Our Babies.

Taihape Daily Times, 22 July 1918, Page 6

Our Babies.

A> LETTER. ‘UyUGlct/—I llctVG PcltllGr 3> S - rious problem with my youngest child, aged 10 months. “All of my children have been addicted to the habit of sucking thumbs or fingers, more or less, so I didn’t ■worry about this one until I saw that the habit was growing on her. Now I find that her upper jaw comes further forward than the lower one,the lower teeth, which are small and rather close together, going right under the upper ones instead of meeting them l . Of course, one can understand that this habit would have very much the same effect as a dummy. Otherwise she is a very well developed child, and has half.of her time lived in the open air in all weathers.

“I may say that she has been partly bottle-fed (according to your instructions, of course), but so bas another one of my children, who has one of the most beautiful sets of teeth I have ever seen—very square jaws, and large teeth with good spaces between them —in spite of the fact that he has had more soft food than the others have had. Owing, I suppose, to my iTThealth for some months before the birth of this hoy, he was very delicate, and was given into, more than he should have been, although I always insisted on a certain amount of hard food. I dont’ allow my babes to have even their cereal from a spoon until they get qiiite used to hard food. “I have compared these two as they were brought up in the same way for the first year, and as the elder one gave up the habit of sucking his fingers when only a few weeks old, this seems to account for the difference in the formation of their teeth and jaws.

“I should like to know whether I can do anything to counteract this, or whether I can merely prevent it from ■becoming worse. I fgei'so sorry for the poor child, as if will be a serious handicap to her health if not remedied. ~n -! in

“Hoping you may he able to advise me, and thanking you in anticipation,

—I am, etc.”

Memo, by "Hygeia.”—Our correspondent has evidently thoroughly grasped the paramount importance t<s her children of the development of the masticatory instinct, which we always insist upon sq strongly,

- r_ REPLY TO (LETTER. The habit which your little girl lifts! acquired of sucking her thumb must be very worrying to you, and is, of course, injurious to the child herself

It is often quite impossible to as* sign any cause for one child acquiring a habit of this kind and persisting in it, while another shows practically no such tendency. The difficulty of curing this weakness may be very great indeed,, but there is no doubt whatever that you must counteract the habit and not merely keep it from getting worse, I have no doubt that, by resourcefulness and perseverance-, you will win in the end, but it may take some time*

It is impossible to lay down any one single specific. You must try severe: means, and tMs not merely in succession, but more or less simultaneously. These ought to be persisted in until you win the fight. Thus there are several means by which the hands can he kept away from the mouth —for instance, by tying them to the sides or fixing them by cutting a hole in the end of a pillow-case (as described under the heading “Eczema,” in the second last paragraph of page 117 of the Society’s book “Feeding and Care or BaJby,” 1913 edition). In such matters one has, of course, to be very firm and harden one’s heart. I have seen children cured at the Karitane Hospital of very inveterate habits in this way, in the course of a short time, where every effort at home had failed. It cannot be said that this is due to any hardiness on the part of the nurses —they are quite the reverse of hard—but they have the advantage of starting with a child who has not known them previously, and who therefore has no reason to expect that it will get the better of them if it persists. The (basis of this is yery clearly shown on pages 149-159 Of the Society's book. The truest kindness consists in determining to conquer a bad habit which has really become a vice, and which must be got rid of.

Measures which fail entirely with one child sometimes succeed with another. Thus one lhaby may take no notice of the thumb being made bitter by the use of aloes or quassia, while with another such measures prove very helpful. Again there are some children who will give up sucking if the whole hand is kept in a fairly firm leather glov e (or even a glove made with canvas) with no holes for the fingers or thumb, while another will persistently suck the leather. The only way is to try different measures, and patietnly go on until the tendency is overcome. To effect it may be necessary to devote the

whole of one person’s time for several weeks, but I am sure you will realise that the battle must be won at all costs. The older the child gets and the longer the habit has been persisted in the more difficult it becomes to eradicate. Almost anything can he done with a baby, and, as I have,said, I have practically no doubt you will succeed.