OUR BABIES.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1836, 23 August 1913, Page 11

OUR BABIES.

[BY Etgbu.T Published under tho auspices of th« Socioty for tho Health of Women arid Children. "It is wiser to put up x fenco at tho top of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at tho bottom." ; MASTICATION. The following from Dr. Harry Campball is of interest:— . MEANS OP ENSURING EFFICIENT MASTICATION. In order to secure the full advantages accruing from the tiso of tho jaws and their appendages, it is above all necessary for them to be adequately exercised during the period of development. If this is. done the masticatory instinct will establish itself as a permanent force, so that the individual will tend for the rest of his life'to subject even soft-foods to thorough 'mastication. The tongue, the lips, andj the jaws of the nowly-born child, find their natural exercise at the mother's breast, "and we should therefore do our utmost to get the mother to suckle her child. If, unliappily, we fail in this, we must see that the teat of the feedingbottle is so constructed as to compel the child . to earn his meal by, n.t rate, some exercise. Directly the disposition to bite hard things is manifested, for instinct —for instinct it is—should be gratified. Tho iastinct becomes mors and more pronounced as the time for tho.eruption of the teeth approaches. It is now more than ever necessary to provide tho child with hard substances on which to exercise his jaws and gums. A great deal of tho trouble of teething is due to the disregard or the ignorance of- this fact. What, then, aro we to employ for tho purpose? Though ivory, corai, and the like hard smooth substances may be useful in their way, it is far better to give tho child

something wOiich is not only hard, but also nutritious and pleasant to the taste —something jvhich will at one and the same time exercise the ohewing apparatus, excite the taste organs, and provide a certain amount of nutriment. To this end we may, as the teething time approaches, give a chop or a chicken bone from which practically all the meat has been removed. From such bones a small amount of nutriment can be extracted, and this_ of a kind most acceptable to the infant stomach, for we must not forget that the young human. being is essentially carnivorous. Chicken tind chop bones, yielding as they'do to the . pressure of the gums, ore, moreover, just the right consistence for the purpose in view. By thus providing. the masticatory apparatus with suitable cxerciso wo shall do much to facilitate the eruption of the teeth and tho growth of the jaws 'and their appendages (including the salivary glands), and so to prepare the mouth for the reception of vegetable food. _ This should, of course, not be given until the teeth appear, and it should be noted that the order in which thoso make their appearance 1 gives some indication as to tho time to administer' vegetable food to the child. ■ WHEN TO BEGIN GIVING STARCHY FOOD.

The lower incisors are first erupted (seventh to.eighth month) then follow the upper incisors (seventh to tenth month). Those teeth enable the child to bite, but not, be it observed, to masticate, for which function the molars are necessary. Now,, the first molars do not with us appear until the twelfth to the fourteenth month, and it seems certain therefore that our primitive ancestors, unless they cut their molars earlier, could not have obtained starch in any quantity until they had reached this age.. These considerations suggest the desirability of not giving more than the smallest quantity of starch (before the twelfth month. Before the twelfth month we should bo careful to give the child its limited supply of starch in a form compelling vigorous mastication. If given, as is the custom, in tho liquid or pappy form, it frill pass down as crude starch into the stomach, and will bo likely to cause indigestion; but if wo select a form which obliges the child to chew properly, not only will tho jaws, teeth, and the gums obtain tho exercise for which they crave, and without which they cannot properly develop, but muoh of the starch will be converted in tho mouth into maltose. Nothing can be more foolish than to upset the child's digestive system by deluging it. with liquid starch, and then seek to make it well by ordering it (as is so frequently done) malt extract—the very substance—i.e., maltose—which the child can, and ought to, manufacture within the laboratory of its mouth.

Tliero is only one way io develop tlie masticatory instinct in a child, and that is to give him food which obliges him to masticate. It is mere waste of words to tell him to cliefr his food properly; and to blame him for gobbling it is as unjust as it is foolish. The blame, if any thorn bo, attaches not to the child, but to thoso Who are responsible for his irrational dietary. All that is needful is to givo the child from an early period foods which compel mastication. Many peoplo ore under the mistaken impression that if the young child is given solid food ho will be likely to ohoko; but of this theru is no danger if ho is given hard things from tho beginning. It is only when, by pap-feeding, his normal masticatory instinct has been kept in abeyance, and the habit of bolting the food lias been acquired, that any danger is to be apprnhonded on this score. Evon then it ifl

but remote, and can bo veailily overcome by judicious handling. IN WHAT FORM SHOULD STARCH BE GIVEN? Starch, then, should bo given to tho child in a solid awl somewhat tough form, euch as braadcrust. Loaves should be shaped so as to give a maximum of crust, and should bo baked hard. A well-baked orubt, cut in a suitable 'form, and spread with butter, hacoii-l'at, 01 dripping, constitutes a very acceptable and wholesomo morsel. When by such means as theso the child's instinct to musticale has had tho proper opportunity to develop, we may allow a certain-amount of soft starchy fobd, such as porridge, boiled potatoes, milk pudding, and tho like; and these be will now bo likely to subject to some-' thing iiko adequate mastication., which will tend to tmtlgato the evils associated with such food. Wli-en a child has learned to masticate thoroughly •ho can be given nuts.

Though animal food docs not need pro longed- mastication, it is; whern cooked, all the better for a certain amount .of it, owing to the coagulation of the proteids; and in order to ensure the efficient mastication of meat, lish, and poultry, by children, Dr. Sim Wallaoe recommends that these foods Should bo given in largo pieces, cut thin, "flat pieces, about one inch square, generally necessitate a tain amount of mastication. It is difficult to swallow largb flat pieces of meat without mastication, but • when finely minced little or no mastication is caJled forth." The .younger tho child the moro underdone should the meat be.