Respiration.—­ The healthy infant breathes on an average forty-four times a minute; the only time the respirations can be satisfactorily counted is during sleep.  When the child is awake, the respirations are hurried by slight movements of the body, crying, and so forth.  The average pulse of a newborn baby is one hundred and forty; this is hurried by the same causes that hastens respirations; the pulse is most easily counted at the anterior fontanel.  The average temperature of the infant is 99° F. When the tip of the nose and the extremities are cold, it indicates a lowered vitality.

The nature of the child’s cry indicates, variously, hunger, temper, or pain; the mother will soon learn to distinguish these varieties.  If the child cries because it is hungry, the cry ceases so soon as it is fed.  But a child is never to be fed simply because it cries; it must be fed on the hour by the clock.  If this rule is not strictly adhered to, it will suffer all the forms of indigestion and colic that babies are heir to.  If it cries because of colic, there is a drawn look on the face, and at the same time the legs are sharply flexed on the thighs and the thighs on the abdomen.  If the cries are due to earache, the head will be rolled about from one side to the other.  In either case nothing will stop the cries until the pain is relieved.  A baby does not shed tears until the third month.

The Stools.—­ The stools of a very young baby fed on breast-milk should be of a yellow or orange color.  There should be three or four evacuations daily; they should contain no curds.  Stools of bottle-fed babies are lighter in color and more offensive.

Constipation.—­ Constipation is not uncommon in infancy; it may be overcome by the use of a soap suppository, or by an injection of warm soap-suds into the bowel, or by an injection of oil and water, or by gentle friction over the bowel, following the course of the large intestine.

To make the soap suppository, take a piece of castile soap about an inch long, give it the shape of a cone not any larger than the end of the little finger, and make it perfectly smooth.  This is inserted to about half of its length into the rectum and held there until it causes the bowels to move.

The bowel injection is best given by means of the single-bulb syringe, known as the eye and ear syringe; the bulb holds about two tablespoonfuls of liquid.  This may be warm cotton-seed oil, sweet oil, or glycerin one teaspoonful to warm water two tablespoonfuls.  The nozle should be small, smooth, and well oiled.  It should be very carefully introduced into the bowel, being directed a little to the left side, and the bulb gently squeezed to force the contents into the bowel.  The injection is more effective if it is retained for a little while; this is accomplished by making slight pressure on the anus with a towel.

Rubbing the abdomen for about ten minutes in the direction of the large bowel is sometimes very effective in overcoming constipation; begin in the right groin and rub up as far as the border of the ribs, then across to the left, then down on the left side.