The sovereign remedies in rickets are cod-liver oil and sunshine, in addition to general good care. But the treatment is a long, slow process, taking from three to fifteen months, and it is doubtful if the damage which the disease works can ever be repaired. Rickets is more common during the cold months of the year, winter and spring, than during the milder summer and autumn seasons. A possible explanation for this lies in the higher value of the cows’ food during the warm months when green things form the diets of animals. Since it is now recognized that milk is not a constant product, but that its properties vary with the food of the animals that produce it, cows’ milk would be favorably influenced by their being put to pasture. Similar evidence of such an influence is seen in the fact that although rickets is not seen among breast-fed babies whose mothers are on satisfactory diets, it may and does occur in breast-fed babies who are nourished by mothers who are, themselves, on dietaries which are poor in milk and fresh fruit and vegetables. It is quite plain that a baby who is fed and cared for in accordance with the suggestions offered in the preceding chapters is not likely to develop rickets. =Infantile scurvy= is seen among babies who are fed solely on milk that has been heated, boiled, pasteurized or canned, since the vitamine, in milk, that prevents scurvy is practically destroyed by heating or aging. That is one reason why it is dangerous to give stale milk to babies and why you should not use canned milk on your own responsibility. If the doctor orders it for your baby, he will know what to give in addition to the milk to keep the baby from having scurvy. The disease develops slowly, the first symptoms appearing between the seventh and tenth months. Tenderness or pain in the legs is perhaps the most common symptom and may be detected first by the baby’s crying when his diaper is changed or his stockings put on. And a baby who has been cheerful, playful and active will prefer to lie quietly and will cry whenever he is touched. He grows pale, listless and weak and fails to gain in weight or length. His large joints are likely to be swollen and tender; his swollen gums may bleed; his urine be diminished in amount and contain blood. But it is entirely possible for a baby to be in serious need of the vitamine that prevents scurvy and still not present these well defined symptoms of the disease. In such a case there may be stationary weight, fretfulness, a muddy complexion and perhaps tenderness of the bones. Scurvy, of itself, does not often cause death among babies, but it is serious, nevertheless, for it makes the babies very susceptible to infection, particularly nasal diphtheria and “grip.” The disease may be either prevented or cured by giving orange juice, potato water, spinach or tomato juice to a baby whose diet consists of milk that has been heated and is therefore lacking in the vitamine that prevents scurvy.