Advice to a Mother on the Management of Her Children

by Pye Henry Chavasse

Well, then, what are the symptoms? The infant, in all probability, has had an attack of diarrhoea—bowel complaint as it is called—for several days; he having had a dozen or two of motions, many of them slimy and frothy, like "frog-spawn," during the twenty-four hours. Suddenly the character of the motion changes,—from being principally stool, it becomes almost entirely blood and mucus; he is dreadfully griped, which causes him to strain violently, as though his inside would come away every time he has a motion,—screaming and twisting about, evidently being in the greatest pain, drawing his legs up to his belly and writhing in agony. Sickness and vomiting are always present, which still more robs him of his little remaining strength, and prevents the repair of his system. Now, look at his face! It is the very picture of distress. Suppose he has been a plump, healthy little fellow, you will see his face, in a few days, become old-looking, care-worn, haggard, and pinched. Day and night the enemy tracks him (unless proper remedies be administered); no sleep, or if he sleep, he is, every few minutes, roused. It is heart-rending to have to attend a bad case of dysentery in a child,—the writhing, the screaming, the frequent vomiting, the pitiful look, the rapid wasting and exhaustion, make it more distressing to witness than almost any other disease a doctor attends.

104. Can anything be done to relieve such a case?

Yes. A judicious medical man will do a great deal. But, suppose that yon are not able to procure one, I will tell you what to do and what NOT to do.

What to do.—If the child be at the breast, keep him to it, and let him have nothing else for dysentery is frequently caused by improper feeding. If your milk be not good, or it be scanty, instantly procure a healthy wet-nurse. Lose not a moment; for in dysentery, moments are precious. But, suppose that you have no milk, and that no wet-nurse can be procured: what then? Feed him entirely on cow's milk—the milk of one healthy cow; let the milk be unboiled, and be fresh from the cow. Give it in small quantities at a time, and frequently, so that it may be retained on the stomach. If a table-spoonful of the milk make him sick, give him a dessert-spoonful; if a dessert-spoonful cause sickness, let him only have a tea-spoonful at a time, and let it be repeated every quarter of an hour. But, remember, in such a case the breast milk—the breast milk alone—is incomparably superior to any other milk or to any other food whatever.

If he be a year old, and weaned, then feed him, as above recommended, on the cow's milk. If there be extreme exhaustion and debility, let fifteen drops of brandy be added to each table-spoonful of new milk, and let it be given every half hour.

Now with regard to medicine. I approach this part of the treatment with some degree of reluctance,—for dysentery is a case requiring opium—and opium I never like a mother of her own accord to administer. But suppose a medical man cannot be procured in time, the mother must then prescribe, or the child will die! What then is to be done? Sir Charles Locock considers "that, in severe dysentery, especially where there is sickness, there is no remedy equal to pure Calomel, in a full dose without opium." [Footnote: Communicated by Sir Charles Locock to the Author.] Therefore, at the very onset of the disease, let from three to five grains (according to the age of the patient) of Calomel, mixed with an equal quantity of powdered white sugar, be put dry on the tongue. In three hours after let the following mixture be administered:—

Take of—Compound Powder of Ipecacuanha, five grains;
Ipecacuanha Wine, one drachm;
Simple Syrup, three drachms;
Cinnamon Water, nine drachms;

To make a Mixture, A tea-spoonful to be given every three or four hours, first well shaking the bottle.

Supposing he cannot retain the mixture—the stomach rejecting it as soon as swallowed—what then? Give the opium, mixed with small doses of mercury with chalk and sugar, in the form of powder, and put one of the powders dry on the tongue, every three hours:—

Take of—Powdered Opium, half a grain;
Mercury with chalk, nine grains;
Sugar of Milk, twenty-four grains;