Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1914-01-11

The most common emergency in the nursery is
vomiting. TO the shame of many mothers, this is
a reculrent emergency. The child is relieved, but
not cured. The cause is not sought and removed.
Vomiting means an error in diet, acute or chronic.
Sometimes a child has overloaded its stomach with
out the knowledge or consent of the parents. Again,
these recurrent stomach attacks" are due to regular
diet which does not agree with the child. In the
latter case, the vomiting must first be treated, and
then the diet must be changed.
When the vomiting starts, all food must be stop
ped, bottle food, breast milk and even water, until
the attack is over. One of two cathartics should be
given, castor oil OF calomcl. Calomel is more apt to
be retained. The dose is one-tenth of one:fourth OF
a grain, at intervals Of half an hour until one grain
has been given to a baby, two grains to an older child.
If the child is old enough to drink from a. cup, a
solution OF baking soda, one teaspoonful to a glass
OF water, should be slipped at intervals. No food
should be given until the vomiting has ceased, and
water can be retained. ..
Then the nursing baby should be given the breast
for considerably less than the usual time, so that the
stomach shall not be overloaded. The bottle baby
should have it's milk or food weakened by more than
the usual amount Of boiled water or barley water,
The child old enough to eat solid food should be-
given only a few tablespoonfuls of clear broth or
bouillon at first, and no solid food until normal con-
diions arc restored.
If the mother finds that she cannot control this
vomiting, say in eight or ten hours, she should send
for the family physician. 1t may be 3 symptom of
Some acute illness like measles, pneumonia, scarlet
fever, etc. ~"
D%iarrhoea, especiallyz when the baby is tecthing,
strikes terrier to the maternal heart.
Treatment must be prompt and firm. All food
must be stopped at once, and a ~cathartic must be
given Immediately. Castor oil is the safest and most
soothing cathartiSsEf or young children. Up to six
months, the dose is a teaspoonful of OIL After that
a tablespoonful may be administered with good re-
suits. If the small stomach will not retain the oil.
give calomel in the same dose prescribed for vomit-
ing. This treatment will suffice until a doctor is
summoned. Sometimes it proves SO eficacious that
a. physician is not required.
But better, far, than curing %diarrloca is prevent.
ing it, .@f.,6./
1t is generally caused by unclean milk and wrong
food. Keep the milk for the bottle-fed baby clean and
cool. Do not allow the breast.fed or bottle.fed baby
to overload it's stomach.
Group is another nursery terror. This is the
spasmodic contraction of the larynx, and may accom-
pany a severe cold or may manifest it's presence be-
fore the mother realizes that the child has taken
cold. Some babies go through their nursery days
without a single attack of this terrifying malady.
Others are subject to it.
Usually the patient wakes suddenly, gasping for
breath. A mother who has once heard the sound
never fails to recognize it in its first stages. The
breathing is slow, noisy and heavy. The patient is
greatly distressed. Sometimes there is a metallic
barking cough: Again this may be missing. Doctor
bennett, in "Thc Healthy Baby p~rescribes the fol-
lowing treatment for Group:
"u Wiring out dry in cold water 60 deyrees),
a soft cloth folded into at least six thicknesses. Place
this quickly about the neck from ear 70 ear, under.
meath the chin. Cover with a piece of oiled silk or
thick waxcd paper, which is held on by a handker-
chief tied about the neck. Change this every half
hour until the Group has subsidized, when it should be
discontinued.
"(G Cover the bed or crib with a sheet and set
the Group kettle going with the spout underneath
the sheet. CA steaming tea kettle kept boiling by an
alcohol lamp or gas stove may be rugged where a
Group kettle is not at hand, care being taken not to
set fire to the bed clothing) This may be continued :
for hours or until the noisy breathing has subsidized,
even after the child has gone to sleep.
go If the breathing is extreme, or If the above
measures are not effective. or if the Group is caused
by Indigestion, administer one to two teaspoonfuls of
syrup Q f.Aipecac which will produce vomiting and
cause the child to relax at once.
Suitable medicinal measures should be instituted
through the day 70 prevent a recurrence Of the attack
the next night, and proper treatment begun to pre-.
vent further attacks !.
Commissions are symptoms of an extremely, bad
condition in tile child. They are not a necessary
event in the process of %teething, as some mothers
think. Permitted to increase. in frequency and vic.
lence, they develop into that terrible disease. chi.
lepsy. AS symptoms Of disease, they should be fol-
lowed up by a visit to the family doctor. As an
M 90 80, fTru rrtt c,.. f,.,- -.... - 80. ~
seeing "the responsible head of the house, in DURANGO
vile. 1t is the, lacerated feelings of their wives we
must consider. DR.. Shaw should sound q retreat
from that position.