The Parents' Review

A Monthly Magazine of Home-Training and Culture

About Nutrition.

All must rejoice at the many advantages enjoyed by our little ones in the present day. There is, undoubtedly, on the part of many, an endeavour to harbour in their children that mens sana in corpore sano, at the expense of the corpus sanum. A Great deal is now expected of our youngssters on the mental side, without a corresponding regard for the bodily condition. The most delicate of nervous mechanisms, and many of the specialized organs of sensation are, as it were, forced and hurried on, just at a time when every attention should be paid to the development of the framework upon which the special senses will have to act.

Many it has been said, has so long forsaken the simple laws of Nature that it is to be feared that she has abandoned her charge, and left him under the control of that faithless guide and usurper to which civilization has given dominion.. We have, however, to consider man as he is, and not as he would have been had he never forsaken the rude paths of Nature.

Take the infant of the present day; the percentage of children who start the battle of life with the only natural food,--that from the breast,-- must be very small indeed. Yet we know that no less than three-fourths of the deaths of children under one year occur in those brought up on artificial food. Great as are the risks encountered during the premiére enfance, they are greatly increased in those artificially fed.

Here then, at the very outset, we find an illustration of the danger to which I have referred. Unless this fact is fully realised we shall produce mere flowers which fade, instead of healthy natural plants, which alone can maintain the standard and value of the race.

I hold, therefore, that a time has arrived when it is incumbent on parents to make themselves acquainted with at least the elements of physiology, that they may have something better than "rule of thumb" or "common ignorance" to guide them in the care of their little ones.

It may not be out of place, therefore, to touch briefly some points in connection with Nutrition; for, if the child is father to the man, it behoves us to attend first to the proper building up of the organism, before we force or cultivate any special system.

The subject of nutrition is an exceedingly wide and complicated one, but this need not deter us from acquiring at least some general knowledge in regard to growth and development, two most important phases in the life history of the infant. These processes depend upon assimilation, and this again depends on absorption. But unless the food undergoes certain important changes affected by digestion, absorption is impossible. When, therefore, so many parents bring up their children on artificial food, they ought at least to know the A.B.C. of Nutrition.

Under the most favourable circumstances the greatest strain is thrown upon the alimentary system, which is as yet by no means fully developed. We cannot be too careful, therefore, how we embarrass still further, by want of care in feeding, a phase of nutrition already, it may be, taxed beyond its power.

A large number of children seem to thrive on whatever food is given them, and to the parents of such there is little anxiety on this point. At the same time there are many infants for whom it is necessary to exercise the greatest care and discrimination in the matter of diet.

In the infant we find the mental faculties in abeyance and all movements are for the most part involuntary or reflex. The higher centres of the brain are undeveloped; the reflex centres of the spinal cord are, therefore, as yet uncontrolled by the inhibitory centres, as they will be in later years. Growth at this period is extremely rapid, the weight more than doubling itself during the first six months of life. This is essentially a period of construction. The child has to build up its organism, and requires a large amount of proteid. The adult has only to maintain the previous store of proteid, and obtains the energy required for muscular work from carbohydrates.

Milk is thus the normal food for the child, not for the adult; for whilst the former requires more proteid, the latter requires relatively less albumen and more carbohydrate. On the other hand vegetables are more suited to the adult than to the child. Indeed it is some time before the infant can digest starchy matter at all owing to the absence of saliva and pancreatic juice. Even the gastric juice is feeble in action, and very quickly exhausted, and the capacity of the stomach is but small. Yet how many there are who simply stuff their children, and think to quiet them with the bottle, instead of giving them nourishment at regular times and in measured quantities. It is a mistake to fly at all times to the bottle, when, especially at night, a little barley water may do all that is required, without in any way injuring the child, who is perhaps only suffering from thirst.

Again, there are many infants for whom cow's milk is utterly unsuited. Truly there is much to be unlearned which a little healthy physiology would do much to remove. We still hear of the fallacy of having "the milk of one cow," which probably means that the child is getting the worst possible sample of milk, viz.,-- the first that comes away from the cow. Where cow's milk is unsuitable I think more use might be made of condensed milk. It contains less curd and the casein is more slowly thrown down than that of fresh milk. If a reliable brand be secured and it is mixed in the proportions of one teaspoonfull to six tablespoonfulls of water, and a little cream is added to make up the deficiency of fat, it forms a really valuable food. Its simplicity and cheapness place it, in my opinion, far above many of the elaborate preparations now in vogue, which require great care and intelligence in their preparation, and are not without certain dangers of their own.

Much more might be written on this matter, but I trust I have said enough to show the importance of securing first a healthy growth and development while there is yet time, and if this is done we shall hear less of "excitable" and so called "neurotic" children, whose condition is simply the outcome, first, of injudicious feeding, and, secondly, of hurrying on too rapidly the deveopment of higher and more delicate mechanisms.

Phusis.

Typed by Crystal Miller, Sep. 2024