OUR BABIES

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2641, 11 December 1915, Page 10

OUR BABIES

TBt Eiosu.i Published under the c.U6piots of the Royal Now Zealand Health Society for the Health of Women and Children. ''It is to put up a feuoo at the top of a prccipico than to maintain o!i ambulance flt the bottom." EVIDENCES OF ILLNESS, (Coninucd.) This week • wo continue ,aur quotations from Dr. Leroy Yale's Look for Mothers: — THE EARS. The ears give notice only of troubles connected with themselves, and then through tenderness of the external ear when touched; but it is well to digcover, by touching or lightly tapping the bone' behind the ear, if thero be tenderness there, as such a symptom calls for prompt attention. Discharge' from the ear is ; evidence of disease within, a condition to which too little attention is often-given. Memo, by "Hygeia"l cannot help feeling that Dr. iTale is not emphatic enough in warning mothers of the very grave danger of delay in seeking medical advioe in cases • where there is ear trouble of any kind.'' The ear is next door to the brain. Not only would many cases of deafness be prevented if ear troubles were promptly dealt with, but a good many lives would be saved by prevention of the spread of inflammation of the ear to the brain. The following remarks in the Society's Book, "Feeding and Care of Baby," page 97, cannot be too strongly emphasised. Pain or Earache.-—This is often mistaken for colic—sometimes with fatal results. The tormenting pain of ea> a<#)e causes moro or lees bontinuous, prolonged attacks of crying or screaming, accompanied by rolling the head about, "or boring one side of the head into the pillow, or pressing it against the mother, or tugging the ear, or placing tho hand against it. Some relief may be afforded, by dropping warm oil into the ear, and. by .the external application of a heated bag of salt or bran; but earache may: lead to such grave rc-sults that a doctor should be called in at once.' Paiii and tenderness of the bony prominence behind the ear, when tapped with the ftodbr, is a' specially dangerous sign.

Nearly all oases of serious earache are accompanied by fever, which is often severe, the temperature rising as high as 104deg. or lOodeg. But though both fever and pain Should happen to. be absent, the mothor should never fail to call in a doctor if baby forms tho habit of rolling his head from side to side on the pillow, because the habit is usually due to irritation of the internal ear which may lead to grave to- J suits, if uot promptly attended.to. Frequent banging or beating of the head may be duo to the same cause or to the irritation of teething, etc.' All such troubles are specially liable to arise when a child has been "out of sorts," ov after fever or sore throat, and they often occur in rickets. Never disregard, or neglect the formation of any "curious habit" by a baby; if in any doubt get a doctor without delay. 7 Special Warning—Beware of'the dangers to the brain and to-hearing, arising from failure to do tho right thing promptly in any oase of ear trouble. There should never bo any doubt or delay 'as to' securing the best advice where there is pain qj- discharge from tho ear. If this rule wero always observed, the lives of many children would be saved every year, and deafness would bo much less common. Tendencies to inflammation and abcess of the brain following on ear trouble may be arrested,' provided only "the Burgeon 'is summoned in due time—unfortunately he often arrives too late • the parents having put off for days where they ought not to'have wasted an hour. Syringing Ears.—Much harm is done by syringing. Don't attempt it unless you' have been ordered to do so and shown how. BREATHING. With regard to evidences of illness indicated by the manner of breathing, Dr. Yale says;— ' "The warnings from, the chest usually come through altered breathing or through coughing. The respiration of an infant is much faster in health than that of an aduit, and is somewhat less, regular. If thero js a rise in temperature the_ breathing becomes hurried, roughly in proportion to the degree of rise; tho pulse also usually rises proportionately. In inflammation of the lufigs the rate of breathing tends to increase out of proportion to the pulse rate and the temperature. "Slowing of respiration below the normal inay mean, some brain disturbance, such as the meningitis caused by tubercle. Very disordered rhythm of breathing, rising and falling, are noticed in some brain troubles. ' Difficulty of breathing—such, for instance, as is caused by obstructions in the windpipe by diphtheric croup—produce the breathing known as 'laboured,' in which all tho muscles that can help respiration are called into service." - Memo, by "Hygeia" :—Blocking of the of the nose duo to adenoids causes breathing through the mouth, snoring at night, and indrawing of the j soft spaces between tho ribs. The effect of this, if. it continues, is to cause deformity of the chest. A leading authority says,. "Mothers should be taught to watch the chests of their sleeping children, and not to wait for the arrival of deformity."'