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(a) The child may die in infancy, or if it lives through
this stage, the bones may be bent into different shapes;
producing such deformities as bow-legs, knock-knee,
pigeon-breast, flat-foot, curvature of the back, etc., and
the child may remain deformed for life.
(b) Teething is delayed, and the teeth come in the
wrong order, and one by one, instead of as usual in pairs.
(c) The flesh becomes soft and flabby.
(d) Growth becomes stunted.
(e) The head begins to appear large in proportion to
the face, and the forehead to have a characteristic square
shape.
(f) Thickenings appear at the ends of the bones of
the arms and legs, and ribs near the breast bone.
(g) The child now suffers more readily from colds,
bronchitis and convulsions.
CAUSES WHICH PRODUCE RICKETS.
(1) Improper Diet is theChief cause.—And thisoccurs
chiefly in the case of bottle-fed children either from milk
not properly prepared and often not sufficient in quantity,
or feeding on condensed milks and the various kinds of
so-called infant foods, or by giving the child a little of the
ordinary every-day meals which it cannot digest.
(2) Bad Hygienic Conditions.— Living in damp,
ill-ventilated houses and the want of sunlight.
PREVENTIVE TREATMENT.
(l) Feed with mother's milk. Very few breast-fed
infants ever suffer from rickets.