OUR BABIES
TBY HYOEIA.I Published under the auspices of the Royal New Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Ch'laren. "It is wiser to put up a fence at tho top of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom." THE PRACTICE OF THUMB-SUCKING. Tho following letter was received a fow days ago:— Could you kindly give some information In reference to the practice of thunib-sucking by young Children? Dr. Pyo Chcvasse conilemns it, and indicates a cure, but Dr. Truhy King does not mention it apparently. Is It to be taken that Dr. Kinij considers jt harmless and not worth mention- > ing, and is this the modem view? If bo, why is it less harmful than dummies? Thanking you in anticipation,—Yours, K. COMMENT. I am afraid our correspondent has not studied tho Society's book, "Feeding and Care of Baby," very carefully becausa flic first of the bad hSSlts mentioned on pago 132 13. Persistent Sucking of Fingers and Clothing etc,-Often due to use of dummy. Years may elapse and irreparable harm may have been done to niouth and digestion before such habits can be Broken. In replyimr to our correspondent, I promised to republish the following letter and the answer sent to it:— LETTER. "Dear 'Hygcia,'—l have rather a soriouß problem with my youngest ohlld, aged 10 months. "All of my children have been addicted to the habit of suckitig thumbs or lingers, more of t less, so I didn't worry about this one until I saw that the habit v&s growing on her. Now I find that her uppor jaw comes further forward than the lower one, the lower teeEh, which aro small and rather closo together, going right under the upper ones instead of meeting them. Of oourse, quo can understand that this habit would have very much the same effect as a dummy. Otherwise she is it very well-developed child, and has half of her timo lived in the open air in all weathers.
"I ™ a y say that she Ims been partly little-fed (according to your instructions, ot course), but so has another one ot my umlaron, who has one of thu most beautiful sets of teeth 1 hayo ever seen—very equals jaws, and teeth with good Bpacea between thera-in Rnito of the fhet tnat he has had more soft food than the ftii? rß i l ? U( *' Owing, I suppose, to my IU-hoaith for eome months before the birth of this boy ho was very delicate, and was eiven in to more than he should Have been, although 1 always insisted on a certain amount of hard food. I don't allow my babies to have even their ceroal irom a spoon until they set quite used to liura food,
"I have compared theße two, aa they were brought ud fn the same way for the Fif ? nd , a - s tlle elllcr one save up the habit of Bucking Ilia lingers when ouiy ~? Cl ■ O"' t ' llß seems to account for the dilforcnce in the formation of their teeth and jaws. "I should like to know whether I can do anything to countcract this, or whether l can merely prevent it from becoming worse. X feel so sorry for the poor child, as it will bo a serious handicap to her health if not remedied. "Hoping you may be able to advise inc. and thanking you in anticipalion.-I am, otc.
Memo, by "Hygeia."—Our correspondent has evidently thoroughly grasped tho paramount importance to her children of the development of the masticatory instrongly W ° ft ' wasrs ' nsi6ti upon so
REPLY TO LETTER. Tho habit which your littlo girl has aoiiuired of suuking her thumb must be very worrying to you; and is, cf course, injurious to the child herself. It is often quite impossiblo to assign any cause for ono child acquiring a habit ol this kind and persisting in it, while another shows practically no such tendency. The diiiiculty of curing this weak. Bess may be very great indeed, but thcro is 110 doubt whatever that you must counteract tlio habit mid not merely keep it from getting worse. I hayo no .oubt uy any. perseverance, you will win in the end, but it mar toko somo time.
It is impossible to lay down any <ne single specific. You must try- several means, and this not merely in succession, out more or loss simultaneously. Those ought to be persisted in until you win tho fight. Tliua there aro sevoral moans by which the hands can be kept away from tlio luouth-rfor instance, by tying them to the sides or fixing them by cutting ?. hole in the end of a piUow-oaso (as desoribed, under tho heading "Eczema," in Uio seooud last paragraph of pago .117 of tho society's book, ".Feeding and Oars of Biby," 1915 edition).
In such matters one lias, of course, to be very firm and harden one's heart. I iiave soon children cured, at the Karitano Hospital, of very invetcrato ha.bitß in this way, in the course of a Bliort timo, where avcry effort at home hail failed. It cannot be said that this is due to any hardness on the rart qf tho nurses—t'ney nro qu'te the reverse of hard—but they have tho advantage of starting with a child who has not known them previously, and who, therefore, has no reason to expcct that it will get the better of them if it persists. Fho basis of this iB very clearly shown m pages 149-159 of the society's book. The truest kindness consists in determining to conquer a bad habit which lias really bee,omo a vice, ahd which must bo got rid of.
Measures which fail entirely with cno jliild sometimes succecd with another. Thus one baby may tako no notice of tho thumb being made bitter by the use of aloes or quassia, -while with another such measures prove very helpful. Again, thero are some children who will give up sucking if the whole hand is kept- in a fairly (Urn leather glovo (or even a glove made with canvas) with no holes for the fingers or thumb, while another will' persistently suck the leather.
Tins only way is to try different moo-i-ures, and patiently go on until the tendency is overcome. To effect! this it nay be necessary to devote tho whole of ono porion's time for several weeks, but I sure you will realise that, tho battle must be won nfc all costs. . Tho older the child gets and the longer the habit has been persisted in the more difficult it becomes to eradicate. Almost anything can be done with a baby, and, as I have said, I have practically 110 doubt that you will succeed.
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Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 264, 27 July 1918, Page 2
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1,119OUR BABIES Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 264, 27 July 1918, Page 2
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