If the baby seems exhausted, the physician should be summoned at once, but these suggestions may be helpful until the physician arrives.
When colic is very frequent in a bottle-fed baby, the food should be modified.
The Stools in Infancy
The character of the stools depends primarily on the composition of the food. They are varied according to the digestive powers of the infant, and according to the amount and rapidity of absorption of the products of digestion. The amount of absorption depends to a considerable extent on the rapidity with which the contents pass through the intestinal tract.
The nature of the food, of course, influences the character of the stools. The examination of the stools is of the greatest aid in determining whether or not any given food element is properly digested and assimilated, and, in many diseased conditions, in telling what element is at fault. This, however, can only be determined by analysis, but a little information on this subject will be of value to the mother or nurse.
During the first few weeks or months of life, the breast-fed infant has three or four stools daily. These are of about the consistency of thick pea soup and are golden yellow. The number of stools gradually diminishes to two or three in the twenty-four hours, and the consistency becomes more salve-like.
It is not uncommon for thriving breast-fed babies to have a large number of stools of diminished consistency and of a brownish color; in such instances, the examination of the breast milk will show that the proteins are high.
It is best not to pay too much attention to the stools if the baby is gaining in weight and appears well. It is not unusual to find many soft fine curds and sometimes mucus in the stools of healthy breast-fed babies.