OUR BABIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3958, 21 January 1930, Page 61

OUR BABIES.

By

Hygeia.

Published under the auspices of the Royal New Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children (Plunket Society). It is wiser to put up a fence at the top of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom."

PLUNKET NURSES, ETC., DUNEDIN BRANCH. nurses’ services frek. Nurses O’Shea (telephone 23-348), labiater (telephone 10-866), Thomson, Scott, and Ewart (telephone 10-216), and Mathieson (telephone 23-020). Society's Rooms: Jamieson’s Buildings. 6 Lower Stuart street (telephone 10-216), Office hours: Daily from 2 to 4 p.m (except Saturday and Sunday) and 10 a.m. to noon on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays; 315 King Edward street, South Dunedin, 2 to 4 p.m. daily (except Saturday and Sunday), and 10 a.m. to noon on Fridays; also 125 Highgate, Roslyn— Monday and Thursday from 2 to 4 p.m.; Gospel Hall, Mailer street. Mornington — Monday and Wednesday, 2 to 4 p.m.; Kelsey -.Yaralla Kindergarten — Monday and Friday from 2 to 4 p.m.; Baptist Sunday School, Sunshine—Monday and Wednesday from 2 to 4 p.m.; 211 Main North road, North-East Valley—Tuerdays. 2 to 4 p.m.; Kindergarten, Caversham—Thursdays. 2 to 4 p.m. Out-stations: Baptist Church, Gordon road, Mosgiel—Tuesday afternoons from I to < o’clock; Presbyterian Church Hall, Outram—alternate Fridays, 2 to 4 p.m.; Municipal Buildings, Port Chalmers— Wednesday afternoons from 2 to 4 o’clock; also Hall, Macandrew’s Bay— Fridays. 2 to 4 p.m. Secretary, Miss G. Hoddinott, Jamie•on’a Buildings. Stuart street (telephone JO-216). Karitane-Harris Baby Hospital, Ander•on’s Bay (telephone 22-985). Matron, Miss Hilditch. Demonstrations given on request every Wednesday afternoon from 2.30 by Plunket Nurses and Karitane Baby Nurses. Visiting hours: 2 to 4 p.m., Wednesday. Friday, and Sunday BAD HABITS. We have been asked from time to time to deal with the question of bad habits in small children, and hope the remarks and suggestions we shall publish this i week and next may be of use. Habit Formation. Bad habits, if allowed to become firmly established in babyhood or early childhood, are often extremely difficult to break, and even though broken may recur in later life. Hence the supreme importance of forming the baby’s character and habits on the right lines from the start and of checking any departures from the normal immediately. It is interesting to consider the manner in which habits are formed in infancy and childhood. One might say that an action performed once makes a faint pattern on the soft, plastic material of the baby’s nervous system. This pattern makes it easier for the same action to be repeated again. Each repetition deepens the pattern until a definite habit is formed —bad habits as easily as good ones. Whilst the pattern is still but shallow, as it were, and the mould plastic, it i s easy to check the formation of a habit, erase the pattern, or substitute a good for a bad one; but every day that a habit is persisted in makes it a harder and more painful process to change it. Hence the paramount importance of care in seeing that the child forms, as far as possible, only good habits, and of constant, watchfulness to detect and check any undesirable tendencies. We all know that even so apparently harmless a habit as sucking of fingers or thumb may lead to much trouble and many tears later if allowed to become fixed and deep rooted. In all cases the main thing is to divert the child’s attention, keep him occupied with interesting things, and unobtrusively prevent the performance of the undesirable action. Avoid scolding and punish- I ment as much as possible. Even the serious matter of masturbation in children is in no sense a moral offence, and very grave lifelong damage may be done by creating a sense of sin or inferiority in the child's mind. As soon as he is old enough to understand, make him feel that he has-a friend to help him to control and conquer his difficulty, and to praise him when he succeeds —not a judge to blame him or a broken reed to crumple Up when he fails. Change of Environment. Tn many cases of deeply rooted and intractable bad habits a stay away from home with understanding people is invaluable or even essential as an aid to treatment. So often the over-anxious love and • anxiety of the mother causes an emotional concentration on the child and his trouble which is a sad bar to progress. A stranger can much more easily comb’iie vigilance with the sort of calm, almost casual, friendliness which relieves the nervous tension from which the child is usually suffering, and removes the “ limelight.” which some children will do almost anything to get. One must stress this point of temporary separation from the parents. Not uncommonly it is the most devoted mothers who err most in the matter of overanxiety and concentration on the child, ami yet with all their devotion fail to rise to the unselfishness of parting with him for a few weeks, and seem unable to perceive that by so doing they would greatly shorten the hard time of treatment and training and save the child much suffering. All too often one feels almost in despair when all persuasion fails to gain the mother's consent to a measure one knows to be best for both mother and Child. Sometimes loneliness. boredom. or heglect may lead the child to seek coni-

fort in bad habits, and the possibility of some abnormal state in his surroundings should be thought of and faced if necessary. Any sources of irritation, internal or external, may excite the formation of bad habits, and should be looked for, and treated, if present, by a doctor. Possible conditions of this nature are intestinal worms or other parasites, uncleanliness, tight foreskin, chronic indigestion, constipation, diseased adenoids or tonsils, etc. Good Nutrition. Lastly, there is the matter of good, allround nutrition —and perhaps this should have come first, for the very best safeguard against undesirable habits is allround good health and happiness. The child who is really fit, whose home surroundings are wholesome and happy, and whose mind is occupied with the healthy play and companionship natural to his age rarely indeed constitutes a problem. It is the nervous, unstable children who are specially liable to become the victims of bad habits., and poor nutrition, mismanagement. spoiling, or erratic treatment are the leading causes of nervousness and instability. Thus we have the key to the underlying general treatment in all such cases. Build up the general health with good food suited to the child's digestion, regularity in all things, abundance of vigorous exercise, and the healthy stimulation of outdoor air, sunshine, and cool water. These things will almost certainly assure abundance of sound sleep and proper action of the bowels. In addition give him companions suited to his age. and calm, firm, loving, but unemotional management, and then watch results. The effect of such treatment wisely and consistently given to a nervous. highly-strung child, full of tricks and possibly definite bad habits, is so striking as never to be forgotten once seen. Masturbation. Mdutur'bation, or the habit of rubbing the genital organs, may commence in babyhood. and is not uncommon with both boys and girls. In one series of 39 cases five were under 12 months and six in the second year. In little girls irritation of the vulva may be present, and the scratching this causes may lead to the habit of masturbation. In boys any local irritation or friction of the parts may be a predisposing cause. Whilst tightness of the foreskin is bad, and should be examined by a doctor and treated by operation if necessary, when considering the question of circumcision in general the harmful effects of too great an exposure of the delicate, sensitive membrane must always b.e remembered. The irritation of the clothing in such case may be more likely to predispose to the formation of a bad habit, Mothers should be careful to see that little pants for both boys and girls are not too short in the body or too tight in the fork. Excessive acidity of the urine may be a factor, and also thread worms. The habit is practised in many different ways, and the mother should unobtrusively investigate any unusual motion regularly repeated or any undue concentration or abstraction on the part of the child. Sometimes the thighs are constantly rubbed together, or the body is worked to and fro on the scat, or the vulvar region is pressed against the corner of a chair, or the hands are pressed against the part. The child is generally pre-occupied when practising the habit, becomes flushed, and may be excited and show beads of perspiration on the forehead. He may then cross the thighs, throw the head back, and become pale. A sort of grunting may accompany the practice, and mothers frequently consider this an evidence that the child is in pain. Indeed the behaviour may even be attributed to internal distress, or a fit, or some kind of nervous seizure. The child is often somewhat exhausted afterwards, and sleepy, and this may be a cause of the continuance of the habit. An older child, if questioned, may frankly state that, it cannot sleep without indulging in the habit. The mother should be specially watchful during the period between going to bed and going to sleep, and between waking and rising, as these are the times when the habit may become established unobserved.

The chief result is depression of the general health from repeated slight exhaustion, and the child becomes pale, lacking in vivacity, and often peevish and nervous. In later life it may be seriously harmful in increasing sexual excitability. but never in any circumstances should it be regarded in young children as a crime or a moral offence, and it must not be treated as such. The best line is to treat it as a gross breach of good manners. At any age the parent's attitude should be unemotional, calm, confident, and firm. The ease of treatment depends largely on early recognition. If detected in infancy it is seldom hard to cure. The child should be checked and prevented from indulging in the habit on all possible occasions by constant vigilance, keeping him happy, busy, and interested in proper subjects. The general health, tone, and vigour need building up in every possible way. so that energetic play may be followed by quick sleep. Needless to say. all causes of possible local irritation should be looked for and removed. Let the child know that the practice is an act of disobedience, but do not punish or scold. Throw every effort into building up its own resistance and gaining its co-operation. Avoid talking about the matter in the child’s presence, and especially avoid giving it importance in the child’s own mind as horrible, wicked, or interesting. (To be continued.)