OUR BABIES

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 208, 28 May 1921, Page 5

OUR BABIES

(By

"Hygeia.”)

Published under the auspices ot the Royal New Zealand Society lor the Health of Women and Children. "It is wiser to put up a fence at the top of it precipice tha« to maintain an ambulance at the bottom."

THE DIET OF YOUNG CHILDREN. A fortniellt. ago I gave a standard typical day's Altood, suitable for an average child lit three years of age; but I explained that no fixed feeding table could be given which would bo entirely suitable for all children ot the same age and weight under all circumstances. The following are some ot tho factors which have So bo taken into consideration :— (1) Tho Child Itself.-Ono child of a given age and weight will need more or less than another for its proper sustenance and growth without our necessarily being able to account for the difference, any more than we can account for similar difterencoe in adults. In other words the food requirements of a child do not depend solely on its ago rize. and weight Rome children can digest and utilise foods moro completely than others, and this becomes more and moro marked as ye depart from Nature's most completely assimilable form of food namely, the m (2) h ' ? T r he Season and the cold, invigorating weather the avveute and tne need for food are both greatei than when it is warm and enervating. No treater mistake can be made than to try to induce a child, against its natural inclinations, to take, on a broiling hot day in summer, what would be a perfectly suitable diet on a clean frosty day in midwinter; and, even on the same day, the kind and the quality of food needed would vary, according to whether the child was running about out of ° OOT * or. on the other hand, was inactive ar.d confined to the house. . *«, (5) The habitual nature of the clothing used day and night, and (as indlcated above) the immediate and activity of the child must always bo taken into account. (4) Idiosyncrasy.—ln general, a stun dard. wholesome diet may be. PF*"-”!?™ as suitable for a child of a given age ’and weight: but a certain number of children will be found who fail to flouiish on the average standard requirement. There* a?e oases in which it « to modify the average diet and make it conform to the idiosyncrasy of the particular chi W—the mother must understand that a diet emtablo for the vast majority of children ought not to M expected to agree in every particular with e cSe C Sug d ar.-Take, for instance, the use of oane sugar. Given ln . str !?L = tion, as a part of the daily diet, this IS a suitable food element, ’ n t*® most children after babyhood, but there are some children ("sugar susceptlbles as they are called) who cannot tolerate a quarter or perhaps a tenth of the cane aiTcrnr that would be made good use or oy Jhl ortoU child-indeed there are occasional cases In which, for a time at least cane sugar has to be cut out of the diet altogether. If this is not done the rhild may suffer from inflammatory dis turbances of tho digestive and breathing, apparatus, such as . Gastritis tonsoliUs. bronchitis, etc.; or it may suffer from troublesome skin diseases, su.n *Po“?dg°e r -Agata.“om 6 children do well porridge given at anj time. Distinguish Between Definite IdiosynCTteles and Mere Fastidiousness. There are other Idiosyncrasies met with Children applying to certain fruits, divfdual* differences w^ ‘is /Ag nf rrirents or guardians to take into ac ot A qame time parents E R-iSSVhIXTIS faning to insist, within reason that a child ought to take simple. l"mme food as provided, or else go without for t Vhe‘“ mmonest fault nowadays is overinHuivcnce and giving way to every passfSd and fancy, Instead of regulating the child's habits and food wisely and firmly Active, healthy, norma well-Knnn-ht-un cliildren tend to bo the re- ™ h of P partlcular or faddy in regard to what they get in the way qf food. As the ancients said: "Hunger is the best * The'only way to ensure children a good appetite is to give them a. regiUr, simple healthv outdoor life, with plenty ot exer rise-avoiding pap-feeding, coddling, and stuffy air. Overfeeding the Besetting Sin.

The tendency is to overfeed, rather than underfeed children at all times, and this ta specially manifest in infancy and early C lf l there is any sign of delicacy or '“6“* ness, the common idea is to try up the system by giving more food a ’U this is done in tho very cases where in digestion and malnutrition have acti.allj been brought on by taking to; ™ucn I am often struck by tho way in which a child will be cajoled and almost torced to go on eating, when it is quite sat-.s-fled and wants to stop: “Just one more little spoonful, darling: just a tiny one, and that's all.” if the mouth still fails to open the final sin of special temptation may be resorted to: "Let mother put a little more syrup on it.” etc. etc. Little and Often. Another spacious excuse for forcing food on an already overworked and jaded stomach is the "little and often’ fallacy. There was no more widespread error in the nineteenth century than the nursing maxim. "Little and often.” Instead of J living food "between meals.” or increasng the frequency of meals in tho case of an ailing child, there is really no time ■when a proper interval of four or five hours should be moro rigidly observed than during sickness. Water should be given if the child is thirsty, but not food.