So much for the prevention of diarrhea. If, in spite of every precaution, it appears, food of any kind must be withdrawn. Even the breast-fed baby should fast for twelve hours. Cleanse the bowels with either castor-oil or calomel. Try castor-oil first: one teaspoonful for the baby three months old or less. From three months to a year old, the dose may be graduated from a teaspoonful to a tablespoonful. If the baby cannot retain the castor-oil, try calomel as prescribed for vomiting—one-tenth of one grain every half-hour until one-half grain has been taken—for the baby up to four months. After that, and up to one year, the quantity may be increased, one-tenth of one grain every half-hour until two grains have been taken. Boiled water may be given at intervals, but not in any quantity, especially if the diarrhea is accompanied by vomiting. If the diarrhea does not yield to this treatment within twenty-four hours, a physician should be called in. CHAPTER VII TEETHING AND WEANING TEETHING A NATURAL PROCESS—PUTTING THE BABY IN SHAPE TO TEETHE EASILY—DENTITION TABLE—CARE OF THE FIRST TEETH—GRADUAL WEANING IS SIMPLE PROCESS—ALTERNATE BREAST AND BOTTLE FEEDING—EVILS OF DELAYED WEANING—DIET TABLES FOR CHILDREN FROM NINE MONTHS TO THIRTY-SIX MONTHS One of those dear women who never master the art of taking comfort out of life as they go along remarked to me recently: “Well, I suppose there are some mothers who find pleasure in raising children, but I’ve never had a care-free moment with mine. Just as soon as I could draw a long breath because they had survived the first month or so, I began to think about teething. When a couple of teeth were safely through, along came weaning. And then measles——” Yet this mother has raised four splendidly strong boys and girls, and has never lost a child. Her husband would tell you that the family doctor’s bills have been extremely small. Perhaps you think the babies escaped illness because she worried over them and guarded their health. Not at all! They were healthy, normal babies. If they had been otherwise, the family doctor would literally have camped in her nursery. The real trouble with their mother was that she did not recognize a normal baby when she had one, and she did not consider teething and weaning natural events or processes in a baby’s life. She could not believe that it was possible to raise babies without fighting illness in some form or another. She did not understand that her simple methods of preventive medicine, the intelligent care of her children from the day of their birth, insured normal digestion. With this health insurance she had no need to fear “symptoms” or bad results from teething and weaning.