Advice to a Mother on the Management of Her Children Part 9

107. _How would you prevent "Stuffing of the nose" in a new-born babe_?

Rubbing a little tallow on the bridge of the nose is the old-fashioned remedy, and answers the purpose. It ought to be applied every evening just before putting him to bed. If the "stuffing" be severe, dip a sponge in hot water, as hot as he can comfortably bear; ascertain that it be not too hot, by previously applying it to your own face, and then put it for a few minutes to the bridge of his nose. As soon as the hard mucus is within reach, it should be carefully removed.

108. _Do you consider sickness injurious to an infant_?

Many thriving babies are, after taking the breast, frequently sick; still we cannot look upon sickness otherwise than as an index of either a disordered or of an overloaded stomach. If the child be sick, and yet be thriving, it is a proof that he overloads his stomach. A mother, then, must not allow him to suck so much, at a time. She should, until he retain all he takes, lessen the quant.i.ty of milk. If he be sick and does _not_ thrive, the mother should notice if the milk he throws up has a sour smell; if it have, she must first of all look to her own health; she ought to ascertain if her own stomach be out of order; for if such be the case, it is impossible for her to make good milk. She should observe whether in the morning her own tongue be furred and dry; whether she have a disagreeable taste in her mouth, or pains at her stomach, or heart-burn, or flatulence. If she have all, or any of these symptoms, the mystery is explained why he is sick and does not thrive. She ought then to seek advice, and a medical man will soon put her stomach into good order; and, by so doing, will, at the same time, benefit her child.

But if the mother be in the enjoyment of good health, she must then look to the babe himself, and ascertain if he be cutting his teeth; if the gums require lancing; if the secretions from the bowels be proper both in quant.i.ty and in quality; and, if he have had _artificial_ food--it being absolutely necessary to give such food--whether it agree with him.

_What to do_.--In the first place, if the gums be red, hot, and swollen, let them be lanced; in the second, if the secretion from the bowels be either unhealthy or scanty, give him a dose of aperient medicine, such as caster oil, or the following:--Take two or three grains of powdered Turkey rhubarb, three grains of pure carbonate of magnesia, and one grain of aromatic powder--Mix. The powder to be taken at bed-time, mixed in a tea-spoonful of sugar and water, and which should, if necessary, be repeated the following night. In the third place, if the food he be taking does not agree with him, change it (_vide_ answer to question 33). Give it in smaller quant.i.ties at a time, and not so frequently; or what will be better still, if it be possible, keep him, for a while, entirely to the breast.

_What NOT to do_.--Do not let him overload his stomach either with breast milk, or with _artificial food_. Let the mother avoid, until his sickness be relieved, greens, cabbage, and all other green vegetables.

109. _What are the causes, the symptoms, the prevention, and the cure of Thrush_?

The thrush is a frequent disease of an infant, and is often brought on either by stuffing or by giving him improper food. A child brought up _entirely_, for the first three or four months, on the breast, seldom suffers from this complaint. The thrush consists of several irregular, roundish, white specks on the lips, the tongue, the inside and the angles of the mouth, giving the parts affected the appearance of curds and whey having been smeared upon them. The mouth is hot and painful, and he is afraid to suck; the moment the nipple is put to his mouth he begins to cry. The thrush, sometimes, although but rarely, runs through the whole of the alimentary ca.n.a.l. It should be borne in mind that nearly every child, who is sucking, has his or her tongue white or "frosted," as it is sometimes called. The thrush may be mild or very severe.

Now with regard to what to do.--As the thrush is generally owing to improper and to artificial feeding, _if the child be at the breast_, keep him, for a time, entirely to it. Do not let him be always sucking, as that will not only fret his month, but will likewise irritate and make sore the mother's nipple.

_If he be not at the breast_, but has been weaned, then keep him for a few days entirely to a milk diet--to the milk of ONE cow--either boiled, if it be hot weather, to keep it sweet; or unboiled, in cool weather--fresh as it comes from the cow, mixed with warm water.

The best medicine is the old-fashioned one of Borax, a combination of powdered lump-sugar and borax being a good one for the purpose: the powdered lump-sugar increases the efficacy, and the cleansing properties of the borax; it tends, moreover, to make it more palatable.--

Take of--Borax, half a drachm; Lump Sugar, two scruples;

To be well mixed together, and made into twelve powders. One of the powders to be put dry on the tongue every four hours.

The best _local_ remedy is Honey of Borax, which ought to be smeared frequently, by means of the finger, on the parts affected.

Thorough ventilation of the apartment must be observed; and great cleanliness of the vessels containing the milk should be insisted upon.

In a bad case of thrush, change of air to the country is most desirable; the effect is sometimes, in such cases, truly magical.

If the thrush be brought on either by too much or by improper food; in the first case of course, a mother must lessen the quant.i.ty; and, in the second, she should be more careful in her selection.

_What NOT to do_.--Do not use either a calf's teat or wash leather for the feeding-bottle; fortunately, since the invention of India-rubber teats, they are now nearly exploded; they were, in olden times, fruitful causes of thrush. Do not mind the trouble of ascertaining that the cooking-vessels connected with the baby's food are perfectly clean and sweet. Do not leave the purity and the goodness of the cow's milk (it being absolutely necessary to feed him on artificial food) to be judged either by the milk-man, or by the nurse, but taste and prove it yourself. Do not keep the milk in a warm place, but either in the dairy or in the cellar; and, if it be summer time, let the jug holding the milk be put in a crock containing lumps of ice. Do not use milk that has been milked longer than twelve hours, but if practicable, have it milked direct from the cow, and use it _immediately_--let it be really and truly fresh and genuine milk.

When the disease is _severe_, it may require more active treatment--such as a dose of calomel; _which medicine must never be given unless it be either under the direction of a medical man, or unless it be in an extreme case,--such as dysentery_; [Footnote: See the Treatment of Dysentery.] therefore, the mother had better seek advice.

In a _severe_ case of thrush, where the complaint has been brought on by _artificial_ feeding--the babe not having the advantage of the mother's milk--it is really surprising how rapidly a wet-nurse--if the case has not been too long deferred--will effect a cure, where all other means have been tried and have failed. The effect has been truly magical! In a severe case of thrush pure air and thorough ventilation are essential to recovery.

110. _Is anything to be learned from the cry of an infant_?

A babe can only express his wants and his necessities by a cry; he can only tell his aches and his pains by a cry; it is the only language of babyhood; it is the most ancient of all languages; it is the language known by our earliest progenitors; it is, if listened to aright, a very expressive language, although it is only but the language of a cry--

"Soft infancy, that nothing canst but cry."--_Shakspeare_.

There is, then, a language in the cry of an infant, which to a mother is the most interesting of all languages, and which a thoughtful medical man can well interpret. The cry of a child, to an experienced doctor, is, each and all, a distract sound, and is as expressive as the notes of the gamut. The cry of pa.s.sion, for instance, is a furious cry; the cry of sleepiness is a drowsy cry; the cry of grief is a sobbing cry; the cry of an infant when roused from sleep is a shrill cry; the cry of hunger is very characteristic,--it is unaccompanied with tears, and is a wailing cry; the cry of teething is a fretful cry; the cry of pain tells to the practised ear the part of pain; the cry of ear-ache is short, sharp, piercing, and decisive, the head being moved about from side to side, and the little hand being often put up to the affected side of the head; the cry of bowel-ache is also expressive,--the cry is not so piercing as from ear-ache, and is an interrupted, straining cry, accompanied with a drawing-up of the legs to the belly; the cry of bronchitis is a gruff and phlegmatic cry; the cry of inflammation of the lungs is more a moan than a cry; the cry of croup is hoa.r.s.e, and rough, and ringing, and is so characteristic that it may truly be called "the croupy cry;" the cry of inflammation of the membranes of the brain is a piercing shriek--a danger signal--most painful to hear; the cry of a child recovering from a severe illness is a cross, and wayward, and tearful cry; he may truly be said to be in a quarrelsome mood; he bursts out, without rhyme or reason, into a pa.s.sionate flood of tears--into "a tempest of tears:" tears are always, in a severe illness, to be looked upon as a good omen, as a

"The tears that heal and bless"--_H. Bonar_.

Tears, when a child is dangerously ill, are rarely, if ever, seen; a cry, at night, for light--a frequent cause of a babe crying--is a restless cry:--

"An infant--crying in the night; An infant crying for the light: And with no language hat a cry."--_Tennyson_.

111. _If an infant be delicate, have you any objection to his having either veal or mutton broth, to strengthen him_?

Broths seldom agree with a babe at the breast I have known them produce sickness, disorder the bowels, and create fever. I recommend you, therefore, not to make the attempt.

Although broth and beef-tea, when taken by the mouth, will seldom agree with an infant at the breast, yet, when used as an enema, and in small quant.i.ties, so that they may be retained, I have frequently found them to be of great benefit, they have in some instances appeared to have s.n.a.t.c.hed delicate children from the brink of the grave.

112. _My baby's ankles are very weak: what do you advise to strengthen them_?

If his ankles be weak, let them every morning be bathed, after the completion of his morning's ablution, for fire minutes each time, with bay-salt and water, a small handful of bay-salt dissolved in a quart of rain water (with the chill of the water off in the winter, and of its proper temperature in the summer time); then let them be dried; after the drying, let the ankles he well rubbed with the following liniment:--

Take of--Oil of Rosemary, three drachms; Liniment of Camphor, thirteen drachms:

To make a Liniment

Do not let him be put on his feet early; but allow him to crawl, and sprawl, and kick about the floor, until his body and his ankles become strong.

Do not, on any account, without having competent advice on the subject, use iron instruments, or mechanical supports of any kind: the ankles are generally, by such artificial supports, made worse, in consequence of the pressure causing a further dwindling away and enfeebling of the ligaments of the ankles, already wasted and weakened.

Let him wear shoes with straps over the insteps to keep them on, and not boots: boots will only, by wasting the ligaments, increase the weakness of the ankles.

113. _Sometimes there is a difficulty in restraining the bleeding of leech bites. What is the best method_?

The difficulty in these cases generally arises from the improper method of performing it. For example--a mother endeavours to stop the haemorrhage by loading the part with rag; the more the bites discharge, the more rag she applies. At the same time, the child probably is in a room with a, large fire, with two or three candles, with the doors closed, and with perhaps a dozen people in the apartment, whom the mother has, in her fright, sent for. This practice is strongly reprehensible.

If the bleeding cannot be stopped,--in the first place, the fire most be extinguished, the door and windows should be thrown open, and the room ought to be cleared of persons, with the exception of one, or, at the most, two; and every rag should be removed. "Stopping of leech bites.--The simplest and most certain way, till the proper a.s.sistance is obtained, is the pressure of the finger, with nothing intervening. It _cannot_ bleed through that." [Footnote: Sir Charles Loc.o.c.k, in a _Letter_ to the Author.]

Many babies, by excessive loss of blood from leech bites, have lost their lives from a mother not knowing how to act, and also from the medical man either living at a distance, or not being at hand. Fortunately for the infantile community, leeches are now very seldom ordered by doctors.

114. _Supposing a baby to be poorly, have you any advice to give to his mother as to her own management_?

She must endeavour to calm her feelings or her milk will be disordered, and she will thus materially increase his illness. If he be labouring under any inflammatory disorder, she ought to refrain from the taking of beer, wine, and spirits, and from all stimulating food; otherwise, she will feed his disease.

Before concluding the first part of my subject--the Management of Infancy--let me again urge upon you the importance--the paramount importance--if you wish your babe to be strong and hearty,--of giving him as little opening physic as possible. The best physic for him is Nature's physic--fresh air, and exercise, and simplicity of living. A mother who is herself always drugging her child, can only do good to two persons--the doctor and the druggist!

If an infant from his birth be properly managed,--if he have an abundance of fresh air for his lungs,--if he have plenty of exercise for his muscles (by allowing him to kick and sprawl on the floor),--if he have a good swilling and sousing of water for his skin,--if, during the _early_ months of his life, he have nothing but the mother's milk for his stomach,--he will require very little medicine--the less the better! He does not want his stomach to be made into a doctor's shop!

The grand thing is not to take every opportunity of administering physic, but of using every means of with-holding it! And if physic be necessary, not to doctor him yourself, unless it be in extreme and urgent cases (which in preceding and succeeding Conversations I either have or will indicate), but to employ an experienced medical man. A babe who is always, without rhyme or reason, being physicked, is sure to be puny, delicate, and unhealthy, and is ready at any moment to drop into an untimely grave!

I will maintain that a healthy child _never_ requires drugging with opening physic, and that costiveness is brought on by bad management. Aperient medicines to a healthy child are so much poison!

_Let me impress the above remarks on every mother's mind;_ for it is a subject of vital importance. Never, then, give a purgative to a healthy child; for, if he be properly managed, he will never require one. If you once begin to give aperients, you will find a difficulty discontinuing them. Finally, I will only say with _Punch_,--"Don't"

CONCLUDING REMARKS ON INFANCY.