After-pains.—Soon after delivery these usually come on, and with some women prove remarkably severe. The quicker the labor has been, the slighter will they prove in general. Women with their first child are seldom much troubled with after-pains; but as the uterus is thought to contract less readily after each future labor, so they are more liable to suffer from them in any succeeding delivery than in the first.
When after-pains prove so troublesome as to deprive the patient of her rest, it will be necessary to have recourse to fomentations or anodynes; red pepper and spirits, simmered together a few minutes, and flannels dipped in it and applied to the belly, will generally relieve them; if it fails, apply a fomentation of bitter herbs, and give two teaspoonfuls of the tincture of hops in milk or tea. If these fail, which I never knew, give half a teaspoonful of capsicum in milk. These remedies are to be assisted by keeping up a sufficient pressure on the belly at the same time by means of a broad bandage.
NURSING.
A child must not be put to the breast, if the mother’s health is very poor, or if she has any venereal, scrofulous, consumptive taint, or herpetic disease, St. Anthony’s fire, &c. We have conversed with females who are subject to the last complaint, and who have communicated it to their children, which destroyed them all. The poison is transmitted from the mother to the child. In any of these cases, the infant must be reared on the nursing bottle. It is best to use cream instead of milk; the child thrives well upon it, less quantity answers, and it does not curdle, like milk, upon the stomach.
Atrophy from Suckling.—Some women of a delicate constitution cannot suckle long without an evident appearance of declining health; and, if persisted in, it might terminate in a general wasting of the body and loss of strength, or some morbid affection of the lungs. When, therefore, a woman finds her health declining, and that she gets weaker every day with loss of appetite and languor, she ought immediately to leave off suckling; she should use a generous diet, with a moderate quantity of wine bitters daily, and, if convenient, change the air, particularly if an inhabitant of a large and populous city or town. If the change is not found sufficiently efficacious of itself, when conjoined with a restorative diet, a course of tonics should be given. Gentle exercise on horseback or in a carriage will greatly assist the effect of these remedies.
INFLAMMATION OF THE BREASTS.
This disease is easily known by the pain, hardness, and swelling which accompany it. In some cases the whole breast appears to be affected; in others, only on one side; and, in some, the effect is small and superficial.
When the breast inflames, it is evident that the retention of the milk must, for a time at least, increase the pain.
The first object then should be to have the breasts drawn, either by the child or some other means; but, should the milk not come away readily, and the pain be increased thereby, farther attempts must not be made; otherwise both the disease and sufferings of the woman may be aggravated. A cooling diet and an open state of the bowels are necessary while the swelling continues. And it is better for the patient to remain in bed, as the weight of the breast, while in the erect posture, often increases the inflammation. The breast should be gently rubbed with a small quantity of sweet oil or unsalted butter, and poultices of crumb of bread and lead water applied. If the pain and hardness do not very soon go off by this application, warm emollient poultices, as milk and bread, with a little oil, or united with the leaves of the thorn apple, must be had recourse to. These poultices will not promote suppuration unless the inflammation has proceeded so far, that the process has already begun, and in this case the sooner it is produced the better.
If the abscess do not point and break soon, no good can be gained by delay: an opening should therefore be made, so as to evacuate the matter freely. This not only gives immediate relief, but prevents a farther extension of the mischief. The milk and bread or flax-seed poultices must be continued for a few days, in order to remove the hardness, and then the part must be dressed, as in ordinary cases.