Advice to a wife and mother in two parts

by Pye Henry Chavasse

85. As much sleep is of such advantage, if an infant sleep but little, would you advise composing medicine to be given to him?

Certainly not. The practice of giving composing medicine to a young child cannot be too strongly reprobated. If he does not sleep enough, the mother ought to ascertain if the bowels be in a proper state, whether they be sufficiently opened that the motions be of a good color—namely, a bright yellow, inclining to orange color—and free from slime or from bad smell. An occasional dose of rhubarb and magnesia is frequently the best composing medicine he can take.

86. We often hear of Coroner’s inquests upon infants who have been found dead in bed—accidentally overlaid: what is usually the cause?

Suffocation, produced either by ignorance or by carelessness. From ignorance in mothers, in their not knowing the common laws of life, and the vital importance of free and unrestricted respiration, not only when babies are up and about, but when they are in bed and asleep. From carelessness, in their allowing young and thoughtless servants to have the charge of infants at night; more especially as young girls are usually heavy sleepers, and are thus too much overpowered with sleep to attend to their necessary duties.

A foolish mother sometimes goes to sleep while allowing her child to continue sucking. The unconscious babe, after a time, looses the nipple, and buries his head in the bedclothes. She awakes in the morning, finding, to her horror, a corpse by her side! A mother ought, therefore, never to go to sleep until her child has finished sucking.

The following are a few rules to prevent an infant from being accidentally overlaid: (1.) Let your baby, while asleep, have plenty of room in the bed. (2.) Do not allow him to be too near to you; or if he be unavoidably near you (from the small size of the bed), let his face be turned to the opposite side. (3.) Let him lie fairly either on his side or on his back. (4.) Be careful to ascertain that his mouth be not covered with the bedclothes; and (5.) Do not smother his face with clothes, as a plentiful supply of pure air is as necessary when he is awake, or even more so, than when he is asleep. (6.) Never let him lie low in the bed. (7.) Let there be no pillow near the one his head is resting on, lest he roll to it, and thus bury his head in it. Remember, a young child has neither the strength nor the sense to get out of danger; and, if he unfortunately either turn on his face, or bury his head in a pillow that is near, the chances are that he will be suffocated, more especially as these accidents usually occur at night, when the mother or the nurse is fast asleep. (8.) Never intrust him at night to a young, giddy, and thoughtless servant.

THE BLADDER AND THE BOWELS OF AN INFANT.

87. Have you any hints to offer respecting the bowels and the bladder of an infant during the first three months of his existence?

A mother ought daily to satisfy herself as to the state of the bladder and the bowels of her child. She herself should inspect the motions, and see that they are of a proper color (bright yellow, inclining to orange) and consistence (that of thick gruel), that they are neither slimy, nor curdled, nor green; if they should be either the one or the other, it is a proof that she herself has, in all probability, been imprudent in her diet, and that it will be necessary for the future that she be more careful both in what she eats and in what she drinks.

She ought, moreover, to satisfy herself that the urine does not smell strongly, that it does not stain the napkins, and that he makes a sufficient quantity.