With regard to cutting the gums, we have seldom known it of any great benefit. In obstinate cases, however, it ought to be tried. It may be performed by the finger-nail, the edge of a six-penny piece that is worn thin, or any sharp body which can be with safety introduced into the mouth; but the lancet, in a skilful hand, is certainly the most proper.
In order to render the teething less difficult, parents ought to take care that their children’s food be light and wholesome, and that their nerves be braced by sufficient exercise without doors, the use of the cold bath, &c. Were these things duly regarded, they would have a much better effect than teething necklaces, or other nonsensical amulets worn for that purpose.
OF THE RICKETS.
This disease generally attacks children between the age of nine months and two years. It appeared first in England about the time when manufactures began to flourish, and still prevails most in towns where the inhabitants follow sedentary employments, by which means they neglect either to take proper exercise themselves, or to give it to their children.
CAUSES.——One cause of the rickets is diseased parents. Mothers of a weak relaxed habit, who neglect exercise, and live upon weak watery diet, can neither be expected to bring forth strong and healthy children, or to be able to nurse them, after they are brought forth. Accordingly we find, that the children of such women generally die of the rickets, the scrophula, consumptions, or such like diseases. Children begotten by men in the decline of life, who are subject to the gout, the gravel, or other chronic diseases, or who have been often affected with the venereal disease in their youth, are likewise very liable to the rickets.
Any disorder that weakens the constitution, or relaxes the habit of children, as the small-pox, measles, teething, the hooping-cough, &c. disposes them to this disease. It may likewise be occasioned by improper diet, as food that is either too weak and watery, or so viscid that the stomach cannot digest it.
Bad nursing is the chief cause of this disease. When the nurse is either diseased, or has not enough of milk to nourish the child, it cannot thrive. But children suffer oftner by want of care in nurses than want of food. Allowing an infant to lie or sit too much, or not keeping it thoroughly clean in its clothes, has the most pernicious effects.
The want of free air is likewise very hurtful to children in this respect. When a nurse lives in a close small house, where the air is damp and confined, and is too indolent to carry her child abroad into the open air, it will hardly escape this disease. A healthy child should always be in motion, unless when asleep; if it be suffered to lie, or sit, instead of being tossed and dandled about, it will not thrive.
SYMPTOMS.——At the beginning of this disease the child’s flesh grows soft and flabby; its strength is diminished; it loses its wonted cheerfulness, looks more grave and composed than is natural for its age, and does not chuse to be moved. The head and belly become too large in proportion to the other parts; the face appears full, and the complexion florid. Afterwards the bones begin to be affected, especially in the more soft and spungy parts. Hence the wrists and ancles become thicker than usual; the spine or backbone puts on an unnatural shape; the breast is likewise often deformed; and the bones of the arms and legs grow crooked. All these symptoms vary according to the violence of the disease. The pulse is generally quick, but feeble; the appetite and digestion for the most part bad; the teeth come slowly and with difficulty, and they often rot and fall out afterwards. Ricketty children generally have great acuteness of mind, and an understanding above their years. Whether this is owing to their being more in the company of adults than other children, or to the preternatural enlargement of the brain, is not material.
REGIMEN.——As this disease is always attended with evident signs of weakness and relaxation, our chief aim in the cure must be to brace and strengthen the solids, and to promote digestion and the due preparation of the fluids. These important ends will be best answered by wholesome nourishing diet, suited to the age and strength of the patient, open dry air, and sufficient exercise. If the child has a bad nurse, who either neglects her duty, or does not understand it, she should be changed. If the season be cold, the child ought to be kept warm; and when the weather is hot, it ought to be kept cool; as sweating is apt to weaken it, and too great a degree of cold has the same effect. The limbs should be rubbed frequently with a warm hand, and the child kept as cheerful as possible.