If all these rules were observed, costiveness would not so frequently prevail, and one of the miseries of the nursery would be done away with.
Some mothers are frequently dosing their poor unfortunate babies either with magnesia to cool them, or with castor oil to heal the bowels! Oh, the folly of such practices! The frequent repetition of magnesia, instead of cooling an infant, makes him feverish and irritable. The constant administration of castor oil, instead of healing the bowels, wounds them beyond measure. No! it would be a blessed thing if a baby could be brought up without giving him a particle of opening medicine; his bowels would then act naturally and well: but then, as I have just now remarked, a mother must be particular in attending to Nature's medicines—to fresh air, to exercise, to diet, to thorough ablution, etc. Until that time comes, poor unfortunate babies must be occasionally dosed with an aperient.
97. What are the causes of, and remedies for, Flatulence?
Flatulence most frequently occurs in those infants who live on artificial food, especially if they are over-fed. I therefore beg to refer you to the precautions I have given, when speaking of the importance of keeping a child for the first four or five months entirely to the breast; and, if that be not practicable, of the times of feeding, and of the best kinds of artificial food, and of those which are least likely to cause "wind."
What to do.—Notwithstanding these precautions, if the babe should still suffer, "One of the best and safest remedies for flatulence is sal-volatile,—a teaspoonful of a solution of one drachm to an ounce and a half of water. Or, a little dill or aniseed may be added to the food—half a teaspoonful of dill water. Or, take twelve drops of oil of dill, and two lumps of sugar; rub them well in a mortar together; then add, drop by drop, three tablespoonfuls of
