MEDICAL NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13745, 9 May 1908, Page 7 (Supplement)

MEDICAL NOTES.

! ':' ■■■":■. ■■ . :■;; ', : !'V.' A COLD AND ITS TREATMENT, 3 Whkx exposed to the influence of damp. • air, sudden changes of temperature, etc., ■* tho "kin becomes chilled, and the blood'" is.' driven from the outside surface to tho V deeper-seated organs of the body, causing p"'' conception of the mucous membranes lin- | in« v the air-tube and digestive canal, folV lowed by chills, suppressed perspiration, ?&■ aches and pains in the ■ bones , and back, with -light fever; the disease is termed a common cold. Treatment: This disease is best, treated by- a warm bath at bedtime and ten grains of Dover's powder, C with a free use' of warm drinks. Three grains for a. child. ~ CARE OF INFANTS. (n caring for infants there are two thin which must be judiciously attended to—comfort and diet. There are many deaths caused by overloading the stomach. An infant's stomach is very-.: small—not < larger than an ordinary hen's egg— ; consequently is easily overburdened. As ii rule, 110 new-born should be. fed with i anything save its mother's milk. Cow's V milk alone is not sufficient*: for baby, yet there arc mothers who life it as a baby's food without hesitation as to its fitness as".an exclusive diet. " After milk is sterilised, and has an admixture of cereals, it is lit for food," says a prominent, physician. , Nursing bottles most be kept clean and free from germs. One bottle is not enough ; several are needed. They should be emptied and washed frequently in a _ little i 7 soda water. The tube should never be used in the nursing bottle, but the pure rubber nipple that slips over the ueck of the bottle. That is much safer, as it is easv to keep free from germs. A baby should be fed •at regular intervals. For the-first three months once in every two hours is,'as a rule, often enough. How ofter we hear parents say, " Feed babies all they want, and as often as they want." Others think whenever a baby cries it is hungry; this is another mistake. The main object in feeding is to give baby just enough nourishing food for it to. di- !? gest properly; and' the stomach as surely needs the necessary amount of rest in or- . der to perform its duty in aiding digestion. . As we are personally acquainted with a ladv whose baby was troubled with a very bail case of indigestion, we feel safe ' in urging obedience to these particular - rules by other mothers. This baby—now three years and two months oldhas just commenced to walk. Its only trouble was . indigestion. For the first few months it was undoubtedly ' over-fed ; then, as the family physician supposed that the mother's milk did not agree with it, other milk was given, after all kinds of food had been tried. _ ' none proved entirely satisfactory. For two and a-half y ears baby' seldom slept through the night ; as a rule, the parents were obliged to be up with it, either all or a part of the night. The greatest, care was necessary regarding its food, not only Ihe kind, but the quantity... Many times it has cried for more, 'when more would have caused death. We have often heard the remark made that that baby was starved. But. the mother and physician knew best. Had the mother fed her darling ail it apparently wanted, it would have suffered intensely. Hundreds of -shillings were spent for physicians, food, etc., but all the" physicians said was that judicious care exercised in the. feeding and food were the important things. The watei which* this child drinks is always boiled. The '.child is about, as large as children one and a-half years old, " fat as a little pig," yet. indigestion has hot entirely been overcome. Care in regard to diet "is still a necessity, and will be for a long-time. LET US WARN* MOTH ICRS. not to over-load baby's stomach, and to . avoid drugs of any sort. Recently a lady told us of a babe a day old that cried, and. 'ts gvandnia said, " It has tllo colic.". So she gave it a little whisky. The.liidy, •said that she told grandma, " Never, would I. give that baby whisky." The grand mot replied, "It will never know it • when it gets to be a man.';! : .The father, ■ , loves liquor, why, thon,- give'..it to his child, at the very first l«Wih_l'r-, Not once; in a thousand times -is, ; ihedicino needed' for a vfery young baby.,- The main things are proper care and diet. ?V. % • .V 4 '