A Book of Medical Discourses, in Two Parts

by Rebecca Lee Crumpler

Again, it is a mistake to indulge in drinking beers or other alcoholic slops to prevent the child’s nursing cold. Early subsistence from the strength of whiskey, rum, beers and ales, like tobacco, tends to stunt the intellect and dwarf the stature of the youth of our land. It is much better to eat warm soups, or such solid food as will give permanent warmth to the blood, and insure a clear character to the being. When it is a babe’s meal-time, it should be served with the most exquisite care, as upon that depends its proper growth and length of days. To prove this a fact, take, for instance, an old woman or old man upon whom adversity may have made some telling marks in their younger days, and whose days appear nearly at an end, and let such be well cared for in a neat, quiet, comfortable home; the chances are they will live on in brightness of hope for a number of years.

Contrary to the teachings of some so-called missionaries, I believe that neatness in arranging food, dress, or whatever pertains to order and pleasantness, is the most essential part of a Christian duty. For surely if the body is cherished as the image of our Maker, the soul-salvation is a possibility.

I alluded in Chap. II. to putting the new-born in a crib. Not that I oppose their lying alone—on the contrary, I deem it highly conducive both to health and good morals for every one, when at a proper age, to sleep alone.

Now since we have noticed to some extent how sudden emotions, as of grief, anger or fright may shock the child at the breast through the agency of those little organs called nerves,—we will pass on to notice some of the causes of bowel complaints arising from the nature of the food eaten by the nurse. Probably there is no cause more frequently productive of infantile bowel complaints, both during and after the month, than that of the too early indulgence in a mixed diet. It may be well to enumerate some of the more objectionable articles of diet from the first day of confinement to the seventh or ninth month, or time for weaning. Of the vegetables,—beans, dry or green, cabbage, cooked or raw, beets, turnips, cucumbers, green peas, dandelions, spinach and Carolina potatoes. Pickles of all kinds. All of the finny tribe; oysters and lobsters being the most dangerous. Of the meats, fresh pork and veal. Of the desserts, egg custards, pastry, cheese and preserved fruits. Of the fluids—coffee—unless ordered for medicinal purposes—raw milk, wines, ales or beers. As a matter of convenience I will introduce what in reason should constitute the proper diet for the same period of time; the modes of preparation being left to those acting as nurses. A large number of women detest gruel, or “baby-food,” as they term it. In this, many, no doubt, are excusable, owing to the condition in which it may previously have been presented to them; you can make a horse leave his oats by sprinkling pepper over them. But to the point: There are about an equal number who enjoy it, and it is always best to try and avoid whims and deny one’s self in every possible manner till after the milk flows freely.

A woman cannot sink on plenty of nice oat, corn-meal, or flour-gruel, minute pudding or toast panada, given often in small quantities. Of course if any article, however well liked, is made by the gallon, so to speak, and warmed over and again, it will become to be loathed; and too great quantities taken may cause much distress in the stomach. Gruels of all kinds should be well mixed with boiling water in a clean, block tin, covered pail; then set in a clean vessel of water to boil, stirring it till well done. Coarse grain porridges should always be strained; as also should broths.

For fluids:—Shells, broma, hot milk, pure or watered to suit, are each of themselves nourishing. If the mother’s milk is scant, a tea made of Indian posy or life everlasting, and drunk as table tea, with milk and sugar, if desirable, is good to increase it. The diet should become gradually solid, say in the early part of the day a broiled lamb chop, broiled beef, liver, tripe, sirloin steak, or broths without vegetables. Broiled meats retain the nutritive principles better than when otherwise cooked. If tea or coffee is found to lessen the flow of milk, it may be inferred that if continued, all of the fluids of the body will materially change.

A strict adherence to the aforesaid rules would, in a great measure, be the means of preventing cholera of infants at the breast, particularly in our crowded cities. By all means should child-bearing women eat more freely of Indian or bran bread. Brown bread can be made fresh every day where meals have to be prepared. Bread, cakes, or pastries that are puffed with soda, or whitened, or colored with any chemical substance, is not good for the health. Too much soda thins the blood; also induces baldness. Mothers of former days delighted in preparing good bread, which is the staff of life. Constipation seldom if ever troubles those that use coarse bread, and avoid much salt meat. Giving infants just a taste of every suspicious article as a sort of initiation does not always prove a sure preventive against colic. It is an old custom, and was doubtless adapted to its times and places, better knowledge, better acts. Self-denial is required of us in the Holy Writ as the only alternative, if we would be wise.

CHAPTER XII.
GENERAL TREATMENT OF INFANTS.

Children are given to parents only for a lifetime; it may be long, or it may be very short; but to array them in fine linens, with bare neck and arms, as has been and is now to a great extent the custom in many refined communities, for public exhibition, is, it seems to me, a questionable act of parental affection. Yet many do so, and boast, when otherwise advised, of their ability to toughen. Mother, your child may be only one of a hundred to survive such experiments; ninety-nine may have been relieved by an early death.

I have looked upon the lifeless form of babes whose would-be friends had failed to toughen, but had succeeded in contributing a bud to the garden of the dead,—yea, shrouded just as they dressed them while living. Thanks to our Heavenly Father, these cruel customs are fast declining; and we may hope the day is not far distant when the feelings of the tender infants will be better protected, and their bodies covered with more comfortable material. We often see, and are expected to admire, pet dogs on the streets, covered well with cloth, though supplied with Nature’s garment. Should pet Carlo die, his loss is mourned as much as that of many infants; in hundreds of cases, being borne to the cemetery followed by a number of carriages and placed in a locality adorned with monument and iron fence.