OUR BABIES.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 505, 2 October 1912, Page 7

OUR BABIES.

(By Hygeia). Published under the auspices of the Society for 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." ADDRESS OF PLUNKET NURSES AND SECRETARIES. Auckland. —Plunket Nurses Chappell and Morgan. Tel. 851. Office of the Society 2, Chancery street. Tel. 829. Office hours, Tuesdays and Fridays, 2.30 to 4 p.m. Hon. Secretary, Mrs W. H. Parkes, Marinoto, Symonds street. Tel. 240. PLUNKET NURSES' SERVICES FREE. THE SOCIETY'S BOOK. The Society's little book entitled "What Baby Needs" can be obtained from the matron Karitane Harris Hospital the Plunket nurses, the honorary secretaries and the leading booksellers throughout the Dominion. Price 6d; posted 7d. WHY CHILDRENS' TEETH DECAY. (Continued.) nature and quality of FOOD. So far I have spoken only of the means of feeding as influencing the quantity of blood supplied to mouth,jaws, teeth, etc., but it will be readily understood that the nature and quality of the food is also of extreme importance. We cannot make sound mortar and concrete without good lime and cement, and we should not try to make sound bones and teeth out of condensed milk or patent foods, or even out of cow's milk, unless it has been modified so as to approximate the composition of human milk. It is wonderful how well the jaws and teeth of bottle fed babies develop if due attention is paid to the above points besides observing the simple primary needs of health in regard to regular feeding, proper intervals no night-feeding, fresh air, exercise, etc.

It is no wonder how badly babies do when the mother fails more or less in all the above particulars and brings on indigestion, diarrhoea, etc. to further impede the growth of jaws and teeth and prevent the" formation of good strong ename'. The following passage from the "Feeding and Care of Baby" makes very clear the damaging effect of disease in babyhood on the growing teeth: —■

"During illness of any kind all work in the direction of building and repair is imperfectly done. Hence it is that the nails are always marked by a groove after fever—the bottom of each groove consisting of the portion of the nail which was formed during the illness. For the time being all the nails are thus locally thinned, but this matters little, since nails are constantly growing and being cut off. Not so with the enamel of the teeth. Enamel is formed once for all, in infancy and childhocd and if there are thin portions, due to attacks of diarrhoea, etc., during the time when the enamel is in course of formation, the teeth will tend to decay wherever there has been an inadequate depusit of the necessay protective covering. Dental surgeons are always telling usthat nowadays the coating of enamel is exceedingly thin —often, indeed, almost absent in places. Can we wonder at this, seeing that few children enjoy uninterrupted good health during their early and most important growing years! The mother who wants to ensure her baby sound, long lasting teeth must see to it that he is kept as healthy as possible throughout.

Every illness should be regarded as at least a temporary victory for the microbes —a defeat which retards the growth and development of the whole human organism, and renders it an easier prey to most other germs in the future. Pitched battles waged with microbes are a waste of time and energy precious to the growing child and leaves his tissues weakened, not strengthened, by the fight. Yet as soon as the baby has "recovered" from any illness, the mother thinks the results, of her mistakes are at an end; but this is not so —more or less of life-long damage has been done. DR UNDERWOOD'S SUMMARY. At the conclusion of his article in the July Nineteenth Century on the Prevalence of Decay of the Teeth, Dr Underwood significantly sums up aa follows: —

Decay of the teeth is more prevalent among English speaking and other civilised races at the present time than it has ever been in the world's history. It jb at least 10 times as common in England and America to-day as it was even 150 years ago. Its prevalence is increasing rapidly, and, the degree of civilisation and has always been so at all times in the world's history.

Its prevalence is increasing rapidly, and, unless something is done to check its progress, is likely to increase in what might almost be called geometrical progression. PRINCIPAL CAUSE OF DECAY OF TEETH. It is due principally to the widespread and spreading system of artificial feeding of infants, rendered possible by the contrivance of civilised ingenuity and favoured by the decay of the maternal instinct and the mammary function, resulting in imperfect infant tissue formation and consequently, poorly-formed teeth.