OUR BABIES.

Waikato Times, Volume 106, Issue 17803, 30 August 1929, Page 5

OUR BABIES.

(By Hygeia.) Published under the auspices of the Royal New Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children (Plunket Society). “It is wiser to put up a fence at the top of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom.’’ Winter. The three main features of winter weather as it generally affects childl ren are, broadly speaking, (1) lack of . sunshine, (2) tendency to cooping up , indoors and consequent lack of fresh [ air and stimulation as well as sunshine, and (3) lower atmospheric ' temperature. This last is in itself healthy and stimulating; only under L conditions where children are soft and coddled does it predispose to the coughs and colds and other ailments | for which it is commonly blamed. ■ The EXTects of Cooping Children Up. i The scientific and medical discover- ■ ies and revelations of the last 15 years ■ (especially of the last five or ten : years) have shown conclusively that , the normal nutrition, development, , and health of children is seriously . impaired toy the various artificial re- • strictions and the sedentary life im- ; posed on children nowadays on account of people living so much in- . doors. This is very injurious and ; enervating for us all, but the damage | is specially serious in the case of children. The younger the child the more gravely is it injured by anything that interferes with the process of normal arderly growth and development. Growth and Good Nutrition. Up to six years of age the most important thing for the present and future of the young child is that all parts and organs of its body shall grow and increase in their due order and proportions. The parents may say their seven-year-old boy or girl is “ strong, active, and full weight for age” ; but what about the effects on the future man or woman if the first teeth decayed on account of being badly nourished, and some of the second, permanent set) the teeth which ought to last sound and good for 60 or 70 years) are already beginning to decay on account of-poor nutrition? It is extremely unfortunate for children that the whole habits, laws, and customs of our modern civilisation conspire to coop them up and imprison them indoors, when Nature intended them to be playing about freely and joyously for most of the daytime in the open air and sunlight—getting plenty of active exercise and laying down the foundations for strong, capable minds in sound, enduring bodies. The injury done by such devitalising customs and habits is naturally greatest in winter and early spring. When the days are short, there is little sunshine, and rain makes outings difficult, even in the best regulated families. The question is: What can be done in the direction of counteracting the tendency to poor nutrition, coughs, colds, adenoids, and rickets, fostered by chilly sunless days? Supplementing the Diet of Children In Winter. Fortunately something can be done in this direction by giving children subjected to these conditions a daily allowance of suitable fats and oils—notably, cod liver oil and bone mar-row-—-as an adjunct to the ordinary diet. Cod liver oil has long been recognised as a valuable food, but we now know that it contains a very rich and reliable supply of the “ sunshine factor,” or vitamin D, which is so essential for good health in childhood. It has been scientifically and literally given the name of “ bottled sunshine,” and we know that it, and certain otlher fats and oils, lend to counteract ailments and diseases due largely to lack of stimulation by the sun’s rays during the comparatively sunless period of winter and early spring. However, children are apt to suffer from a dislike of or inability to deal with extra fat or oil in the ordinary forms, sometimes especially so during the season of coughs and colds, when they most need it. Consequently it is best given in the form of an emulsion, which should be very finely homogenised so as to place no tax on the digestive organs. Karll Emulsion. Many of our mothers have been in the habit of giving Plunket Emulsion or Kariol (which is specially prepared for baby feeding) to the older children. There was no objection to this, but, in order to meet the special needs of older children in the direction we have indicated, and to place an entirely reliable foo’d product having the special properties required within the reach of mothers at a strictly moderate price, the Karitane Products Society is now making a special emulsion for older children. This is known as Karil Emulsion. It consists of specially selected fats and oils and certain proportion of malt extract and other sugars. The fats aim mostly cod liver oil and bone marrow; the latter has some nutrition-promoting qualities which make it a highly desirable complement to the cod liver oil. The emulsion is very finely homogenised —in fact, the fat particles are not more than a hundredth of the size of the fat particles in cow’s milk.

A Food, not a Medicine.

It must be clearly understood that we recommend this emulsion definitely solely, and simply as a food to supplement the ordinary diet of the child, more particularly in the winter and spring, and not as a medicine. Neither the Plunket Society nor the Karitane Products Society has anything to do with the advocacy or use of drugs or medical preparations of any kind. Our province is the promotion of normal nutrition and growth and the maintenance of health and fitness by simple, natural means. All of the preparations issued by the Karitane Products Society with any exception are simply food preparations of the highest grade, made with a view to the special requirements of the growing child. Karil Emulsion is procurable from any of the Plunket Rooms throughout the country, and the Plunket Nurses wil be .pleased to give any further information about it, and to advise as to the amount to give and so on. Apart from Diet— We must not leave the impression, however, that the mere giving of some cod liver oil or emulsion daily 'will /compensate for deficiencies in the or-

dinary diet if that is lacking in the essential components for good nutrition. Nor will it take the place of adequate exerrjise, sensory stimulation, and rest, in general, of course, the best way of preventing winter ailments, is to bring up the child from infancy onwards to be hardy and strong, and resistive alike to infections and to changes in external temperature. But we may certainly supplement other measures by giving a due allowance of “ bottled sunshine ” in suitable form when natural sunshine is scarce.