The suggestions for exercise, like those for the baby’s airing, must be very general since it should always be adjusted to the powers of the individual baby and directed by the doctor. TRAINING YOUR BABY =Bowels.= It is possible to train even a very young baby to have regular, daily bowel movements; and this training should be started when the baby is about a month old. At the same hour each day he may be laid on a padded table, or taken in your lap, a small basin being placed against or under the buttocks and a soap stick introduced an inch or two into the rectum and moved gently in and out. This slight irritation will usually result in the baby’s emptying his bowels almost immediately. Another method is to hold the baby in a comfortable, reclining position, on a small chamber in your lap, as in Fig. 58 or with his back supported against your chest, and the desire to empty his bowels stimulated by using the soap stick as described. (A soap stick is simply a piece of soap about three inches long whittled down to about the size and shape of a lead pencil with a blunt point.) [Illustration: FIG. 58.—A comfortable position for the baby who is being trained to use a chamber. ] It is of considerable importance that the position and method which are adopted, be employed at exactly the same time each day in order to establish a habit. If this is done and the baby is being properly fed, it will usually be found that before he is many months old, his bowels will move freely and regularly without the stimulation of the soap stick and only when he is resting on the small chamber or basin that he is accustomed to using. This establishment of a regular bowel movement not only simplifies the laundry work and the care of the baby but is of great moment to his health. [Illustration: FIG. 59.—Stiff cuffs on the baby’s elbows keep him from sucking his thumbs. ]