A COMMON fault in the feeding of children is giving a diet which consists too largely of pultaceous foodstuffs, which require little or no mastication. Such foodstuffs are usually of a kind which lead to acid fermentation. Serious consequences follow this defective system of feeding. In the first place the muscles of mastication and the jaws are imperfectly developed, with the result that the post-nasal space is small in size and liable to be further encroached on by excess of lymphoid tissue (adenoids), with resulting unfavourable effects on the growth and general nutrition of the child Secondly, the carbohydrates of the food lodge round the teeth and undergo acid fermentation, with resulting dental caries. A first essential in the feeding of children, therefore, is to see that the food is of a nature that demands mastication. At each meal the child should receive one or other of the following articles of diet, baked bread (slice of ordinary bread placed in a quick oven until it is quite dry and crisp), milk toast (thin slice of stale bread dipped in milk and baked in a slow oven until it is brown), unsweetened rusks, unsweetened biscuits, oatcakes, unfired bread (Christian's, p. 529), apples, bananas, and nuts. As these forms of administering carbohydrates tend to lessen the bulk of food consumed, it is important to supplement it by extra fat or sugar. The latter is unfavourable to the teeth, and an extra supply of fat or cream should therefore be given. After a meal which contains much carbohydrate in the form of cakes, or sweets, the acid in the mouth may advantageously be neutralised by the salts present in a little raw fruit, such as apples, bananas, or nuts.

There is another point of great importance in the diet of children at this period of life that is usually lost sight of, viz., the necessity of adapting the diet to the diathesis of the child. The diet of a child of tuberculous stock, of say five years of age, is different from that of a gouty child of the same age. This point is one of great practical importance. The former child is usually of comparatively feeble development, shows relatively little muscular activity, is slightly anaemic, and altogether forms a marked contrast to the well-developed, muscular, active child of good colour that is characteristic of the gouty diathesis. Attention will first be directed to the dietetic management of the average child, one with no specially pronounced diathetic tendency, and thereafter to the diet appropriate to the child of gouty stock, to the highly nervous child, and to children predisposed to tuberculosis.

From two years of age onwards the normal child has a well-developed digestive apparatus and a keen appetite, and is well able to digest most foodstuffs if given in moderation. The teeth by this time are through the gum, and it is of the greatest importance that they should get a diet which develops the art of mastication. The movement of the jaws in mastication in growing children promotes the development of the muscles of the tongue, palate, and naso-pharynx; it, at the same time, favours the normal development of the nasal and nasopharyngeal cavities, which is of so great importance for the purposes of respiration and general nutrition. Too much importance, therefore, cannot be devoted to the question of a proper diet in the developing period.

The following table gives the average weights and heights of children at different ages. It should be borne in mind that these averages are calculated from tables of the weights and heights of a large number of persons, and though accurate as a general guide, are not necessarily true for each person. A deviation of 15 per cent, in either direction from the standard is not seriously regarded. Of more importance than the actual weight is the proportion between height and weight. Care must be taken that patients who are weighed periodically should always be weighed under precisely corresponding conditions as to scales, clothes, etc.