Advice to a Mother on the Management of Her Children

by Pye Henry Chavasse

Turn his head on one side, in order to let the ear with the pea or the bead in it be undermost, then give with the flat of your hand two or three sharp, sudden slaps or boxes on the other, or _upper_most ear, and most likely the offending substance will drop out. Poking at the ear will, in the majority of cases, only send the substance further in, and will make it more difficult (if the above simple plan does not succeed) for the medical man to remove. The surgeon will, in all probability, syringe the ear; therefore have a supply of warm water in readiness for him, in order that no time may be lost.

304. If an earwig or any other living thing, should get into the ear of a child, what ought to be done?

Lay the child on his side, the affected ear being uppermost, and fill the ear, from a tea-spoon, with either water or sweet oil. The water or oil will carry the living thing, whatever it be, out of the ear, and the child is at once relieved.

305. If a child swallow a piece of broken glass, what ought to be done?

Avoid purgatives, as the free action on the bowels would be likely to force the spiculae of glass into the mucous membrane of the bowels, and thus would wound them, and might cause ulceration, and even death. "The object of treatment will be to allow them to pass through the intestines well enveloped by the other contents of the tube, and for this purpose a solid, farinaceous diet should be ordered, and purgatives scrupulously avoided."—Shaw's Medical Remembrancer, by Hutchinson.

306. If a child swallow a pin, what should be done?

Treat him as for broken glass. Give him no aperients, or it might, in action, force the pin into the bowel. I have known more than one instance where a child, after swallowing a pin, to have, voided it in his motion.

307. If a child swallow a coin of any kind, is danger likely, to ensue, and what ought to be done?

There is, as a rule, no danger. A dose or two of castor oil will be all that is usually necessary. The evacuations ought to be carefully examined until the coin be discovered. I once knew a child swallow a pennypiece, and pass it in his stool.

308. If a child, while playing with a small coin (such as either a threepenny or a fourpenny piece), or any other substance, should toss it into his mouth, and inadvertently allow it to enter the windpipe, what ought to be done?