Again; if there is simply vomiting of the breast-milk almost immediately after the child has been suckled, the milk coming up pure and unchanged, and discharged without any apparent effort, and the moment after the child is cheerful and happy, this will be found to depend upon repletion, and not upon unwholesome milk; in fact, the stomach has received too much. This must be prevented in future, not by giving medicine, but simply by removing the infant from the nipple immediately it ceases to draw strongly, the moment it begins to dally with the breast.
Again; if flatulence and griping occur to the child brought up by handy this derangement will generally be found to result from overfeeding: abstinence and diminution of the quantity of the food will generally be all that is necessary here. It will be well, however, for the mother in this case, and she may do it with the utmost safety, to unload the bowels of their indigestible contents by the exhibition of a tea-spoonful of castor oil. A dose or two of this medicine will effectually clear them out, without increasing the irritation, or weakening the child, whilst it will in most instances altogether remove the symptoms. If the flatulence, however, should continue, four or five grains of magnesia may be mixed with the last meal at night, and a little warm water thrown up into the bowel as an injection the next morning.
Diarrhoea occurring in a child brought up by hand, if it be not the result of overfeeding, will very frequently be found to arise from unsuitable diet, the food given not being of a kind suited to the infant's stomach; for what will agree with one child often disagrees with another. Alteration of diet will sometimes alone suffice in these cases to cure, if this alteration is only made early enough, before any considerable irritation of the stomach and bowels has been induced. Thin arrow-root made with water (prepared very carefully, or the child will refuse it,) should be given for five or six days; the warm bath used every night for the same period, a new flannel bandage rolled round the body, and the child cautiously protected from a damp atmosphere. The arrow-root, upon the cessation of the diarrhoea, may have cows' milk added to it, if milk is not found to disagree: when this is the case, chicken or weak mutton broth, free from fat, or beef- tea, thickened with farinaceous food, with a little salt added, are the best substitutes. Should not the diarrhoea yield to the foregoing measures, and that readily, medical aid ought to be sought. Diarrhoea is very frequent from the time of weaning to the third year of age, and certainly in its effects forms so important a disease, that, unless in the slight form noticed above, a mother is not justified in attempting its relief.
In conclusion, I would observe, that I do not think a mother justified in attempting more than what has been laid down here for her guidance. It is believed that the few and plain common-sense directions given, if followed, will do much to prevent disease, and even to relieve it in its milder forms; they will not, however, cure disease itself when really established: and again I would repeat, let the mother recollect that to prevent disease is her province—to cure it, is the physician's.
Sect. III.—COSTIVENESS.
1. IN INFANCY.
The principle to act upon in the management of the infant's bowels is this,—that they should be kept free, and by the mildest and least irritating means.
If therefore they become accidentally confined (less than two stools in the four-and-twenty hours), and the infant is suckled, the mother may ascertain whether an aperient taken by herself will render her milk of a sufficiently purgative quality to act upon the bowels of her child. This is the mildest mode of all.
If, however, this does not answer, or is not practicable from the child being fed artificially, then the mildest aperient medicines must be chosen to accomplish this purpose. The kind of medicine to be selected, and the doses in which to be adminstered, will be found in the section on "Aperient Medicine."[FN#39]
[FN#39] See page 97.