OUR BABIES

Waikato Independent, Volume XXXIII, Issue 3046, 31 August 1933, Page 3

OUR BABIES

(By “Hygeia.”)

Published under the auspices of the Royal New Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children (Plunket Society). DANGERS IN THE NURSERY. The following extracts from Sir Bruce Porter’s lecture on “The Dangers of Tradition in the Nursery.” throw up extremely important points iri a .delightful way. We arc extraordinarily prone to fall into the error of blindly following tradition and hearsay in and out of the nursery, and these simple statements arc refreshing and stimulating. ' The first of the nursery traditions with which the lecturer deals is that of “Growing Out of It.” He says: “Perhaps the commonest and most serious of the traditional nursery sayings is, ‘Oh, he will grow out of it,’ when some childish ailment or weakness manifests itself. We must grasp the important fact that the fate of man and woman, both physical and mental, depends on the care taken in childhood, and the first five years are the most important of this important period. It is a matter of common sense. A plant or an animal soor reverts to a poor state if left to run wild in its early days. It must be properly fed and protected from the dangers peculiar to its race. A little care at the beginning saves serious trouble later on. When starting out on a sea voyage the earlier you depart from your correct course the farther you will get from .YOU|r intended destination as the days go by. So it is on the sea of life. We grow into habits of ill-health, not out of them. .lust as cities need surveyors to watch their growth and chock errors, so should the human city be inspected. Nothing is more tragic (from a doctor’s as well as a patient’s point of view) than to examine a patient for some ailment and to find evidence of serious and permanent damage which could have been found and corrected by earlier

examination, and which was probably not even suspected. The whole character of a man or woman may be influenced by physical defect contracted during childhood. Growing Pains. “The common statement that children have growing pains is responsible for more chronic heart disease in adults than anything else. Growing piains are rheumatism, and the focus of infection should be sought and removed. If this were always done we should be saved much, subsequent cry. Many cases of heart trouble are accidentally discovered, as in the case of the boy who came up for medical examination for some important post, and whose heart was found to be affected. He had had rheumatism as a child, and his septic tonsils had been removed, not on account of the harm they had done his heart, but because of local trouble in his throat. If a child looks out of sorts, have the temperature taken and the cause hunted for. Treating a child properly, and having it weighed and measured twice yearly by a doctor will not make it introspective or hypochordriacal. Its heart and lungs can be sounded at the same time and the chest expansion measured, as is done in some institutions now. “Another harmful tradition is that bilious attacks occurring at rather long intervals are merely ‘chills oir the liver,’ and can be neglected. They are frequently due to inflammation of the appendix, and be seriously treated treated. Fainting attacks, too, should be most carefully investigated. “Another tradition of the nursery is that all children are naturally righthanded. Quite a lot of people are naturally left-handed, arid to try to make a child with a left-handed brain into a right-handed person is to upset its nervous system. Stuttering and kindred symptoms may result. Caring for the Baby Teeth. “Many parents still think that care of the milk teeth is unnecessary. This is a source of grave danger. Germs breeding in the cavities of temporary teeth will infect the tonsils and digestive tract, with all the evils of such infection. Milk teeth should be as

carefully looked after as the permanent ones. ‘ ‘ Habits of health, as well as those* , of character, must be formed in the earliest years, and most of the teaehf . irig must bo done by example. It is not use trying to teach tidiness, and cleanliness by talking. It must be done by;’ having clean and tidy nurses and nurseries. Cleanliness of person and habits is of vast importance. If a child is taught by having its hands washed before and after meals that this little function is really important" it will be spared quite a lot df risks in later life.”