It is an exceedingly common occurence to find a mother worrying over her child's cold, dosing it with cod liver oil or some other unnecessary tonic, rubbing it with camphorated oil or plastering it over with certain useless patent plasters, dressing it with extra pieces of flannel on its chest and extra clothes pinned snugly around it, then shutting it up in a warm, stuffy, unsanitary, ill-smelling room, in order to keep it from "catching a fresh cold." Can you imagine anything else she could do to defeat her purpose?
No quantity of cod liver oil, no medicine, no coddling, will remove the tendency to "catch cold." The child's life must be lived amidst sanitary surroundings and hygienic conditions first; then other expedients may be utilized if necessary. These children must be kept out of doors most of the time, unless during the severest wet weather. They should sleep in a room the windows of which are open at the top and bottom every night in the year. They should not, however, be in a draught. The rooms in which they live should be of a uniform temperature, never too hot and never too cold, between 68° and 70° F. These delicate catarrhal children should be accustomed to light clothing on their beds. Chest protectors, mufflers, cotton pads, and heavy wraps of any description should be absolutely prohibited. It is advisable to use flannel underwear winter and summer, light in summer and a medium weight in winter. During the summer months the mother should begin cold sponging of the face, throat, chest, and spine every morning and carry it into the winter. The entire process need take only a moment or two. Always dry thoroughly with a fairly rough towel. If the cold sponging is begun in the warm summer time the child will become so accustomed to it that no objection will be made when the cold weather comes.
If the child continues to be "catarrhal," despite a course of this treatment, it would be well to investigate whether any adenoids or adenoid tissue exist in the naso-pharynx. If adenoids are found no treatment will be successful until they are removed.
It is a wise plan to place a flannel cap on an infant who has an acute attack of "cold in the head" (snuffles). This will prevent catching a fresh cold and it will aid in the speedy cure of the attack from which it is suffering when it is put on.
CHRONIC NASAL CATARRH—CHRONIC RHINITIS
CHRONIC DISCHARGE FROM THE NOSE
Some children have a nasal discharge during all of their childhood. It is usually worse during the winter months. It may be a thin, watery discharge or a thick, nasty, yellow discharge.
It is a condition that is very frequently neglected even by the family physician. This is unfortunate because it may lead to serious disease, permanent damage sometimes being done to the hearing, the speech, the smell, and to the lungs of the child.
It may be caused by adenoids; disease of the bones or tissues in the nose; foreign bodies in the nose; or it may occur in children whose nutrition is bad. It may result from frequent acute attacks of "cold in the head." It also occurs in other less important conditions. The foreign bodies which usually cause a chronic nasal discharge are,—buttons, peas, beans, beads, paper balls, flies and bugs, cherry-stones, small pieces of coal, or stone, cork or other material. A child gets hold of a shoe-button for example and pushes it into its nostrils. In the effort to get it out the child pushes it further in. It may or may not cause pain at the time, and it may be overlooked, but shortly the mother will notice a discharge from one nostril. This discharge becomes thick and foul and when an investigation is made the button is found embedded firmly in the nose. It is sometimes quite difficult to get the button out and this should always be done by a physician.
Treatment.—Remove the cause first then treat the catarrh. If it is a product of a constitutional disease that causes general poor health, such as tuberculosis, syphilis, or scrofula, the child will need "building up" and a decided change of climate. Foreign bodies must be removed, adenoids taken out, large tonsils excised, and malformations of the nasal bones operated upon. The catarrh will in many cases be cured by removing its cause; if, however, it should persist it must be treated for some time with appropriate solutions. These solutions and the directions as to the method of giving them must be given by a physician, because there is great danger of carrying the disease to deeper structures if given wrongly.
SUMMARY:—