SLEEP
If your child has had
a good start in life, sleep should not be a major problem. Some difficulties
undoubtedly will arise at some time. If they do, don't decide your youngster is
being willfully bad; try to determine and eliminate the cause of trouble. For
example, at some point your child may be afraid of the dark, usually because
someone, not nec- essarily you, has frightened him. A dim light, or a door left
open just a bit will often help dispel the fear. Children usually go to sleep
more readily if the evening meal is simple and they are not too stimulated at
bedtime.
EATING
At some time or
other, most babies fail to eat as well as their mothers would wish. If the
mother becomes tense and begs the child to eat, he may be balky. If she
punishes him, it may make him hate meal- times. We advise mothers to place food
before their children and remove it if they don't eat it, with the result that
they are ready for it by the next meal. But this simple method does not always
work. It may be necessary to use ingenuity and imagination to make certain a
child is getting enough to eat. If a child is a poor cater, the mother should
calmly try to discover the circumstances under which he cats best. Often being
alone so he is not dehydrated helps, food that is easily chewed, or food that
is easy to manipulate, or some foods he likes; other foods should be gradually
and tactfully added. Don't worry excessively about a child's eating.
Children do not starve themselves. Studies have demonstrated
that even very small children who are allowed to freely choose their foods
select a reasonably well balanced diet; they do not eat ice cream and candy
only. Remember that feeding problems are often problems involving some- thing other
than, or in addition to, eating. It is best to discover what the other problems
are and solve them, but if you can't, a general atmosphere of love and
relaxation will help. Your child grows and changes, and at one time may eat (or
sleep) well; at another he may not.
Most children eat less in hot weather, in teething periods,
and during the second year of life. Remember this, too, about feeding: The
chubby child is not necessarily the healthiest child, although there has long
been a misconception that this is the case. Recently, data from animal
experiments indicate that the number of fat cells may be programmed early in
life and an increase in the number of such cells will make the animal
permanently obese so that it is exceedingly difficult to take off and keep off
weight later in life. If these data prove to be true in the human, then early
childhood may be a critical period in determining whether or not an individual
will be obese later in life. With this in mind, it would seem best to feed a
child healthily, moderately, and definitely' not to merely make him chubby.
