CHAPTER XXXIX
THE PUNY CHILD
In every neighborhood there is to be found the delicate child, and everywhere anxious mothers are putting forth every effort to improve the condition of their puny boys and girls. In carefully looking over the puny child, we see an underweight little creature with pale skin, and as he comes to the table everybody notes that he refuses more or less food.
DIET AND HYGIENE
As we give the child a closer examination we find that certain lymph glands are enlarged, possibly adenoids are present in the post-nasal pharnyx, and, in many instances, there are badly diseased tonsils. Usually the puny child is constipated, hands and feet are cold, and he jumps and starts at any unusual noise, thus showing a tendency to nervousness. One of the first things necessary is to take this little one to a good specialist and if necessary have the adenoids and tonsils removed. This having been done, the diet should be carefully looked into. There should be served him for breakfast a generous bowl of dextrinized grains with a good portion of diluted cream, a glass of rich milk, a baked potato, and fruit. For lunch at twelve o'clock he should be given a glass of malted milk with egg, or eggnog, six or eight dates or three or four figs, a handful of pecan kernels, and perhaps a lettuce sandwich. For dinner at half past five, another nourishing meal of baked potatoes, a protein dish of either cheese and macaroni or eggs or meat, a generous fruit salad, a glass of rich milk, and bread and butter, should be enjoyed.
There is no class of little folks who eat between meals more often than do these delicate children, for mothers painstakingly endeavor to feed these children all they can possibly take; so one mother thoughtlessly went about it something like this: the half past seven breakfast having been only touched—nibbled at—with the ten o'clock hour came this request: "Mother, I am so hungry, I want something to eat." Eagerly the mother prepared either a meat sandwich or a jelly sandwich and possibly a glass of milk.
When it was time for the twelve o'clock dinner hour, or lunch hour, again the well-filled plate was refused, the appetite having been satisfied at ten o'clock. Having taken very little nourishment at noon, by half past two the plaintive plea again came to the mother ears: "May I have a piece?" and again the well-meaning mother gave him the desire of his heart. So the day passed, the dinner making the fifth time food was taken into the stomach, and in all probability there was eaten a cookie in between. The reader can readily see that the digestion was consequently very much disturbed, fermentation occurred, decomposition of food took place in the digestive tract, with its result—constipation.
IMPROVING THE APPETITE
Not a morsel should pass the lips of any child, and particularly our delicate child, between meals. Let him come to the table at half past seven or eight o'clock, and if he does not want to eat tell him frankly that that is all he is to receive until twelve—and stick to it. Nothing more than water or fruit juices should be taken between meals.
It may be necessary to create an appetite for the three meals we have just described, and as we now take up the outdoor hygiene we would not forget that some simple treatment should be instituted each day in a well-heated bathroom or bedroom. Roller skating or ice skating, hoop-rolling, rope-skipping, and Irish mail, or a coaster, all furnish splendid exercise for the delicate child. Under no circumstances should he be allowed to remain all the time in the house; and so pleasing recreations must be provided for him out of doors. The sand pile should not be forgotten, flower-bed making, raking the lawn, a polished coasting board fastened in a slanting position to an upright which can be mounted by means of a ladder, create splendid outdoor sports for these children.