OUR BABIES.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume L, Issue 12239, 12 June 1909, Page 3

OUR BABIES.

BY HYGEIA.

Published under the" auspices of tho Society for the Promotion of tho Health of Women and Children.

"It is wieer to put up a fence at the ton of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom."

OVERFEEDING OF BABIES

(Continued.) Recently we showed how the overfed baby tends to put up its milk almost unchanged just after feeding, and how, if tho supply of nutriment be not lessened, he will suffer sooner or later from pain and discomfort, and instead of merely returning some focd will have attacks of vomiting between meals, the vomited matter being sour and curdy. The above symptoms have special reference to what takes place in regard to the stomach. However, this is not the whole of the evil. In th& early stages of overfeeding there is a tendency to constipation, but as time goes on the changed and fermenting contents of the intestine give rise to wind and colic, with a. tendency to diarrhoea.

Instead of the normal movement— the golden-yellow, homogeneous> mushy substance with its not unpleasant sourish odour which two or , three times a day pours quietly and emoothly out of the napkin like syrup out of a bottle, r-nd is first discovered on undressing tiie child—the process now assumes a much more "dilamatic" character. It is ushured in by restlessness, the entire body starts into activity, growlings, gurgling.?, and rumblings are heard, and finally with a loud passage of gas and a vigorous cry from the baby, a fluid motion is forcibly ejected from the bowel as if squirted out of a syringe. _ On inspection of the napkin this motion is seen to bo surrounded by a fairly wide watery border, and shows larger or smaller" white fragments, which here and there are light or dark green, and from it there arises a disagreeable, sour, pungent odour. If tested, the motion will be found to be decidedly acid. Sometimes green stools occur early, alternating with curdy stools, or else on standing a greenish colouring oi' the movement, beginning at its outer border, may come on. -.■■"■ SAD CHANGE IN THE BABY.

Meantime the entire nature -of. the child has changed. The alteration in its expression, which has already been mentioned, soon not only accompanies the nausea preceding vomiting, or the pain attending evacuation, but becomos permanent as a result- of the parsistent .intestinal discomfort. Epstein, a fine observer of such tilings, gives the following description. The appeal ance of content disappears, even in sleep, the features become more shrivelled and more pointed, the-glance becomes'weaker, the corners of. the mouth more drawn, and the expression of the face more set and pinched. Sleep, which normally comes on after, feeding with evident comfort, either fails to appear at all, or lacks its normal depth and quiet. The .slightest noise makes the child wide awake, and even without such.disturbances it sud-• denly starts convulsively, works its lips, arms, and legs in an unaccustomed way; in short, does not obtain proper rest. The face has become notablypaler, and blotches or gpots of light or dark .red colour appear on the face, either singly, in.groups, or there may bo a diffuse redness. The genital region is frequently the seat of processes varying from simple reddening of the skin to uleerations or ecaema. The-ab-domon is d.etended by gas, and the skin becomes tente. On applying the hand to the abdomen, the movement of the intestines is . telt, and occasionally, with a loud noise, sour-smelling or toul gas is expelled1 from the bowel, and is frequently' accompanied by Lttlespurts of faeceiS. The discomfort of the waking or. sleeping infant is increased by attacks ot colic, which cause, severe crying, In which the face becomes dark red and the features, distorted with pain. The legs are drawn up, or kicked "backwards and forwards moro or less continuously, thus causing redennirig of the- heels. These symptoms continue until the passage ot gas or a movement of the bowek, which squirts out for some distance, procures quiet for a tinio.

The mouth, which in the beginning presents, a slight reddening, often becomes swollen later on. The tongue shows a velvety coat; In very young children a growth of thrush is liable to appear^, which covers the inner surface of the lips, the gums, the mucous membrane of the cheeks, and palate with larger or smaller deposits of a white or yellowish colour, which stand out sharply from the reddened and somewhat swollen lining of the mouth. There is usually no fever. As to the wejght curve, in the beginning it shows a more interrupted course instead of tho normal steady increase.^ Periods'.ofstationary weight alternate with occasional sudden increase beyond-the normal rate of growth. Later the weight euro becomes level, or slowly inclines downwards ,~ The various changes referred to manifest themselves in the whole appearance of the child. Its superficial fat and the muscles feel more flabby, its movements lose their .vigour, and the skin loses its colour.

FATE OF THE OVERFED. In the earlier''stages'-these symptoms of overfeeding may subside of themselves, because. "on the one hand a strengthening of the child's digestive power may come to the rescue, enabling the organs to meet the excessive- demands, and because, on the other hand, a-regulation of the amount of milk provided by the mother or nurse may take place, which limits the quantity of food given. But one-must not ■count upon this Spontaneous subsidence, because; •although if attended to in time the simpler disturbances due to. overfeeding are quickly and easily allayed by prop: atreatment, still the boundary line which sperates them from the severest forni of indigestion and dia-rhcea is easily passed. Furthermore, there is the danger of guch babies catching some other illness against which the normal course of digestion guarantees a relative immunity, but to wljich children thus injured by overfeeding are extremely liable. Fuither, if they do acquire any disease they show Lttle power of recovery. ■ * "