Borax, half a drachm to a pint of soft water, gives relief where great inflammation attends the excoriation. Lay upon the affected part for an hour or two at a time soft cloths wet in the cold lotion. Frequent washing and perfect cleanliness are really the best preventives and cures.
Colic is the torture of babyhood, as well as a constant source of parental solicitude. It is not considered a dangerous disease, but the sufferings of the little one are a great tax upon sympathetic nerves. There is no special age when the infant is subject to colic. It occurs more frequently when it is from two to five months old. However, children may suffer from it before they are two weeks old.
Severe colics are usually the result of derangements of the liver, and when mothers are badly nourished, the child is frequently born with the trouble. The condition is largely due to a deficiency of nitrogenous elements and phosphates in the food. The system is over supplied with carbonates in the shape of starch, fats and sugar, and deficient in elements that build up the tissues, such as gluten, fibrin, albumen, etc. The mother partakes of food that produces an inflammatory condition, and lacks in that which makes muscle, bone and nerve. She should be cautious about eating of mixed dishes and also of greasy and highly seasoned food.
Let her diet be chiefly of barley, wheatlet, rolled wheat, and bread from graham flour, or Lockport entire wheat flour, with the addition of fish, milk and eggs. Fruits can be partaken of freely, avoiding those that are exceedingly acid. It is only when fruit is not eaten all the time, that colic in the child is caused by the mother’s partaking of it. If it has been eaten freely during pregnancy, it will do no harm during lactation. Until the causes of colic can be removed, palliative treatment must be resorted to.
A colicky baby must be kept warm, avoiding all changes in temperature.[2] A rubber bag or bottle filled with hot water and put in the crib will keep the child, once quieted, asleep for hours. During the paroxysms put the child’s feet in a basin of hot water, or place cloths wrung from hot water over its bowels, and if the attack is very severe, a full hot bath will often give relief.[3]
[2] An interesting account has lately appeared in medical journals, entitled, “Incubating Babies.” Some physician had charge of foundlings, and tried the experiment of keeping them devoid of clothing in ventilated boxes, at an even temperature of 80°. They were fed at regular intervals. They slept most of the time. During the waking periods, kicked, laughed and crowed, but seldom cried. He lessened the mortality very greatly, and possibly proved to the world that the hardening or toughening process is begun too soon for the best vigor of childhood.
[3] A warm bath, indeed, let the cause of “griping” be what it may, usually affords instant relief.—Chevasse.
Avoid giving opiates. They constipate the bowels and derange digestion. In acute attacks following their use, the brain and spine are likely to be seriously involved. Nearly all cordials sold for colic contain opium. Analysis reveals morphine, one grain to the ounce, in Winslow’s soothing syrup.
The following from a daily paper only shows that many medicines are the mother’s enemy, instead of the “Mother’s Friend.” “The Tewksbury almshouse horror once more calls attention to the frightful abuse of narcotics for which the medical profession is to a great extent responsible. In the Tewksbury child’s hospital the nurses were provided with morphine in half-pint bottles! No wonder the babies were kept so still that they died at a rate never before heard of. An idea of the extent to which narcotics are given to infants in English manufacturing towns is gleanable from the deposition of a Hanley chemist before a coroner’s jury. He testified that he made up and sold six gallons a day of an article called ‘Mother’s Friend.’ This stuff contains seven and one-half drops of laudanum to the ounce. With this it is customary to dose their babies so that they shall sleep during the time the young mothers are engaged at the factories. Of course the infant mortality of the place is frightful.
“In contradistinction to this practice of barbarously working young mothers, Mr. Schneider, the owner of the great Creuzot iron works in France, compels a mother to stay from work for a few months before and after a child is born. For the carrying out of this humane purpose he has created a fund out of which the wages of the mother during the period of her incapacity are paid.”