Every Man His Own Doctor / The Cold Water, Tepid Water, and Friction-Cure, as Applicable to Every Disease to Which the Human Frame Is Subject, and Also to the Cure of Disease in Horses and Cattle

by R. T. Claridge

LXXXIV.—Treatment of Infants.

Immediately after birth bathe the infant in warm water 82°, put a wet bandage on navel, bound on with a dry one, change it morning and evening only. Continue this until the navel is healed. The temperature of the bath to be reduced two degrees every fortnight, until 68°, which is to be used until child can run alone. It may be washed with cold water at three months of age.

If an Infant is uneasy or restless and cries.—Put on a body bandage; if this is not sufficient, give it an extra tepid-bath.

The child of an Hungarian commissioner was born weak and sickly, with great difficulty in breathing. The physicians treated the mother to improve the milk, when the child refused the breast. From three days old it was spoon-fed. On the fifth or sixth day, the father put the child into a packing-sheet until it was warm, when he changed it, and then applied the tepid-bath.

After four day’s treatment a lump appeared on the chest, which increased until it became as large as a man’s fist. On the eighth day it broke, and half a tumbler of matter was discharged. From this moment the child gradually improved and is now the healthiest of his children.

Child-teething, Pain in the Head, and Diarrhœa.—Tepid bath for about five minutes three times a day.

Two head-baths from ten to fifteen minutes each, and one clyster.

A body bandage, and change it often.