ng is perhaps more often the result of over feeding or too
frequent feeding than anything else. A healthy, breast-fed baby may
now and then regurgitate a bit, but it simply spills over because it
is too full. We do not refer to this as vomiting, we refer to the
belching up or vomiting of very sour or acrid milk which leaves a sour
odor on the clothing. This can all usually be rectified by lengthening
the intervals from two to three hours and preventing bolting of food
by getting a nipple whose hole is not so large. Too much cream in the
food will also sometimes cause vomiting.

Too frequent feeding at night is another cause of vomiting. When the
stomach is full, the failure to lay the baby down quietly, as is so
often seen in those homes where bouncing and jolting are practiced,
may also result in vomiting.

Vomiting may be the first sign of many acute illnesses such as scarlet
fever, measles, pneumonia, whooping cough, etc.

The treatment for acute vomiting is simple. All foods should be
withheld--nothing but plain, sweetened water should be administered,
while it is often advisable to give a dose of castor oil. A physician
should be called at once if the vomiting continues, and not until the
vomiting has entirely ceased for a number of hours and water is easily
retained, should food be given, and even then it should be begun on
very weak mixtures.

OVER-FEEDING

The size of the child's stomach should be the guide to the quantity of
food given, and attention is called to the table given in a previous
chapter. All food taken in excess of his needs lies in his stomach and
intestines only to ferment and cause wind and colic. The symptoms of
over-feeding are restlessness, sleeplessness, stationary weight (or
loss in weight), and oftentimes these very symptoms are interpreted by
the mother as sufficient evidence that the baby needs more food; and
so the reader can see the terrible havoc which is soon wrought where
such ignorance reigns.

WEIGHT

The weighing time should immediately follow a bowel movement and just
before a feeding time; then, and only then, we have the real weight of
baby, as a retained bowel movement may often add from four to five
ounces to the child's weight. There should be a careful record of each
weighing, for there may develop a great difference if different
members of the family endeavor to keep the weight in their minds. The
normal baby should gain four to eight ounces a week up to six