What to do in a case of convulsions which has been caused by feeding an infant either with too much or with artificial food. Give him, every ten minutes, a teaspoonful of ipecacuanha wine, until free vomiting be excited, then put him into a warm bath (see Warm Baths); and when he comes out of it administer to him a teaspoonful of castor oil, and repeat it every four hours until the bowels be well opened.
What NOT to do.—Do not, for at least a month after the fit, give him artificial food, but keep him entirely to the breast. Do not apply leeches to the head.
What to do in a case of convulsions from hooping-cough.—There is nothing better than dashing cold water on the face, and immersing him in a warm bath of 98 degrees Fahr. If he be about his teeth, and they be plaguing him, let the gums be both freely and frequently lanced. In convulsions from hooping-cough I have found cod-liver oil a valuable medicine. Convulsions seldom occur in hooping-cough, unless the child be either very young or exceedingly delicate. In either case cod-liver oil is likely to be serviceable, as it helps to sustain and support him in his extremity.
Convulsions attending an attack of hooping-cough make it a serious complication, and requires the assiduous and skillful attention of a judicious medical man.
What NOT to do in such a case.—Do not apply leeches; the babe requires additional strength, and not to be robbed of it; and do not attempt to treat the case yourself.
95. What are the best remedies for the costiveness of an infant?
I strongly object to the frequent administration of opening medicine, as the repetition of it increases the mischief to a tenfold degree.
What to do.—If a babe, after the first few months, were held out, and if, at regular intervals, he were put upon his chair, costiveness would not so much prevail. It is wonderful how soon the bowels, in the generality of cases, by this simple plan may be brought into a regular state.
Besides, it inducts an infant into clean habits. I know many careful mothers who have accustomed their children, after the first three months, to do without diapers altogether. It causes at first a little trouble, but that trouble is amply repaid by the good consequences that ensue; among which must be named the dispensing with such incumbrances as diapers. Diapers frequently chafe, irritate, and gall the tender skin of a baby. But they cannot, of course, at an early age be dispensed with, unless a mother has great judgment, sense, tact, and perseverance, to bring her little charge into the habit of having the bowels relieved and the bladder emptied every time he is either held out or put upon his chair.
Before giving an infant a particle of aperient medicine, try, if the bowels are costive, the effect of a little raw sugar and water, either half a teaspoonful of raw sugar dissolved in a teaspoonful or two of water, or give him, out of your fingers, half a teaspoonful of raw sugar to eat. I mean by raw sugar, not the white, but the pure and unadulterated sugar, and which you can only procure from a respectable grocer. If you are wise, you will defer as long as you can giving an aperient. If you once begin, and continue it for awhile, opening medicine becomes a dire necessity, and then woe-betide the poor unfortunate child!