HOME HEALTH GUIDE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 8, Issue 45, 2 February 1945, Page 2

HOME HEALTH GUIDE

BOLTING THE FOOD (By the Department of Health). lliis habit of bolting food when 3 r ou're young and hungry has, in our probably earned most, of us a smart rap across the knuckles or a curt reprimand. In toddlers the tendency .is natural enough but it is not and solicitous par.ents see in it an oblique rejection on their instruction in table manners.. It can be curbed without resort to direct action. Bailies suck down their food f(/o six or nine months before they on to anything like solid meals find when foods re.quii% chewing areygiven t.o them they want to go on fucking them down —bolting them 'or if they don't like them, spitting'them out. Bolting of food at toddler age does not give enough exercise ! to the

jaws } and teeth consequently lose that stimulus to correct growth that spacing in rounded jawbones that comes from i.ienty of chewing. Healthy children are more hungry than and consequently their saliva flows faster. This facilitates the bolting of food, because it is well lubricated. You know yourself that y<j3u eat faster when hungry and you (pan eat things you like' | faster tharji those you dislike because' the--ilow of saliva comes more readily.-' A"good way to correct the bolting habit is to include some foods that require chewing that slow the toddler up when, he is rushing a meal. Try appies, raw carrots baked or dry rusks. These require some effort to get down, and will keep those small jaws working naturally and healthfully. And start tliis treatment as soon as you can before bolting food becomes too strongly entrenched as a habit.