Volume 1
The household physician : a family guide to the preservation of health and to the domestic treatment of ailments and disease, with chapters on food and drugs and first aid in accidents and injuries / by J. McGregor-Robertson ; with an introduction by John G. McKendrick.
- M'Gregor-Robertson, J. (Joseph), 1858-1925
- Date:
- 1899
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The household physician : a family guide to the preservation of health and to the domestic treatment of ailments and disease, with chapters on food and drugs and first aid in accidents and injuries / by J. McGregor-Robertson ; with an introduction by John G. McKendrick. Source: Wellcome Collection.
518/602 (page 446)
![IVIEDICIXES FOR INFANTS. [Sect. XV. their heads, so that they are often com[)letely covered up, no regard being paid to tlie means by which fresh air is to reach the child. As a result when the child is lifted out of the bed, it is streaming with moisture, its head being bathed in perspiration. Care is certainly to be exercised to prevent draughts sweeping below the crib or roi;nd its head, but the basket should be freely open in front towards the child’s face, which should never be covered up. Perspira- tion biu'sts out over the child’s head if the pil- low is so soft that the head sinks down into it. Down pillows and mattresses are, thei’efore, bad. The pillows and mattresses should, on the other hand, be firm enough to offer sufficient though gentle support to the child. The excessive warmth to which the child is usually subject in its cot is not so injurious even as the bad air wdiich it is so frequently caused to bi’eathe. Not only, therefore, must curtains not be drawn round its head, but care should be taken to ensure that the room in which it sleeps is duly and properly ventilated, but so as to avoid draughts. The opportunity should also be taken whenever the child is out of the apartment to air it properly. The I'oorn should be directed to the south, if possible, and air and sunlight should have free access to it, for air and light are as necessary for healthy growth as food. It is always advisable to regulate the warmth of the room by means of a thermometer, instead of leaving it to the feeling of parent or nurse, and the heat should be kept as regular as possible, the mercury standing at 65° Fahr. Use of Medicines.—As a general rule if in- fants are properly managed they require very little medicine of any kind. But with many people it is a matter of custom to give a dose of castor-oil, or magnesia, at regular intervals, every two or three days, or once or twice a week. According to their view, the child could not possibly continue well without such meddle- some interference. From the day of its birth onwards for the slightest reason, and frequently without reason, the child is dosed with opening medicine. The result is that irregularity of the bowels is set up, and a great amount of harm done which it is very difficult to I'ectify. Now a healthy infant needs no medicine whatever as a matter of course, and the giving to it of medicine of any kind ought to be an unusual rather than a customary j)ractice. The first milk drawn from the breast of a nursing mother is of a peculiar character and is called colostrum. It has an opening effect on the child’s bowels, and the first material passed from the child is usually of a dark brownish colour. There is, therefore, no necessity for the newly-born child, that is being nursed by its mother, getting opening medicine, for that has already been provided for hy nature. This is one of the reasons why the child should be ])ut to its mother’s breast shortly after birth. After this the child’s bowels ought to move naturally twice or three times in twenty-four hours, and the stools should be of the thickness of thin mustard, of a light yellow colour, free from lumps or curdy-looking masses, and passed without ])ain or disturbance of any kind. Fre- quently the motions are greenish, very oftensive to the smell, and lumpy with white portions of curd, and to remedy this it is usual for the nurse at once to resort to the use of castor-oil, magnesia, or other medicine of a like efiect. Now the cause of this condition is commonly bad methods of management. The child is get- ing too many drinks, or too much at a time. The curd is simply portions of undigested milk passing unchanged through the bowels, because the bowels are unable to digest the large quan- tity passed into them at one time. The remedy, at least in the first instance, is to correct the bad nursing, to give the child the breast less frequently, or to give it less at a time, or to do both these things. If the mother or nurse will really put it to herself that she is to blame for the state of the child’s digestion, and will cor- rect the mistakes she is making in suckling, the natural condition may be restored without the use of medicine. One of the results of this improper feeding is that the infant is troubled with wind and is much pained. For that reason, also, the mother hastes to give medicine instead of setting right her improper ways of nursing. If, however, the bowels continue for two or three days in this state, and the child is very fretful and uneasy, it may be desi)-able to give one dose of medicine, effectually to clear out the bowels, and permit a fresh start. For this purpose one or two tea-spoonfuls of castor-oil are the best means. But the mother must not forget that the relief will only be temporary, unless she takes care to manage the child better for the future. The same general principles should be the guide in rearing a child that is being brought up on artificial food. Here, it may be necessary to give medicine to secui'e a motion within the first two days after the child’s birth, because it is not getting the benefit of the first milk of its mother. Castor-oil is here again to be given, and thereafter regularity of the](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b28124674_0001_0518.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
