OUR BABIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3334, 6 February 1918, Page 52

OUR BABIES.

By Hygeia. Published under tho auspices of the Royal NfW Zealand Society tor the Health ot Women and Children. "It Is wiser to put up a fence at the top ot a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom."

i FOURTH LESSON. | First of all I should like you to tell me I what the five chief needs for good health are. i (Get the children to repeat them, mark- . ing off each on a finger.) | A. AIR. Breathe pure, fresh, clean, cool ! air by day and night. f B. BATHING—PIenty of water for j cleanliness. O. CLOTHING.—Loose, light, comfort- ! able clothing—neither too much nor too | little. ! D. DlET—Proper food. Plain, simple i food 'taken at regular intervals, Solid food must be thoroughly chewed. Water should i be taken after a meal, not with it. j E. EXERCISE AND REST.—A large amount of exercise in the open air and sumhine is necessary for good health. i Boys and girla, as well as'babies, need | rest and plenty of sound sleep. 1 I have already told you something about tiro first three—Air, Bathing, and Clothing. To-day I shall talk about Diet. DIET. Diet means the food taken daily. This food, when properly chewed and dissolved and absorbed into the circulation, constitutes, along with the oxygen 'taken up by " the tiny blood vessels ot the lungs, the blood stream which is ever flowing and nourishing every, part of the body. If i each of us would have a healthy body we ! must have clean, good blood. How can we get this? The daily food should be plain and simple, and should be taken regularly at sot times. There should be "no pieces" taken between meal-times. Three meals a, day are sufficient, and if these meals are taken quite regularly and are of the right nature and ouantity, the best health would be attained if all the other needs for health—A, B, C, and E—- | were also attended to. I Before being swallowed, the food taken should bo well chewed and mixed with the : fluid, named saliva, which flowe into the mouth when we ea't food. | It is a great mistake to eat much soft, ; mushy food, which simply slips down without being chewed and mixed with saliva. Hard, tough, dry foods, such as crusts, toast, oatcake, brown bread, hard plain ship's biscuits, etc., are very good, because they give plenty of work to the gums ' and teeth, and this work makes them grow better and stronger. A certain amount of ! meat, fish,' or egg is beneficial, and fresh vegetables are most wholesome and necessary. Freeh fruits, particularly good ripe I apples, are excellent, especially at the close I of a meal, because they leave the teeth ; clean. ! Cakes, sweet biscuits, sweets, and chocoI lates are not good foods. They do not I make good, rich blood nor build up strong i bodies. Such sticky foods tend to lodge in the crevices of the teeth and make 'them decay. j Bad teeth cause most op the pains, j ILL-HEALTH, and disease from which we SUFFER. TEETH. The care of the Teeth is therefore most important, and the following rules should ; be carefully observed: | (1) The teeth should l bo brushed regularly night and morning ; not merely j across, but rp and down, outside and inI side Specially brush the back teeth. j (2) Food must be well chewed in order to • give the mouth, gums, and teeth plenty j of work to do, and thus helio to make ' and keep them strong and healthy. [ (3) Plain, simple food, taken regularly, is best for the teeth. Sweets, cakes, . and soft "pap" food should bo avoided, espei oially the last thing at night. An un- • cooked ripe apple is pood for the teeth, becaxise it leaves them clean. j (4) Ask your parents to send you to a ' dentist twice a year to see that your teeth I ar.3 ail right. I, (5) Remember 'that the teeth are made j from, the blood, and that there cannot be good, rich blood unless the teeth are used properly and vigorously for the work : they are intended to do. i In the Boer war 3000 British soldiers were sent back to England from Africa as i useless on account of Decayed Teeth. j In the Russo-Japanese war all the Japai nose soldiers took their tooth-brushes with them. Large numbers of young men in New Zealand have been rejected as not fit to be soldiers on account of the badness of their tce'th. WATER AND OTHER FLUIDS. Water should be included in Food, because it forms a large portion of all tho

food we eat. Por instance, some vegetables, such as cucumber _ and vegetable marrow, consist almost entirely of water. Water, as a drink, may be taken at the end of a meal after all the "solid" food has been well chewed, thoroughly mixed with saliva, and swallowed. You remember I told you that the saliva begins to flow into the mouth whenever we eat food —indeed, it often flows into the mouth when we see anything we should like to eat; when this happens we speak of "the mouth watering." l?ure saliva is needed to help in the dissolving of our food, and if we weaken it with water it cannot do its work properly. Therefore, don't get into the bad habit of taking a drink after every few mouthfuls of food. Tea and coffee are not good for children. Milk should not be looked upon as a drink. It is really a food, and contains half as much solid material as an equal weight of beef-steak. CONCLUSION. Meals should never be taken hastily; plenty of time is needed. Don't spend your pennies on sweets. If you want something to eat, good fruit is ever so much better.