Advice to a wife and mother in two parts

by Pye Henry Chavasse

To make a Mixture. A teaspoonful to be taken early in the morning, first well shaking the bottle.

It might be well again to state, that the bottle must be violently shaken just before administering the mixture, or the oil will not mix with the syrup; or (3.) A teaspoonful of syrup of rhubarb, without the admixture of the castor oil may be given early in the morning occasionally; or (4.) A teaspoonful of equal parts, say half an ounce of each, of fluid magnesia and of syrup of rhubarb, may be taken for a change. Another safe and palatable aperient for an infant is (5.) Syrup of senna, from a half to a whole teaspoonful being the dose. Castor oil is another medicine prescribed for a baby’s costiveness, and, being a safe one, may occasionally be used. Care should be taken to have the castor oil freshly drawn, and of the best quality. (6.) Syrup of red roses and castor oil (of each equal parts), being a good, elegant, and pleasant way of giving it:

Take of—Syrup of Red Roses,

Castor Oil, of each six drachms:

To make a Mixture. A teaspoonful to be taken occasionally, first well shaking the bottle, and to be repeated every four hours, until the bowels be relieved.

(7.) An excellent remedy for the costiveness of a baby is a soap suppository, the application of which will be found a safe, speedy, and certain method of opening the bowels. It is made by paring a piece of white curd-soap round; it should be of the size, in circumference, of a cedar pencil, and it must be in length about two inches. This should be administered by dipping it in a little warm sweet oil, and should then be gently introduced up the bowel in the same manner as you would an enema pipe, allowing about a quarter of an inch to remain in view. It must then be left alone, and in a minute or two the soap suppository will be expelled, and instantly the bowels will be comfortably and effectually relieved. When a child is two or three years old and upwards a dip-candle suppository is superior to a soap suppository.

If it be absolutely necessary to give opening medicine, it will be well to alternate the use of them—that is to say, to give at one time the syrup of senna, at another the fluid magnesia sweetened, and a third to administer the soap suppository dipped in oil, but waiting at least two days between, the bowels being costive all the time, before resorting to an aperient. Bear in mind, and let it make a strong impression upon you, that the less the bowels of an infant are irritated by opening medicine, the aperient being ever so simple and well-selected, the better will it be for him both now and for the future.

When the infant is five or six months old, either oatmeal milk gruel, or Robinson’s Patent Groat Gruel made with new milk, occasionally given in lieu of the usual food, will often open the bowels, and will thus supersede the necessity of administering an aperient.

Castor oil, or Dr. Merriman’s Purgative Liniment,[^[172]] well rubbed every morning, for ten minutes at a time, over the region of the bowels, will frequently prevent costiveness, and thus will do away with the need—which is a great consideration—of giving an aperient.

What NOT to do.—There are two preparations of mercury I wish to warn you against administering of your own accord, viz.—(1.) Calomel, and a milder preparation called (2.) gray powder (mercury with chalk). It is a common practice in this country to give calomel, on account of the readiness with which it may be administered, it being small in quantity and nearly tasteless. Gray powder, also, is, with many mothers, a favorite in the nursery. It is a medicine of immense power—either for good or for evil; in certain cases it is very valuable; but in others, and in the great majority, it is very detrimental.