OUR BABIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 4029, 2 June 1931, Page 61

OUR BABIES.

By lltoeia. Published under the auspices of the Royal New Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children (Plunket Society). ” It is wiser to put up a fence at the top of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom."

PLUNKET NURSES. ETC.. DUNEDIN BRANCH. NURSES' 'SERVICES FREE. Nurses O’Shea (telephone 23-348) Isbister (telephone 10-866), Thomson, bcott, and Ewart (telephone 10-216) and Mathieson (telephone 23-020). Society's Rooms: Jamieson's Buildings. 6 Lower Stuart street (telephone 10-216) Office hours: Daily from 2 to 4 p.m. (except Saturday and Sunday) and 10 a.m. to noon on Tuesdays. Thursdays, and Fridays; 315 King Edward street. South Dunedin. 2 to 4 p.m daily (except Saturday and Sunday) and 10 a.m to noon on Fridays: also 125 Highgate. RoslynMonday and Thursday from 2 to 4 p.m.: Gospel Hall. Mailer street. Mornington— Monday and Wednesday 2 to 4 pan.. Kelsey • Yaralla Kindergarten — Monday and Friday from 2 to 4 p.m.; Baptist Sunday School Sunshine—Monday and Wednesday from 2 to 4 p.m.: 211 Mam North road. North-East Valley—Tuesdays. 2 to 4 p.m.; Kindergarten Caversham—Thursdays. 2 to 4 p.m Out-stations: Baptist Church. Gordon road. Mosgiel—Tuesday afternoons from 3 to 4 o’clock; Presbyterian Church Hall Outram—alternate Fridays. 2 to 4 p.m.: Municipal Buildings Port ChalmersWednesday afternoons from 2 to 4 o’clock: also Hall. Macandrew’s Bay—Fridavs 2 to 4 p.m. Administrative Secretary, Miss G. Hoddinott, Jamieson’s Buildings. Stuart street (telephone 10-216) Karitane-Harris Baby Hospital. Anderson’s Bay (telephone 22-985) Matron. Miss Hilditch Demonstrations given on request every Wednesday afternoon from 2.30 by Plunket Nurses and Karitane Baby Nurses Visiting hours: 2to 4 p.m.. Wednesday. Friday and Sunday. THE DULL DAYS. Last week we discussed the question of comfort and colour in connection with children in winter time; this week let us go on to consider the question of diet, with special reference to cold weather conditions. Healthy, active children, tend to be well and hungry in cold weather, and should be able to take with advantage rather more food, and especially rather more fat in the diet, than is necessary or good in hot weather. One reason for this is that fat produces heat, but the more important reason is that certain fats are the principle sources of two of the “ vitamins ” so specially necessary for growing children. Vitamin D. One of these, Vitamin D, is produced by _ some of the properties of sunlight acting on our bodies, cither directly by shining on the skin, or indirectly through the food we eat. Naturally, when direct sunshine is at a minimum during short winter days, an additional supply of the “ sunlight factor ” in food is required, because, as most people know nowadays, insufficiency of ting factor predisposes a child to rickets, decay of the teeth, and other conditions of ill-health. Vitamin A. But that is not all—there is another vitamin, known as A, which is also a very important factor in the d’’et of children, specially during winter. Vitamin A is concerned with resistance to infection, and deficiency of this factor in the food causes increased susceptibility to all sorts of infections, including colds and chest trouble.

Therefore it is advisable to supplement the diet in winter with food or foods specially rich in both vitamins A and D. Butter, cream, and eggs contain both, but are apt to be poor in these factors in winter, just when they are wanted most. Also, one cannot increase the allowance of these foods beyond a certain point without causing indigestion. Cod-liver Oil.

Cod-liver oil is our “ royal stand-by ” in this connection. It is an extremely rich and reliable source of both vitamins A and D. Strange as it seems, green plants are the primary source of the vitamins, even in cod-liver oil. In the springtime there is a great growth in the seas of minute green vegetation, in which is concentrated the wonderful properties of the sun’s rays. . The plants form the food of tiny floating animals, which ip turn are eaten by' small fish, and these again by larger fish, such as the cod. lhe vitamin from the green plants is transferred from the smaller to the larger fish in the process of digestion, and finally becomes concentrated in the liver of the cod. Therefore cod-liver oil contains the vitamin collected and concentrated from an enormous quantity of green plants. Not without reason has it been described as bottled sunshine.

However, pure cod-liver oil, as such, is unpalatable and though some' children take it well in this form, it is best given in the form of an emulsion, which should be finely homogenised, so as to place no tax on the digestive organs. In order to meet this need for children past infancy, the Karitane Products Society prepares a special emulsion consisting of selected fats and oils and a certain proportion of malt extract and other sugar. The fats are mostly codhver oil and bone marrow; the latter has some nutritiompromoting properties which make it a highly desirable complement to the cod-liver oil. This emulsion is known as Karil,” to distinguish it from Plunket Emulsion (or “Kariol”) which is specially prepared for the making of humanised milk for babies. Karil emulsion may be obtained from any of the Plunket rooms, and the Plunket nurses

will advise any mother regarding details as to its use in the diet. Food, Not Medicine. It must be clearly understood that we recommend this emulsion definitely, simply and solely _as a food to supplement the ordinary diet of the child, particularly in winter and early spring, and not in any’ Way or at any time as a medicine. We have nothing to do with the advocacy of drugs or medicines; our province is the promotion of good nutrition and growth by natural, simple means. It must not' be thought, however, that the giving of a few teaspoonsful of codhver oil emulsion every day will make up for all, or any, radical errors or deficiencies m the child’s ordinary diet. It certainly’ will not do anything of the kind. Good wholesome meals, including daily some brown bread, milk, butter, vegetables fruit, raw and cooked, with eggs or fish in moderation—these are the basic requirements. Cod-liver oil, in whatever form it is’ given, is valuable to supplement such a diet in certain directions, but it cannot take the place of any of the basic ingredients. M ith regard to the planning of actual meals, possibly the following suggestions, based on practical experience with children, may be useful to mothers:— Breakfast, Porridge.—Use simple, coarse oatmeal as a general rule, un’ess lack of facilities really makes adequate cooking impossible; m this case a variety of the-finer meals needing less cooking must be resorted to. It is sensible, of course, to cook oatmeal porridge during the day, whilst the stove is on for the preparation of dinner, so that it only needs heating through before breakfast. A double boiler is an advan tage for this. Whole wheat-meal makes very nice porridge, and may 7 be used sometimes for a change. Variety of cereals is good. Milk should be allowed liberally with porridge, but it is well to make the mea! fairly stiff, s 0 that the addition of milk does not transform it into a semiliquid state. No sugar is required; if taken, it should be only a sprinklin" of brown sugar. Children all too easily get the habit of taking “ sugar and porridge ” rather than “ porridge and milk.” Porridge in itself is by no means indispensable. Oatcakes and butter, with a drin A of milk, form an equally nutritious meal with the added advantage of providing good chewing material for exercise of jaws and teeth. However in winter a hot dish of porridge is “grateful and comforting.” No other cooked dish is required, the meal being perfectly adequate if porridge is followed by brown bread and butter or crisp thin toast, buttered cold, and a drink of warm milk and water. Dinner. Soup.—-In winter time it is a good plan to have the soup pot fairly constantly on the go. have, for use in soups, all water strained from cooked vegetables (especia ly spinach celery, and carrots), and use all kinds of root vegetables, also barley, r ? ce ? lentl, s, and peas, in preparing the stock; small scrubby vegetables may be used up m this way. Aegetables —Ring the changes on all the vegetables procurable during the winter months, giving at least one every day besides potato. Cook potatoes in their Se . rve all , Vegetables nicely mashec., or sieved and properly hot with butter or gravy. /P 1 Puddings, custards, stewed fruit fresh and dried), light steamed or baked sponge puddings—all are suitab e but do not make a fetish of the cooked pudding habit, even in winter. Our national devotion to puddings of the conventional type is really + a matter of custom. As a matter 01 ther i e - 1S to be s aid against them, as being both starchy and pappy—the worst combination for the teeth. Raw fruit, with a piece or two of oatcake. p aln c ake, or a home-made who.emeal scone or biscuit, and a drink course Im m ’ lk makcs an excellent second

. Fish and Eggs.—Steamed fish may be given at the mid-day meal once or twice a 'week, a lightly poached or coddled egg tnn 1 K r dayS ’i eltber with vegetables Sr with brown bread and butter for a ciange. But neither are necessary every day. A very little meat may be given occasionally if desired, but meat is not a necessity m the diet of children.

Tea. The mainstay of the evening meal is bread; brown, at least in part, and preferably toasted or dried in the oven, with warm milk to drink. A little cocoa may be added if desired. Give a fair allowance of butter, or good beef dripping occasionally for a change. A scrape or Marmite, a little grated cheese, or honev may be allowed. Use lettuce, also dates, in sandwiches, and as the children grow older and thorough chewing has become a fixed habit, the range of variety can lie increased to include raisins, nuts, and 1 lt,h- v f°°ds requiring mastication. Well-baked wholemeal scones and plain cakes and biscuits may be allowed for variety. If it is thought desirable to have something hot at this meal from time to time, a_ little soup may be given them instead of at the mid-day meal, a little milk pudding may be served up, or an ew may be given, on a day when dinner has consisted of vegetables and gravy. Apples —Train the children to “ the apple rule ’ —that is, to chewing a piece of apple at the very end of every meal, taking in this way at least one apple a day. this cleanses the teeth, and leaves the mouth in a healthy state. Oranges.—During the winter, when oranges are comparatively cheap, it is wise to take full advantage of the season; oranges are a very valuable food, and even half an. orange a day goes quite a long way to improve the winter diet.

Milk.—Growing children need half to one pint of milk a day, according to age and other factors. In the average family it is necessary to see that at least half a 1S available for and taken by each child. There is apt to be a good deal of vagueness on the point. Apart From Diet. However, the prevention of winter ailments, like the prevention of other ailments, is something more than a matter of diet alone. The healthy child who from infancy onwards has been well nourished and brought up consistently to be hardy and strong should have good resistance to infection, easy adaptation to changes of temperature, and a cheery indifference to cold and bad weather.

Let us begin at the beginning wherever we can, but it is never too late to mend, and correction of diet and habits now, where such are wrong, will do much to secure present and future good health.