Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1902-03-03
FEED BABY SLOWLY.
ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT FAC
TORS IN CHILD REARING.

Reasons why Food should Not BE
Stomach-Advice Which Applies to
Grown Folks as Well as Babes.
In the proper bringing up Of a child
there is nothing absolutely more i'm
portant than this one thing-to teach
it to eat slowly.
Every groom knows and observes the
rule in the are Of a horse that rapid
eating is fatal to digestion. There are
all sorts of patent hangers to prevent
the horse swallowing his oats too
quickly. The man who has no patent
manger knows enough, when neces-
sary, to put a stone in the manger,
scattering the oats around it, so that
the horse may be compelled to eat
slowly. If the horses inclination is
to gulp down water too fast, the care
full mar will put a big sponge in the
water, compelling slow drinking.
A child's appetite, when he is al;
lowed to eat rapidly, is always in ex-
cess Of his actual needs unless the
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this is extremely simple. The child
Graves food because his body requires
to manufacture new tissue. He is
growing, and he must not only replace
the used up tissues that his daily life
destroys, but he must make new flesh,
new muscles, new bone and new blood
every day, adding weight and size.
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craving Of an empty stomach, satisfied
as o as the stomach is filed; it is a
craving that is felt by the nerves all
over the body. This craving cannot
possibly be satisfied until the stomach
has begun the work Of transforming
the food into blood, flesh, muscles, etc.;
consequently the sensation which we
call hunger persists long after the
child or grown person has rapidly alb
sorbed as much food as it really needs.
A million foolish parents urge their
children to eat a great deal and always
let them eat as much as they want to.
Yet all Of these know that a famished
man taken off a wreck will eat himself
to death if allowed to do so. The very
hungry child goes to the same excess,
only in a lesser degree. The great
safeguard against that excess in eat
ing, which kills 80 per cent of men be-
fore their time and which accounts for
80 per cent of children's diseases, is
slow eating.
Nearly all children eat too rapidly.
They do so by nature. Slow eating is
a matter Of education. But too often
the mother Or the nurse teaches the
child the habit Of eating fast. When
at a time. Before it has time to half
chew or even gulp down the first tea
spoonful of food another is held to its
lips. OF course it swallows what it
has in it's mouth and seizes upon the
next mouthful. The habit thus incul-
Gated by foolish adults often ruins the
child permanently.
Four factors count in the healthy as
sanitation Of food, factors which par
ents and nurses should remember. AS
suming the food to be properly prepar-
led, thoroughly cooked and wisely Sc
lected, there comes, first, the work of
the teeth, which prepare the food for
easy digestion; second, the action of
the saliva, with which the food must
be thoroughly mixed in order to mini.
mize the necessary work Of the gastric
juices in the stomach; third, the work
Of the stomach itself; fourth, and most
important, a proper supply Of blood
and of heat.
Force your child to chew slowly anC
thoroughly every mouthful. If moth
ing else will do, compel him at fire
quent intervals to lay down his knife
and fork that the Importance Of pro
longed chewing may be impressed upo1
him. Don't allow your child to gull
down water or any other liquid will
his solid food. If you allow him t.
drink while he eats, the s~alivar.
glands will not act. They will no
need to act, for he will be able to swal