HOME TREATMENT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 21, 26 January 1933, Page 13

HOME TREATMENT.

NURSERY ACCIDENTS.

(By PBRITUS.)

In a newspaper recently there was a report of a case in which a child had put a bead up its nose and afterwards died from septic poisoning. A bead, or other small object, pushed up the nostril is not an unusual nursery accident. In the case mentioned the mother took her child to a doctor, and he not knowing the correct method of extraction, attempted t© withdraw the bead with forceps. Most surgeons are aware that this attempt to grasp a bead (or fruit stone, bean, or pea) usually results in the object slipping back out of the grip of the forceps and being forced into _a much more inaccessible position. This is what happened, and two subsequent operations were required before the bead was recovered, and the child died. If by taking a breath through the mouth and blowing the nose the bead is not expelled, or the child is too young to obey the simple instruction, then obtain a short, fine wire (the useful hairpin is not often seen these days) and bend it a quarter of an inch from one end mto a right-angled hook. Dip this in disinfectant, or hold a while in boiling water j

or a flame, to sterilise it, and very gently and carefuly slide it up beside and behind the bead, which can then be almost easily withdrawn. This method will sometimes serve much better than a wire loop, often advised to be used. Should the object have been forced into the ear, there is likely to be much more trouble. There is one simple way of drawing out a small object from nose or ear that is seldom adopted, and that is by pressing very lightly against it a small mass of shoemaker's wax (which perhaps i 3 as uncommon as hairpins now) put on the end of a match. Another nursery accident needing prompt action on the part of mother or nurse is choking caused by some obstacle in the upper, windpipe. In the last case I saw, it was a large piece of meat, and one before that a section of tough orange. When the older method of a slap between the shoulders does not move the obstacle, place the child between your knees, put one of your hands flat on his back, and with the inside of your legs pressing upon his abdomen and loins—to prevent the force of the blow being expended in that direction —strike an open-handed blow upon his chest. Failing in this, try with your fingers to hook the object up, and if this is impossible, push it down. A child, with no malicious intent, may reward you with a vigorous bite, but your relief to hear unimpeded breathing will make you forgive this instantly.