BORN WITH A CAUL.
It is no uncommon thing, in hasty labor, for the bag of water to break and remain close around the face and neck of the child. This is done by the quick, rolling motion in coming into the world. The force of the descent breaks the thin skin or bag, and the same force packs the face into it; so that it remains over the face, partly around the neck, and sometimes over the head as well. Were it not removed, the child must suffocate. This circumstance at a birth has given rise to the sayings, “Born with a caul,” “Born with a veil,” etc. The proper way to remove this bag or membrane is, from over the head down, as lifting it may pull open the eyes; thereby bringing the eyeball in contact with the fluid or the chalk-like substance, thus laying the foundation for sore eyes. After twenty minutes or more, beating having ceased in the cord,—which may be known by pressing closely between the fingers that part nearest the belly of the child,—it should be tied by means of a flat knot, with lamp wicking, or many strands of white spool cotton, about a finger’s length from the belly. In case of twins, there should be a second tie the same length from the first, and the cord cut between the two ties. There have been times when women depended largely upon each other, in their helpless hours of confinement; it may be so again, but with a far greater chance of successful results.
CHAPTER IV.
THE BETTER MODE OF WASHING THE NEW-BORN.
Washing is the name given to the old method. Cleansing is the proper one for the new.
How to proceed: A soft, white, all-wool blanket, about two yards square, should be always in readiness when a birth is expected. Not necessarily new, but pure, never having been used about fever patients, or about the dead. A metallic slop-pail with cover, that all secundine particles may be put out of sight; the same serving as a vessel for the woman to sit over. As soon as the babe is freed from the mother, it should be wrapped in the blanket and laid aside in a comfortable place. After the mother’s safety is assured of, prepare thus to clean and dress the babe: Secure a comfortable position, with plenty of light and ventilation, as far from the confinement bed as possible. Have a stand or covered chair, upon which to place the half of a small teacupful of fresh hog’s lard or sweet oil. If in a cold room, warm the grease by setting the cup in hot water for a few minutes. Have a piece of soft, all-wool flannel, about the size of your pocket-handkerchief, another piece half as large, and two pieces of soft linen or cotton about as large as your hand. A piece of lamp wicking or several strands of white spool cotton, to be used in re-tying, in case of bleeding from the cut end of the cord. The infant may then be brought forth, held on the lap, or laid on two chairs. As many babes have open eyes as soon born, it is best to dip a small piece of the soft linen or cotton in the grease, and wipe the inner edges of the lids first of all, as the drying on of the chalky substance or other matter with which the child’s face may have had contact, while coming into the world, may, as I have before said, be the first cause of sore or inflamed eyes. Then proceed with the small piece of flannel, well saturated with oil, to clean the face, ears, nose,—avoiding the eyes,—neck, chest, under the arms and between the fingers. Wipe dry with the clean, large piece of flannel. Those parts can then be covered with a part of the blanket, and the lower extremities cleaned with care. Should there be dried blood from the cut end of the cord, moisten with warm water, and wipe it off. Then proceed to clean and examine well all the private parts. When done, cut a hole in the piece of cotton, linen or batting, as it may suit, about the size of your hand, through which slip the cord, fold it closely, but flat and smooth, and lay it over to the left side of the belly, that it may not intercept the circulation of the liver, which is situated on the right side. Then secure it with an all-wool flannel band. The band should be made so as to include a shirt with long sleeves. It should extend from over the teats down below the hips. There never would be swelling of the breasts of infants if the bands were purposely made wide. The natural office of the mamma in girl-children, has been destroyed by repeated pressing of the teats with the mistaken purpose of “getting out the milk.” Narrow bands are worthless. If they shrink they should be pieced out or replaced with new. The band securely placed,—a flannel roller, plain slip and napkin, is all that is required for the first dressing. It often happens that, after “washing” and dressing by present methods, blood oozes from the cut end of the cord. Seldom does this happen by the new method,—I should say, my method. Sometimes the fault is in the manner of tying, or from imperfection of the cord itself. In any case the cord should be re-tied, or the bleeding otherwise stopped, and the infant kept warm till medical aid can be summoned. To return to first dressing: After the wraps have been drawn up over the feet, the head should be thoroughly greased and cleaned, taking care not to press the bones in the least. Pressure upon the head at birth may be the means of stupidity, or even idiocy, during life. The baby’s mouth should then be swabbed out with a clean, wet cloth, and the little one laid down in quiet. Babies usually sleep during the procedure, as does the mother, she waking only to find her babe by her side, “all warm, sweet and clean,” and “mamma didn’t even hear it cry once.” One trial of this method is convincing of its benefits. If soap is used with grease, it acts the same as suds into which new cotton cloth is put. No good laundress will meet with such an accident, if possible to avoid it. And surely no careful nurse will allow her little charge to suffer by having to stop and change the water. Moreover, in the absence of soap, there is no liability to chapped skin, glandular sores, sore eyes, ears, and crusty scalp. Especially should the scalp be well cleaned, and kept so; as it not only adds to the tidy appearance of the child, but favors an even, healthy growth of the hair bulbs. The foundation for a love of cleanliness can best be laid in infancy. There are many adults who desire good hair, yet do not or will not know that combing the hair daily, and keeping the scalp clean and cool, promotes a healthy growth of the hair.
CHAPTER V.
NECESSITY OF AGREEABLE AND SOOTHING SURROUNDINGS.
No Bay Rum, perfume, puff powders or other unnatural substances should be tolerated about young infants. But after the patients have been made comfortable, all soiled clothing or slops should be quietly removed. All loud talking or laughing should be strictly prohibited. To insure this, no sly jokes should be indulged in by any one present; for by so doing convulsions of an alarming nature may be brought on. Judging from the actions of some women, when around a confinement bed, it is not at all unlikely that many cases of internal convulsions, both of mother and child, are the results of inward or suppressed laughter soon after delivery, and before the womb has had time to get in place, or when the babe is nursing.
Infants should be accustomed to a change of apparel as soon as possible. It is an error to suppose that a child should be kept hot, and tucked down in soiled wrappings till after the navel drops off. After twenty-four hours it can be wiped with clean warm water, close around the navel. The napkins, too, should be changed and washed out just as often as soiled. Also there should be clean day wraps and night slips in constant readiness during the child’s helpless period. Heavy or wadded coverlets should be discarded, even in the coldest weather, for the reason that they are heavier than woollen, retain the moisture from breaths, are not so easily washed as woollen blankets, nor are they so warm. The science of our nature teaches us that woollen is the best covering during the hours of sleep. For instance, the pores of our skin permit the escape of all gases not necessary for the renewal of the tissues of the body; in like manner woollen goods permit the odors to escape from our bodies.
The face of an infant should never be covered when asleep, especially when in the bed with adults; it induces lung difficulties. The blood must pass through the heart and lungs, uninterrupted, day and night, in order to supply all parts of the body. The hours for sleep are intended for the repair of worn material, while at the same time the useless matter is passing off in breath or perspiration. I believe that all infants should be supplied with a light covering for the head day and night, until the hair grows out. The old style lace cap, for instance, deserves a conspicuous place among the relics of health preservers. Later on, the hair becomes the only proper covering for the head day or night. By all means, a child should be closely watched, and its wraps changed and adapted to atmospherical changes. If infants are too tightly wrapped, or are allowed to get too hot, they generally make it known by writhing or whining in their sleep.
By using oil in the first cleaning the temperature of the child’s body is not much changed. I do not propose to describe any of the abnormal liabilities of the cord circulation, that might require the use of hot or cold water, in order to save life. As medical advice should be sought in all doubtful or unnatural cases, the unnatural can only be known by close attention to the appearance of the natural.
CHAPTER VI.
NURSING FROM THE BREAST MADE EASY.
After the lapse of two or three hours, the mother is likely to feel concerned for her child; but, should both incline to be quiet, neither should be awakened for the purpose of nursing. Too early an attempt to put the child to the breast is frequently the cause of much unnecessary pain to the mother. Before a child is put to the breast, all soiled linen must be removed from the mother, the face, neck, breasts, hands, and under the arms well wiped with a cloth wrung out of warm water, then covered with a clean flannel chemise open at the nipple. Bay Rum may be added to the water if required. The private parts should be well wiped under cover, greased with lard, and covered with a large, warm napkin, after which a wide bandage should be buttoned on. The babe will not suffer by waiting. The greater number of women afford milk enough in a few hours to supply the needs of their young. The exceptions being either from some malformation or a watery condition of the blood. When the milk pores are free, the child can obtain enough to satisfy it in a short time. If, on the contrary, the glands are hard or unbroken, as they most always are in case of a first child, it becomes the indispensable duty of the nurse to soften the glands, and start the milk running; as it is impossible for the babe to do it by a few draws with its tongue. The glands may be softened by the following means: Besmear the hands with warm goose or olive oil, and anoint the breasts slowly and evenly from under the arms down to the nipple, until the glands soften and the milk begins to flow; after which nipple cups should be kept on in the intervals of nursing. Chapped or bleeding nipples may be cured by frequent sponging off with warm salt water. If through neglect an abscess gets ahead, it should be encouraged to suppurate in one spot, by the application of warm poultices of flaxseed meal, salt, hops, or honey and flour, and when ripe opened with the lancet; the babe continuing to suck through the artificial teat.
Those manufactured by Robert R. Kent are invaluable.
If, after the milk has appeared, the glands harden and the milk veins become knotty and painful, I also make use of the following means to relieve quickly: Steep half an ounce of Indian Posy, or Life Everlasting herb, in a pint of water. Oil the hands, and bathe in the same way I have described, with the decoction as hot as can be borne, the patient being in an easy, half sitting posture. In the intervals of rest, she should drink a teacupful quite hot, with or without sugar. When the tumor is considerably advanced, the process of breaking it up is often very painful, and may even cause fainting; but relief is sure if the work is patiently performed and courageously endured. The pain of that is light compared to the torture, for weeks together, of abscesses. The herb has no more specific action than that of relaxing the system through the aid of the absorbents or sweat glands. It relaxes the skin, and is safe to drink as a diet to increase the flow of milk. A child may be born perfectly healthy, yet even for days be slow to take hold of the nipple; whereas many seize hold at once. The friends fret and declare the babe is starving, if it does not desire to suck. If they could only read the meaning in those little eyes as they open and shut, they would know the secret—rest, simply rest, preparatory to the task. Many young mothers have no prominence to the nipple, so that neglect on the part of the nurse may cause such to lose the benefits of suckling. A friendly adult or child could soon draw out the nipple by sucking so that the babe can get hold; after which the nipple cups should be kept in constant use, till the babe is strong enough to keep the glands soft, and the nipple pliable. Usually, at this juncture, all sorts of teas are suggested: molasses water, milk and sugar and water; and should the child dare to cry, after the plentiful administration of one or all these teas, up steps an experienced old friend, or grandma, who declares that it must have “catnip tea.” So the world-renowned catnip tea is authoritatively given, while are related the many cases in which the drug was known to have cured wind colic, and how it quiets and fattens generally. Only when the child belches, and refuses to let any more go down its throat, does the pouring in cease. And even this is sometimes taken as an indication that the babe is full, and needs to be trotted to make room for more. Some babes are eager to suck at birth, even seizing hold of the sponge as it passes the mouth in washing the face. If babes are not fed just when they fret and whine, some knowing ones say they “suck wind.” Well, is it not natural that they should suck wind, since they are in the world? If they are allowed to lie quietly for a few hours, and are then given a few drops of sweet cream or milk, without sugar, they will give scarcely any trouble, and in due time nature will furnish strength to obtain with ease the amount of nourishment suitable to the delicate organs of digestion. It frequently happens that a babe has a rattling or wheezing noise in its throat, or air-tubes; in such cases, a feather has usually been recommended with which to tickle the back part of the tongue. I always wet the feather, to lay the down. The tickling excites a coughing or gagging, which dislodges the phlegm, so that it can be hooked out with the finger. There are reasons for suspecting that many new-born infants have strangled to death from this cause. I do not mean to cast any reflections when I say that a physician is not likely to be informed of the fact, until it is too late to remove the difficulty. And as the wheezing may assume the same sound as that of catarrh, cold in the air-tubes, bronchitis or croup, the real cause may be lost sight of. Promptness is all that is required when any such trouble presents. The fumes of tobacco, whiskey, smoking lamps or stoves,—also wetting the nipple with spittle when eating snuff, each of these may not only be disagreeable to a young infant, but may sicken it and cause instant death. It is true, however, that many children have survived all of these disadvantages, but who can tell how much has been taken from their health, and length of days. Infants should be nursed frequently at first, to give them a good start; they seldom suck more than they need. But from the beginning they should be fed, then laid down. As they grow older they will nurse well, and expect to lie down afterwards. Early and regular habits of nursing prevent the liability to mammary abscesses, ovarian or uterine tumors. Hence, suckling a child as soon as convenient after birth, not only serves to quicken the vitality of the new being by cleansing the bowels and supplying new blood, but it also serves to clear out the system of the mother.
CHAPTER VII.
THE USELESSNESS OF “BABY MEDICINES” DURING THE MONTH.
Probably the greatest amount of mischief arising from the administration of “baby teas,” lies in the fact that they are not given with the least certainty as to their effect upon the system of the child, whether to nourish the blood or physic the bowels. Let us take catnip: this is a herb described in some books as being a mild laxative, good to work off cold on the chest and bowels of infants; a sweat-promoter. About a dozen years ago a neighbor of one of my patients, thinking it for the best, gave catnip tea to her three-days’-old son. I was hastily summoned, and on arriving in the room where everything a few hours before was so tranquil, I suspected that catnip tea had been around. Of course no one would own up until, after I had staid by the little victim fifteen hours without sleep, finally succeeding in checking the frequent green discharges and thus saving the child’s life,—shame caused the disclosure of the cause of the mischief. The tea had not been given for food, as the mother had a full supply; but as the babe was moving about, it was thought that a little catnip tea would make it sleep. A lady told me with great dignity that her children ate homœopathic pills when they wished. “Why,” said she, “my children fatten on them.”
I saw that she did not know the secret of the “fattening.” Another said, “Why, my James eats castor-oil on bread.” Now we are aware that there are very many articles used as food that can be prepared and combined so as to act in place of medicine in certain cases; but as a general thing medicine will not answer to nourish the body in place of food. According to the mechanism of man, there are three stages in his life for which due preparation is made, before he comes into existence, to wit: the breasts’ milk for infancy, the teeth, with which to eat solid food, and medicine, to heal when sick. As to catnip producing sleep, I cannot agree with old ladies in general; but I do know of a truth that if a child is dosed with it in early infancy, the effect is to loosen the bowels; the fatigue from this over-distension of the stomach causes sleep. Babes should move about if they have life enough in them; they should, by no means, be stupefied. The first milk from the breast is the only medicine needed; when other mixtures are poured into the child’s stomach, as teas sweetened with sugar, honey, molasses, either of which is laxative, the danger is greatly augmented, especially if given before the bowels have moved at all. The custom of old-fashioned people, as they style themselves, of giving new-born babes castor-oil and molasses, or soot tea (for that irrepressible belly-ache), and urine and molasses, to clean them out, is, though with reluctance, fast dying out. It would be well to notice that children who are dosed during infancy for every supposed ill are seldom robust. They become physically stunted, and their peevish habits exact for them all sorts of over-indulgence. More food for the blood, and less medicine, should be the motto. Let us follow the tide of progression. There are no uniform rules by which infants are to have a discharge at birth, either from the bowels or bladder. Therefore, no efforts to induce such should be used until necessity demands it. It is no uncommon thing for infants to pass large quantities from the bowels, just as they are entering the world; a circumstance not likely to be noticed by those unaccustomed to all the incidents of childbirth. It is always safe to await the action of the first food, whether from the breast or artificial; and if it be but a few drops well digested, there need be no fear but that the napkins will be soiled as fast as desired. If such result does not follow, after waiting two or three days, a flannel cloth folded, and wrung out of hot water, laid first on your cheek, then on the child’s belly, and that covered with dry flannel, will, with perseverance, bring about the desired result. Sometimes an infant passes large quantities of the dark matter immediately after the fatigue of washing and dressing (old style); then it may pass no more for two or three days, or until time has been given for matter to accumulate. If the organs of the child are all right, all will be well. But should doubts arise as to the best course to take, surely medical advice only needs the seeking. It was formerly the custom, and is now to a great extent with old nurses, to give later in the month—certainly before their month was up, as all teas and charms had to be given before they left—saffron tea. I have seen them sit by a hot stove and feed infants with saffron tea more patiently than they would like it given to them. I once asked a high-priced nurse why she gave saffron tea. I was kindly, though decidedly, informed that it was to “push the gums.” I was none the wiser by asking. I afterward learned from the child’s older sister that the doctor said the baby had the jaundice. Well it might have the jaundice, kept in a room with a temperature of 80 degrees, with two adult persons night and day, and fed on saffron tea. Now the crocus, or saffron, sometimes grown in our gardens, is described as possessing sweating properties, being good to promote eruptions of the skin in fevers, and good in fits. Yet thousands of infants, no doubt, have been forced to swallow saffron tea, who have not given the slightest evidence of any unnatural complaint. No paregoric, laudanum, or other preparations containing opium, should ever be given to an infant for the purpose of quieting or making it sleep. Sleep-producers serve only to bind the bowels and stupefy the senses. Carminatives—medicines that expel wind—such as caraway, fennel, anise, cardamon, mints and the like, should never be given unless prescribed by those competent to vouch for their effect.
It is becoming a widespread custom to send a little girl or boy to a druggist’s to purchase some advertised baby medicine or food. The patent cough syrups, or those kept on hand in shops, I deem unsafe in the hands of the inexperienced. Most, if not all of them, contain some sleep-producing ingredient, whereby they may check a cough by paralyzing, as it were, the little nerves of sensation in the air-tubes; thus giving opportunity for the phlegm to collect in great quantities, with no possible way of escape. Doubtless in this way suffocation is frequently induced, in whooping-cough, bronchitis, or croup.
Several years ago, in the city of Boston, a mother returned from work, and found her baby, which she had left alone, a corpse. Her explanation, as it appeared in the daily papers, was to the effect that she had given the child the rinsings of the vial that contained laudanum, to keep it quiet.
People are getting much wiser nowadays; laudanum and paregoric cannot be easily obtained without a recipe. But they can yet buy and give large doses of “Patent Soothing Syrups.”
In all cases of difficult breathing or signs of croup, with or without hot skin, a soft flannel cloth should be wrung out of hot water, and laid over the entire chest, close up under the chin and ears; and if the bowels are bound, it may extend to the belly, the whole being covered with a dry, warm flannel. By this means the force of a cold can be broken, the breathing relieved, and in a majority of cases it is all that is required to be done. Even in severe cases of lung fever, warm water applications are invaluable; acting as an absorbent through the medium of the pores of the skin. If a paste of flaxseed meal is used, it should be applied in the same way. If the applications are to be warm, they should be kept warm, and if they are to be cold, should be kept cold, until relief is obtained.
I may have digressed somewhat, as pneumonia seldom develops in the first month of infancy. At all events, external applications are in place till medical aid is secured. I do not wish to be understood as usurping the power of other physicians; each has his or her own method of procedure.
I merely wish to impress the domestic and common sense means, to be used in cases of emergency.
The old custom of giving infants “a little weak toddy” to “bring up the wind and make them sleep,” should henceforth and forever be removed from the midst of a more enlightened people. If it is given weak the effect is to intoxicate at first, and then produce sleep; which may be followed by a fearful attack of purging. If given strong, it may induce constipation and dry colic, the very thing it is intended to relieve. Such a course may also have inculcated a desire for tippling in many of our weak-minded youth. Castor-oil is a well-known sickening purgative, and it does seem to be a wonderful interposition of Providence alone, that so many thousand infants have survived the compulsory dosing with this drug. But a few years ago a lady, aged about sixty-five, came to her end from severe diarrhœa, brought on, as she testified, by taking a “store-bottle of castor-oil at a dose.”
Mothers and nurses should strive to become familiar with all articles of diet; also with the properties and medical uses of all drugs and minerals, and their action upon the animal economy.
CHAPTER VIII.
DROPPING OF THE NAVEL CORD.
It would more than pay me, if in this section I could say aught that would effect the removal of the anxiety generally shown concerning the healing of the navel.
There is a late custom recommended by some physician, that of soaking of the lint, to apply clean each day. This, in my judgment, is risking too much, unless it be with the guidance of an experienced person. I deem it much safer to wipe close around the wound daily; then on the third day slip a clean piece of soft cotton or linen beneath and around the soiled pad; as about this time the cord, unless very thick, is dry and will soon drop off, leaving the clean pad as a protecting ring around the navel. The navel should then be looked after each day until healed. But it is an error to suppose that the navel should be healed in any certain number of days. The usual time is from five to seven days; but I have known many to drop on the third day, and more to remain unhealed till after the twelfth or fourteenth day. In the former case the cords were very small; in the latter they were very large and strong.
Many years ago, I learned of an accident that occurred to a midwife of much usefulness: Because the cord remained eight days, she cut what she supposed was a piece of thread; in consequence of which the child bled to death. It would be well to state here that keeping the babe too hot retards the drying of the umbilical vessels. Ordinarily the healing of the navel is simple and natural, and it should never be tampered with. Should unnatural growths appear, any regular physician can detect the cause, and direct the cure at once. Far more accidents occur by the reluctance of friends around to call medical aid in time, than from the cause itself. Selfish prudence is too often allowed to come between duty and human life.
If at any time a white fluid should be discharged from the vagina, or private parts, of a girl child, it should be washed away as often as seen, and the parts washed out with a solution of common salt I have seen mothers become greatly frightened at this common occurrence. Cleanliness and perseverance will remove the trouble. If families would make it a rule to have a thermometer in the nursery or the sleeping-room, by which to regulate the temperature of the body, many of these baby-ills would be banished from our midst. The nervous system of babes deserves a large share of our sympathy. But if one were to judge from the treatment they sometimes undergo, it might be inferred that, like dolls, infants have no nerves or rights which men are bound to respect. Children of the same family differ much. One may be sprightly, making frequent music by crying; the other may be comparatively docile. And if a child is quiet and does not cry, or act silly, it is called stupid, and everything is done to arouse its ire.
Children cry for pastime; so they should. It develops the lungs and relieves the air-tubes of any collections of phlegm. Besides, it causes them to be noticed by some one who might forget their existence. There cannot be any comfort in being rocked, tossed, shook and kissed, and that, too, without any regard to the odor of the breath. It is decidedly injurious to wake babes from a quiet sleep, or even to excite their attention while lying quiet. Mothers should early learn to listen and become familiar with the different tones produced in the cries even of the same child. Listening should be cultivated more; then the possibility of making a crying baby more noisy, by shocking it with additional noises, will need no more explanation. “Oh,” says one, “they get used to it and look for it.” True,—bred, born, aye and raised in excitement; never can hear or understand anything but noise, noise, noise.
Currents of cold air from a window or door should not be permitted to pass over the exposed body of infants; as, by so doing, the sudden change may, like electricity, direct the irritation to some vital organ. It is considered much safer, when the weather permits, to put on suitable wraps and take them in the open air. The most trouble arises from keeping the infant too warm from birth. Hot-house plants rarely endure the changes of the open air, until it becomes equal to what they have been used to.
CHAPTER IX.
ARTIFICIAL NURSING.
Should the mother afford no milk by reason of malformation, or otherwise, the child should be accustomed to the most healthful kind of food from the first. Milk from one animal should be sought. Animals that are fed on corn, hay and fodder, make the best milk in winter; those fed on clover and cured hay, the best in summer. The milk of animals fed mostly on turnips, cabbages, and potatoes, is more apt to disagree with the stomach.
The goat furnishes an even diet for infants, but its milk is not so easy to obtain in large cities.
Milk should be given to a child in its purity, not deprived of the cream or watered. Watering is equal to skimming, and vice versa. And when the child has never known the taste of its mother’s milk, I can see no philosophy in directing the milk to be watered and sweetened to make it taste like breast-milk.
All attempts to increase the quantity of babes’ food by watering are indeed robbery, as relates to the infants; such weakening should only be practised for special reasons. But to insure success, pure milk, or cream with some water, should be the rule, not the exception.
In a warm atmosphere the milk or cream should be made scalding hot by setting it in a vessel of boiling water, and stirring it the while. Boiling deprives it of the cream and other nutritive properties. There should be no more warmed than is to be used up. The warming should be by putting the milk in the bottle, then placing the latter in hot water a few minutes. In this way the quality and temperature of the drink remains uniform. The capacity of the bottle selected should be about one ounce. The material of which the black elastic nipple is composed, is not supposed to injure the mouth. No sugar should be added.
Babes have been raised to a fine size on various kinds of porridge; and they can be supported by putting a piece of clean linen into the shape of a teat, fastening a soft string about it so that it may be held by the nurse or any one, while food is poured into it from a spoon. Many are the times that I have fed them in that way. I never thought of laying them down to feed themselves.
Milk may be used just as it comes from the animal; it is only in cases where it is kept on hand for a day that it really need be scalded.
So much emphasis has been put upon the necessity of water as a constituent of baby diet, that it is almost venturing too far to remind any of the fact that most milk dealers are careful that this constituent shall be already supplied.
Formerly, dropsical, emaciated, half-starved, fretful babes were very numerous; but since, of late, judicious legislation has been brought to bear on the matter of adulterating milk, things have changed.
Henceforth we may hope to hear that infantile deaths from this probable cause decrease annually.
With meagre feeding a “bouncing fat boy” will soon present the appearance of a wrinkled old man. And, too, the condition in which food is presented to a child is equally as important as the quality and quantity. It is impossible to rule the stomach of another; a spunky child will resent the attempt some way, and at some time, even though it be after the injury is irreparable. A uniformity in heating the milk or food of any kind is very important. Hot things should never enter a babe’s mouth. If milk is in the least sour, it is running a great risk to try to sweeten it by adding soda, as some persons do, for convenience.
The coarse habit of “stuffing” babes, to avoid frequent feeding of them, should vanish like dew before the noonday sun; as it probably will, under the management of educated mothers and nurses. The old-fashioned way of compelling babes to suck a “sugar teat” or a piece of fat meat rind for hours together to keep them quiet, is cheating, to say the least. Our domestic fowls will eat meal, grain and vegetables when they can get them. And if all supply of food is cut off, they may be seen to pick, pick, day after day; this they will do if the ground is frozen and bare. But are they getting food? Nay, they are only tasting, smelling, and hunting for food.
Sucking a sugar teat or meat rind, like gum-chewing, tends to undermine the natural vigor of the mind, by a waste of the fluids that are intended to prepare the food for making pure blood.
A child can just as kindly be fed, changed, and laid quietly to rest; it does not need patting or rocking.
Baby raising is made irksome by adults themselves. The feeding and putting to sleep should be superintended by some competent person, as by intrusting it to children, or even young girls, the feeding may be imperfect. Many children scream with fright at the noise created to get them to sleep.
Canned or otherwise prepared baby-food is quite uncertain, unless, in the case of canned milk, particular pains is taken to have the water hot, and the mass well dissolved; a large part will remain at the bottom of the vessel. Again, as there is more than one brand of this article, it is hard to find out which is the purest, as all are advertised to be the best. Of course the largest firm will have the largest sales. Then the price is not so convenient at all times, rather encouraging the habit of rinsing the can; while all infants’ food should be prepared fresh when wanted.
Some babes spit up their food from the first, but there is nothing alarming about that. Should what is spit up smell sour, and appear undigested, small doses of pulverized magnesia—say about as much as will lay on a five-cent silver piece—will correct it, while any known cause should be removed at once. In case of purging in early infancy, it is a mistake not to stop it as soon as possible. It is always safe, after removing the cause, to quiet the motion of the bowels; a thing which can be done only by proper scientific means, that no one should fail to secure.
CHAPTER X.
THE MILK FEVER.
Very many women have milk in the breasts before the birth of a child. Others do not have any for some days after confinement, yet may appear comfortable. It is no uncommon thing for them to forget that they have another very important task to perform,—that of preparing healthy meals for the offspring. If, at this time, company is allowed, talking and laughing indulged in, the symptoms of the coming milk may be greatly augmented; so that what might have been a slight chill, headaches or fever may become so severe as to require prompt medical aid. Indeed diarrhœa, convulsions, or even insanity may be brought on through the means of any excitement whatever, between the birth of the child and the establishment of the milk.
Giving castor-oil or other nauseous drugs (as has been, and to a great extent is now, the custom) is quite risky, even when prescribed by a physician; as many women are of such a costive habit, that it requires a very large dose to move the bowels. I repeat, it is risking too much, when given in the ordinary ways, for both mother and child. On the part of the mother, an overdose may cause excessive purging and consequent weakness. On the part of the child, should it be nursing while the physicking is going on, the result may be griping and purging, ending its life in a few hours. Every means should be resorted to to move the bowels, where such relief is really needful, before administering physic.
Many women have a large passage during the delivery of the child; and therefore need not be disturbed about that matter for days, or even a week, all other things being favorable. For it should be borne in mind that the internal organs are, in a measure, paralyzed by the interruptions of nature during labor, and that time is needed to rest the nerves and bring things in proper order. Headache, so commonly complained of after delivery, is more from exhaustion of the nervous system than from constipation. For this reason should extreme quiet be observed for about nine days. When physic must inevitably be given during the coming of the milk, it is decidedly best to keep the babe from the breast until it is all through with.
But, as a general thing, other means will answer; such as wringing a cloth out of hot water and applying over the abdomen, or belly, rubbing down and across the back and loins, giving large drinks of hot water without sugar, keeping the body warm and moist for a while, but never an injection unless directed by a practitioner.
I would suggest that a few dollars paid to a physician for a half-dozen extra visits during the first weeks of confinement, might prevent months and years of gloom in many families. Again, there are many women that take suddenly ill with vomiting and purging about the time for the milk to appear. The violence with which this trouble progresses, and the depressing consequences by which it is characterized, have indeed caused it to be termed “child-bed cholera”; and although it may arise from a previously disordered liver or stomach, it seldom happens unless there has been indulgence in suppressed laughing, inhaling peculiar odors, over-eating or drinking. Although the coming of the milk is most commonly ushered in with some degree of chill or fever, there are as many, no doubt, who experience no change whatever, it being so slight. Hence it probably would be best if the term “milk fever” were never used until really apparent. If, after lactation has become perfect, it should go and come, means should be at once resorted to insure its continuance. Wine, ale or beer are not advisable for this purpose. They may surely lead to the habit of moderate intemperance, while their benefits are only temporary. Pure blood is the basis for pure milk, therefore nutritive articles of diet are of more permanent use.
It is well to bear in mind that a scarcity of milk during the month should never be taken as an excuse for refusing to nurse the child; for if it can get but a spoonful a day, it greatly encourages the chance for increasing it. The mother’s milk is the fountain of life to the babe, and therefore seldom dries up unless there be some unnatural obstruction. It has been said by many close observers, that when the milk goes away without some perceptible cause, the child is not to live.
What will cause the milk to disappear in some women, will not in others. Peculiar odors, or pungent, volatile applications will completely and forever drive the milk from the breasts of some women; and a cessation of the milk is frequently a forerunner of consumption of the lungs or tumors about the ovaries. If the nipples crack and bleed, they should be anointed with goose oil, occasionally cold cream, or wet with a solution of sal ammonia, or vinegar and water. This done in the intervals of the babe’s sleep, care should be taken to wipe the nipples before offering them to it. When a mother gives up to the thought that the suckling is the hardest part to bear, and impatiently deprives her infant of the breast, the pleasures of life must be to her of small value. “Try, try again,” is an adage worth heeding.
Should there be humor in the blood, as there ofttimes is, the nipples will not readily heal while the child nurses; in which case it is advisable to feed the child from a bottle and treat the mother. After relief is obtained, the nursing can be resumed. In ordinary cases a poultice made of bruised burdock root and elm flour, together with a tea made by steeping burdock root and drinking a pint a day; keeping the bowels regular, eating rye and Indian bread, and taking about a half teaspoonful of calcined magnesia dissolved in water, once a day, will effect a cure. The poultice should be made soft and applied fresh twice a day between two thin cloths.
A lady of wealth may get discouraged and give her babe to the care of another, whose babe may in consequence have lo be put in some charity-house or otherwise to board. Her babe may thrive and live; while that of her wet-nurse may soon pine away and die. No one can avoid distressing others unless he strives, to the best of his ability, to bear his own burdens.
CHAPTER XI.
PRECAUTIONS AFTER THE MONTH.—PROPER AND IMPROPER DIET.
There are many families in moderate circumstances who, no doubt, feel unable to keep more than one fire going during the cold season; yet nevertheless subject themselves and children to frequent and severe colds by the sudden change from a hot room to a cold sleeping-apartment. This might in a great measure be prevented by a little extra care to secure tenements with sufficient rooms on one floor.
An infant should never be allowed to take its regular naps in a hot kitchen, amid steam and dust; or in an ironing-room, with all of its day-clothes on, beside extra cover, and then be undressed and put to bed in a room that no heat, not even that of the sun, is allowed to enter. Piling on heavy comforters renders the breathing heavy. No baby’s face should be covered while asleep. It is wonderful to see how hard some of these little victims struggle to breathe while they sleep, if sleep it can be called. Some babes kick off the cover, and after being very warm get very cold; to avoid which, soft flannel night-drawers, made so as to include socks and all, should be used.
Comfortable sleeping apartments without fire are healthy. The lungs of grown persons break down from cause of too much pressure, much more infants; yet from all such exciting causes the air-tubes may escape, and the liver, stomach or bowels receive the whole mischief.
The sleep of children cannot be healthful if their clothes remain pinned down beneath and around them, and, it may be, tight leather shoes on. Besides, it cultivates untidyness to oblige them to submit to such management. On the contrary, every effort, even at the sacrifice of personal pleasure, should be put forth to insure that clean, sweet and undisturbed repose so much required, and without which few, if any, are perfectly developed.
When it is remembered that from the air we inhale come the principles of life, and how much it is in our power to avoid the contact with injurious particles or substances therein contained, many disadvantages in the matter of rearing the babe will disappear. The air they breathe should be as much one way as possible; no sudden gusts of wind should be forced upon them by hoisting a window when they are over-warm.
Children, of any age, should not be permitted to sleep in the open air, unless it might be for a few minutes, and where the air is extremely bland; which it seldom is, on our New England parks and gardens. A gradual change in the matter of bathing, dressing, feeding, and putting to sleep should be the rule.
The mother may at any time during lactation communicate cold to a child. My first experience in this matter was about thirty-five years ago, when assisting in the care of a child that was nursing. The mother being very warm one summer day, drank freely of ice-cold water while the babe of about six months was sucking. She had not much more than time to set the glass down when the babe was seized with rigid convulsions, and dropped from the breast. The mother became almost helpless with fright, and as the next farm was some distance off, I had to use my young brain. Therefore, I procured a tub with some warm water and a little mustard; it may have been a “fearful lot,” but the infant was all right when I got through with it.
Over-work or great fatigue in any way should be avoided by women that suckle their children. If obliged to work and scrub, at home or elsewhere, they should endeavor to keep a strict watch over the condition of that life fountain, the breast-milk. There is no known law preventing carefulness.
Again, it is a mistake to indulge in drinking beers or other alcoholic slops to prevent the child’s nursing cold. Early subsistence from the strength of whiskey, rum, beers and ales, like tobacco, tends to stunt the intellect and dwarf the stature of the youth of our land. It is much better to eat warm soups, or such solid food as will give permanent warmth to the blood, and insure a clear character to the being. When it is a babe’s meal-time, it should be served with the most exquisite care, as upon that depends its proper growth and length of days. To prove this a fact, take, for instance, an old woman or old man upon whom adversity may have made some telling marks in their younger days, and whose days appear nearly at an end, and let such be well cared for in a neat, quiet, comfortable home; the chances are they will live on in brightness of hope for a number of years.
Contrary to the teachings of some so-called missionaries, I believe that neatness in arranging food, dress, or whatever pertains to order and pleasantness, is the most essential part of a Christian duty. For surely if the body is cherished as the image of our Maker, the soul-salvation is a possibility.
I alluded in Chap. II. to putting the new-born in a crib. Not that I oppose their lying alone—on the contrary, I deem it highly conducive both to health and good morals for every one, when at a proper age, to sleep alone.
Now since we have noticed to some extent how sudden emotions, as of grief, anger or fright may shock the child at the breast through the agency of those little organs called nerves,—we will pass on to notice some of the causes of bowel complaints arising from the nature of the food eaten by the nurse. Probably there is no cause more frequently productive of infantile bowel complaints, both during and after the month, than that of the too early indulgence in a mixed diet. It may be well to enumerate some of the more objectionable articles of diet from the first day of confinement to the seventh or ninth month, or time for weaning. Of the vegetables,—beans, dry or green, cabbage, cooked or raw, beets, turnips, cucumbers, green peas, dandelions, spinach and Carolina potatoes. Pickles of all kinds. All of the finny tribe; oysters and lobsters being the most dangerous. Of the meats, fresh pork and veal. Of the desserts, egg custards, pastry, cheese and preserved fruits. Of the fluids—coffee—unless ordered for medicinal purposes—raw milk, wines, ales or beers. As a matter of convenience I will introduce what in reason should constitute the proper diet for the same period of time; the modes of preparation being left to those acting as nurses. A large number of women detest gruel, or “baby-food,” as they term it. In this, many, no doubt, are excusable, owing to the condition in which it may previously have been presented to them; you can make a horse leave his oats by sprinkling pepper over them. But to the point: There are about an equal number who enjoy it, and it is always best to try and avoid whims and deny one’s self in every possible manner till after the milk flows freely.
A woman cannot sink on plenty of nice oat, corn-meal, or flour-gruel, minute pudding or toast panada, given often in small quantities. Of course if any article, however well liked, is made by the gallon, so to speak, and warmed over and again, it will become to be loathed; and too great quantities taken may cause much distress in the stomach. Gruels of all kinds should be well mixed with boiling water in a clean, block tin, covered pail; then set in a clean vessel of water to boil, stirring it till well done. Coarse grain porridges should always be strained; as also should broths.
For fluids:—Shells, broma, hot milk, pure or watered to suit, are each of themselves nourishing. If the mother’s milk is scant, a tea made of Indian posy or life everlasting, and drunk as table tea, with milk and sugar, if desirable, is good to increase it. The diet should become gradually solid, say in the early part of the day a broiled lamb chop, broiled beef, liver, tripe, sirloin steak, or broths without vegetables. Broiled meats retain the nutritive principles better than when otherwise cooked. If tea or coffee is found to lessen the flow of milk, it may be inferred that if continued, all of the fluids of the body will materially change.
A strict adherence to the aforesaid rules would, in a great measure, be the means of preventing cholera of infants at the breast, particularly in our crowded cities. By all means should child-bearing women eat more freely of Indian or bran bread. Brown bread can be made fresh every day where meals have to be prepared. Bread, cakes, or pastries that are puffed with soda, or whitened, or colored with any chemical substance, is not good for the health. Too much soda thins the blood; also induces baldness. Mothers of former days delighted in preparing good bread, which is the staff of life. Constipation seldom if ever troubles those that use coarse bread, and avoid much salt meat. Giving infants just a taste of every suspicious article as a sort of initiation does not always prove a sure preventive against colic. It is an old custom, and was doubtless adapted to its times and places, better knowledge, better acts. Self-denial is required of us in the Holy Writ as the only alternative, if we would be wise.
CHAPTER XII.
GENERAL TREATMENT OF INFANTS.
Children are given to parents only for a lifetime; it may be long, or it may be very short; but to array them in fine linens, with bare neck and arms, as has been and is now to a great extent the custom in many refined communities, for public exhibition, is, it seems to me, a questionable act of parental affection. Yet many do so, and boast, when otherwise advised, of their ability to toughen. Mother, your child may be only one of a hundred to survive such experiments; ninety-nine may have been relieved by an early death.
I have looked upon the lifeless form of babes whose would-be friends had failed to toughen, but had succeeded in contributing a bud to the garden of the dead,—yea, shrouded just as they dressed them while living. Thanks to our Heavenly Father, these cruel customs are fast declining; and we may hope the day is not far distant when the feelings of the tender infants will be better protected, and their bodies covered with more comfortable material. We often see, and are expected to admire, pet dogs on the streets, covered well with cloth, though supplied with Nature’s garment. Should pet Carlo die, his loss is mourned as much as that of many infants; in hundreds of cases, being borne to the cemetery followed by a number of carriages and placed in a locality adorned with monument and iron fence.
Too often babies are subjected to a variety of tortures unawares. They are expected to endure, and remain perfectly quiet, with cold food, hot food, cold air, hot air, clean clothes, dirty clothes, wet or dry clothes, thin or thick clothes, wind, dust, light or darkness, noise or quiet, scolding or caressing, squeezing, jolting and beating; finally they endure what no man or woman would, from one week to two years old, or till able to speak for deliverance. Previous to this time they could only squirm and kick and cry, and then, being considered sick, would be forced to take soothing drops or castor-oil. But now they can tell of their little trials by some “sound word” or striking sign.
One part of the clothing of infants should not press, nor be more thickly folded, than the other. Bands and straps should be made wide and smooth. The belly-band should always be fastened on the side.
While travelling in steam-cars, coaches, etc., infants should lie down as much as possible, as sitting upright and being jostled about is liable to strain or injure for life some part of the unfinished spine; and, too, it may bring on severe vomiting and purging. When a journey is to be taken over a long route and the child is fed from a bottle, some more solid food should be substituted; as the continual re-warming of the milk, combined with the motion, renders it unfit for nourishment. It is more frequently overfeeding and prolonged excitement that causes children to fret so when travelling, than a want of their accustomed food. A little finely-pounded, newly-corned, beef, and the compound Graham cracker, is a convenient lunch to take on a journey, especially in hot weather. This may be considered coarse fare for a babe two or three months old; but properly given, could it be so injurious as keeping them trotting, feeding on sweetened milk and water, alternating with cookies or candies? which, as many can testify, is practised daily on some of our routes of travel.
As a general thing, if babes are well fed and otherwise made comfortable at every convenient interval, then allowed to lie quiet or sleep, one will need no better company on a long journey. They soon get used to changes if the change really is for their comfort.
Very young children have no more control over their eyes than they have over their lungs; and by facing an open window, as they are frequently allowed to do, often get some particle of dust in their eyes, causing them to sob and fret for miles. Should they be old enough to rub the eyes, the loving friend or guardian pronounces the cause of the suffering sleepiness, or hunger. Then comes the old bottle; if the babe doesn’t drink from it, the poor little one is rolled and trotted, and sometimes slyly slapped, as a means of subduing the temper of the little ——. It will never do to tell what names such people call their own dear flesh and blood.
Fanning is good pastime for some women, but it is no less injurious to themselves than it is to infants, provided they apply it without regard to the condition of the body. When children are too warm their wraps should be adapted to the temperature; fanning can do more harm in a few moments, than could be repaired in a month.
A lady, going visiting with her first heir, was asked to lay off her babe’s wraps. “Oh,” said she, “there is no use in putting handsome wraps on baby, if I am to take them off while visiting.” I may have said quite enough to prove that exposing babes to the sudden changes of temperature and atmosphere may be productive of a variety of stomach and intestinal complaints at each season of the year. Even when precaution is exercised there will be unguarded moments when the germ of disease will enter the system; but those moments should be few. I have tried to prescribe preventives as I go along which I know can be read and put up by almost any housekeeper, whether she has graduated in Chemistry or not.
Extra caution should be exercised with small children in midsummer as school vacations draw near, as then the older children are much depended upon to care for the younger. It frequently happens that a child who has been quite thrifty begins to fall back about vacation time.
“Dog-days,” they say, “give children cholera infantum,” when the truth of the matter is, the accustomed food has been reduced both in quantity and quality, and they are compelled to eat or suck candies, swallow pieces of nuts, fruits, cakes, pickles, or anything the larger children choose to give. “Baby must go to ride in the carriage;” yes, and remain for hours without food, or, what is as bad, given milk to drink from a bottle that has lain beside the warm body for hours. In fact, the child thus treated may continue to pine, and really starve at the very time it should have been more lavishly fed. The system of infants has to be guarded at all times and in all places; but more especially in our New England climate, where the atmosphere is so extremely varied. Even if a child does suck the breast, it can be fed through the day, now on oatmeal and milk, and again on plain Indian meal or flour pudding. By these means, warmth is supplied to the blood, and strength to the nerves and muscles.
I hope no one will understand me as advocating heat alone as a life preserver, for I do not. It is heat alone that renders the systems of many children so susceptible to colds. It is uniformity and moderation in their whole management that I am trying to impress upon the minds of all who may desire to profit thereby.
CHAPTER XIII.
TIME FOR WEANING.
It is claimed, and no doubt rightfully, that it is the children of the poorer classes who suffer most in large cities from bowel complaints. To this too many are ready to say, “Amen.”
But there are duties involving upon each and all, rich or poor, from which none can expect to be excused till the last known part has been performed. As the chances now appear, there need be no lack of the common comforts of life in most of our large cities and towns. This is a land of opportunities; in it the laborer gets, or should get, his hire. It therefore becomes his privilege to aid by prudence, industry, and economy, in elevating his family to the discouragement of pauperism and wilful neglect of the laws of health.
It very often happens that those very persons, who claim to be too poor to obtain the necessary comforts of life for their little ones, will not hesitate to purchase some extortionately high-priced article, for which they must enslave themselves to pay by the week or month, and which is of far less value than their own or their children’s health. I would suggest here that an extra ten-cent piece be deposited in safe keeping each day as a surety for a baby’s comforts for the first six months; which should afterward be increased to twenty cents a day, and thus continued during its childhood.
When a child is five or six months old, it is best to begin to feed once or twice a day, so that the weaning may not be too suddenly enforced upon it. Bread, crumbled in a small quantity of milk, corn-meal pudding, mutton or chicken broth, Graham biscuit; very little salt added to the porridges is healthy. But no disagreeable substances, such as aloes, pepper or salt, should be applied to the nipples for the purpose of weaning a child; a plaster of wool or fur is more safe for the health of the child.
In this climate (Massachusetts) there are many families who fear to wean their children at any season of the year; many of them migrating from a climate less variable, and in which the customs of feeding infants are altogether different. Such mothers are deserving of no small share of sympathy. I am acquainted with hundreds of them; thank God there are some good mothers, good enough to take the blame upon themselves should their infants sicken and die after being weaned. But for all such there may be found in this little cabinet a consoling word.
Weaning is advisable before June and before December. But if a child does not thrive by reason of some constitutional weakness of the mother, it could probably rally faster by being fed otherwise, at any season of the year.
But whether a child is weakly or not it can gain nothing by continuing to suck after the ninth month; therefore, weaning is recommended about this period. If the mother breeds fast, a prolonged season of nursing but keeps her unprepared, both in strength and household matters, for the next. Then, too, it retards the healthy development of the new being, should she become pregnant while nursing. Although the mother’s milk is essential to the proper growth of the child, history records evidences of noble-minded men and women who never nursed the breast, yet lived to a great age.
A great deal depends upon circumstances; for instance, it may be that even with apparently nutritive milk, the bones remain soft, the joints weak, and the flesh wastes away or remains the same. Such cases are not uncommon, especially among the very hard-working people or real indigent. Hence the necessity of seeking medical advice as to the best possible means of supplying the blood with those principles apparently lacking.
From my experience as nurse, I can say that weaning from the breast may be successfully accomplished if begun pleasantly, but decidedly, and continued. The months of May and October in the New England States are the most favorable; April and November in the Middle States, while in almost all of the Southern States weaning is advisable in March and November or December.
Waiting for a child to get all of its teeth is merely a matter of choice. Beside the inconvenience of the differences in the periods of time when the teeth get through, there is an unnecessary drain on the system of the mother, with no benefit whatever to the child.
The efforts put forth by some women to retard child-bearing is not so good as “Robbing Peter to pay Poll,” because in such cases Peter is robbed, but Polly is never paid. So it seems to me that if these little ones are given in quick succession, it is just as well to have them and get through with it. Many are the women who have borne a dozen or more children into the world, and afterwards filled positions of nobility and trust.
By taking particular notice which course is best to pursue with a child of seven or nine months, I sincerely believe the large number of infantile deaths, under one year, would be much less.
Deferring weaning for the predominance of some certain sign in the heavens, does not accord with our present progress in knowledge.