OUR BABIES.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIV, Issue 38, 8 October 1912, Page 2

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.” Rag and Paner Eating. The following letter from “Anxious Parent” was forwarded to us by the editor of Notes, and Queries: — Would you 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 valuble paper for 30 years, and would feel grateful if you could help me in this matter. j-

I am afraid the above subscriber of 30 years’ standing is not in the habit of reading her' Post 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 Js now appearing iff* many’ newspapers' which have mot previously printed it, and will thup reach a large, nnfnber qf pew readers; Awe think; .the hrtiples ought to be ;j>Ublished again. At the saipe 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 To months. She' has been very delicate, and suffered from bronchitis and then cholera when • five months old. She went: to a skeleton, weighing only 111 b., 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 flowerpots, 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. I)o what I will I cannot stop her. Will it injure her, or docs her system require lime or salt? What should I do? I am afraid it may bring on Summer Cholera again. Is there any danger, and what can I do?

p.g.—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 stones if we let her .outside. It is distressing to have to keep her in, because she loves to he out. A third mother wrote at the New Year

I am writing to you again about baby, who is now 14 months old. She is the picture of 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 always healthy. She still sucks her lingers 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 daresay swallows some too, but wo watch all wo can. Perhaps you might be able to tell me what is causing baby’s uneasiness. Some weeks later the following was received from the same mother: Thank you ever so much for your kind letter. I have had a wire-net-ting fence round the verandah, but baby is not at all satisfied with that since she learnt to walk, 2! months ago, and I don’t think children should bo crossed too much in matters 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 lJ will be with her as much as possible and so prevent tier 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 much as a window will open, top and bottom, so that it looks like one pane of glass. The bedroom door is open, and there is an open fireplace. I have not no-

ticed worms in baby’s motions. Arc not babies very hungry when they have worms? I once thought she might have worms, but could see no indication of them anywhere. lam sending you a photo of baby, taken when 13 months eld. You will see she is sturdy, though not nearly as fat as a number of babies I know. Comment and Reply. The third baby shows the least departure from the 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 month 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 cat. 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; hut the baby lias no such guide, and once it has acquired a bad habit it is difficult to eradicate unless dealt with promptly and thoroughly.

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 established as in childhood, hut, fortunately—for, like rank weeds, had habits grow faster than good,—childhood is a plastic ago when the ruts of habit may be smoothed away and custom moulded to now 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 loading authority in New York, speaking from-his American experience, says in, his : little book on the “Caro of Children,” addressed to mothers and niifses: —

QUESTION; “When are nail-bit-ing and ■ dirt-eafiug s.eepj \ And how -are they* to be controlled ?,’” ' A|SUfER : “Tihsfe : habits: belong especially to . sMMrbn;: over. ■ - three yearsl old. (This is trjue' -as: regards butj jgenerally commences when a baby is

between one and two years of age. Ifygeia-).-..liflthey particularly seen in those who are excessive nervous ,or whoso- general health is below par, sometimes in those who develop 'serious nervous’' diseases ■ later’'Mf'life. Children withsuch’ tepdbncies shduld he closely watched, and every means used to break up these habits early. ‘Dirt-eating’ is a; morbid craving which is. rarely sehn in a normal child.”

Dr. Still says; “There vyas nothing in any of my 14 cases to suggest any mental deficiency.” He summarises treatment as follows:

(1) Prevent the child obtaining dirt, coal, mortar, etc. (2) Improve its general health, especially all its digestion. There is no part of treatment more valuable than a few weeks at a-brac-ing seaside place, or, if this is not attainable, .at some high-standing, , breezy .inland country place. At the same time it will he 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 III” (see page 1 of Society’s hook) than the presence of morbid babies. Make the child a “healthy animal!” I shall deal further with the subject of morbid habits in another column.