Every mother's handbook : a guide to the management of her children from birth, through infancy, and childhood with instructions for preliminary treatment of accidents and illnesses / by Henry Arthur Allbutt.

  • Allbutt, Henry Arthur.
Date:
1897
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Every mother's handbook : a guide to the management of her children from birth, through infancy, and childhood with instructions for preliminary treatment of accidents and illnesses / by Henry Arthur Allbutt. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    should be placed near the fire, not directly in front of it, but at one side, and quite out of all draughts. Care must be taken that a little space be left open in the flannel over the baby's face to let in air, otherwise it might be suffocated. Sometimes a baby is bom in a very feeble Still condition, or even looks to be quite dead. Birth. Its limbs are motionless, its head falls, and its mouth gapes open. This is what is called still birth. It is quite possible, however, to restore life in this condition. Very energetic treatment must be resorted to at once. The baby's mouth must be cleared of mucus by means of the finger. If its face is blue a tea-spoonful or so of blood should be allowed to flow from the cut navel-string before tying it. Cold water should be sprinkled on the face and chest, the buttocks should be slapped, and a little brandy or whisky rubbed into the chest. This is done to make the baby cry, and so draw air into its lungs. If the baby, however, does not breathe by these means, it should be dipped four or five times, first into a basin of hot, and then into a basin of cold water, or it should be held up by its feet for a few seconds so as to cause the blood to go to its head. If these means of restoring life are still unavailing, it will be necessary to try and make the infant breathe artificially. Schultze's method of artificial res- Artificial piration is the best and simplest. The Respiration, baby's shoulders must be seized by putting the first finger in each arm- pit and bending the thumbs over the shoulders so as to touch the ends of the fingers. The whole weight of the child's body thus rests within the rings made by the thumb and first finger of each hand. Hanging perpen- dicularly in this manner, the infant's ribs are lifted out and its chest expanded, and air is drawn into its lungs. The body of the infant should now be swung forward with some degree of force at arm's length, the arms of the oper- ator being raised a little above a straight line. The motion should be stopped suddenly with a jerk. This causes