TALKS ON HEALTH

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 53, 4 March 1939, Page 3

TALKS ON HEALTH

hints on baby care If you have beedi blessed with a tiny, helpless baby, who is solely dependent on you for its health and happiness, will you do me the favour of reading the following hints on a variety of points? Baby's vests must be longsleeved and high-necked. Remember that the lungs extend above the collarbone and all round under the arms to the back, and that low necks and short sleeves favour bronchitis. Napkins should never be put on without being rinsed through and thoroughly dried. Do not use soda or washing powder, as they cause chafing. A mixture ofstarch powder and zinc powder is best for baby’s use. You must put the baby to sleep in a separate bed; every week numbers of infants arc overlaid. Guard Against Cold. Infants are particularly susceptible to cold, especially in the feet. Get an india-rubber hot-water bottle, wrap it in a blanket, and use that to keep the baby’s feet warm. Of course, you must see that the bottle is not to hot and that it is well covered; you do not want the baby’s feet to touch the hot bottle. It is a mistake to drink stout, in belief that, it will help the flow of milk. That is nonsense, and is a relic of the days when the Sairey Gamps would order stout for the nursing mother and then drink it. themselves. Drink milk. Bottles with long indiarubber tubes are death-traps. Boatshaped bottles with an opening at each end so that they can be washed through are the best. The Stooping Child. A stoop in a growing child should be carefully corrected as soon a$ it is noticed, or it, will become a habit. The head must, be held up and the shoulders back so as to allow of full expansion of the chest. The chest is really a bony box or cage containing the lungs and heart. But the cage is not made entirely of bone in a growing child; part of the skeleton is gristle. Now this gristle is soft and can be bent into bad shapes by a stooping attitude, and as the child grows the gristle disappears and gives place to hard bone which cannot be bent; it is permanently fixed. And now you sec the importance of setting the bony cage in the right shape so that, it may remain in that shape for ever. Mothers and Infants The only real food for an infant is mother’s milk. A moment's thought would convince you of it. The universe is so well arranged, the human body is such a marvel, the eye, the ear, the brain, and all the organs of the body are such marvellous pieces of living mechanism -how could the demands of the growing infant be forgotten or arranged on an inferior plan? Of course mother's milk is the best, and do not be put off with something that, is “just as good." An inquiry was carried out in a large town in France into the health of a thousand babies were divided into two groups—those who had been nursed by their mothers, and those who had been brought up on some substitute. It was conclusively proved that, the mother’s babies were much healthier (han the chemist’s shop babies. The Next Best Thing I know quite well there arc mothers who cannot nurse their little ones. It is sad. The growing infant is deprived of the one food which is necessary to give it. full vigour and health. The next best thing to mother's milk is cows milk. Infants arc such peculiar little mortals that, it is not always possible to hit on the right kind of mixture to suit them. It is best to begin with a mixture of one part milk to three of water, gradually increasing the amount, of milk and decreasing the water. If many undigested curds of milk are passed through the body the amount of milk should be slightly decreased. Eat Slowly One of the most pressing rules for: to-day is to eat slowly. If it is hard enough to get food, if. is doubly important to derive all the nourishment out of it when we do get it. If we eat. fast, the food is not masticated, and half of is wasted. The stomach cannot cope with ill-masticated lumps; the lumps pass on without being converted into good flesh and blood. It is not enough that mother should stagger home with a bag laden with food, not enough that it should be well cooked, not enough that it should be put in the mouth —it must be digested. And that’s where you all make a big mistake. You think that as long as the food is rammed down somehow into you insides all will be well. Write it up in large letters over the dining-room mantel piece: “Eat Slowly." Occupation for Convalescents

One of Ihe difficulties of those in charge of a convalescent patient is to keep him amused during the weeks that he has to spend in bed. Say a man has been run over and has a broken leg. Well, for the first few days the pain will be quite enough to keep him amused—if you think that is the right word. But soon the pain will have gone, and all he has to do is to sit in bed waiting for the bone to unite once more. You must try all sorts of new and original ideas. Do not laugh at the idea of a man doing needlework. I know it will make you smile to think of your old Bill darning the heel of your stocking for you. But, all the same anyone who has been in a military hospital will know quite well that many men found relief from the unbearable tedium of lying in bed by working at embroidery, or matmaking, or some job.