Advice to a Mother on the Management of Her ChildrenChavasse, Pye Henry
Science
Advice to a Mother on the Management of Her Children
Chavasse, Pye Henry
Child care; Children -- Health and hygiene; Infants -- Health and hygiene
In pain either of the stomach or of the bowels, there is nothing
usually affords greater or speedier relief than the _external_
application of heat The following are four different methods of
applying heat:--1. A bag of hot salt--that is to say, powdered
table-salt--put either into the oven or into a frying-pan over the
fire, and thus made hot, and placed in a flannel bag, and then
applied, as the case may be, either to the stomach or to the
bowels. Hot salt is an excellent remedy for these pains. 2. An
india-robber hot-water bottle, [Footnote: Every house where there are
children ought to have one of these India-rubber hot-water bottles. It
may be procured at any respectable Vulcanised India-rubber warehouse.]
half filled with hot water--it need not be boiling--applied to the
stomach or to the bowels, will afford great comfort 3. Another and an
excellent remedy for these cases is a hot bran poultice. The way to
make it is as follows:--Stir bran into a Vessel containing either a
pint or a quart (according to size of poultice required) of boiling
water, until it be the consistence of a nice soft poultice, then put
into a flannel bag and apply it to the part affected. When cool, dip
it from time to time in _hot_ water. 4. In case a child has a feverish
cold, especially if it be attended, as it sometimes is, with pains in
the bowels, the following is a good external application.--Take a yard
of flannel, fold it in three widths, then dip it in very hot water,
wring it out tolerably dry, and apply it evenly and neatly round and
round the bowels; over this, and to keep it in its place, and to keep
in the moisture, put on a _dry_ flannel bandage, four yards long and
four inches wide. If it be put on at bed-time, it ought to remain on
all night. Where there are children, it is desirable to have the yard
of flannel and the flannel bandage in readiness, and then a mother
will be prepared for emergencies. Either the one or the other, then,
of the above applications will usually, in pains of the stomach and
bowels, afford great relief. There is one great advantage of the
_external_ application of heat--it can never do harm; if there be
inflammation, it will do good; if there be either cramps or spasms of
the stomach, it will be serviceable; if there be colic, it will be one
of the best remedies that can be used; if it be a feverish cold, by
throwing the child into a perspiration, it will be beneficial.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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