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
The thrush is a frequent disease of an infant, and is often brought on
either by stuffing or by giving him improper food. A child brought up
_entirely_, for the first three or four months, on the breast, seldom
suffers from this complaint. The thrush consists of several irregular,
roundish, white specks on the lips, the tongue, the inside and the
angles of the mouth, giving the parts affected the appearance of curds
and whey having been smeared upon them. The mouth is hot and painful,
and he is afraid to suck; the moment the nipple is put to his mouth he
begins to cry. The thrush, sometimes, although but rarely, runs
through the whole of the alimentary canal. It should be borne in mind
that nearly every child, who is sucking, has his or her tongue white
or "frosted," as it is sometimes called. The thrush may be mild or
very severe.
Now with regard to what to do.--As the thrush is generally owing to
improper and to artificial feeding, _if the child be at the breast_,
keep him, for a time, entirely to it. Do not let him be always
sucking, as that will not only fret his month, but will likewise
irritate and make sore the mother's nipple.
_If he be not at the breast_, but has been weaned, then keep him for a
few days entirely to a milk diet--to the milk of ONE cow--either
boiled, if it be hot weather, to keep it sweet; or unboiled, in cool
weather--fresh as it comes from the cow, mixed with warm water.
The best medicine is the old-fashioned one of Borax, a combination of
powdered lump-sugar and borax being a good one for the purpose: the
powdered lump-sugar increases the efficacy, and the cleansing
properties of the borax; it tends, moreover, to make it more
palatable.--
Take of--Borax, half a drachm;
Lump Sugar, two scruples;
To be well mixed together, and made into twelve powders. One of the
powders to be put dry on the tongue every four hours.
The best _local_ remedy is Honey of Borax, which ought to be smeared
frequently, by means of the finger, on the parts affected.
Thorough ventilation of the apartment must be observed; and great
cleanliness of the vessels containing the milk should be insisted
upon.
In a bad case of thrush, change of air to the country is most
desirable; the effect is sometimes, in such cases, truly magical.
If the thrush be brought on either by too much or by improper food; in
the first case of course, a mother must lessen the quantity; and, in
the second, she should be more careful in her selection.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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