To relieve the acute attack, three drops of Hoffman's anodyne may be given in two teaspoonfuls of warm water and repeated in ten-minute intervals until relieved, to a baby under one year of age. From five to ten drops of gin, given in three teaspoonfuls of warm water, and repeated in fifteen minutes, is also satisfactory and harmless. A very good remedy which may be used with the above for quick relief, and to stop the child from crying, is the following: Fold a piece of flannel cloth (two thicknesses) the size of the baby's abdomen; wring out of very hot water and drop ten drops of turpentine over the surface,—at different spots,—of the flannel and lay on abdomen,—turpentine side next skin. Cover this with another piece of flannel,—two or three thicknesses, that has been dry-heated and allow to remain in place for about ten minutes.
Colic, as a rule, disappears completely about the third month.
APPENDICITIS
Appendicitis is mentioned here merely to acquaint mothers with its prominent symptoms.
When a child has what seems to be an attack of indigestion, but complains of pain and tenderness in the abdomen, vomits, and develops a fever, and is constipated, appendicitis may be suspected.
The pain and tenderness are not referred to the region of the appendix but are more centrally located. If, however, the finger point is pressed over the appendix, distinct tenderness will be elicited in inflammation of that region. Constipation is the rule in appendicitis, but diarrhea occasionally accompanies it.
The abdominal muscles may be rigid, that is, the abdomen does not feel soft as is usual; there is a feeling if they are pressed, as if they were hard and unyielding.
Treatment.—Put the child in bed and send for the family physician at once. The condition is too serious and too uncertain to delay, or for a parent to make any effort at treatment. Appendicitis is a much more serious condition in infancy and childhood than it is in an adult.
JAUNDICE IN INFANTS
There are two types of jaundice in infants that deserve brief consideration.