THE HEALTH OF CHILDREN.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 2208, 27 November 1920, Page 4

THE HEALTH OF CHILDREN.

PREVENTION OF ADENOIDS ' AND THE EVILS OE MOUTH BREATHING. (Published under the authority of: the Education Department.) Next to dental disease adenoids u'e perhaps the commonest direct • in children. They may cause serious interference with both physical and mental development. They increase liability to infections and respiratory diseases, and at the same time render these diseases much more serious. 80 per cent, to 00 per cent, of ear-aches are due to adenoids, and more than half of all the causes of deafness. In obstructing the back of the nose, they cause month breathing'. Habitual month breathing may seriously interfere with the nutrition and development of a child. The air as it passes through the nose is saturated with moisture, is warmed to blood heal, and is tillered of dust and germs. In mouth breathing, the air enters the lungs cold, "dry and dusty, and is irritating to the delicate lining of the bronchial tubes. There arc three important causes of adenoids: month breathing, insufficient exercise of the jaws in mastication, and catarrhal diseases affecting the nose and throat. It is of great importance to lake every opportunity to train children to keep the month shut and breathe through the nose. With muiio this may not ho an easy matter, but trouble' taken to prevent habitual month breathing will be well repaid by a lessened tendency to the various maladies resulting from it. It is especially important during sleep, when month breathing is particu-larly-liable to occur. The month may sometimes be kept closed during sleep by bringing the bead forward, or by folding Iby bed clothes under the chin, or it may be necessary to use a chin strap. Older children should be specially encouraged to keep their months closed while breathing fast during exercise. By persistent endeavour to breathe through the nose lesser degrees of nasal obstruction may he overcome. It is essential to cultivate the closed-month habit after an operation for the removal of adenoids. The error of feeding children too exclusively on soft, pappy foods has already been referred to in these articles. Vigorous exercise of the jaws in the mastication of hard food is essential to the proper development of the palate 1 and nrma! passages, and is an important means of preventing adenoids. Common colds play a considerable part in conirihnlmg to adenoids, and will he discussed in a subsequent article. It might be emphasised that it is impossible to expect a child to breathe through the nose while it is blocked with discharge, From the point of view of cleanliness as well as health, a handkerchief is absolutely essential, and children should he trained in its proper use. Coupled with a sound set ot teeth, a healthy, well-developed nose and throat are of the very greatest importance to health all through life. The prevention of these maladies rests almost entirely in the hands of parents.