Advice to a Mother on the Management of Her Children. Pye Henry Chavasse

Stuffing of the Nose, Sickness, Thrush. In all these complaints I will tell you—What to do, and—What NOT to do.

      93. What are the causes and the treatment of Chafing?

      The want of water: inattention and want of cleanliness are the usual causes of chafing.

      What to do.—The chafed parts ought to be well and thoroughly sponged with tepid rain water—allowing the water from a well-filled sponge to stream over them—and, afterwards, they should be thoroughly, but tenderly, dried with a soft towel, and then be dusted, either with finely-powdered starch, made of wheaten flour, or with Violet Powder, or with finely-powdered Native Carbonate of Zinc, or they should be bathed with finely-powdered Fuller's-earth and tepid water.

      If, in a few days, the parts be not healed discontinue the above treatment, and use the following application:—Beat up well together the whites of two eggs, then add, drop by drop, two table-spoonfuls of brandy. When well mixed, put it into a bottle and cork it up. Before using it let the excoriated parts be gently bathed with luke-warm rain water, and, with a soft napkin, be tenderly dried; then, by means of a camel's hair brush, apply the above liniment, having first shaken the bottle. But bear in mind, after all that can be said and done, that there is nothing in these cases like water—there is nothing like keeping the parts clean, and the only way of thoroughly effecting this object is by putting him every morning INTO his tub.

      What NOT to do.—Do not apply white lead, as it is a poison. Do not be afraid of using plenty of water, as cleanliness is one of the most important items of the treatment.

      94. What are the causes of Convulsions of an infant?

      Stuffing him, in the early months of his existence, with food, the mother having plenty of breast milk the while, the constant physicking of child by his own mother, teething, hooping-cough, when attacking a very young baby.

      I never knew a case of convulsions occur—say for the first four months—(except in very young infants labouring under hooping-cough), where children lived on the breast-milk alone, and where they were not frequently quacked by their mothers.

      For the treatment of the convulsions from teething, see page 46.

      What to do in a case of convulsions which has been caused by feeding an infant either with too much or with artificial food. Give him, every ten minutes, a tea-spoonful of ipecacuanha wine, until free vomiting be excited then put him into a warm bath (see Warm Baths), and when he comes out of it administer to him a tea-spoonful of castor oil, and repeat it every four hours, until the bowels be well opened.

      What NOT to do—Do not for at least a month after the fit, give him artificial food, but keep him entirely to the breast. Do not apply leeches to the head.

      What to do in a case of convulsions from hooping cough—There is nothing better than dashing cold water on the face, and immersing him in a warm bath of 98 degrees Fahr. If he be about his teeth, and they be plaguing him, let the gums be both freely and frequently lanced. Convulsions seldom occur in hooping-cough, unless the child be either very young or exceedingly delicate. Convulsions attending an attack of hooping-cough make it a serious complication, and requires the assiduous and skilful attention of a judicious medical man.

      What NOT to do in such a case—Do not apply leeches, the babe requires additional strength, and not to be robbed of it, and do not attempt to treat the case yourself.

      95. What are the best remedies for the Costiveness of an infant?

      I strongly object to the frequent administration of opening medicine, as the repetition of it increases the mischief to a tenfold degree.

      What to do.—If a babe, after the first few months, were held out, and if, at regular intervals, he were put upon his chair, costiveness would not so much prevail. It is wonderful how soon the bowels, in the generality of cases, by this simple plan, may be brought into a regular state. Besides, it inducts an infant into clean habits, I know many careful mothers who have accustomed their children, after the first three months, to do without diapers altogether. It causes at first a little trouble, but that trouble is amply repaid by the good consequences that ensue; among which must be named the dispensing with such encumbrances as diapers. Diapers frequently chafe, irritate, and gall the tender skin of a baby. But they cannot of course, at an early age be dispensed with, unless a mother have great judgment, sense, tact, and perseverance, to bring her little charge into the habit of having his bowels relieved and his bladder emptied every time he is either held out or put upon his chair.

      Before giving an infant a particle of aperient medicine, try, if the bowels are costive, the effect of a little raw sugar and water, either half a tea-spoonful of raw sugar dissolved in a tea-spoonful or two of water, or give him, out of your fingers, half a tea-spoonful of raw sugar to eat. I mean by raw sugar, not the white, but the pure and unadulterated sugar, and which you can only procure from a respectable grocer. If you are wise, you will defer as long as you can giving an aperient. If you once begin, and continue it for a while, opening medicine becomes a dire necessity, and then woe betide the poor unfortunate child. Or, give a third of a tea-spoonful of honey, early in the morning, occasionally. Or administer a warm water enema—a tablespoonful, or more, by means of a 2 oz. India Rubber Enema Bottle.

      What NOT to do.—There are two preparations of mercury I wish to warn you against administering of your own accord, viz.—(1) Calomel, and a milder preparation called (2) Grey-powder (mercury with chalk). It is a common practice in this country to give calomel, on account of the readiness with which it can be administered it being small in quantity, and nearly tasteless. Grey powder also, is, with many mothers, a favourite in the nursery. It is a medicine of immense power—either for good or for evil, in certain cases it is very valuable, but in others, and in the great majority, it is very detrimental. This practice, then, of a mother giving mercury, whether in the form either of calomel or of grey powder, cannot be too strongly reprobated, as the frequent administration either of the one or of the other weakens the body, predisposes it to cold, and frequently excites king's-evil—a disease too common in this country. Calomel and grey-powder, then, ought never to be administered unless ordered by a medical man.

      Syrup of buckthorn and jalap are also frequently given, but they are griping medicines for a baby, and ought to be banished from the nursery.

      The frequent repetition of opening medicines, then, in any shape or form, very much interferes with digestion, they must, therefore, be given as seldom as possible.

      Let me, at the risk of wearying you, again urge the importance of your avoiding, as much as possible, giving a babe purgative medicines. They irritate beyond measure the tender bowels of an infant, and only make him more costive afterwards, they interfere with his digestion, and are liable to give him cold. A mother who is always, of her own accord, quacking her child with opening physic, is laying up for her unfortunate offspring a debilitated constitution—a miserable existence.

      For further information on this important subject see the 3d edition of Counsel to a Mother (being the companion volume of Advice to a Mother), on the great importance of desisting from irritating, from injuring, and from making still more costive, the obstinate bowels of a costive child—by the administration of opening medicine—however gentle and well-selected the aperients might be. Oh, that the above advice could be heard, and be acted upon, through the length and the breadth of the land, how much misery and mischief would then be averted!