Children's Diseases 1

Children's Diseases      1
Babies around 2 to 4 weeks of age suffer from sharp pains in the intestine. These pains are usually over by the time baby is 3 months of age. The pain is usually griping, tearing or twitching nature,makes the baby pull up or stiffen its legs and scream piercingly. It is caused by distention of lower part of the abdomen due to flatulence owing to excess of carbohydrate residue, and constipation. Sooner or later, the baby passes the flatus and is partially relieved of the pain. Generally, there is no rise in the temperature or pulse rate, but vomiting may occur.
The colicy pain due to air swallowing occurs mostly In bottle fed babies due to negligence in feeding with the teat incompletely full with milk.
In case of the intestinal, the carbohydrate s which have escaped digestion in small intestine produce gas which collects in the colon. Normally, digestion of starch takes place in the upper part of the small intestine and very little of it reaches the terminal ileum and none reaches the caecum.but with the excessive rate of passing of starch, some of it reaches the terminal ileum and caecum undigested where it under goes fermentation by the bacteria present in the large numbers .The symptoms of intestinal carbohydrate dyspepsia, as it is called, are caused by the carbon dioxide and acetic and butyric acids produced by this fermentation. In older children this is one of the frequent cause of colic.
It has been observed by experience that the colic in babies to found to cause trouble during 6 and 10 P.M.. The condition is fairly common among babies and it doesn't seem to do the baby any permanent harm.
Diagnosis. One of the ways to ascertain whether the baby has colic ( serve Earache, etc can also leave the baby fiercely screaming) ,is to lift it by the arms which will make it spasmodically flex the thighs on the abdomen.
Besides the mother can distinguish between the hunger cry and the unusually disturbing cry of the colicy pain of the baby.   To be contd.