Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-07-17
MOTHERS COLUMN.
Some Valuable Hints for the Feeding Of
Very Young Children

In the twenty-second article OF the
series for Mothers Column, contributed
by the medical consultant Of the State
Reconstruction Commission, submitted
by the commission through the Clearing
House of the Delaware State Program,
the subject is Constipation" Following
Is the article:
Constipation is one of the commonest
ills Of childhood and while il may at times
bo one of the easiest TO overcome, there
are cases in which il vii be found most
difficult to cure. Its caused in PRACTICAL,
every instance by some fault of the diet
There are great many other causes, such
as prolapse of the reotum. impacted feces
and so forth, but these are few compared
to the number arising from dietary causes,
The breast-fed baby normally has from
one To four stools day. depending upon
the quality of the milk. The milk Of some
mothers contains high percentage OF fat,
which causes more frequent stools. The
movement should not be difficult nor
cause strainng, but should be soft and
yellow II is hard and formed the baby
is cons tipated.
The cause of this in the breast fed baby
Is usually to be found in the mother
She may be constipated or may not take
sufficient exercise. Excessive tea drinking
is often the cause. If none Of these com
moner causcs are found, her milk should
be examined II may be that il contains
too much proteid. or may be lacking In fat
In this case her dict must he regulated
Medicines should be avoided as much as
possible. Small doses OF milk of magnesia
arc very good, or a teaspoonful of olive
oil, orange juice or prune Juice
Cow g milk is more apt to produce con-
zfI hH,, a -tz.
carefully made up so that the percentages
are rs near that of human milk as is posi-
be. 1t contains higher percentage Of
protcid, which, as | have said above, ia
constipating, and also lower percentage
of sugar. For this reason formulas are
made up which consist of diluted cows
milk with added sugar. Oftentmes lime
water ls added 10 increase the alkainitv of
the milk, and this may cause constipation.
In some cases the form of sugar used
ottentimes cane sugar, may cause It,
IN which event the sugar should be
changed to lactosc or dextri-maltosc
Boiled cows milk often produces II, and
this can be averted by using clean raw
milk, or by using the mild laxatlves above
mentioned If boiled milk must be used to
assure safety The addition of cream To
the formula may sometimes cure the
constipation. However, none Of these
changes should ever be made in the baby's
formula without the advice Of physician
who is well trained in infant feeding. No
mother should ever change her babies
formulas In any way without sueh advice
In some cases where the constipation
is obstinate, it may be found necessary
to employ moro drastic measures than
those described above. In these cases
small dose of castor oil or extract of cas-
cara may be gwen Enemas of soap suds
and warm water are most effective il rapid
evacuation of the bowels is desired. All
children should be trained early To
evacuate their bowels daily. and il is sur
prislng at what an early age this habit
can be formed Merely put the child upon
the stool every day at certain time and IL
will soon be found that he will wait for
this time to come and not soil the diaper