The maternal management of children, in health and diseaseBull, Thomas
Science
The maternal management of children, in health and disease
Bull, Thomas
Child care
Examples of the first class I am meeting with daily. I refer to poor
married women, who, having nursed their infants eighteen months, two
years, or even longer than this, from the belief that by so doing they
will prevent pregnancy, call to consult me with an exhausted frame and
disordered general health, arising solely from protracted nursing,
pursued from the above mistaken notion.
I most frequently meet with examples of the second class in the
delicate woman, who, having had two or three children in quick
succession, her health has given way, so that she has all the symptoms
arising from undue suckling, when perhaps the infant at her breast is
not more than two or three months old.
Since the health of the mother, then, will suffer materially from this
circumstance, she ought not to be ignorant of the fact; so that, when
the first symptoms manifest themselves, she may be able to recognise
their insidious approach; and tracing them to their real cause, obtain
medical advice before her health be seriously impaired.
SYMPTOMS.--The earliest symptom is a dragging sensation in the back
when the child is in the act of sucking, and an exhausted feeling of
sinking and emptiness at the pit of the stomach afterwards. This is
soon followed by loss of appetite, costive bowels, and pain on the left
side; then, the head will be more or less affected, sometimes with much
throbbing, singing in the ears, and always some degree of giddiness,
with great depression of spirits.
Soon the chest becomes affected, and the breathing is short,
accompanied by a dry cough and palpitation of the heart upon the
slightest exertion. As the disease advances, the countenance becomes
very pale, and the flesh wastes, and profuse night perspirations, great
debility, swelling of the ankles, and nervousness ensue. It is
unnecessary, however, to enter into a more full detail of symptoms.
TREATMENT.--All that it will be useful to say in reference to
treatment, is this; that, although much may be done in the first
instance by medicine, change of air, cold and sea bathing, yet the
quickest and most effectual remedy is to wean the child, and thus
remove the cause.
THE ILL EFFECTS UPON THE INFANT.--There is another and equally powerful
reason why the child should be weaned, or rather, have a young and
healthy wet-nurse, if practicable. The effects upon the infant, suckled
under such circumstances, will be most serious. Born in perfect health,
it will now begin to fall off in its appearance, for the mother's milk
will be no longer competent to afford it due nourishment; it will be
inadequate in quantity and quality. Its countenance, therefore, will
become pale; its look sickly and aged; the flesh soft and flabby; the
limbs emaciated; the belly, in some cases, large, in others, shrunk;
and the evacuations fetid and unnatural; and in a very few weeks, the
blooming healthy child will be changed into the pale, sickly, peevish,
wasted creature, whose life appears hardly desirable.
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