Emollient clysters of milk and water, or of chicken water, ought to be frequently administered through the course of the disease. These prove beneficial by promoting a discharge from the intestines, and also by acting as a kindly fomentation to the womb and parts adjacent. Great care however is requisite in giving them, on account of the tenderness of the parts in the pelvis at this time.
To evacuate the offending bile from the stomach, a vomit is generally given. But as this is apt to increase the irritability of the stomach, already too great, it will be safer to omit it, and to give in its stead a gentle laxative, which will both tend to cool the body, and to procure a free discharge of the bile[[185]].
The medicine which I have always found to succeed best in this disease is the saline draught. This, if frequently repeated, will often put a stop to the vomiting, and at the same time lessen the violence of the fever. If it runs off by stool, or if the patient be restless, a few drops of laudanum, or some syrup of poppies, may occasionally be added.
If the stools should prove so frequent as to weaken and exhaust the patient, a starch clyster, with thirty or forty drops of laudanum in it, may be administered as occasion shall require; and the drink may be rice-water, in every English pint of which half an ounce of gum-arabic has been dissolved. Should these fail, recourse must be had to Columbo-root, or some other strong astringent.
Though in general the food ought to be light, and the drink diluting, yet when the disease has been long protracted, and the patient is greatly spent by evacuations, it will be necessary to support her with nourishing diet and generous cordials.
It was observed that this fever, after continuing for some time, often acquires a putrid form. In this case the Peruvian bark must be given, either by itself, or joined with cordials, as circumstances may require. As the bark in substance will be apt to purge, it may be given in decoction or infusion mixed with the tincture of roses, or other gentle astringents; or, a scruple of the extract of bark with half an ounce of spirituous cinnamon-water, two ounces of common water, and ten drops of laudanum, may be made into a draught, and given every second, third, or fourth hour, as shall be found necessary.
When the stomach will not bear any kind of nourishment, the patient may be supported for some time by clysters of beef tea, or chicken water.
To avoid this fever, every woman in child-bed ought to be kept perfectly easy; her food should be light and simple, and her bed-chamber cool, and properly ventilated. There is not any thing more hurtful to a woman in this situation than being kept too warm. She ought not to have her body bound too tight, nor to rise too soon from bed, after delivery; catching cold is also to be avoided; and a proper attention should be paid to cleanliness.
To prevent the milk-fever, the breast ought to be frequently drawn; and if they are filled previous to the onset of a fever, they should, upon its first appearance, be drawn, to prevent the milk from becoming acrid, and its being absorbed in this state. Costiveness is likewise to be avoided. This will be best effected by the use of mild clysters and a laxative diet.
We shall conclude our observations on child-bed women by recommending it to them, above all things, to beware of cold. Poor women, whose circumstances oblige them to quit their bed too soon, often contract diseases from cold, of which they never recover. It is pity the poor are not better taken care of in this situation.