OUR BABIES

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 160723, 9 August 1920, Page 5

OUR BABIES

DIRT, MUD, SAND, PAPER, AND RAG EATING. Recently a mother asked one of oar Phmket nurses about the habit of dirteating in children. A baby girl, 18 months old, said to be healihy-looking, was breast-fed for three months. She is said to have a strong objection to solid food, and practically lives on milk. She drinks plenty of water. “Since able to walk and find her way about she has had a mania for eating dirt, which she eats freely at every opportunity. Her bowels are regular.” A few months ago I received the following letter from a mother in the country;— “I am wondering if you can give ns any solution in your baby column as to why children eat mud, clay, and sand. Is there some need in their system? “My little boy is sixteen months old, and is fed according to ‘the book,’ as we, mothers call it. At that age he should, sleep all through the night, should he not?— that is, from 6 p.m. to about 6 a.m. “Baby often wakes between 10 and 11 pun., and, in spite of a good tea, will not sleep again till I feed him with, milk. Sometimes he sleeps till 1 or 3 a.m., and then till 7.30. “Thanking you iu anticipation.—l am, etc. “P.S.—I meant to tell yon that baby will even lick tho wheels of his go-cart for mud, and lick the gravel stuff dropped on the floor. It is not safe to leave him in a sand-box; he eats so much of it,” This subject was dealt with fully in our column in 1913 on account of several letters of inquiry. I cannot do better than quote one of these former articles, as the comments made at that time will be equally helpful to mothers struggling with this difficulty to-day. LETTER ON EARTH-EATING. “Reader” writes:— “l have a wee baby aged 13 mouths. She has Been very delicate, and suffered from bronchitis and then cholera when five months old. She went to a skeleton, weighing only 111b when seven months old. Now she is strong and well, quite plump, and walks everywhere; but since she started to walk she has been eating earth. First she started on the earth in my flowerpots, which had a dressing of soot ; but now I often get her with a lump half as large as an egg, eating and enjoying it. Do what 1 will I cannot stop her. Will it injure her, or docs her system require lime or salt? What should I do? I am afraid it may bring on summer cholera again. Is there any danger, and what can I do? P.S.—• She is also fond of dock leaves and seeds, always,.eating them.” Another mother wrote as follows concerning a similar case:—“l am writing to ask your advice about my baby girl, aged one year and four mouth?, who will eat dirt and stones if wc let her outside. It is distressing: to have to keep her in, because she loves to be. out.’’ COMMENT AND REPLY. Many mothers would be inclined te say that there was nothing out of the way in a baby early in its second year putting into its mouth, or even swallow? iug, anything it could lay hands on. This is line to a large extent; the normal baby docs, of course, tend to carry everything to the mouth and test it there (coal, dirt, blacking brushes, etc.), until it has learned to combine the information received through the sense of sight, touch,, and taste, etc., and s.i discriminate between what is and what is not lit to eat. In these interesting rescarcffos the older child is aided by the more or less painful ar pleasurable feelings following on the oaring of onO kind of material as compared with another: but the . baby lias less power of discrimination, and once lie has acquired a bad habit the habit is liable to provo very hard to eradicate unless dealt with promptly and thoroughly. In older children a morbid habit allowed to persist and develop for a time may defy all subsequent efforts to over* come it. Thus “biting the nails to the quick” may grow into a life habit. 1 remember a case of the kind in a singu laxly clover and attractive little girl in London who was quit; a musical genius and had the most brilliant prospects as a. violinist when approaching her teens. ?ho then became a “rail-biter.” Little was thought of the matter at first, and ■ when it was taken in hand by a physician later on all efforts at mastery failed, and the child's musical career was brought t-o a close. Dr. Stall, Professor of Diseases of Children at Ring’s College, London, says: "Ther is no period of life y at which habits are so readily established as in childhood, but, fortunately—like rank weeds, bad habits grow faster than good—childhood is a plastic age when the ruts of habit may be smoothed away and custom moulded to new tracks.”

There is some divergence of opinion in regard to the average age and the nature and prospects 0 f children who become “dirt-eaters.” Thus Dr. Holt, the leading authority ni New York, speaking from his American experience, says in his little book on the “Care of Children,” addressed to mothers and nurses: fQuestion: When are nail-biting and dirt-eating seen, and how are they to be controlled?” “Answer: These habits belong especi ally to children over three years old. (This is true as regards “nail-biting,” but “dirt-eating” generaly commences when a uaby is between one and two years of age.—Hygeia.) They are particularly seen in those who are excessively nervous or whose general health is below par, sometimes in those who develop serious nervous diseases later in life. Children with such tendencies should be closely watched, and every means used to break up these habits early. ‘Dirt-eating’ is a morbid craving, which is rarely seen in a normal chdd.” Dr. Still ays: “There was nothing in any of my fourteen cases to suggest any mental deficiency.” He summarises treatment as follows:—“ 1. Prevent the child obtaining dirt., coal, mortar, etc. 2. Improve its general health, epecially its digestion. There is no part of treatment mere valuable than a few weeks at a bracing seaside place, or, if this is not attainable, at some high-standing, breezy inland country place. At the same time it will be necessary to aid digestion by the most careful dieting. 1 ' My readers will realise that there is no condition calling for more careful attention to “What Every Baby Needs Whether Well or 111” (see page 1 of Society’s book) than the presence of morbid habits. Make the child a “healthy animal I shall deal further with the subject of morbid habits iu another column. .