OUR BABIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3519, 23 August 1921, Page 51

OUR BABIES.

Br :

HYGDIA.

Published under the auspices of tho Royal New Zealand Society lor the Health of Women and Children. “it is wiser to put up a fence at the top of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom."

DENTAL DISEASE. The following address was delivered byMr Hunter (Director of Dental Hygiene) at the sixth conference of the society, held in Wellington last year. MR HUNTER’S ADDRESS. I have not prepared anything in the nature of a speech, but just a few hints whereby w*e might do something more in the way of preventive medicine than we have been doing. At the opening meeting I suggested that you did not realty realise what good work your Blanket Society has been doing. Now- that the Government Child Welfare organisation has been launched, with Dr Truby King at its head, 1 see visions of a great deal of good work being done. Of course, it will have to oe done in the wav of education—the education of the mothers, the children, and or erybody else. 1 am speaking now in relation to dental disease. Dental disease, as you know, is one of the most rampant and one of the most common diseases that tho human body at the present time is suffering from, and the ramifications of dental disease are very great. If we could eliminate dental disease we would eliminate most other diseases. That is practically accepted by all exports. DENTAL DISEASE CAN BE PREVENTED. Now dental disease can be prevented, and it can be prevented fairly easily. Therefore, it seems to me that it is one of the greatest problems we have to deal with. It must be dealt with in the early stages, so far as the nourishment of the matter is concerned. If the mothers will get to know —arid we can teach them —that the temporary tooth are protected with a hard substance called enamel, which is the hardest organic substance in nature, and that this enamel or armour is laid down before the child is born, the question of nourishment of the mother would be regarded as of more importance, because there is no doubt that it has a great effect on the temporary teeth. DTF.T. After the teeth erupt, their nature would suggest that these hard appendages were not provided for chewing milk or pap. It seems reasonable to assume that some work would be given to these hard appendages to. do in the nature of chewing or mastication. One notices that a child always wants to get something into its mouth to chew. That is nature calling, not only to give these little teeth something to do, but to increase the masticatory work and pressure and thus increase the blood supply to the parts which help to develop the jaw properly. Pap and that sort of food does not. bring this about. Therefoie. I say that this society could still further increase its good work bygoing into this question of diet. STANDARD FLOUR. I noticed in the paper this morning that some people were approaching the Minister of Agriculture on the question of lowering the standard of flour (as they call it), with a view to including more of the grain in the flour, so that from an economic point of view it would go further. T object, to the phrase “lowering the standard of the flour.” By leaving in more of the grain they are raising the standard. At the present time the flour we are eat-.rg has been deprive,! of much of its nutritive value. A NATIONAL HEALTH FOOD. "Your society and its branches throughout the dominion could arrive at. and advocate, some sort, of national health food in connection with your w-ork. show what sort of food should be demanded, how it. should be cooked in the homes, and could make provision for the masses getting this class of food, it would bo a great benefit to the rising generation. The children should have food of that kind and not the highly con oentrated food they are getting now.

White bread and the tremendous amount . of sugar consumed is mostly responsible for decay of the teeth. The baker of to-day does not use oatmeal or wholemeal to make his paste; he uses the finest flour he can get because it makes a beautifully. sticky substance. It is the same when in the mouths of the children, making a good culture ground for bacteria; and the sugar which is changed into acid by the action of the saliva lies round and decalifies the enamel. There is the w-hole thing hi a nutshell. I think the trouble is largely due to ignorance. The mothers do not realise these things. Modern foods require almost no mastication; they are not self-eleansing like natural foods, because the harder the foods are, the more cleansing they are. (To be continued next week.) HEALTH OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN. The ordinary montniy meeting of the committee of the Royal New Zealand Society for tile Health of Women and Children was held in the Blanket .looms on Friday morning, the following being present—iVLesdames Johnstone (in the chair), Jos. M George, Theomin, Sidey, John Ross, Fletcher, Aiken, lx. Ross, O’Neill, Carmalt Jones, M'Killop, Arundel, Cunningliame, Bister Nora, Misses Gow, Joachim, and the secretary. Apologies were received from Mesdames Isaacs, Moore, J. C. M'George, Mandeno, Gallo, way, M‘JLaren, MTxibbon, Caselbcrg, Solomon, and Commandant Simpson. The matron ol tho Karitane-Harris Hospital reported as follows lor month of July: —Number of patients in hospital on June 30, 23; number of patients admitted during the month of July, 21; number of patients discharged during the month, 21; number of deaths, 1; greatest number in the residence on any one day, 27; number of patients in hospital on July 31, 23. I regret to report tho death ol one baby, aged three days, which died six hours alter admission. The cause of death was hemmorage from lungs, duo to tw-o and a-half months’ prematurity. Ail other babies in hospital are progressing well. Nursing Staff—Permanent staff, 4: Piunket trainees, 16; Karitane trainees, 11. Nurses Moorehead, Ingold, A. B. Smith, Belts, and Garood commenced their course of Piunket training in July. Nurse Helen Wickstcad commenced her course of Karitane training in the same month. Piunket Nurses Cummins, Kidd, and Sell, and Karitane Nurse Crcswell completed their course of training during the month. The domestic science students have attended classes in practical and theoretical mother-craft work. The pupils of Archerfield School visited the hospital, and were given a theoretical and practical demonstration on the importance of breast-feeding the baby for the first nine months, and a simple lesson was g-iven in modifying cow’s milk for a suitable food for the baby if breasi-feeding is impossible. Gifts were received from Mesdames Johnstone, Theomin, Dunlop, and Miss Edith Moore. The conveners of the various sun-commit-tees handed in their reports dealing with the month's work. The Mayor of Port Chalmers has placed at the disposal of the society the use of the committee room in the Municipal Buildings in connection w-ith the weekly visit of tile Piunket nurse to Port Chalmers.