Keeping the Children Well in the Rummer Fime

Ladies' Mirror, Volume 4, Issue 8, 1 February 1926, Page 61

Keeping the Children Well in the Rummer Fime

' | 'HE summer season is a trying time to all of us. The changes of weather and temperature and, still more, the alteration in surroundings and diet to which most of us look forward at this time, have a distinctly disturbing influence, especially on the younger members of the community. Before describing how to deal with the special summer ailments of children, it will be as well to mention the modifications in diet and dress which, if carefully attended to, will help to keep the little ones happy, and free from illness, throughout the holiday season.

Many children get cross and irritable through over exertion, and, in consequence, the digestion cannot cope with the work it is called upon to do. Half-an-hour or twenty minutes’ rest in a darkened room before the mid-day meal will prove beneficial. If in the open air, a dark sunshade should be used to shade the face whilst the child is sleeping. Gfood 171 pot Weather OROADLY speaking, less food and ■*-* more water are required. In planning an ideal summer diet, the bacon fat at breakfast and some of the dripping or butter at breakfast and tea should be replaced by lettuce, watercress or mustard and cress, but not, of course, for children under eighteen months of age. Vegetables contain valuable salts,

and for this reason they are very good for the blood: they are a most essential part of the diet, at any time of the year. Carrots, parsnips, peas, beans and onions and potatoes are all good, but it is very important indeed that they should be well and carefully mashed. Children require less meat in summer. Poultry one day, fish another; this can be served with sauce made with milk or cheese, which, if grated, is easily digested. A little cream cheese spread on bread is also good for a change, provided the child is not inclined to be “livery.” It is more nourishing than red meat, containing

an amount of flesh-forming substance. Marmite spread on brown or white bread is good for quite tiny children, for it contains valuable vitamines. Stewed fruit with plenty of juice, but without pips, skin or seeds, is excellent for youngsters. From four or five years of age children may be allowed raw fruit, sometimes even between meals, but a special caution is necessary here in the case of bananas. These form an excellent food for children, but because they are soft and slippery, they are apt to be swallowed in chunks. Unless we are sure that the child chews them up thoroughly, bananas should only be served mashed. Only sound fruits of any kind should be given, and if not skinned should always be washed.

CjfoCfest the unity ofzMill WE come now to rather a different subject. How can we be sure when at the seaside or elsewhere on holiday that the children are getting really good milk? First notice the man who delivers the milk and the condition of his vehicle; also whether he is clean and careful in handling the milk. Never be satisfied with a secondrate supply. If you are suspicious that the milk has been deprived of cream, the following simple test may be applied. Take a 6-oz. glass medicine bottle with twelve marks for doses on it. Stir up the milk gently so as to get a fair sample and put ten “doses” of it into the bottle. Cork and stand aside for twenty-four hours. The layer of cream at the top should fill at least three-quarters of a dose; otherwise, the milk is deficient in cream. Artificial colouring matter if present will colour the milk more than the cream, whereas natural yellowness affects the cream more than the milk. What to Tiring THE question of how much milk is really good for children often seems to be a difficult one, but here is a simple rule which may be followed. One pint of milk in the day is about the right amount for all healthy children, after infancy, all the year round, this pint including any milk taken in puddings and custards during the day. Last thing at night milk makes rather a heavy drink. Water or lemonade, made with lemons and not aerated, is preferable, or perhaps a little broth or soup, if the evening is chilly. Indeed, during the summer plenty of fresh water may be given, so long as it is not swallowed in gulps—it flushes out the system and helps to rid the blood of impurities. Thirst is often mistaken for hunger in infants, when frequent sips of pure cold water would satisfy the child. In consequence, the stomach becomes overloaded with food that

cannot be digested, either on account of the superfluous quantity, or else its unsuitability. Sickness may result, and diarrhoea occur, possibly both, but so long as the symptoms do not continue too long, no great alarm need be felt; they may be regarded as Nature’s safeguard, and as soon as the unwelcome nourishment has been rejected all will be well again. To make recovery complete, however, it is advisable to take every precaution. Rummer (slothing A BOUT clothing in summer there -L*- are also a few points which are worthy of note. In spite of the fact that the old methods of covering the unhappy child in several layers of thick garments is now out of date, we must all remember to our cost that this fashion died hard, and still holds a wide sway in the case of infants. Insufficient clothing is very seldom indeed the cause of a chill or a “cold.” The error is far more frequently on the side of over-clothing and over-heating. The “cold” is an indoor disease: air and light are its worst enemies. Clothes should therefore always be light and porous, and so long as a child is comfortably warm, we may be sure that its health will not suffer through want of covering. The best safeguard against chills is to clothe the child in suitable undergarments. The majority of mothers will change the child’s entire clothing if it has been soaked with rain, but comparatively few realise how important it is to change the clothes that are soaked with perspiration. If this is done and the child’s body is given a brisk rubbing with a soft towel it will seldom catch a cold. Remove damp shoes and stockings. Young children need as much fresh air as possible, at night time especially, and should never sleep in beds that have not been properly aired. It is a wise plan when possible to take baby’s cot with him—it not only makes the baby more “at home” but safeguards him against possible infection.