OUR BABIES.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2670, 27 November 1909, Page 4 (Supplement)

OUR BABIES.

(By “Hygeia.”)

Published under the auspices of the Society for the Promotion of the Health of Women and Children. MASTICATION. (By Dr. Henry Campbell.) In order to secure the full advantages accruing from the use of the jaws and their appendages, it is above all necessary for them to be adequately exercised during the period of development. If tliis is done the masticatory instinct will establish itself as a permanent 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 first natural exercise at the mother’s breast, and we should therefore do our utmost to got 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 the child to earn, his meal by, at any rate, some exercise. Directly the disposition to bite hard things is manifested, the instinct, for instinct it is, should be gratified. The instinct becomes mere and more pronounced as the time for eruj>tion of the teeth approaches. It is now more than ever necessary to provide the child with hard, substances on wliich to exorcise his jaivs and gums. A great deal of the troul>le : of teething is due to the disregard,- or the ignorance, of this fact. What-, then, arc we to 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 nutritious and pleasant to 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, as the teething time approaches, give a chop or a chicken bone, from which practically all the meat has been removed, and wo may increase its attractiveness by powdering the bone with white sugar or salt. From such bones a small amount of nutriment can be extracted, and this of a kind most acceptable to the infant stomach, for we must not forget that the young human being is essentially carnivorous. Chicken and chop bones, yielding as they do to the pressure of the gums, are, moreover, just of the right consistence for the purpose in view'. By thus providing the mast'eatory apparatus with suitable, exercise we shall do much to facilitate the eruption of the teeth and the growth of the jaws and their appendages (including the salivary glands), and so to prepare the mouth for the reception of vegetable food. This should, of course, not be given until the teeth appear, and it should be noted that the order in ivliich these make their appearance gives some indication as to the time to administer vegetable food to the child. The lower incisors are first erupted (seventh to eighth month); then follow the upper incisors (seventh to tenth month). These teeth enable the child to bite, but not, be it observed, to masticate, for which function the molars arc necessary. Now, the first molars do not with us appear until the twelfth to the fourteenth month, and it seems certain, therefore, that - our primitive ancestors, unless they cut their molars earlier, could not have obtained starch in anv quantity until they had reached this age. These considerations suggest the desirability of not giving more than the smallest quantity of starch before the twelfth month. Before the twelfth mouth we should be careful to give the child its limited supply of starch in a form compelling vigorous mastication. If given, as is the custom, in the liquid or pappv form, it will pass down as crude starch into the stomach, and will be likely to cause indigestion; but if we select a form which obliges the child to chew proper ly, not only will the jaws, teeth, and the gums obtain the exercise for which they crave, but without which they cannot properly develop, but much of the starch wfiil be converted in the mouth into maltose. Nothing can be more foolish than to upset the child's digestive system by deluging it wnti liquid starch, and then stekfmg to make it well by ordering it (as is frequently don?) malt extract—the very substance—i.e., maltose—wliich the child can, and ought to, manufacture within the laboratory of his mouth. There is only one way to develop the masticatory instinct in a child, and that is to give him food which obliges him to masticate. It is mere waste of words Lo tell him to chew his food properlv; and to blame Ipm for gobbling it is as ’■•■Unjust as it is foolish. The blame, if a.i.> there be, attaches not to the child . b«t to those wlio- are responsible r. Ins ii rational dietary. All that is need-' . ful is to give the child from an early Lonod food's which compel mastication Many people are under the mistaken in pression .that if the young child is given solid food lie will -be likely to oi -. ke; but of this there is no danger if he is given hard things from the bi ginning. It is only when, by papfeeding, liis normal masticatory instinct ua? been kept in abeyance, and the habit of bolting the food has been acquired, that any danger is to» be uppeliendcd on this score. Even then it is but remote, and can be readily overcome by judicious handling. Starch; then, should be given to the child in a solid and' somewhat tough form, sueli as bread-crust. (Memo. —Bread dried by standing on edge in an oven w r ith the door ajar, and then lightly toasted, gives a fair amount of muscular exercise, and its dryness ensures insalivation.. Plain oatcake made without fat needs very thorough mastication. The same applies to hard, plain ship’s biscuit, but this is not easily procurable nowadays. Further, biscuits are somewhat objectionable, because they form a soft gummy paste-, which tends to lodgo about the teeth, and may lead to caries.) When, by such means as these, the child’s instinct to masticate has had proper opportunity to develop, we may allow a certain amount of soft, starchy food, sueli as porridge, boiled potatoes, milk pudding, and the like; and these he will now be likely to subject to something like adequate mastication, which will tend-to mitigate the ovils associated with such food. When a child has learned to masticate thoroughly ho can be given, nuts. Though animal food docs not need prolonged mastication, it is, when cooked, all the better for a certain amount .of it. owing to the coagulation of the proteids; arid in order to ensure the efficient mastification of meat, fish, and poultry by children Dr. Sim Wallace recommends' that those foods should be given in large pieces, cut thin. “Flat p : «v*es about one inch square, generally a certain amount of mastication. It is difficult to swallow largo- fiat pieces of meat without mastication, but when finely minced little or no masticat’on is called 1 forth.” The younger the child the more "underdone the meat should be.