_The necessary Care of a_ Mother _and_ Child.
After Delivery, tis too universal a Practice to palliate the
After-pains by _Opiates_, which if given beyond the Proportion,
necessary to take off the Spasms attending, are mischievous,
tending to obstruct the natural Cleansings, so absolutely
necessary to succeed; and as these Pains cease of Course for
the most Part in two or three Days, it were much better to have
recourse to _Sperma Ceti_ dissolv’d with the Yolk of an Egg in a
Draught of Caudle, or a Linctus of Sallad Oil and Sugar, if Oil
of Sweet Almonds cannot be had fresh, as often as the Pains are
violent.
Particular Occasions may indeed require other Methods, but
then ’tis best to be well advis’d, whether _Opiates_, or other
_Medicines_ are necessary. During their Purgations, the Woman, in
Child-bed, ought to be kept warm, from all Danger of taking cold,
to a Degree of sensible Perspiration, and if she has no Stool by
the third Day, which commonly brings, with the Milk, a feverish
Heat, a Kitchen Glyster ought to be given and repeated in costive
Habits, as there is Occasion.
I SHALL conclude with some Things of the Care of Infants newly
born; a Subject the more interesting, as our Natives are known
greatly to decrease from the free Use of Spirituous Liquors; which
Loss might in some Degree be repaired by a better Care of their
Offspring, who are not only expos’d to suffer by the Ignorance of
Midwives, but must undergo a second Martyrdom from swadling and
cramming.
Their fond Nurses greatly contribute to the general Cause of all
their Distempers, _Indigestion_, frequently feeding them ’till they
return it by the Mouth, which under these Circumstances, unless
supply’d by a Looseness, is the only Means of their Preservation
from more immediate Death.
This Overcharge of their Stomachs, producing Crudities, gives them
the most excruciating Pains in their Bowels; occasioning very
often Fevers and Convulsions, and yet their Cries are customarily
appeas’d by more Food, furnishing an Encrease of sharp Crudities
in their Bowels; and ’tis well if Syrup of Poppies, _Godfrey_’s
Cordial, or some other Opiate, be not given to stifle their
Complaints, but in Effect to encrease the Mischief, by confining
the Acrimony of an Overload within them.
Infants are born with their Stomachs and Intestines charged with
the Recrements of the Humours in which they swim, before Birth, and
the glandular Secretions within them, which will naturally purge
away with the first Milk they draw from the Mother’s Breast; and
they would sleep, were they not too soon fed, ’till this Provision
of Nature is ready for them, as Dr. CADOGAN found from Experience
in his own Family; but as the Humour of Feeding them sooner
generally obtains, and the Mother too often is not the Nurse; Half
a Drachm of _Castile_ Soap diffolv’d in a Spoonful or two of thin
Caudle, and sweetened with Honey, would cleanse the Child, and
prevent many Distempers, owing to a Retention of Impurities within
them before the Birth, if given soon after.
’Tis well worth remarking, that the Food the Nurse takes
communicates its Nature to the Milk, so that the Child may be
intoxicated by her giving Suck too soon after strong Drink or
Spirituous Liquors, by which Means many are destroy’d; it is
likewise well known, if the Nurse takes a Purge, her Milk will
purge the Child.
This informs us, that when the Child is troubled with Gripes,
attended with green, sour-smelling Stools, the Mother, or Nurse, by
being confin’d to an Animal Diet, will, in a great Degree, prevent
the Gripes, Looseness, or Convulsions, occasion’d by the Acidities
of the Child’s Stomach and Bowels, from the contrary Qualities
communicated to her Milk. On the Contrary, a vegetable Diet will
greatly relieve the same Complaints, attended with strong smelling
Stools, and a Tendency to the Putrefaction of the Humours, and the
Child’s Spoon-meat, when any Thing is given besides the Mother’s
Milk, may be regulated accordingly: In the mean Time, in both
Cases, these Indigestions ought to be purged off with a few Grains
of Rhubarb, or double the Quantity infus’d at Night in a Spoonful
of common Drink, strain’d and sweetened with Honey.
This, with a suitable and commodious Dress, leaving them Freedom
for all their Motions, taking Care not to fill them with Crudities,
by over-charging their Stomachs, would preserve the Health of young
Children, they would then sleep away most of their Time, without
those continual Cries of Misery, calling on the Compassion of all
about them, whereby abundance of Trouble to their Nurses, and the
continual Occasion of Medicines, to sweeten and purge away the
Effects of Indigestion, would be prevented.
_FINIS._
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
Original spelling and grammar were generally retained. The
following two corrections were made in conformance with the spirit
of the list of errata on page vi.
Page 9, l. 16. “Pains about the Navel and Loins” was changed to
“Pains about the Back, Navel and Loins”.
Page 33, l. 12. Changed “great Complaints of a smarting Pain;
when I touch’d it a Suppuration” to “great Complaints of a
smarting Pain when I touch’d it; a Suppuration”. This correction
is not quite what the erratum on page vi recommends—but the
recommendation is not quite correct.
Page 21. Changed “which happpen’d the same Day” to “which happen’d
the same Day”.
Page 49. Changed “and its _Secondines_ left” to “and its
_Secundines_ left”.