to develop the masticatory instinct in a child, and that is to give him food which obliges him to masticate. It is mere waste of words to toll him to chew his food properly; and to blame him for gobbling it is as unjust as it is foolish. The blame, if any there be, attaches not to the child, but to those who aro responsible for his irrational dietary. All that is needful is to give the child from an early period foods which compel mastication. Many people are under the mistaken impression that if the young child is given solid food ho will ho likely to choke; but of tins there is no dancer if ho is given hard things from the beginning. It is only' when, by papfeeding, his normal masticatory instinct has been kept in abeyance, and the habit of bolting the food has been acouircd. that any danger is to be apprehended on this score. Even then it is but remote, and can be readily overcome by judicious handling.

1S WHAT FORM SHOULD STARCH RE GIVEN? Starch then, should bo given to the child in a solid and somewhat tough form, such as brcadcrust. Loaves should he shaped so as to trive a maximum of -cru-t. and should be baked hard. A well baked crust, cut in. a suitable form, and spread with butter, bacon-fat. or dripping, constitutes a very acceptable and wholesome morsel. (Memo, by “Hvgeia.”—Bread dried by standing <>n edge in an oven with the door ajar, and then lightly toasted, gives a fair amount of muscular exorcise, and its dryness ensures insalivation. Plain oatcake made without fat needs very thorough mastication. The same applies to hard, plain ship’s b’seuir. hut tins is not easily procurable nowadays. Further, biscuits are somewhat objept : onab!c, because thev form a soft gummy paste, which tends to lodire about the teeth, and may lead to caries.) When bv such means as these the child’s Instinct to masticate has had proper opportunity to dcvc’op. we may allow a certain amount of sou starchy food, siicn as porridge, boded |>otatocs, milk pudding, and

tho like; and these he will now be likely to subject to something like adequate mastication, which will tend to mitigate tho evils associated with such food. When a child has learned to masticate thoroughly ho can be given nuts. Though animal food does not need prolonged mastication, it is, when cooked, all the better for a certain amount of it, owing to the coagulation of the protcids; and in order to ensure the efficient mastication of meat, fish, and poultry by children. Dr Sim Wallace recommends that these foods should be given in large pieces, cut thin. “Flat pieces, about one inch square, generally necessitate a certain amount of mastication. It is difficult to swallow large flat pieces of meat without mastication, but when finely minced little or no mastication is called forth.” Tho younger the child the more underdone should the meat be.