Gentle treatment is necessary to bring the best results. Cathartics with
their harsh action on the delicate membranes are contraindicated. The
mother's first milk is cathartic enough to stimulate the bowels to act,
but it is nature's cathartic and does no harm.
As a rule the baby is fed too often and too much from the time of birth.
If the child appears healthy the physician's recommendation will
probably be to feed every two hours day and night, or every two hours
during the day and every three hours at night. If the little one appears
weakly these feedings are increased in number. From ten to twenty-four
feedings in twenty-four hours are not uncommon and sometimes infants are
nursed or given the bottle two and even three times an hour. The excuse
for this is that the baby's stomach is small and cannot hold much food
at a time and must for this reason be filled often, for the baby has to
grow, and the more food it gets the faster it grows. The baby's stomach
is small, because the little one needs very little food. The human
being grows and develops for twenty to twenty-five years. This growth is
slow and during babyhood the amount of nourishment needed is not great.
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