Peppermint Water, five ounces and a half:
Two tablespoonfuls of the mixture to be taken three times a day, first shaking the bottle.
298. The diet ought to be simple, plain, and nourishing, and should consist of beef-tea, of chicken-broth, of arrow-root, and of well-made and well-boiled oatmeal gruel. Meat, for a few days, ought not to be eaten; and stimulants of all kinds must be avoided.
299. If the diarrhœa be attended with pain in the bowels, a flannel bag filled with hot table salt, and then applied to the part affected, will afford great relief. A hot-water bag, too, in a case of this kind, is a great comfort.[[61]] The patient ought, as soon as the diarrhœa has disappeared, gradually to return to her usual diet, provided it be plain, wholesome, and nourishing. She should pay particular attention to keeping her feet warm and dry; and, if she be much subject to diarrhœa, she ought to wear around her bowels, and next to her skin, a broad flannel belly-band.
300. Heartburn is a common and often a distressing symptom of pregnancy. The acid producing the heartburn is frequently much increased by an overloaded stomach. The patient labors under the mistaken notion that, as she has two to sustain, she requires more food during this than at any other time; she consequently is induced to take more than her appetite demands, and more than her stomach can digest;—hence heartburn, indigestion, etc. are caused, and her unborn babe, as well as herself, is thereby weakened.
301. An abstemious diet ought to be strictly observed. Great attention should be paid to the quality of the food; greens, pastry, hot buttered toast, melted butter, and everything that is rich and gross, ought to be carefully avoided.
302. Either a teaspoonful of Henry’s magnesia, or half a teaspoonful of carbonate of soda—the former to be preferred if there be constipation—should occasionally be taken in a wineglassful of warm water. If these do not relieve—the above directions as to diet having been strictly attended to—the following mixture ought to be tried:
Take of—Sesquicarbonate of Ammonia, half a drachm;
Bicarbonate of Soda, a drachm and a half;
Water, eight ounces: