The Waterbury Democrat., 1932-04-26
YOUR CHILDREN
By Olive Roberts Barton

I shall take it for granted that you have a formula for your baby that is agreeing with him, or at least that he is under the super vision of a doctor or someone who knows.
 If your baby is i'll, If his food does not agree with him, you you should not experiment and guess at this and that. Take him to a doctor, of if you have simply no money for doctor, go to the board of health and inquire for a | free baby clinic. This is very im- portant. It may mean his life. But assuming that all is well, that his bottle agrees with him, that he is fat and rosy and getting along fine, have you started his cod liver oil yet, and orange juice, or as good substitute, canned tomato juice?
 Please do not think that these | things are just notions, some of the new high faluting ideas these specialists" are always talking about. It is not a notion that nearly all children born before 1915 had or still have rickets. No- OOuy huOW dDOul SOu lltCl VII III those days and the consequence is bone formation of some sort when he was small, and soft teeth. Tickets canont be seen, and it cannot very often be guessed at. But the story of rickets is long. Not only poor bones but other dis eases follow in it's trail.
 Teeth of tomorrow will be good | teeth. not filled with the crumbling | dentine we have fought all our 1 lives to save. And all because our mothers did not know about cod l liver oil or the doctors either in those days. Not as a steady diet, that is.
 All children before 1915 did not have rickets in spite of the sweep ing statement to that effect. Those who escaped it were mostly coun- ] try children and children who lived l in soutehrn climates. The rea- son is obvious. Sunlight is either a substitute for the oil or the oil l for the sunlight. Choose the comparison yourself. It seems strange that much of the same chemistry should be found in both, but it is true.
 But some rays of the sun are
 powerful and some are not. Winter
 sun usually worming it's way
 through fog, smoke, if it shines al
 all, is not as efficacious, although
 any sun is betetr than none. And
 to go out with merely hands and
 face exposed is not enough either
 However. country babies are in l fnY Inc cit nhilIrn,, hn
 cause of greater sun advantages |. This does not mean that country bred children shoulud never have cod liver oil. I believe the only exception recommended Is the hot summer months when the oil dos age is either reduced or taken away altogether.
 The amount given varies and the age varies. Your doctor may rec ommend starting on six drops twice a day at six weeks or he may pre- scribe more. The dose will be in- creased gradually.
 | From two to six the problem be- comes variable. Some children will not need cod liver oil during this period, others will take it until they are three or four. Still others will need it at certain periods, say after an illness, during mall nutrition, or a shut-in season of bad weather. Always it should be given under professional advice.
 But please do notsguess at doses Be sure you receive and under stand directions. If all does not go well. that should be reported to the doctor at once. He may use en- tirely new tactics then. All bottle babies should be fed under the doc tors orders, and even nursing ba- bies, for these too will need sup plementary foods at an early age.