In colic there is severe pain in the abdomen, which is swollen and hard. Sudden and violent crying is usually a symptom of colic, which often ceases very suddenly after the emission of gas from the mouth or bowels. If the baby seems exhausted, the physician should be summoned at once, but these suggestions may be helpful until the physician arrives. When colic is very frequent in a bottle-fed baby, the food should be modified. * * * * * [Sidenote: The Stools in Infancy] The character of the stools depends primarily on the composition of the food. They are varied according to the digestive powers of the infant, and according to the amount and rapidity of absorption of the products of digestion. The amount of absorption depends to a considerable extent on the rapidity with which the contents pass through the intestinal tract. * * * * * The nature of the food, of course, influences the character of the stools. The examination of the stools is of the greatest aid in determining whether or not any given food element is properly digested and assimilated, and, in many diseased conditions, in telling what element is at fault. This, however, can only be determined by analysis, but a little information on this subject will be of value to the mother or nurse. During the first few weeks or months of life, the breast-fed infant has three or four stools daily. These are of about the consistency of thick pea soup and are golden yellow. The number of stools gradually diminishes to two or three in the twenty-four hours, and the consistency becomes more salve-like. It is not uncommon for thriving breast-fed babies to have a large number of stools of diminished consistency and of a brownish color; in such instances, the examination of the breast milk will show that the proteins are high. It is best not to pay too much attention to the stools if the baby is gaining in weight and appears well. It is not unusual to find many soft fine curds and sometimes mucus in the stools of healthy breast-fed babies. It is not only unnecessary, but decidedly wrong to wean a baby simply because the stools are abnormal, if it is doing well in other ways. The breast-fed infant will often go weeks or months without a normal stool and yet thrive perfectly. On the other hand, if a baby has such stools when it is taking cow’s milk it is a decided evidence of malnutrition. Infants that are thriving on cow’s milk have, as a general rule, fewer movements in the twenty-four hours than do breast-fed babies and these movements are firmer in consistency. * * * * * [Sidenote: Constipation] Constipation seems to be the chief difficulty in artificial feeding, due usually to the poor absorption of fat, or the low percentage necessary to prevent indigestion. If the constipation is not severe, the substitution of oatmeal for barley water in the mixture will usually relieve the trouble.