Feeding and care of baby / by F. Truby King, issued by the Royal New Zealand Society for the Health of Women & Children (Incorporated).
- Truby King
- Date:
- 1925
Licence: In copyright
Credit: Feeding and care of baby / by F. Truby King, issued by the Royal New Zealand Society for the Health of Women & Children (Incorporated). Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![take the knife away and give it to your brother who would make good use of it and keep it clean and bright? Some children will not eat anything hard. They do not like hard crusts of bread. Vou would almost think they had false teeth and wore afraid of breaking them by eating anything hard or tough. Gums would do as well as teeth for the food they eat. They do not use their teeth. So the teeth decay and are taken away from them. Dummy or Comforter. The Society for the Health of Women and Children has been making strong efforts to bring about the abolition of the “Dummy,” and has drawn the atten¬ tion of the Legislature to the extent and gravity of the evils resulting from its use. Doctors and dentists are at one on this matter. Every year the journals of both professions teem with references to the evils of the “Dummy Habit.” The abomination was scathingly denounced at a recent Dental Congress, and the following extracts from a letter since received by the Society from the President of the New Zealand Dental Association, Mr. T. A. Hunter, need no comment:— “In reply to your note [concerning the ‘Dummy’], speaking from a Dental point of view, there can be no doubt as to its evil effects. . . . “ During early childhood the bones are soft and easily moulded, so the use of any such appliance as the ‘ Dummy ’ is highly injurious. By its use the bones of both mouth and nose are involved. It is the cause, in most cases, of the contracted, or what we call the ‘V’-shaped arch, interfering with proper dentition, causing the teeth to erupt irregularly and to be mis¬ placed, one of the most frequent types being protrusion, which in turn induces mouth-breathing with its train of ills, such as adenoids, enlarged tonsils, etc., thereby lowering the vitality of the child and rendering it more susceptible to disease of any and every kind. . . . “ I have said enough from the Dental point of view alone to warrant the authorities in taking steps to abolish the use of such contrivances as the ‘Dummy.’ I fail to see any argument in its favour, especially when we con¬ sider that the habit is an acquired one.” Some years ago, Dr. T. F. Pedley, M.D., published a remarkable article in the British Medical Journal, giving the results of his experiences in the Far East and his researches in England as to the baleful influence of the “Dummy” or “Com¬ forter,” and of the unduly prolonged use of the ordinary rubber teat. Regarding the “Comforter,” Dr. Pedley said :— “ It is commonly placed in the baby’s mouth immediately after it has been fed from either the breast or the bottle, and is sucked for hours, day or night, until a habit is contracted which is most difficult to break. On the slightest sign of restlessness, or without any reasonable pretext, the dummy is pushed into the infant’s mouth ; often it is picked up from the floor and given to the child, or hung round its neck so as to be handy. Sometimes it is dipped into sugar or smeared with jam to render it more acceptable. Apart from its mechanical eflects upon the jaws and teeth, its use, to my mind, is obnoxious and uncleanly, for it introduces into the child’s mouth dirt and micro-organisms, and causes an abnormal secretion, of saliva, detrimental to digestion. . . . “Where both teat and ‘comforter’ have been long used, the damage is, I believe, irreparable. With multitudes of young children in Europe, the size and shape of the palate varies with the extent to which such influences have been brought to bear upon the plastic and growing tissues. . . . “Of course, the ‘comforter’ must be abolished and forbidden; its use is injurious, and if resorted to after warning, should be deemed an indictable offence.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2993123x_0138.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
