Opodeldoc, or warm olive oil, well rubbed, for a quarter of an hour at a time, by means of the warm hand, over the bowels, will frequently give relief. Turning the child over on his bowels, so that they may press on the nurse’s lap, will often afford great comfort. A warm bath (where he is suffering severely) generally gives immediate ease in flatulence; it acts as a fomentation to the bowels. But after all, a dose of mild aperient medicine, when the babe is suffering severely, is often the best remedy for “wind.”
Remember, at all times, prevention, whenever it be—and how frequently it is—possible, is better than cure.
What NOT to do.—“Godfrey’s Cordial,” “Infants’ Preservative,” and “Dalby’s Carminative” are sometimes given in flatulence; but as most of these quack medicines contain, in one form or another, either opium or poppy, and as opium and poppy are both dangerous remedies for children, ALL quack medicines must be banished the nursery.
Syrup of poppies is another remedy which is often given by a nurse to afford relief for flatulence; but let me urge upon you the importance of banishing it from the nursery. It has (when given by unprofessional persons) caused the untimely end of thousands of children. The medical journals and the newspapers teem with cases of deaths from mothers incautiously giving syrup of poppies to ease pain and to procure sleep.
98. What are the symptoms, the causes, and the treatment of “Gripings” of an infant?
The symptoms.—The child draws up his legs; screams violently; if put to the nipple to comfort him, he turns away from it and cries bitterly; he strains, as though he were having a stool; if he have a motion, it will be slimy, curdled, and perhaps green. If, in addition to the above symptoms, he pass a large quantity of watery fluid from the bowels, the case becomes one of watery gripes, and requires the immediate attention of a medical man.
The causes of “gripings” or “gripes” may proceed either from the infant or from the mother. If from the child, it is generally owing either to improper food or to over-feeding: if from the mother, it may be traced to her having taken either greens, or pork, or tart beer, or sour porter, or pickles, or drastic purgatives.
What to do.—The treatment, of course, must depend upon the cause. If it arise from over-feeding, I would advise a dose of castor oil to be given, and warm fomentations to be applied to the bowels, and the mother or the nurse to be more careful for the future. If it proceed from improper food, a dose or two of magnesia and rhubarb in a little dill water, made palatable with simple syrup.[[174]] If it arise from a mother’s imprudence in eating trash, or from her taking violent medicine, a warm bath: a warm bath, indeed, let the cause of “griping” be what it may, usually affords instant relief.
Another excellent remedy is the following: Soak a piece of new flannel, folded into two or three thicknesses, in warm water; wring it tolerably dry, and apply as hot as the child can comfortably bear it to the bowels, then wrap him in a warm, dry blanket, and keep him, for at least half an hour, enveloped in it. Under the above treatment, he will generally soon fall into a sweet sleep, and awake quite refreshed.
What NOT to do.—Do not give opiates, astringents, chalk, or any quack medicine whatever.