Babies - The Feeding Problem : Part 3

The Mother and Her Child
by William S. Sadler, M.D., Lena K. Sadler, M.D.

(Page 21 of 43)

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 months, and from then on the weekly gain is from two to four ounces; in other words, by six months the baby should double his birth weight and at the end of a year his weight should be three times the birth weight. A stationary or diminishing weight demands careful attention; a good doctor should be called at once. Likewise, a very rapid increase in weight is not to be desired, as we do not want a fat baby, but we do desire a well-proportioned and alert baby, and, as someone has said, it is better to have little or no gain during the excessive heat than to upset the digestion by over-feeding, designed to keep the baby gaining.

In weighing, usually the outside garments are removed, leaving on a shirt, band, diaper, and stockings with the necessary pins; the little fellow therefore protected is placed into the weighing basket and at each successive weighing, these same clothes or others just like them are always included in the weight, and it should be so reported to the physician.

The Stools

In the chapter "Baby's Early Care," the first stools were described in detail, and there we learned that the dark, tarry, meconium stools are quickly changed within a week to the normal canary-yellow stool, having the odor of sour milk.

The bottle-fed babies' stools differ somewhat in appearance; they are thicker and a lighter color, but should always be homogeneous if the food is well digested. They do not have nearly the number of bowel movements each day that the breast-fed baby does. If a bottle-fed baby's bowels move once a day and he seems perfectly well otherwise, we are satisfied. And curds (white lumps), or mucus (sedimentary, slimy phlegm), indicate that the food is not well digested.

Bottle Feeding and Constipation

A bottle baby may be constipated because the proteins are too high, the fat too high, the food of an insufficient quantity or quality, or the milk have been boiled, while weak babies really may lack the muscular power to produce a bowel movement. With the help of your physician endeavor to arrive at the cause of the constipation, and, if the baby is two or three months old, from one to two teaspoons of unsweetened prune juice may be administered. Milk of magnesia may be added to the food (leaving out the lime water), or a gluten suppository may be used.

The change from milk sugar to malt sugar has helped many infants; while the giving of orange juice (after six months) is very beneficial in many cases. A small amount of sweet oil may be injected into the rectum which will lubricate the hard lumps and therefore favor comfortable evacuation. The periodicity of the bowel movement (at definite times each day) is a matter of great importance. Immediately after a meal, if the child is old enough, he should be placed on the toilet chair. A bit of cotton, well anointed with Vaseline and inserted into the rectum just before meals, will often aid in producing a bowel movement shortly after the meal has been taken.

Abdominal massage should be administered in all instances of constipation, beginning with light movements and gradually increasing, with well-oiled hands.

Diarrhea

Diarrhea usually accompanies acute intestinal indigestion and is so often associated with the common disorders of infancy that we refer the reader to the chapter "Common Disorders of Infancy." Dark stools should always be saved for the physician to observe, as they frequently contain blood. Stools full of air bubbles with pungent sour odor show fermentation; in which cases the starches should be reduced, if not entirely taken away from the food mixtures. Green stools mean putrefaction from filth-germs; a thorough cleansing of the bowel should be immediately followed by a reduction in the strength of the food and the boiling of the milk.

About the Author

Dr. William S. Sadler M.D. was a well-known American psychiatrist and college teacher in the school of medicine at the University of Chicago. For over sixty years he practiced his profession in Chicago, thirty-three years being associated in practice with his wife, Dr Lena Kellogg Sadler. The doctors were pioneers in the research on the mysterious Urantia Papers.