Advice to a Mother on the Management of Her Children

by Pye Henry Chavasse

Try what diet will do, as opening the bowels by a regulated diet is far preferable to the giving of aperients. Let him have either bran-bread or Robinson's Patent Groats, or Robinson's Pure Scotch Oatmeal made into gruel with new milk, or Du Barry's Arabica Revalenta, or a slice of Huntly and Palmer's lump gingerbread. Let him eat stewed prunes, stewed rhubarb, roasted apples, strawberries, raspberries, the inside of grapes and gooseberries, figs, &c. Give him early every morning a draught of cold water.

Let me, again, urge you not to give aperients in these cases, or in any case, unless you are absolutely compelled. By following my advice you will save yourself an immense deal of trouble, and your child a long catalogue of misery. Again, I say, look well into the matter, and whenever it be practicable avoid purgatives.

Now, with regard to the best manner of returning the bowel, lay the child upon the bed on his face and bowels, with his hips a little raised; then smear lard on the forefinger of your right hand (taking care that the nail be cut close), and gently with, your fore-finger press the bowel into its proper place. Remember, if the above methods be observed, you cannot do the slightest injury to the bowel; and the sooner it be returned, the better it will be for the child; for if the bowel be allowed to remain long down, it may slough or mortify, and death may ensue. The nurse, every time he has a motion, must see that the bowel does not come down, and if it does, she ought instantly to return it. Moreover, the nurse should be careful not to allow the child to remain on his chair more than two or three minutes at a time.

Another excellent remedy for the protrusion of the lower bowel, is to use every morning a cold salt and water sitz bath. There need not be more than a depth of three inches of water in the bath; a small handful of table salt should be dissolved in the water; a dash of warm water in the winter time must be added, to take off the extreme chill; and the child ought not to be allowed to sit in the bath for more than one minute, or whilst the mother can count a hundred; taking care, the while, to throw either a square of flannel or a small shawl over his shoulders. The sitz bath ought to be continued for months, or until the complaint be removed. I cannot speak in too high praise of these baths.

252. Do you advise me, every spring and fall, to give my child brimstone to purify and sweeten his blood, and as a preventive medicine?

Certainly not; if you wish to take away his appetite, and to weaken and depress him, give brimstone! Brimstone is not a remedy fit for a child's stomach. The principal use and value of brimstone is as an external application in itch, and as an internal remedy, mixed with other laxatives, in piles—piles being a complaint of adults. In olden times poor unfortunate children were dosed, every spring and fall, with brimstone and treacle to sweeten their blood! Fortunately for the present race, there is not so much of that folly practised, but still there is room for improvement. To dose a healthy child with physic is the grossest absurdity. No, the less physic a delicate child has the better it will be for him, but physic to a healthy child is downright poison! And brimstone of all medicines! It is both weakening and depressing to the system, and by opening the pores of the skin and by relaxing the bowels, is likely to give cold, and thus to make a healthy, a sickly child. Sweeten his blood! It is more likely to weaken his blood, and thus to make his blood impure! Blood is not made pure by drugs, but by Nature's medicine; by exercise, by pure air, by wholesome diet, by sleep in a well-ventilated apartment, by regular and thorough ablution. Brimstone a preventive medicine! Preventive medicine—and brimstone especially in the guise of a preventive medicine—is "a mockery, a delusion, and a snare."

253. When a child is delicate, and his body, without any assignable cause, is gradually wasting away, and the stomach rejects all food that is taken, what plan can be adopted likely to support his strength, and thus probably be the means of saving his life?

I have seen, in such a case, great benefit to arise from half a tea-cupful of either strong mutton-broth or of strong beef-tea, used as an enema every four hours. [Footnote: An enema apparatus is an important requisite in every nursery; it may be procured of any respectable surgical instrument maker. The India-rubber Enema Bottle is, for a child's use, a great improvement on the old syringe, as it is not so likely to get out of order, and, moreover, is more easily used.] It should be administered slowly, in order that it may remain in the bowel. If the child be sinking, either a dessert-spoonful of brandy, or half a wine-glassful of port wine, ought to be added to each enema.

The above plan ought only to be adopted if there be no diarrhoea. If there be diarrhoea, an enema must not be used. Then, provided there be great wasting away, and extreme exhaustion, and other remedies having failed, it would be advisable to give, by the mouth, raw beef of the finest quality, which ought to be taken from the hip bone, and should be shredded very fine. All fat and skin must be carefully removed. One or two tea-spoonfuls (according to the age of the child) ought to be given every four hours. The giving of raw meat to children in exhaustive diseases, such as excessive long-standing diarrhoea, was introduced into practice by a Russian physician, a Professor Wiesse of St Petersburg. It certainly is, in these cases, a most valuable remedy, and has frequently been the means of snatching such patients from the jaws of death. Children usually take raw meat with avidity and with a relish.

254. If a child be naturally delicate, what plan would you recommend to strengthen him?