OUR BABIES.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVI, Issue 90, 20 August 1913, Page 7

OUR BABIES.

(By Hygeia.) Published under the auspices o the Society for the Health of Wo me and Children. “It is wiser to put up a fence a the top of a precipice than to main tain an ambulance at the bottom.” MEANS OF ENSURING EFFICIEN'i MASTICATION. In order to secure the full ad vantages accruing from the use o: the jaws and their appendages, it u above all necessary for them to lx adequately exercised during the periou of development. IF this is done tin. masticatory instinct will establish itself as a permanei t force, so that the individual will tend for the rest of his life to 'subject even soft foods to thorough mastication The tongue, the lips, and > the jaws of the newly-born child find their natural exercise at the mother’s breast, and we should therefore do our utmost to gel the mother to suckle her child. If, unhappily, we fail in this, we must see that the teat of'the feeding-bottle is so constructed as to compel tin child to earn his meal by, at any rate, some exercise. Directly the disposition to lute hard things is manifested, for instinct—for instinct it is—shook be gratified. The instinct conics more and more pronounced as the time for the eruption of the teeth approaches It is now more than ever,.necessary to provide the child with hard substances on which to exercise his jaw? and gums. A great deal of the troubh of teething is due to the disregard or the ignorance, of this fact. What, then, are ..we tp employ for the purpose? Though ivory, coral, and the like hard, smooth substances may be useful in their way, it is far better to give the child something which is not only hard, but also nutritious and pleasant to the taste—something which will at one and the same time [exercise the chewing apparatus, excite the taste organs, and provide a certain amount of nutriment. To this end we may, ns the teething time approaches, give a, ; [.chop or a chicken bone from which practically all the meat has been removed. From such bones n small amount of nutriment can be extracted, and. this of a kind most accept ible to the infant stomach, for we must not forget that the young human being is essentially* ’Carnivorous. .Chicken and chop bones, yielding a- they do to the pressure’ of the gumsi are, moreover, just the right consistence' for the’purpose in View

By providing 'the nitistichtory .apparatus witHGsuftablc cbcerSsb ' \Fe ‘.-.hall ’do inuHi' to''.facilitate the crup- ; tion of the 1 tebtlrand thb gfowth of they jams and tHel.r 'ailpefida’geg('itfcludirig life sjaliy&ry glands), and &b to pi - e-' Worthp •mVJutH' for/the Wcsrt-toh of vegetable */TliiS sHottlii j of course, not be taken until tne teeth appear, and it should be noted that the order in which these ifnlk'b 1 their appearance gives spins indication as to the time to administer vegetable hood to the ()MJ4najj . ,i;oa smiLmi '/ WHEN TO BEGIN GIVING ■ ! STARCHY FOOD. ; : 1 dfr,; W •- •• Tho lower inoifiprs are first erupted, (seventh to eighth month); then follow the upper incisors (seventh to tenth month). These teeth enable the. child to BITE, hut not, be it observed ■to masticate, for which function the molars are necessary. Now, the first molars do not with ns appear until the twelfth to the fourteenth month, and it seems certain therefore that our primitive aneestofk, Sinless they cut tin ir molars earlier, could not have obtained starch in any quantity until they had reached t’fns age. These considerations suggest the desirability of not giving more than the smallest quantity of starch before the twelfth month. Before tho twelfth month wo should be careful to give, tho child its limited supply of starch in a form compelling vigorous mastication. If given, as is the custom, in*the' liquid or pappy form, it will pass down .as crude starch into the stomach, and , will he likely, to cause indigestion ; but if we select' a form which obliges the child to chew properly, not only will the jaws, tooth,am! .the gums obtain the exercise for which they crave, and without which they cannot properly develop, but much of the stal'd> will he converted in the mouth Into maltose. Nothing can -he more foolish than to upset the child’s digestive system by. deluging, it with liquid starch, and then seek to make it well by ordering it (as is ■so frequently done) malt extract—the 'very substance —i.c., maltose —which the child can, and ought to, manufacture within the laboratory of its mouth. There is only one way to develop the masticatory instinct in a child, and that m to give him food which obliges him to masticate. It is mere waste of words to tell him to chew his food properly; and to blame him for gobbling it is as-unjust as it is foolish. The blame, if any there he, attaches not to the child, hut to those who are responsible for his irrational dietary. All this is needful to give the child from an early period foods which compel implication. Many people are under the mistaken impression that if the young child'"is given solid food he will he likely to choke; hut of this (here is no danger if he is given hard things from the beginning. It is only win n, by pap-feeding, his normal wasiicatory instinct has been kept in al - in-re, and tho habit of bolting I he ford has been acquired, that any dancer is to he apprehended on this ••.cove. Even then it is hut remote, and can he readily overcome by judicious handling. ;x v.’I'AT FORM SHOTTED STARCH BE GIVEN. Star 'r then, shon.ld*ho given to the child :a a solid and somewhat tough

form, such as broadcrust. Loaves should be shaped so as to give a maximum of crust, and should bo baked hard. A well-baked crust, cut in a suitable form, and spread with butter, no con-fat, or dripping, constitutes a very acceptable and wholesome morsei. (Memo, by “Hygeia.”—Bread dried by standing on edge in an oven with the door ajar, and then lightly toast'd, gives a fair amount of muscular exorcise, and its dryness ensures insalivation. Plain oatcake made without fat needs very thorough mastication. Tho same applies to hard, plain ships/ biscuit, but this is not easily procurable nowadays Further, biscuits are somewhat objectionable, because they form a soft gummy paste, which tends to lodge about the teeth, and may load to caries). When by such means as these the child’s instincet to masticate has had proper opportunity to develop, wo may allow a certain amount of soft starchy fond, such as porridge, boiled potatoes, milk pudding,’ and the like ; and these lie will now he likely to subject to something like adequate mastication, which will lend to mitigate the evils associated with such food. When a child has. learned to-masticate tjror'pugliiy' he can ,he given nytg.Though animpl food does, hot ,need prolonged mastication, it is,when cookod,'all,ll)e for a certain amount' of it, owing to the coagulation of thV proteids; and in order to ensure tin efficient mastication of meat, fish, ano ’poultry* f)y children, Dr. Sim Wallace recommends that these foods should lie given in large pieces, cut thin. .'(Flat pieces, about one iutjlL square, gcherally necessitate-a eertaiiv-arapu-nl ■of mastication, It is difficult to swal‘low large flat pieces' of'ifiedt witlimMmastication, but when finely minced little br no mastication is called forth.’ The younger the child the more under done should the meat be.