OUR BABIES

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 146, 15 March 1919, Page 5

OUR BABIES

|'B'/ HTGEIA.I

Published under the auspices of the Koyal New Zealand Society tor the Health of Women and Children. "It is wiser to put up a fence at the top of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom.' SOME SUGGESTIONS FOB 'ME CAIiK OF OLDER CHILDREN. This week I want to put before readers of our columns a few practical hints for the management of children past tlieir first year. Meal Times. In tlie first place meals present some difficulty. It is of supreme- importance that a child should be watched nt liis meals and trained to maßticate thoroughly. Jle will not be able to feed himsell neatly and ta«o his place at the table without disturbing the rest of the family before ho if? three years old at any then a watchful eye has to be kept on him to see thai he does everything as ho should, else his good habits will be lost again. In homes where the mother has everything to do herself it is diftciut to feed baby separately from the rest of the family"; but he can be watched ljiorc easily and the others disturbed less it a little kindergarten table and chair can be put next to the mother s place for him. He is then well below the level of the table,.and cannot try to reach for the things oil it; nor, if he spills his food, is it very disastrous. , At two years or even earlier he needs only three meals a day, and shou u liencts fonh never be fed oftener. Jlis uuy should also bo divided as evenly as possiblc. The time for his dinner is sometimes a problem, because of the midday sleep. If lie is put down as early as 11, he tends not to be ready to ro to sleep quickly and regularly, and this may spoil tho habit. If, as often happens, hie sleep i takes place from 12 till about 2, and lus I dinner is given him when he wakes up, it makes the morning interval between meals 100 long and the afternoon one too short, and the habit immediately creeps in of giving biseuiis or b:#id and bntter before the morning sleep. Ihe child should have nothing whatever between meals but a drink of water, not even milk. If mothers only realised the harm they do Ijy giving anything whatever at odd limes, no matter how plain, they would nevpr begin it. t . A far .better plan is to give baby his diuncr by himself at the end of his morning, and then put.him down. Ihe mother can then have her own meal and look after the rest of the family more comfortably. In households where help is kept tho mother would be free to civc baby his dinner at 12, as her own midday meal ; would probably be at half-past 12 or 1; \ and then she can either dispatch her family for its walk or take them out herself as soon as baby is awake, "without lite tiresome wait while he is fed. lie will not want his tea until 4.30 or 5 o clock, flincc he has been in bed a i'ood part ol his afternoon interval, and lie can theu be put to bed at 5.30 or 6. Where no help is kept and the dinner hour is 12 o clock, and breakfast will have been correspondingly earlier, the baby's whole routine can be put back half nu hour, but man: aeed on the same plan as I have suggested. The Midday Sleep. Onjio account should the. midday restbe olnittcd or allowed to lapse early through mismanagement of the daily routine. Where proper discipline is maintained a child will Jioi take matters into his own hands on such an Important point. Certainly he "will not always sleep when he is paßt, say, three or three and a-half years, by which ago he might begin to have dinner at the same time as tho rest of the family; but even then ho can be made to rest Quietly on hiß bed for an hour before dinner, and this habit should be continued right up to say, six years of ago. Do not give him a picture hook, as it would be bad for hip eyes to look at it lying down. A toy, if necessary, will keep him quiet when the age for'actual sleep is nasi; and the benefit of a midday meal is most marked, especially in summer, when children would otherwise come in hot and tired to their principal meal. . Tho loss of the midday rest is one of the many reasons against Rcndni'.' children to school too early—a subject on which 1 shall have something to say ]ater. A further reaeon is the fact that kindergartens and, alas! spine schools also permit and even encourage the harmful habit of biscuit or bread and butter eating at 11 o'clock. That children should actually bo taught to form this habit is the despair of those who realise how damaging it is; and tho Ramo can bc < said of th? growing custom of giving children, big or little, something directly after afternoon school, or of allowing them anything in the way of afternoon tea. A good dinner and a proper tea at 5 o'clock is what they need, and they should have nothing betweon.

Next week I hope to mnko ~Romc suggestions about outdoor-sleeping.