_After-pains._—Soon after delivery these usually come on, and with some
women prove remarkably severe. The quicker the labor has been, the
slighter will they prove in general. Women with their first child are
seldom much troubled with after-pains; but as the uterus is thought to
contract less readily after each future labor, so they are more liable
to suffer from them in any succeeding delivery than in the first.
When after-pains prove so troublesome as to deprive the patient of her
rest, it will be necessary to have recourse to _fomentations_ or
_anodynes_; red pepper and spirits, simmered together a few minutes, and
flannels dipped in it and applied to the belly, will generally relieve
them; if it fails, apply a fomentation of _bitter herbs_, and give two
teaspoonfuls of the tincture of _hops_ in milk or tea. If these fail,
which I never knew, give half a teaspoonful of _capsicum_ in milk. These
remedies are to be assisted by keeping up a sufficient pressure on the
belly at the same time by means of a broad bandage.