OUR BABIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3403, 4 June 1919, Page 58

OUR BABIES.

By Hygeia. Published under tne auspices ef Ihe Royal New Zealand Society far the Health ol Women and Children. "It Is wiser to put up tense at the top ot a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at tie b.ttom." CONSTIPATION IN BABIES. Last week we were dealing with a mother's letter regarding constipation in her 18-months-old baby.. This week I shall comment on another letter on the same subject:— THE LETTER,. Will you please answer the following letter through your column : —My 14-months-old baby is not progressing as favourably as I should like. He is off Hiimanised Milk now, and we are giving him plain cow's milk. He is lively, creeps well, and stands up to chairs, but he does not attempt to walk far yet. He has four teeth on the top and three on the bottom, and I think he is cutting a double one now. Lately he has been suffering very badly from constipation, and I have had to use the syringe with soapy water, and the motions would come away in lumps as hard as hard could be, and no baby could possibly have passed such motions without the aid of the syringe. Could you give mo some advice as to what his- food should be ? The Baby's Food.

At 5 a.m. I give* him 6ioz of plain, cow's milk. About 7 a.m. a tablespoonful of orange juice in water. At 9 a.m. porridge and cow's milk, also unsweetened rusks. At 1 p.m., rusk, semolina or sago, and baked apple, stewed prunes, or mashed boiled carrots. Potato did not seem to suit him. The semolina and sago aro boiled with milk. Could he have a little raw apple at this meal? About 3 p.m., orange, prune, or fig juice. At 5 p.m., rusk, groats, or occasionally patent barley and milk. At 9 p.m., 6ioz of milk. (Lately I have been putting a teaspoonful of fluid magnesia in his bottles at 9 at night and 5 in the morning. (Jan you give me any better suggestion for his feeding? The two cows we are milking ar» rrh creamers. Should we add a little water to his milk? How much milk would you advise us to give him in a day? We have been getting him to drink out of a cup lately to wean him from the bottle. I was advised by the mother of a large family to give him raisins, but I knew he could not digest them raw, so _ I stewed some, and they passed through him just as he swallowed them. Should we give him any more? 1 had been told to give him cream for constipation, but I found when. I did so that ho came out' in little red dots on his nose or large pimples over other parts of his body. As a young baby he was never so bad as he is now. He gets very little sugar with his food. Occasionally we give him a little treacle on his porridge. Two or three times we gave him wheatmeal porridge for a change, and it seemed to suit him all right. Could we givo him a little soup made from mutton with carrot and onion in it, etc ? COMMENT. The mother does not give any indication as to whether her baby was breast-fed, and if so for how long. At 14 months he had evidently been having pure unmodified cow's milk for some time, and he had lately become very constipated. It would have been better had the mother followed the instructions in the Society's Book. On page 38, "Feeding and Care of Baby," it says: "Up to at least 15 months part of the baby's milk should be humanised to prevent giving too much proteid." Too much curd (proteid) is apt to cause constipation. At 14 months an average daily allowance of milk would be lOoz of Humanised Milk and 15oz of whole cow's milk. At the early morning and evening meals it Is well to add, say, 2oz of oat jelly to tho milk instead of giving it plain, or the oat jelly may bo given by spoon. Where there is a tendency to constipation oat jelly isbetter than barley jeliy, as it is more laxative

Bread dried and crisped in the oven is better than rusks. If the mother will study pages 48 and 49, ".Feeding and Care of Baby," she will find information with regard to the diet for a baby from 12 to 15 months of age. Our correspondent's arrangement of meals was good, and it was perfectly right to give the fruit juice between meals as she I shall now indicate a few points which may prove helpful in the fight against constipation. HYGIENIC MEASURES, (a) All the essentials for Health laid down on pages 1 and 2 of the Society's Book "Feeding and Care of Baby" should be carefully" attended to and supplied in full measure. (b) Don't let 10 o'clock in the morning pass without getting the bowels to move, if thero has not been a, motion in the previous 24- hours. (c) Enema: —Don't uses soap, as it causes irritation. A small tonic enema of loz to 2oz of normal saline given by means of a tiny soft-nozzled bulb enema may be given pending the securing of natural motions. See last week's article. (d) Abdominal massajre—described last week. FOOD REQUIREMENTS. (1) Milk. Some of the day's supply of milk should be modified up to 15 months, and a little malt extract may be added to the milk once or twice a day. Begin with a small half-tcaspoonful, and gradually increase if necessary.

(2) The milk should not bo boiled. Boiled milk is constipating. (3) Broth made from mutton, beef, or chicken, freed from fat, may be given thickened with some well-boiled ground rice or semolina.

(4) Fresh fruit juice, well-cooked rRU.XES from which the skin has been removed, BAKED APPLE, and RIPE RAW APPLE may bo given. A normal, healthy baby from nine or 10 months onwards may have some ripe raw apple The best plan is to remove a piece of >he skin from a good, sound, ripe apple, and allow baby to rub off a little from the cut surface with his teeth and gums. Of course, he must be watched, because if a large piece of apple were bitten off ho might choke. (5) Olive oil. Half a teaspoonful of the best olivo oil may be- tried, and this may be gradually increased until a moderatesized teaspoonful is taken. CREAM NOT DESIRABLE. Though sometimes recommended for constipation, cream is not desirable—indeed, the presence of too much butter-fat is liable to aggravate matters, giving rise to what is known as "fat constipation." CARROTS, RAISINS; ETC. It is better not to give carrots, onions, raisins, or such things to a baby of 14 months. Babies must be gradually and carefully habituated to changes of food, or the digestive organs suffer. COMMON-SENSE METHODS. I- am sure that the readers of this column will realise that the rational way to deal with a tendency to constipation, whether in the case of a baby or an adult, is to get the individual into the best possible allround health and vigour, neglecting none of the essentials mentioned on pages 1 and 2 of the Society's Book. The commonest mistake is trying merely one thing at a time where you want cumulative effect of a number of factors used in moderation, such as massage, fruit juice, olive oil, etc, nono of which might bring about the desired" result if used by itself.