A practical treatise on the diseases of infancy and childhood / by Thomas Hawkes Tanner.

  • Tanner, Thomas Hawkes, 1824-1871.
Date:
1870
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A practical treatise on the diseases of infancy and childhood / by Thomas Hawkes Tanner. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

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    of rachitis to he in direct ratio to the frequency, duration, and amount of the menstrual flow.” The alleged fact he attributes to menstruation causing a deficiency in the phosphatic elements of the lacteal secretion. When the nurse suckles a child of her own along with the nursling, constant care should be taken to ascertain that the supply of milk is sufficient for the wants of both. Suckling from a suppurating breast is bad both for infant and nurse, and ought not to be allowed. The only sure test of the goodness of the nurse is the condition of the child ; if the latter, consequently, does not thrive, but becomes thin and puny, feverish and thirsty, sick, constipated, irritable, and restless, the nurse should be at once changed. On the other hand, q, child may take an abundance of food and yet be badly nourished, for the reason that what it takes it does not digest, a craving is created which nothing satisfies, and the child dwindles and falls away even in the midst of plenty. Very sickly children sometimes have not the strength to suck properly, and all children require to be carefully held to the breast so that the nipple falls easily into the mouth. Sometimes when the flow is very free it is necessary to restrain it by gently nipping the teat. In cases where the mother is unable to nourish the infant, and a wet-nurse cannot be procured, our only resource is to rear the child by careful artificial feeding. During the first few months, at all events, all farinaceous food should be carefully avoided, for the child’s stomach is not at present equal to its digestion. Little or no saliva is formed till at least the third month, and the absence of this makes starchy food almost undigestible. Moreover, by appropriating, as starches and sugars do, the oxygen which otherwise would be used in combining with the waste materials to effect their removal, they di- rectly retard the depuration of the blood, and hence another reason for withholding them. This rule should be observed for at least six months, after which a little arrowroot, or baked flour, may be added to the milk. The food usually resorted to at first is the milk of the cow, as it is less expensive and more readily procured than the milk of any other animal. It differs from human milk in containing less of the oleaginous and saccharine principles, but more of the albu- minous; hence it should be slightly sweetened, and diluted with one- third part of plain water, or of barley or lime water, and to this a little cream may be added (about two drachms to the half pint), as recommended by Sir W. Jenner. There is no need for any dilution after the fourth or fifth month. When expense is no object, or when the infant’s health absolutely demands it, we must resort to some food which bears a stronger resemblance to human milk ; and, for- tunately, in asses’ milk we find what is required. The subjoined table shows the chief differences between the milk of various domes- tic animals and that of woman :—