N BREAST-FED INFANTS.--Many nursing infants thrive and
gain in weight, yet they are constipated. Before you drug your baby be
sure the fault is not your own. Many mothers are responsible for the
constipation with which baby suffers. If the mother is constipated, so
will the child be. Cure the constipation of the mother and the baby's
bowels will regulate themselves. Nursing mothers who are large
tea-drinkers have irregular bowels as a rule. A baby whose mother is
lazy or indolent, who does not take a reasonable amount of exercise,
whose diet is faulty and whose hours are bad, is a sufferer from
constipation. The mother's life must be regulated, her diet and habits
corrected, and the instructions carried out as already recommended. The
breast milk should be examined and if any cause for constipation exists
in it, it should be rectified as suggested elsewhere.

If it is thought advisable to resort to drugs for the immediate relief
of the constipation of infants, the best ones are the aromatic fluid
extract of cascara sagrada; milk of magnesia with equal parts of the
aromatic syrup of rhubarb given in doses of one to three teaspoonfuls
daily.

Irrigations, enemas, and suppositories should not be used continuously.
The habit is a bad one. The parts become accustomed to their use and
fail to act. If the child is passing dry and hard stools it is of
advantage to inject two ounces of warm sweet oil at night, allowing it
to remain in the bowel until the following morning. See page 312.

CONSTIPATION IN BOTTLE-FED INFANTS.--It is much easier to treat the
constipation of bottle-fed babies than of those breast-fed, because the
food can be changed to ensure regular bowel movements. The first change
to be made in a bottle-fed baby who is habitually constipated is to add
more cream to the food. The way to do this is to take out of the bottle
of each feeding one tablespoonful of the food and put in its place one
tablespoonful pure cream. If this change partly rectifies the bowel
ailment, add more cream until the bowels are of the proper consistency.
Milk given constipated babies should be raw, never boiled, as boiled
milk will always aggravate the trouble.

The use of oatmeal water instead of plain water in making the baby's
food may cure the bowel trouble. Taking the sugar of milk out of the
baby's food and putting in its place the same quantity of Mellin's food
will sometimes cure the constipation.

One or two teaspoonfuls of m