FLATULENCE
Flatulence is an excessive formation of gas in the stomach and bowels leading to distension of the abdomen and the belching of gas, and often the bringing up of a sour, pungent, watery fluid.
Flatulence is seen in infants suffering from intestinal indigestion and the food is nearly always at fault. This condition is the result of the faulty digestion of the sugar and starches—particularly the starch—which should be immediately reduced. In such conditions the addition of a slight amount of some alkaline (such as soda, magnesia or lime water) to the food often produces good results. Great patience must be exercised with a child that suffers from flatulence, for immediate improvement can hardly be expected; time is required for the restoration of good digestion.
VOMITING
Vomiting 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.