What NOT to do.—Do not use either a calf’s teat or wash-leather for the feeding-bottle; fortunately, since the invention of india-rubber teats, they are now nearly exploded; they were, in olden times, fruitful causes of thrush. Do not mind the trouble of ascertaining that the cooking-vessels connected with the baby’s food are perfectly clean and sweet. Do not leave the purity and the goodness of the cow’s milk (it being absolutely necessary to feed him on artificial food) to be judged either by the milkman or by the nurse, but taste and prove it yourself. Do not keep the milk in a warm place, but either in the dairy or in the cellar; and, if it be summer time, let the jug holding the milk be put in a crock containing lumps of ice. Do not use milk that has been milked longer than twelve hours, but, if practicable, have it milked direct from the cow, and use it immediately—let it be really and truly fresh and genuine milk.
When the disease is severe, it may require more active treatment—such as a dose of calomel; which medicine must never be given, unless it be either under the direction of a medical man, or unless it be in an extreme case,—such as dysentery; therefore, the mother had better seek advice. See the Treatment of Dysentery.
In a severe case of thrush, where the complaint has been brought on by artificial feeding—the babe not having the advantage of the mother’s milk—it is really surprising how rapidly a wet-nurse—if the case has not been too long deferred—will effect a cure, where all other means have been tried and have failed. The effect has been truly magical! In a severe case of thrush, pure air and thorough ventilation are essential to recovery.
110. Is anything to be learned from the cry of an infant?
There is a language in the cry of an infant which a thoughtful medical man can well interpret. The cry of hunger, for instance, is very characteristic,—it is unaccompanied with tears, and is a wailing cry; the cry of teething is a fretful cry; the cry of earache is short, sharp, piercing, and decisive, the head being moved about from side to side, and the little hand being often put up to the affected side of the head; the cry of bowel-ache is also expressive,—the cry is not so piercing as from earache, and is an interrupted, straining cry, accompanied with a drawing up of the legs to the belly; the cry of bronchitis is a gruff and phlegmatic cry; the cry of inflammation of the lungs is more a moan than a cry; the cry of croup is hoarse, and rough, and ringing, and is so characteristic that it may truly be called “the croupy cry,” moreover, he breathes as though he breathed through muslin; the cry of inflammation of the membranes of the brain is a piercing shriek—a danger signal—most painful to hear; the cry of a child recovering from a severe illness is a cross, and wayward, and tearful cry; he may truly be said to be in a quarrelsome mood; he bursts out without rhyme or reason into a passionate flood of tears; tears are always, in a severe illness, to be looked upon as a good omen, as a sign of amendment: tears, when a child is dangerously ill, are rarely if ever seen; a cry at night, for light—a frequent cause of a babe crying—is a restless cry:
“An infant crying in the night:
An infant crying for the light:
And with no language but a cry.”
111. If an infant be delicate, have you any objection to his having either veal or mutton broth to strengthen him?
Broths seldom agree with a babe at the breast. I have known them to produce sickness, disorder the bowels, and create fever. I recommend you, therefore, not to make the attempt.