INFANTILE CONSTIPATION.

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to present some observations bearing upon that form of habitual constipation in infants which is, as I conceive it, associated with if not ascribable to defective conditions connected with the digestion and assimilation of certain elements in the food. There are some reasons of an anatomic and physiologic character, why we would naturally expect to find constipation in infants of frequent occurrence. The muscular structure of the infant bowel is feeble and thin, and possesses but little capacity to propel the feces onward when they have once assumed consistency and bulk. The descending colon of the child is also longer than other parts of this bowel and readily permits of dilatation and sagging when there are accumulations within. From these physical and anatomic causes, together with the fact that the intestinal juices in general are very much lessened in children, we can easily perceive