Part 12
I verily believe, that two-thirds of the children that die before attaining the age of two years, die through ignorance of mothers and nurses. In the first place, as soon as it comes into the world, it is laid under the bed or table, with little or no care as to its exposure to the cold; next a little rag is used, with some fine scented soap, and it is dressed in a cold, gaudy apparel--its comfort not considered--only the show of fine clothes. You have not the least idea how much this little creature suffers, and you are laying up trouble for yourself; I believe a child that has no pain, never cries. What is the next thing that is done? “Why, I must give it purgatives; the child must have a dose; we must deprive the poor thing of its senses, in order that it may rest;” then they dose it with narcotics, and if, by chance, it lives to be a month old, they take off its belly-band. Then comes feeding; a bowl of strong bread and milk is prepared--and though the nurse or mother has sufficient breast milk for it, they imagine the child craves food, and the poor little creature is, as I may say, crammed to death.
Why does the child cry? Perhaps, my dear friend, the cause is your own fault--over dosing in the first place; be cautious, as soon as the little one makes its entrance into this world. Do as I directed before, then take a piece of fresh butter the size of a bird’s egg, mix it up with loaf-sugar, put a little piece at a time into the new-born infant’s mouth, and it will suck it down; this will cleanse its mouth and alimentary canal, and open all obstructions in the intestines. Let the child have the breast as soon as possible; the first milk will purge the infant sufficiently, without having recourse to cathartics; by giving purgatives to an infant, it does more harm than good. A child ought to be put at the breast as soon as possible--it is a great error to keep the child from it for several hours; and suppose the mother to be weak, it will not injure her health in the least, as it is natural; but it is unnatural to give the child strong bread and milk--give it a little catnip tea, if it is absolutely necessary.
I have seen a mother, who imagined her child was hungry, and she would have a cup of bread and milk on the stove all day, and every few minutes she would give the child a teaspoonful; if the little creature pushed it out with its tongue, she would push it back with her finger. This is cruel; we may call this mother over fond. A child should never have any kind of food until six, or even nine months old, if the mother has milk of her own; I never gave mine any until they were to be weaned--in fact, I never allowed my eldest son to have a mouthful of any food, except the breast, until he was one year old; that day I commenced weaning him, and gave him no drink through the night, except cold water; I never gave my other children any drink but cold water, after they were weaned. Feeding children at night is a foolish habit.
Let them wear their belly-band at least until you put short clothes on them; then have a waist to their petticoats, with shoulder straps, buttoned behind the waist, made from their arms to the hips; this supports the bowels; keep the same on your girls for years; it would, if practicable, be well for them to wear it all their lives, and we would not then see so many young females afflicted with tumors and cancers in the ovaries, nor the falling of the womb. I think babes’ dresses ought not to be too long, as it draws too heavily; the weak form cannot support it as easily as you imagine. Let me beg of you to study their comfort and health. I love to see a child well dressed, as well as any one--but I see too many that suffer from the law of fashion rather than comfort, that I pity them. Keep the feet warm with socks, and the head cool, but not to extremes.
Great care should be taken in regard to bathing children; always bathe them regularly every morning--but let the water be warm; cold water will do more harm than good. In the heat of summer let it be tepid--it will strengthen a child; but when cold water seizes the little creature, it generally produces too much fear to be beneficial.
When you intend to wean your infant, it would be well to choose the shortest days, as the child will sleep more. A good substitute for mother’s milk is arrow-root, boiled in half milk and water. Avoid strong food; the least sugar you give the better. If medicine is required, use Turkey rhubarb; always buy the root, and prepare it yourself--do not get it pulverized; cut it, and steep it as much as necessary; add a few caraway seeds to it, when you steep it. This medicine will not injure the child, in case you give too much, as would any other cathartic, but it is strengthening to the bowels.
If the child has a sore mouth, get some pulverized wild turnip and cranesbill bark; take two teaspoonsful of loaf sugar, and as much of the barks as you can hold on a ten cent piece; mix well, and put a little, two or three times a day, into its mouth; give a little saffron tea and a little rhubarb.
If the child is chafed in the neck, or elsewhere, take pulverized cranesbill bark, and put it into a muslin bag; when you wash the child, dust this in all the parts affected; do it as often as you think necessary.
If it has sores, wash with Castile soap, and get some pulverized bloodroot, and mix it with two-thirds water and one-third cider, and wash it; this alone will cure all sores. A good medicine for children, in the spring, is composed of the following: take half an ounce of the best sulphur, quarter of an ounce each of cream tartar, pulverized yellow dock root, tanzy, elecampane root, pulverized rhubarb root, one ounce black alder bark, a teaspoonful of mandrake root, and a tablespoonful caraway seed; mix these with molasses, and let them stand twenty-four hours, stirring it two or three times during the day. Give according to age--a child two months old, a piece the size of a bean; a child three years old, half a teaspoonful in the morning, before dinner, and at bed-time; you can begin with small doses, and increase as you think best.
The best way to cleanse the blood of an infant, when at the breast, is for the mother to take the proper medicines and purify her own blood; it will do the child more good, and renew the milk. If your child is full of humors, you may be sure they will increase; but do not wean it on that account--purify your blood by taking the cleansing syrups mentioned in this book; and, in case you do not understand how to mix them, send to me for them, mentioning the age of the child, and how the humor makes its appearance.
The seven years’ itch is very prevalent at the present day, among all classes of society, from the highest to the lowest; it is fashionably termed salt rheum, or a species of it. Children are more or less troubled with the preaff, a species of ringworm; use no ointments, externally, until the inside is well guarded, or you throw it on the lungs, or in the joints, and make it a fool or a cripple for life. So be wise and prudent. Do not comb or scrape a baby’s head, if it has dandruff; wet it with a little sweet or olive oil at night, the next morning wash it carefully with Castile soap, and continue until all is removed. Keep the infant’s ears well cleaned; always use a soft brush for the hair.
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Kind reader--I have endeavored to instruct you how to secure good health for your children; allow your aged friend to say a few words for the soul--which never dies, but returns to its Creator, God. Have you ever considered this important truth? If so--happy soul! angels rejoice to see a mother leading her babes to Jesus! As soon as they can lisp, teach them to pronounce the name of Jesus, and to ask him to bless them and you. Bow with them at the Throne of Grace, morning and evening; be simple and short, in your requests to your Heavenly Father, that it may be a pleasure, rather than a task, to them.
Has death visited your abode, or fortune frowned upon you--go to Bethlehem; there you will find the Blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of your Savior--poor, outcast, and dejected, seeking a shelter, to bring forth the God-man! Then follow her to the Cross; here, a sword pierces her own soul, to behold her only-beloved Son expire on the cross for ungrateful man. But she had grace from on high; and we, too, can have the same ark. Remember, this is not our abiding place; Mary rejoiced, because she knew this, and her soul was filled with love--no murmuring or complaint escaped her lips--all was submission to the will of God! Let us all follow her example; and join our dear babes in Heaven, as the mother of our God and Savior did.
GENERAL REMARKS.
THIS book will be read by friends and foes, and many will scrutinize every word. I would politely ask such--cannot the aged be excused? and remember my age. While writing the foregoing, it has been my aim to speak the truth, in a plain and easy manner, so that all could understand it--avoiding all vulgar phrases that was not necessary for your comprehension.
It has been my determination, as far as practicable, to dispose of the book myself, and only among my sex. I pray to God it may be a blessing to the rising generation. I shall always be happy to give you any information, in regard to your health, by letter. After the first of May, 1858, you can address to “Saint Vincent de Paul, Lower Canada,” nine miles from the city of Montreal; and the first of June, I shall be enabled to accommodate a few invalids, at my own house. It is situated on a branch of the Ottawa, and commands a beautiful view up and down the river; as to the location, it cannot be surpassed.
All letters must be sent by the fifteenth of May, 1858, as the number will be limited. Those that place themselves under my care, shall have my care; where there are a great number, some, of course, must be neglected. My farm is only one mile and a half from my residence, where the ladies can ride and walk. It is considered, by visitors, a delightful and healthy situation.
Reference, as to character and location:
Rev. Mr. N. LA VALLIE, } Dr. POMEVILLE, } St. Vincent de Paul. Dr. PRATT, } Hon. C. C. S. DE BLEURY, }
THE DIET OF CHILDREN.
DURING the early stage of life, all heating and stimulating food and drinks should be strictly forbidden. They tend more certainly to produce disease, in the really excited system during childhood, than perhaps at any other period of life. Vegetables should, in fact, constitute the principal diet of children; especially the farinaceous substances--such as bread, rice, arrow-root, potatoes, &c. To these may be added milk, soft-boiled eggs, and a very moderate allowance of plain and simply cooked animal food. Children, in general, have very excellent appetites, and a sufficiency of nourishing food is absolutely necessary--not merely to renew the waste of their systems, but also to supply materials for their daily growth.
Three, or perhaps four, light meals a day, will be found a good allowance during childhood. At one of these--the dinner, or mid-day meal--animal food may be allowed, in moderation; for the others, bread, or potatoes, and milk, various preparations of rice, or rice and milk, plain bread pudding, and custard, form a proper and wholesome diet. All salted and high-seasoned food should be forbidden. Some have objected to butter for children; although experience would appear to show that a very moderate allowance of fresh butter is by no means injurious.
Of vegetables--potatoes, carrots, turnips, beets and cauliflowers, will be found most wholesome. They should be well boiled, and the potatoes and turnips eaten without being mashed, or mixed with butter or fat gravy. Children should never be indulged in pastry, of any kind. They may, occasionally, take a little of the cooked fruit of a pie; but even this should be in moderation.
The drink of children should be simply water, milk, whey, or very weak tea, milk and sugar. All stimulating and fermenting liquors are not only unnecessary, but positively injurious, by increasing, to an improper extent, the circulation of the blood; they induce fever, indigestion, inflammation, or convulsions, to say nothing of the danger of their use during childhood--giving rise to habits of intemperance in after life.
The period of the meals should be strictly regulated, and in such a manner that the intervals between them should not be so great as to permit the children to experience, at any time, a sensation of hunger. Supper should be taken an hour or two before bed-time. Children should get their breakfasts as soon as possible after they have arisen, and have been properly combed and washed; the stomach is then empty, and the appetite keen. If food be too long withheld, the cravings become either too importunate, or the appetite fails--either of which would be injurious.
As little variety of food as possible should be set before children; since every extraordinary article becomes a new incentive to appetite. They should never be indulged with a second course; if they sit down with an appetite, they will satisfy it by eating of the first articles presented to them--hence, all the rest is superfluous, and therefore injurious. If the appetite be trifling, the less they eat at the time the better; as by taking but little, the appetite will more certainly return at the next meal. But should this instinct of nature for an observance of moderation be neglected, or attempted to be overcome by variety, repletion, with all its evils, will follow. Instead of a renewed and healthy appetite following, as would have been the case had the instinct been obeyed, it will be found diminished, and most probably attended with headache, fever, oppression, or even vomiting.
Children should not be allowed to eat frequently of bread and butter, bread and molasses, cakes, or fruit, between meals, for this will either destroy the regular appetite, or induce them to eat too much. In the first case, the stomach will be interrupted in its regular routine of function; consequently, the appetite will become either irregular or capricious. In the second case, all the evils attendant upon an over distension of the stomach must follow. They should not, therefore, be suffered to carry food in their pockets, to eat between meals, or during school hours, as this produces the injurious habit of requiring food at improper times; by which the digestion of the previous meal is interfered with--a fresh quantity of food being forced upon the stomach, before it has properly digested that which had been before received.
Children are to be restrained from any violent exercise immediately after dinner; if not kept in a state of perfect rest, they should at least be prevented from engaging in any pastime which requires considerable bodily exertion. They should also be early taught the importance of eating slowly, and chewing their food well; on this account alone, the habit of resting after a meal is of importance, as it prevents them from swallowing their food hastily, in order that they may return more quickly to their play.
In regulating the diet of children, care should be taken not to force any particular article upon them, after it is found, by a fair trial, not to agree with their stomach. The contrary practice is both cruel and injudicious; cruel, because the poor child is forced to swallow what is disagreeable to it; and injudicious, because it is liable to perpetuate a disgust which most probably would have subsided, had no forcible attempt been made to overcome it. At the same time, however, great care must be taken that permanent dislikes are not formed, at this period of life, against certain wholesome articles of food. This is often a matter of very great difficulty; a good deal of close observation and discernment being required, in order to distinguish between a wayward prejudice and an actual disgust. The former, if indulged in too long, may be converted into the latter; while the latter may often, by judicious and well adapted means, be entirely removed. Children should never be suffered to eat alone, unless the proper quantity of food be meted out to them; otherwise, they will eat too much. If a child demand more than is judged proper for it, its importunities should always be resisted with firmness, or it will certainly acquire habits of gluttony.
REMARKS ON FOOD.
PROBABLY the best means of ascertaining food best adapted to the human stomach, has been given us by Dr. Beaumont, in his experiments.
While stationed at Michilimackinac, Michigan Territory, in 1822, in the service of the United States, he was called upon to take charge of Alexis St. Martin, a young Canadian, eighteen years of age, of good constitution and robust health, who was accidentally wounded by the discharge of a musket, June 6th, 1822.
“The charge,” says Dr. Beaumont, “consisting of powder and duck-shot, was received in the left side, at the distance of one yard from the muzzle of the gun. The contents entered posteriorly, in an oblique direction, forward and inward, literally blowing off inguments and muscles the size of a man’s hand, fracturing and carrying away the anterior half of the sixth rib, fracturing the fifth, lacerating the lower portion of the left lobe of the lungs, the diaphragm, and also _perforating the stomach_!”
On the fifth day, sloughing took place; lacerated portions of the lung and stomach separated, and left a perforation into the latter “large enough to admit the whole length of the middle finger into its cavity; and also a passage into the chest, half as large as his fist.” Violent fever and further sloughing ensued, and for seventeen days, everything swallowed passed out through the wound, and the patient was kept alive chiefly by nourishing injections. By and by the fever subsided, the wound improved in appearance, and after the fourth week the appetite became good, digestion regular, the evacuations natural, and the health of the system complete. The orifice, however, never closed; and at every dressing the contents of the stomach flowed out, and its coats frequently became everted, or protruded so far as to equal in size a hen’s egg; but they were always easily returned.
On the 6th of June, 1823, a year from the date of the accident, the injured parts were all sound except the perforation into the stomach, which was now two and a half inches in circumference. For some months thereafter, the food could be retained only by constantly wearing a compress and bandage; but early in winter, a small fold or doubling of the villous coat began to appear, which gradually increased till it filled the aperture, and acted as a valve, so as completely to prevent any efflux from within, but to admit of being easily pushed back by the finger from without.
Here, then, was an admirable opportunity for experimenting on the subject of digestion, and for observing the healthy and undisturbed operations of nature, free from the agony of vivisections, and from the sources of fallacy inseparable from operating on animals. Dr. Beaumont was sensible of its value, and accordingly pursued his enquiries with a zeal, perseverance, and disinterestedness, highly creditable to his character, both as a man and as a philosopher.
Dr. Beaumont began his experiments in May, 1825, and continued them for four or five months, St. Martin being then in high health. In the autumn, St. Martin returned to Canada, married, had a family, worked hard, engaged as a voyager with the Hudson’s Bay Fur Company, remained there four years, and was then engaged at a great expense, by Dr. Beaumont, to come and reside near him, on the Mississippi, for the purpose of enabling him to complete his investigations. He came accordingly in August, 1829, and remained till March, 1831. He then went a second time to Canada, but returned to Dr. Beaumont in November, 1832, when the experiments were once more resumed, and continued till March, 1833, at which time he finally left Dr. Beaumont. He now enjoys perfect health, but the orifice made by the wound remains in the same state as in 1824.
The following table exhibits the general results of all the experiments made upon St. Martin, posterior to 1825; and the average is deduced from those which were performed when the stomach was considered, by Dr. Beaumont, to be in its natural state, and St. Martin himself subjected to ordinary exercise.
TABLE,
SHOWING THE MEAN TIME OF DIGESTION OF THE DIFFERENT ARTICLES OF DIET.