An excellent remedy for the diarrhœa of children is the subnitrate of bismuth.
This medicine may be disguised in the food, as in a case narrated by Dr. Inmann. A lad about ten years old was brought to him by an aunt, who stated that the boy suffered much from diarrhœa, and was emaciating visibly; that he would not try any domestic remedy, was an obstinate fellow, and determined to take no medicine. After sending the lad to another room the doctor recommended the lady to get some white bismuth and give it to the cook, telling her to mix a large pinch of it with some butter, and to send in the bread and butter so arranged that the lady would know which was for the boy. This was done. The lad was duly drugged without his knowledge, and the diarrhœa stopped in two days.
INDIGESTION.
Infants and young children suffer often from indigestion, or dyspepsia, as well as adults. One of the most frequent signs of this disorder is vomiting. But every infant which throws up its milk is not suffering from indigestion. Vomiting is sometimes a sign of health, and shows that the stomach is vigorous enough to free itself promptly from excess of food. The child is thus saved from the effects of over-feeding. The obvious remedy is to diminish the quantity of milk taken at each nursing or meal.
But vomiting from over-feeding is very different from that caused by irritation of the stomach, which causes it to reject proper food. The common sense of the mother will enable her easily to distinguish between the two sorts. In the former, the child remains cheerful, happy, and well nourished, scarcely changing countenance even while the superabundant milk is being returned from its stomach. In the latter, the child soon becomes pale, feeble, and distressed looking. Over-feeding, if persisted in, may occasion indigestion.
Indigestion during the first year of life shows itself by languor, pallor, and evident discomfort. The child wishes to be constantly at the breast, and suckles eagerly, but vomits the milk shortly after, usually curdled. The bowels are either constipated or too loose. The most prominent and often the only symptoms are this alternation of vomiting and an eager desire to take the breast, associated with loss of flesh and strength. The child is evidently not nourished by the food it takes, and if relief be not afforded it sinks, and dies from starvation in the course of a month or two.
Children who are weaned abruptly, and at a very early period, are liable to a serious form of indigestion, which may come on in a few days after weaning, or not for several weeks.
Older children are liable to slight attacks of indigestion, which are attended with vomiting or purging, or both, for a few days, when the stomach recovers its health. In some cases, however, the derangement continues longer, the child then losing its appetite, and suffering from colic, and becoming fretful, pale, and weak. The breath becomes sour, and the passages green. Such cases require careful watching and treatment, especially during the hot weather of the summer.
In infants at the breast indigestion is usually caused by giving the breast too often or by an excess or change in the quality of the milk. Errors in diet on the part of the mother, and other faults which we have pointed out in our chapter on nursing, are the most frequent causes of this ailment. In children who are weaned the causes are almost invariably improper food or food taken too frequently, or in too large quantities. The hint should be taken when a child rejects its food, to change it, or give it less. Instead of this, too frequently the child is urged to take more, and thus derange the stomach.
The treatment of indigestion in childhood is usually easy and satisfactory. The first thing is to look to and regulate the quantity and quality of the food. If it be due to excess of food, this is easily remedied. If due to improper quality, change it promptly. When the mother's health is such that her milk is found to frequently or constantly disagree with her child, a suitable wet-nurse must be procured.