Cure.—If it proceed from the too sudden change of nourishment, the remedy must be to forbear giving the child suck for some days, lest the milk be mixed with phlegm, which is then in the stomach corrupt: and at first it must suck but little, until it is accustomed to digest it. If it be the excrements in the intestines, which, by their long stay, increase these pains, give it at the mouth a little oil of sweet almonds and syrup of roses: if it be worms, lay a cloth dipped in oil of wormwood, mixed with ox-gall upon the belly, or a small cataplasm mixed with the powder of rue, wormwood, coloquintida, aloes, and the seeds of citron incorporated with ox-gall and the powder of lupines. Or give it oil of sweet almonds, with sugar-candy, and a scruple of aniseed: it purgeth new-born babes from green choler and stinking phlegm; and, if it be given with sugar-pap, it allays the griping pains of the belly. Also, anoint the belly with oil of dill, or pelitory stamp, with oil of camomile.
Sect. II. Of Weakness in newly-born Infants.
Weakness is an accident that many children bring into the world along with them, and is often occasioned by the labour of the mother; by the violence and length whereof they suffer so much, that they are born with great weakness, and many times it is difficult to know whether they are alive or dead, their body appearing so senseless and their face so blue and livid, that they seem to be quite choked; and even after some hours, their showing any signs of life is attained with weakness, that it looks like a return from death, and that they are still in a dying condition.
Cure.—Lay the infant speedily in a warm blanket, and carry it to the fire, and then let the midwife take a little wine in her mouth and spout it into its mouth, repeating it often, if there be occasion. Let her apply linen to the breast and belly dipped in wine, and let the face be uncovered, that it may breathe the more freely; also, let the midwife keep its mouth a little open, cleanse the nostrils with small linen tents dipped in white wine, that it may receive the smell of it; and let her chafe every part of its body well with warm cloths, to bring back its blood and spirits, which, being retired inwards, through weakness, often puts it in danger of being choked. By the application of these means, the infant will gradually recover strength, and begin to stir its limbs by degrees, and at length to cry; and though it be but weakly at first, yet afterwards, as it breathes more freely, its cry will become strong.
Sect. III. Of the Fundament being closed up in a newly-born Infant.
Another defect that new-born infants are liable to is, to have their fundaments closed up; by which they can never evacuate the new excrements engendered by the milk they suck, nor that which was amassed in their intestines before birth, which is certainly mortal without a speedy remedy. There have been some female children who have had their fundaments quite closed, and yet have voided the excrements of the guts by an orifice, which nature, to supply that defect, had made within the neck of the womb.
Cure.—Here we must take notice, that the fundament is closed two ways: either by a single skin, through which one may discover some black and blue marks, proceeding from the excrements retained, which, if one touch with the finger, there is a softness felt within, and thereabout it ought to be pierced; or else it is quite stopped by a thick fleshy substance, in such sort that there appears nothing without by which its true situation may be known. When there is nothing but the single skin which makes the closure, the operation is very easy, and the children may do very well; for then an aperture or opening may be made with a small incision-knife, cross ways, that it may the better receive a round form, and that the place may not afterwards grow together, taking care not to prejudice the sphincter or muscles of the rectum. The incision being thus made, the excrements will certainly have issue. But if, by reason of their long stay in the belly, they become so dry that the infant cannot void them, then let a clyster be given to moisten and bring them away; afterwards put a linen tent into the new-made fundament, which, at first, had best be anointed with honey of roses, and towards the end, with a drying cicatrizing ointment, such as unguentum album, or ponphilex, observing to cleanse the infant of its excrements, and dry it again as soon and as often as it evacuates them, that so the aperture may be prevented from turning into a malignant ulcer.
But if the fundament be stopped up in such a manner, that neither mark nor appearance of it can be seen or felt, then the operation is much more difficult; and even when it is done, the danger is much greater, that the infant will not survive it. Then if it be a female, and it sends forth its excrements by the way I have mentioned before, it is better not to meddle, than, by endeavouring to remedy an inconvenience, run an extreme hazard of the infant’s death. But when there is no vent for the excrements, without which death is unavoidable, then the operation is justifiable.
Operation.—Let the operator, with a small incision-knife that hath but one edge, enter into the void place, and turning the back of it upwards, within half a finger’s breadth from the child’s anus, which is the place where he will certainly find the intestine; let him thrust it forward, that it may be open enough to give free vent to the matter there contained, being especially careful of the sphincter; after which, let the wound be dressed according to the method directed.