OUR BABIES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 192, 15 August 1931, Page 14 (Supplement)

OUR BABIES

THE DUMMY. We have been asked co publish once again an article on the dummy—the unspeakable dummy” as it has been celled; but, unspeakable or not, it must be spoken of until at Las, uno body <•! 'fie public is alive to its ‘ uasp mkablc ness.” i As the years go by we certainly see Kiss of this false friend of mothers an j babies; but it lurks yet m every chemist, s shop and in an too many hoims — indeed, it is still boldly displayed here aud there. One still sees babies oi til ages, their beauty marred n/ this disfiguring thing. Do mothers see the dummies m their narfies' mouths? One can only suppose they do not, that their lovi.'g eyes behold only the baby. But those whose eyes have been opened to the evil the dummy almost blots out the baby, it looms so large as a meiaee anti a shame We may imagine the lummy a crafty, plausible fellow. He suggests to the har c ssed mother in the early weeks, “Why have all this bother wi h baby? lust pop me in Dis mouth and he’Ji be quite contented. It’s ail uors»nse to say I cause oad teeth and adenoids. Look at all thorn babies you know who have had dummies—’Ley’re all right. And remember M'S FoundSo’s baby—he never had a dummy, bnhe had adenoids. You can ke?p me very clean. And, anyhow, you must have a little peace!” . So—perhaps against the mother’s better judgment at first—the dummy is given, and, seeing no evident ill-ex-fects, conscience and reason are lulled to sleep, and one more baby joins th«_ ranks of tho dummy-suckers. The dummy is the ally of thougatiossnesi. mismanagement, and indolence < t “can’t-be-so-eruel ” parents, who prefer peace at any price to habit and character training. Wake Up! New Zealand Parents. In 1926 the Government of France prohibited the manufacture of dummies by law. No Government would legis|lat~ to prohibit a perfectly harmless j article, a true comforter and mother’s 1 friend. There must be something, then, in what is said. Let us not lie down ■ under a charge of thoughtlessness ana I mismanagement, but find out tho facts. 1 and, having found them, act. In Now I Zealand we should be able to pricticj ally abolish the dummy of our own free will if all parents considered the matter broadly and impersonally, and then applied what they found to be true to their own families. What Are the Facts? Tho indictment against the dummy is that it docs predispose and tend to 1. Deformities of the jaws,' palate, ’ and adjacent parts. During early childhood all the bones ’ are soft and easily moulded for good or I ill. Once childhood is passed no influence can entirely correct deformities acquired during the growing time, think of what happens when the dummy is constantly sucked. Try sucking any thing yourself for a moment or two, and notice the steady pressure exerted upwards and forwards on the front and roof of the mouth. Imagine this going on hour after hour in the baby’s mouth with its soft, growing bones! Can you seriously contend that there will be no effect on the mouth and jaw? Djrsh’: reason insist that the tendency must be ' towards narrowing and pointing of the arch of the jaw, which should be round and broad? Moreover, the small bones and the important airway at the back of the nose and mouth are necessarily involved in any general alteration in the normal shape of the mouth and jaw. 2. Irregularities of the teeth. This is tho natural result of narrowing and pointing of tho arch of efie jaw. The most common fault is prominence of the front teeth, crowding, aud overlapping. 3. Mouth breathing and adenoids. Watch a baby sucking a dummy, more especially when it is dropping off to sleep. Spasmodically he sucks vigorously for a few moments; between whiles the sucking becomes feeble, a sort of licking process, with the mouth haU’-Gpen, so that one can see the ia/.y lij’-.'e topping tongue. Finally, the baby fulls asleep, the dummy half in and half ou 4 . oi his mouth, or perhaps it falls rL;ht out. In either case ll.c lips remain parted, and there eouid s'rareci) be p more ideal method of ..etui.' g ~ne habt‘ of mouth breathing. Mout’r br?a“’iing leads to ucn-uso of the ’ natural air passages at ths back of -he , •lose, which become nar.-M/3.i and ihnourished, ripe and ready for die growth of adenoids and other troubles. Anyone who imagines the dummy helps to keep the mouth closed has never observed the habits of the real duuimysucker. 4. Impairment of the digestion. Saliva is meant to be mixed with and swallowed with food. Normally a flow is called forth by the taking of food into the mouth. Similarly taking of food and the exercise of the functions of the jaws and mouth stimulate the flow ot other digestive juices designed .o deal with the meal. Constant exercise of these functions, as in inveterate dummy-sucking, means a dribbling away and wasting of secretions which should be reserved for the digestion of food. Sometimes matters are made worse by sugar or honey or other sweet stuff being put upon the dummy. It is easy to see how the digestion may be more or less upset in this way. 5. It is dirty and dangerous as a possible carrier of disease germs. Could every mother see but once I through a microscope the composition of; the dust which collects on lhe dummy, , or the state of the floor on which its 1 moist surface rests when it falls from the baby’s moutn. or the condition of her own mouth when she pops the dummy in to “clean” it before returning it to the baby’s mouth, sho would probably be unimaginably shocked and horrified. At any rate she would realise that the dummy is always a potential source of danger. It is only the baby 's great natural resistiveness, with which he has been endowed to protect him from his unseen enemies, the germs of disease, which in the great majority of cases prevents disaster. But is it safe, or is it fair, to expose him to unnecessary risks? 6. It is ugly, and spoils the appear ance of the inoat beautiful baby. No silver mountings, no gold chains, can make the “unspeakable” dummy anything but a blemish and a disfigurement. Should we admire the appearance of an adult going about with a good-sized “comforter” sticking out of his or her mouth? We simply fail to see them in our babies’ mouths. Mothers, notice the dummy! Can you by any stretch of the imagination say it enhances the baby’s charm?