OUR BABIES

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 181, 20 April 1918, Page 5

OUR BABIES

fBY HTGEIA.I Published under the auspices of the Eoyal Now ZcaJand Society for tho Health of Women and Children. "It is wiser to put uy a teni:u at the top of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom." WEIGHT. HEIGHT. AND CHEST CIECUMFERENCK OP CHILDHEN. About six months ago we published an artioic. on the weiijlu and hriglit of infants and youns children; but, as inquiries reach us from time to time with regard to the normal growth of older children, we are amplifying the informatioii given in the previous article. The following is n.n example of the letters which we receive:— i have been aatal by a friend who is uow living in-.South Africa to write to you and ask if you can g:vu any adviiss as to lua iittla girl. iU'V age is six years and eight mouths, her height aft. 9iin., and weight 47i0. He says: "She troubles us by not iiuttin^ , on weight, as ehe is oiny 21b. heavier .than she was a year ago. Asl. what one can do to make her sain weight. Sha has always been ciittlcult with tier food, and it requires a lot of patience to feed her. Her brain is very active, and she has purposely be;n kept back in her learning. Ask how her weight and height compare with others for a child of six years and eight mouths— particularly what we can lio to'make her put on weight." Weight. Weight in early infancy is dealt with in the Feeding Table, page 34, of the sociaty s book, "feeding and Care of Baby," and is graphically shown in the weirjit chart on page til. With recard to tne weight of children from the stcond year onwards, ths following quotnlions are made from Professor Halt's book on "The Diseases of Infancy and Childhood":— Weight From the Second lo the Fifth I'car. Comparatively fen innervations have been liuuiisned uiMii tut weiglu aiuini; ihitj period. Froiii ncariy lduj perbuiiai observations it uppturs iliiti the noi'iual gam of a healthy is about olb. during the second year, auout olb. during the third year, ami about 41b. during the fourth year. The actual weights are given in the large table which follows. IHu-ing tJiis period the gain is rarely uniform after the first year. With most children it is slowest, or the weight is stationary, in the summer months, while the most rapid increase is usudlly seen in autumn. '.Throughout this period girls gain in about the same ratio i>s boys, but they remain on the average nearly lib. lighter. During almost every illness, no matter of what character, the gain in weight erases, and usually there is a -loss, the rapidity and extent of which are somewhat proportionate to the severity of the attack; but it is always much more rapid in diseases of the digeelive track than in any other form of illness.

. Weight of Older Children. Tho weights given in the table of children from live to 14 years are Irom Bowttiich. Observations were made upon children of American parentage in the public schools of Bobton—upon 4J27 boys and 3081 girls. It is to be remembered that these weights include the ordinary clothing, while those below five years are without clothing.

NOTE.—The iivcrnge weight of the orclinitry house clothing of ecliool children, occordins; to Bon ditch, ie at flve years 2.81b. for both se.vjs; at seven years, 3.51b. for both sexes; at 10 years, 5.71b. for boys and 4.51b. for girls; at 13 years, 7.41b. for boys nnd 5.61b: for girls; at 16 years. 9.71b. for boys and (Ulb. for girls. This must be deducted froin the weights given in the table to obtnin the net weight. The slowest gain in weipht ir from the fifth to the eightii yenr, when it is about 41b. a year. J'rom the eighth to the eleventh yea," it rises to about 61b. a year. Up to the eleventh year the two sexes pain in about the same ratio. From the eleventh to the thirteenth year the cirls eain much more rapidly, pafslnir the boye for the firei time nnd maintaining this lead until the fifteenth year, when again the boys pass them. Height. The figured ahnium; me height at diflercut iigi-a are «i\ei. lit uib iouuwiug lauie. 'i'lus iiieuHureuieutd oi innuiu at uu-iu are Liucii jju iiUoiii t-juiil minium Horn the records of the Xew Vork ilium Asylum ana tlio Slcuiib Jiuepiuil ihey were made upon lull-term imaum-dl Uoys and 211 giria The moat rapid gain in length is in the llrst year. During Hub period uic chad grows on an average a littic over Sin, This gain is usually, but not nhviiyts, proportionate to the increase in \ve>i,i. During the second yenr the average .ncrease is 3£in. From this time on tile rate of increase is (juite uniform in both oeius until the eleventh year, lt.Ueiinj between 2n. and oin. in a year. After the eleventh year in girls and the tweltth in boys the growth is much more rapid. Jn height the girls exceed the boys at. the twelfth anil thirteenth years for the only time in their growth. In the figures given in the table those of five years and over nre taken from Bowditch, the observations being made upon the Game children as those whose weights wore taken. The observations from six months to four years inclusiveare from original sources, and lire drawn from about 500 cases The height much moro than tha weight, of children is modified by hereditary influences.' Children, who have suffered from rickets during infancy nnd early childhood arc, as ft rule, shorter than others. 1 have frequently measured such children during the third year, who were 6in. below the average for that age. The effect of malnutrition upon the length of the body is much less than upon the weight. The Chest. The measurements of the chest, given in the table, up to nnd including five years, nre from nersonal observation, li'.ose from the sixth to the sixteenth year are taken from Torter, and are drawn from observations on 31,371 school children. The measurement of the chest is that taken midway between full inspiration and expiration, and at ilie level of the nipples. . . . The chest measurement in infants is always much modified by the amount of fat; DUt, after making due allowance for this, a large chest always indicates a robust child, and a «ma-U .chest a. delicate one. If at any age the circumference of the child's chest is found to be below the average, means should be taken by gymnastics or otherwise to develop it. Table Showing Weight, Height, and Circumference of Chest from Birth to the Sixteenth Year, Circumference Height chist Weight in in Age. Sex. inlb. inches, inches. At birth. Boys' 7.5 Z0.6 13.4 Girls 7.16 20.5 . . 13.0 6 months Boys 16.0 Z5.4 16.5 Girls 15.5 25 0 16.1 12 months Boys 21.0 29.0 18.0 Girls 20.5 £8-7 \U 18 months Boys 24.0 30.0 18.5 Girls 23.0 29.7 18.0 2 years • Boys 27.0 32.5 19.0 Girls 26.0 32.5 18.5 3 years . Boys 32.0 35.0 20.1 Girls 31.0 35.0 19.8 4 years Boys 36.0 38.0 20.7 Girls 35.0 38.0 20.7 5 years Boys 41.2 41.7 21.5 Girls 39.8 41.4 21.0 6 years Boys 45.1 44.1 23.2 , Girls 43.8 43.6 22.8 7 years Boys 49.5 46.2 23.7 Girls «.O 45.9 2i-3 8 years Boys 54.5 48.2 24.4 GKrls 52.9 48.0 23.8 9 years Boys 60.0 50.1 25.1 Girls 57.5 49.6 24.5 10 years Boys 66.6 52.2 ■ 25.8 Girls 64.1 51.8 24.7 I It years Boys 72.4 54.0 26.4 Girls 70.3 53.8 25.8 12 years Boys 79.8 55.8 27.0 Girls 81.4 57.1 26.8 13 years' Boys 88.3 58.2 27.7 Girls 91.2 58.7 28.0 14 years Boys 99.3 61.0 28.8 Girls 100.3 60.3 29.2 15 years Boys 110.8 63.0 30.0 Girls 108.4 61.4 30.3 16 years Boys 123.7 65.6 31.2 Girls 113.0 61.7 30.8 The observations of Boas (Science, April, 1895) upon 4319 children over six .years old show that first-born exceed children born at a later period both in height and weight. Up to four years the weights are without clothes; at five vears and after clothes are included. Jtemo. by "Hygeia."—lt would be very interoßtins to have a similar table of the average height, weight, and chest measurement of the (hildren attending the primary schools throughout New Zealand. Such a table could easily be compiled from the observations of our medical iuspeotoid of schools. Taking the figures given in the above table, it will be seen that the little Sirl referred to in the letter compared very favourably with the American children as to weight and hpight.