OUR BABIES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16449, 10 June 1921, Page 9

OUR BABIES.

(By “ HYGETA.”) Published under the auspices cf (be Kovel New Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children. " It is wiser to put up a fence at tho top of a prccipico than fo maintain an ambulance at tho bottom.’’ THE DIET OF YOUNG CHILDREN. Recently I gave a standard typical day’s food suitable for an average child at"three years of age; but I explained that no fixed feeding table could be given which would be entirely suitable for all children of the same age and weight under all circumstances. 'The following are some of the factors which, have to be taken into consideration:

(1) The Child Itself. —One child of a given age and weight will need mor6 or less than, another for its proper sustenance and growth without our necessarily being able to account for the difference, any more than we con account for similar differences in adults. In other words, the food requirements of a child do not depend solely on its age. size and weight. Some children can digest and utilise foods more completely than others, and this becomes more and more marked as we depart from Nature’s most completely assimilable form of food—namely, the mother’s milk. (2) The Season and tho Weather. ; —ln cold, invigorating weather the appetite and the need for food are both greater than when it is warm and enervating. No greater mistake can be made than to try to induce ji child, against its natural inclinations, to take, on a broiling hot day in summer, what would be ix perfectly suitable diet on a clear, frosty day “in midwinter; and, even on the same day, the kind and the quality of food needed would vary according tr> whether the child was running about out of doors or, on the other hand, was inactive and confined to the house. (3) Tho habitual nature of the clothing used, day and night, and (as indicated above) tho immediate environment and activity of the child, must always ho taken into account.

, (4) Idiosyncrasy. —ln general, a standard, wholesome diet may be prescribed

as suitable for a child of a given age and weight; but a certain number of children will be found, who,fail to flourish on the average standard requirement. There are cases in which it is necessary to modify the average diet and make it conform to the idiosyncrasy of the particular child—the mother must understand that a. diet suitable for the vast majority of children ought not to be expected to agree in every particular with every child. Cane Sugar.—-Take, for instance, the use of cane sugar. Given in strict moderation, as a part of the daily diet, this is a suitable food element, in the case of most children after babyhood ; but there arc some children (“ sugar susceptifcles,” as they are called) who cannot tolerate a quarter or perhaps a tenth of the cane sugar that would be made good use of by the ordinary child—indeed, there are occasional cases in which, for a time at least, cane sugar Has to be cut out of the diet altogether. If this is not done the child may; suffer

from inflammatory disturbances of tho digestive and breathing apparatus, such as gastritis, tonsi litis, bronchitis, etc. ; or it may suffer from troublesome skin

diseases, such as eczema or nettlera sh. Porridge.—Again, some children do well when given porridge in moderation all tho year round; in the case of other children porridge tends to cause socalled “heat-spots” and disturbed digestion wheu given in warm weather: while occasionally children are met with who are upset by porridge given at any time. DISTINGUISH BETWEEN DEFIJVi ITE IDIOSYNCRASIES AND | MERE FASTIDIOUSNESS, i There are other idiosyncrticics met j with in 'children, applying to certain, j fruits, # vegetables, or other classes oi j food—individual differences which it is I the duty of parents or guardians to { take into account. But sit the some i t ime parents must be warned against the folly of encouraging or weakly allowing a child to become faddy and fastidious—they must beware of yielding to mere whims, and failing to insist, within reason, that a child ought to take simple, wholesome foodl as proi vided, or else go without for the time j being. ; Tho commonest fault; nowadays is I over-indulgence, and giving way to every passing fad, and fancy, instead of regulating tho child’s habits and food wisely and firmly. Active. healthy, normal, well-brought-up children tend to bo the reverse of particular or faddy in regard to what they get in the way of food. As the ancients said, “ Hunger is the best sauce.”

Tho only way to ensure children a good, appetite' is to give them a regular, simple, healthy, outdoor life, with plenty of exercise—avoiding pap-feed-ing, coddling and stuffy air. OVERFEEDING THE BESETTING SIN. The tendency is to overfeed rather than underfeed children at all times, and this is specially manifest in infancy and early childhood. If there is any sign of delicacy or weakness, the common idea is to try to holster up the system by giving more food ; and this is done in the very cases where indigestion and malnutrition havo actually been brought on; by taking too much. I urn often struck bv the way in which a. child will be cajoled and almost forced to go on eating, when it is quite satisfied and wants to stop: “Just one more little spoonful, darling; .just a tinv one, and that’s all.” If the mouth still fails to open the final sin of special temptation may be*>resorfed to: “Let mother puti a, little more syrup on it.” etc., etc. LITTLE AND OFTEN. Another specious excuse for forcing food on an already overworked and jaded stomach is the “ littlo and often ” fallacy. There was no more widespread error in tho nineteenth century than the nursing maxim “Little and often.” Instead of. giving food “between meals ” or increasing the frequency of meals in the case of an ailing child, there is really no tTirie when a proper interval of four or five hours should bo more rigidly observed, than during sickness. Water should bet given if the chikl”s thirsty, but not food.