DIET AND HYGIENE
As we give the child a closer examination we find that certain lymph glands are enlarged, possibly adenoids are present in the post-nasal pharnyx, and, in many instances, there are badly diseased tonsils. Usually the puny child is constipated, hands and feet are cold, and he jumps and starts at any unusual noise, thus showing a tendency to nervousness. One of the first things necessary is to take this little one to a good specialist and if necessary have the adenoids and tonsils removed. This having been done, the diet should be carefully looked into. There should be served him for breakfast a generous bowl of dextrinized grains with a good portion of diluted cream, a glass of rich milk, a baked potato, and fruit. For lunch at twelve o'clock he should be given a glass of malted milk with egg, or eggnog, six or eight dates or three or four figs, a handful of pecan kernels, and perhaps a lettuce sandwich. For dinner at half past five, another nourishing meal of baked potatoes, a protein dish of either cheese and macaroni or eggs or meat, a generous fruit salad, a glass of rich milk, and bread and butter, should be enjoyed.
There is no class of little folks who eat between meals more often than do these delicate children, for mothers painstakingly endeavor to feed these children all they can possibly take; so one mother thoughtlessly went about it something like this: the half past seven breakfast having been only touched—nibbled at—with the ten o'clock hour came this request: "Mother, I am so hungry, I want something to eat." Eagerly the mother prepared either a meat sandwich or a jelly sandwich and possibly a glass of milk.
When it was time for the twelve o'clock dinner hour, or lunch hour, again the well-filled plate was refused, the appetite having been satisfied at ten o'clock. Having taken very little nourishment at noon, by half past two the plaintive plea again came to the mother ears: "May I have a piece?" and again the well-meaning mother gave him the desire of his heart. So the day passed, the dinner making the fifth time food was taken into the stomach, and in all probability there was eaten a cookie in between. The reader can readily see that the digestion was consequently very much disturbed, fermentation occurred, decomposition of food took place in the digestive tract, with its result—constipation.