Better babies and their careRichardson, Anna Steese
Science
Better babies and their care
Richardson, Anna Steese
Infants -- Care; Infants -- Health and hygiene
A sharp, dry cough, wheezing or purring in the chest, is also a
dangerous symptom, and may mean bronchitis. Send for a physician at
once; and, until the doctor arrives, the child should be kept in bed,
the room should be warm, the temperature moist. If a considerable time
must pass before the doctor will arrive it is safe to apply a mustard
plaster across the bronchial tubes.
Be very careful in mixing this plaster, because the child’s skin is
very tender and easily burned. Mix one part of English mustard with
five or six parts of flour, and sufficient warm water to make a thin
paste. Have ready a piece of old muslin or linen cut square and twice
as large as the chest of the child; spread the mustard paste in the
center and fold up the four corners so as to close tightly; rub the
baby’s chest lightly with sweet-oil or melted vaseline to prevent
blistering; lay the mustard plaster on the chest and cover it with
a piece of flannel, which should be wound around the child like a
bandage. Lift the corner of the plaster, from time to time, to make
sure that it is not burning the flesh. In ten or fifteen minutes the
skin will be slightly reddened, then remove the plaster; pat the skin
dry with old linen; and cover the little patient carefully.
The old-fashioned remedy of equal parts of camphorated oil and spirits
of turpentine may be applied with a warm hand, and the chest carefully
covered with soft flannel, or silk and wool. Great care must be taken
that the chest is not bared after these remedies have been applied, for
they make the little patient more prone to chill.
If the cough is troublesome, until the arrival of the doctor, give him
doses of liquid peptonoids with creosote every two hours, as follows:
Dose for a child under 3 months, ½ teaspoonful.
From 3 to 6 months, 1 teaspoonful.
From 6 to 9 months, 1½ teaspoonfuls.
From 9 to 12 months, 2 teaspoonfuls.
If the attack is light it may be broken up before the doctor arrives;
but it is never safe for the mother to treat symptoms of bronchitis
without the advice of a physician as soon as he can be secured.
When a child shows a tendency to take cold at almost regular intervals,
and the mother feels sure that this is not due to the temperature
of the nursery, ill-chosen clothes or general anemia, she may well
suspect adenoids. For many generations the baby who had “snuffles” and
breathed with his mouth open quite generally developed an ugly case of
chronic catarrh, which clung to him for life. To-day catarrh is rapidly
disappearing, because it has been traced to adenoids, which can be
removed.
Adenoids are a grapelike formation of tissue which grows back of the
palate in the passage leading from the nose to the throat. The air
must pass through this passageway when the mouth is closed. If the
passageway is filled with the adenoid growth there can be no breathing
through the nose, and the mouth remains open, waking and sleeping.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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