Advice to a wife and mother in two parts

by Pye Henry Chavasse

584. But, after all that can be said on the subject, there is no better method in the world for opening a lying-in patient’s bowels, when costive, than (if the cup of coffee be not sufficiently powerful) by giving her an enema, as advised in a previous paragraph. An enema is safe, speedy, painless, and effectual, and does not induce costiveness afterward, which castor oil, and all other aperients, if repeatedly taken, most assuredly will.

585. An enema, then, is an admirable method of opening costive bowels, both during suckling and during pregnancy, and deserves to be more universally followed than it now is; fortunately, the plan just recommended is making rapid progress, and shortly will, with ladies at such times, entirely supersede the necessity of administering aperients by the mouth.

586. Aperients, after a confinement, were in olden times, as a matter of course, repeatedly given both to the mother and to the babe, to their utter disgust and to their serious detriment! This was only one of the numerous mistakes and follies that formerly prevailed in the lying-in room. Unfortunately, in those days a confinement was looked upon as a disease, and to be physicked accordingly. A better state of things is happily now dawning.

587. When the patient’s bowels, for the first few days after the confinement, require to be opened, she ought to use either the French bed-pan or the bed-pan of the Liverpool Northern Hospital. Either the one or the other of these pans is a great improvement on the old-fashioned bed-pans, as they will readily slip under the patient, and will enable her, while lying down and while she is perfectly passive in bed, to have her bowels relieved, which at these times is very desirable. The French bed-pan or the bed-pan of the Liverpool Northern Hospital is admirably adapted for a lying-in room; indeed, no lying-in room ought to be without either the one or the other of these useful inventions. “A flannel cap for the toe-part, held on by strings round the heel, will afford considerable comfort to the patient.”[^[104]]

“CLEANSINGS”—ABLUTIONS.

588. The “Cleansings.”—This watery discharge occurs directly after a lying-in, and lasts either a week or a fortnight, and sometimes even longer. It is, at first, of a reddish color; this gradually changes to a brownish hue, and afterward to a greenish shade; hence the name of “green waters.” It has in some cases a disagreeable odor. A moderate discharge is necessary; but when it is profuse, it weakens the patient.

589. Some ignorant nurses object to have the parts bathed after delivery; they have the impression that such a proceeding would give cold. Now, warm fomentation twice a day, and even oftener, either if the discharge or if the state of the parts requires it, is absolutely indispensable to health, to cleanliness, and comfort. Ablutions, indeed, at this time are far more necessary than at any other period of a woman’s existence.

590. There is nothing better for the purpose than a soft sponge and warm water, unless the parts be very sore; if they be, a warm fomentation, two or three times a day, of marshmallows and chamomile,[^[105]] will afford great relief, or the parts may be bathed with warm oatmeal gruel, of course without salt. In these cases, too, I have found warm barm (yeast) and water a great comfort, and which will soon take away the soreness. The parts ought, after each fomentation, to be well but quickly dried with warm, dry, soft towels.

591. If the internal parts be very sore, it may be necessary, two or three times a day, to syringe them out, by means of an india-rubber vaginal syringe,[^[106]] with either of the above remedies. Hence the importance of having a good monthly nurse, of having one who thoroughly understands her business.

592. Let the above rules be strictly followed. Let no prejudices and no old-fashioned notions, either of the nurse or of any female friend, stand in the way of the above advice. Ablution of the parts, then, after a confinement, and that frequently, is absolutely required, or evil results will, as a matter of course, ensue.