BOTTLE-FED BABIES.
Add a little more top-milk or cream to each bottle than the formula gives; do not pasteurize the food unless it is necessary; do not use lime-water, but bicarbonate of soda in proper strength in its place, as lime-water is often very constipating. Malted food may be added to each bottle for some time. If necessary, stimulate the rectum mildly; this can be done by holding the baby over a small chamber at exactly the same time after a meal each day and insert into the bowel a small cone of oiled paper, or use a small castile soap suppository. This may form a habit in a few days. Suppositories of gluten are very beneficial if used in the morning. The child should not be allowed to go longer than twenty-four hours without a passage. A enema made up of one or two tablespoonfuls of sweet oil may be given with a bulb syringe, or an ounce of warm water to which has been added one-half teaspoonful of glycerin, or one-half pint of warm soap-suds. Do not give it every day; massage the baby's abdomen. Your hand should be warm. Begin at the right side groin and make a series of circular movements with your fingers, lightly at first, and then press down harder as the baby becomes accustomed to it; work your way up gradually to the ribs, then across to the ribs on the left side, and down to the left groin. This can be done twice daily for eight or ten minutes at a time, and always at the same time of day, but never soon after a meal. Olive oil may safely be given for constipation to a baby,—from twenty drops to one teaspoonful one or two times daily, but castor oil should not be given for constipation, as after a time it leaves the baby more constipated than ever. Sometimes inserting your finger, well oiled, into the rectum, will produce a passage. For older children, decrease the amount of white bread, toast, potatoes, and give green vegetables, oatmeal, and graham bread instead, with plenty of proper fruit twice daily; raw, scraped apples are sometimes the best fruit to use.
[ALL ABOUT BABY 613]
DIARRHEA. (For Older Children).
What shall I do for this trouble? Rid the system of the irritating matter by giving the baby one teaspoonful of castor oil. Then stop all solid food and give boiled water if there is only a moderate looseness. Keep the child perfectly quiet. If the attack is more severe and attended by fever and vomiting all food and milk should be stopped at once in children of all ages, and only broth, barley water or some thin gruel given. Castor oil is required for a severe attack. If the patient is an infant the milk should be diluted or stopped. In severe attacks with vomiting or frequent foul stools, stop all food for at least twelve hours and all milk for a longer time, and the bowels should be freely moved by a cathartic. Give plenty of water to drink.
Food.—Albumin water is often better than plain water or anything else. To make it stir the white of an egg into a pint of cold water. See that they are well mixed, add a pinch of salt and strain. Give baby one teaspoonful every one-half hour, and if he vomits all other food, give two ounces every two hours; barley gruel, wheat flour gruel, mutton broth may be given also.
MOTHERS' REMEDIES.—1. Inflammation of the Bowels, Poultice of Hot Mush for.—"Wrap the child in a poultice of hot mush. Place the poultice over the abdomen." A poultice of this kind retains the heat, and is very good for inflammation of the abdominal cavity, and would help to take away the soreness and bloating in the bowels that is always present in this disease.
2. Bowel Trouble, a Good Tonic for.—
Powdered rhubarb 1 heaping teaspoonful
Soda 1/4 teaspoonful
Sugar 1 teaspoonful
Peppermint essence 1/2 teaspoonful
Hot water 1/2 cup (scant)
Dose:—One-half teaspoonful every hour until bowels show signs of right color.
The soda and the peppermint will tone up the stomach and relieve any trouble present there, while the rhubarb will act on the bowels and carry off all impurities.
3. Bowel Trouble, Rhubarb and Licorice for.—"Compound tincture of rhubarb one ounce bicarbonate of soda 1 dram, fluid extract of licorice 1 dram, pure water 6 ounces. Give from one to two teaspoonfuls according to the age of the child." This will be found a very good treatment for this trouble, and one that has been thoroughly tried.