OUR BABIES.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 507, 9 October 1912, Page 6

OUR BABIES.

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."

RAG AND PAPER EATING. The following letter from "Anxious Parent" was forwarded to us by the editor of Notes and Queries: — "Wou'd ycu kindly answer., through the columns of your paper, the following question; I have twin girls and they have acquired a habit of eating rags and paper, worsted and cotton; as they are healthy girls, and well fed, I would like to know what is the cause for so doing. I have asked mothers of large families, and they cannot tell me. My girls are two years and three months old. I have been a subscriber to your valuable paper for 30 years, and would feel grateful if you could help me in this matter." I am afraid the above subscriber of 30 years' standing is not in the habit of reading her paper all through, or else she must have been away from home early in the present year, when the above subject was fully dealt with. However, as she has vainly asked mothers of large families about the point, and also as our column is now appearing in many newspapers which have not previously printed it, and will thus reach a large number of new readers, we think the articles ought to be published again. At the same time, we hope that some of those who have already read the articles may be interested in reading them again. Three letters on earth-eating:— "Reader" writes: —"I have a wee baby aged 3 5 months. Sne has been very delicate, and suffered from bronchitis and then cholera when five months old. She went to a skeleton, weighing only 111b when seven months old. Now she is strong and well, quite plump, and walks everywhere but since she started to walk she has been eating earth. First she started on the earth in my flower pots, which had a dressing of soot, but now I often get her with a lump half as large as an egg, eating and enjoying it. Will it injure her, or does her system require lime or salt? What should I do? lam afraid it may bring on summer cholera again. Is there any danger, and what can I do? P.S. —She is also fond of dock leaves and seeds, always eating them." Some three months ago another mother wrote as follows concerning a similar case: —•

"I am writing to ask .your advice about my baby girl, aged one year and four months, who will eat dirt and atones if we let her outside. It is distressing to have to keep her in, "because she loves to be out." A third mother wrote at the New Year: —

"I am writing to you again about baby, who is nwo 14 months old. She is the picture erf health —happy, and as good as one could wish—running about amusing herself, nearly always outside, but is, and has been, very restless at nights, turning and tossing and sometimes having a short cry. One would think there must be a pain somewhere, but where I can't imagine. Her bowels are alway healthy. She still sucks her fingers when going to sleep. I've been wondering if that hurts her in any way. She puts grass, leaves, etc., in her mouth, and I dare say swallows some too, but we watch all we can. Perhaps you might be able to tell me what is causing baby's uneasiness." Some weeks later the following was recived from the same mother: —

"Thank you ever so much for your kind letter. I have had a wire-nett-ing fence round the verandah, but baby is not at all satisfied with that since she learnt to walk two and a-half months ago, and I don't think children should be crossed too much in matter of that kind. It seems quite natural that she should want away outside to play on the grass and see the 'booties,' as she calls the flowers. However, for the next month or two I will be with her as much as possible and so prevent her eating foreign substances. She does not seem so bad now as she was three weeks ago, so, I am in hopes of her stopping the habit. I took your advice and opened the bedroom window as mucii as a window will open, top and bottom, so that it looks like one pane of glass. The bedroom .loor i 8 open, and there is an open replace. I have not noticed worms in baby's motions. Are not babies very hungry when they have worms? I once thought he might have worms, but could see no indication of them anywhere. lam sending you a photo of baby, taken when thirteen months old. You will see she is sturdy, though not nearly as fat as a number of babies T know."

COMMENT AND REPLY. The third baby shows the latest departure from thj normal indeed, many mothers would be inclined to say that there was nothing out of the way in a baby early in its second year putting into its mouth, or even swallowing, anything it could lay hands on. This is true to a large extent; the normal baby does, of course, tend to carry everything to the mouth and test .it there (coal, dirt, blacking brushes, etc.), until it has learned to combine the information received through the senses of sight, touch, taste, etc., and so discriminate between what is and what is not fit to eat. In these interesting researches the older child is aided by the more or less painful or pleasurable feelings following on the eating of one kind of material as compared with another; but the baby has no such guide, and once it has acquired a bad habit the habit is jiiable to prove very hard to eradicate, unless dealt with

In older children a morbid habit allowed to persist and develop for a time may defy all subsequent efforts to overcome it. Thus, 'biting the nails to the quick" may grow into a life habit. I remember a case of the kind in a singularly clever and attractive little girl in London who was quite a musical genius and had the most brilliant prospects as a violinist when approaching her teens. She then became a "nail-biter." Little was thought of the matter at first, and when it was taken in hand by a physician later on all efforts at mastery failed, and the child's musical career was brought to a close. Dr Still, professor of diseases of children at King's College, London, says:— "There is no period of life at which habits are so readily establised as in childhood, but, fortunately—for, Hke rank weeds, bad habits grow faster than good childhood is a plastic age when the ruts of habit may be smoothed away and custom moulded to new tracks."

There is some divergence of opinion in regard to the average age and the nature and prospects of children who become "dirt eaters." Thus Dr Holt, the leading authority in New York, speaking from his American experience, says in his little book on the "Care- of Children," addressed to mothers and nurses:—

Question. —When are nail biting and dirt eating seen, and how are they to be controlled? Answer. —These habits belong especially to children over three years old. (This is - true as regards nail biting, but dirt eating generally commences when a baby is between one and two years of age.—Hygiea.) They are particularly seen in those who are excessively nervous, or whose general health is below par., sometimes in those who develop serious nervous diseases later in life. Children with such tendencies should be closely watched, and every means used to break up these habits early. Dirt eating is a morbid craving which is rarely seen in a normal child."

Dr Still says: There was nothing in any of my 14 cases to suggest any mental deficiency. He summarises treatment is as follows: — 1. Prevent the child obtaining dirt, coal, mortar, etc. 2. Improve its general health, especially its digestion.

There is no part of treatment more valuable than a few weeks at a bracing seaside place, or, if this is not attainable, at some high-standing breezy inland country place. At the same time it will be necessary to aid digestion by the most careful dieting. My readers will realise that there is no condition calling for more careful attention to "What Every Baby Needs Whether Well or 111" (see page 1 of Society's book) than the presence of morbid babies. Make the child a "healthy animal,"