Babies - Digestive Disorders : Part 4

The Mother and Her Child
by William S. Sadler, M.D., Lena K. Sadler, M.D.

(Page 30 of 43)

Treatment of Diarrhea

Simple diarrhea in the older child of two or three years is treated as follows: Take away all solid foods. Give a big dose of castor oil, thoroughly wash out the bowel by warm water containing a level teaspoon of salt and a level teaspoon of baking soda to the pint, and put the child to bed in a quiet room. Boil all milk for ten minutes and thicken it with flour that has been browned in the oven; feed this to the child at five-hour intervals. After each bowel movement, no matter how often they come, the colon should be washed out with the salt and soda enema as before mentioned.

Bear in mind that the child is losing liquids, and so, after the bowels have moved, boiled water should be given by mouth, or a cupful of water can often be retained if it is introduced into the rectum slowly under very low pressure. Twenty-four or forty hours should clear up a case of simple diarrhea, and on returning to food it should be dry toast and boiled milk. For the younger baby, withhold all milk and give barley water or rice water for the first twenty-four hours, returning to milk very gradually and slowly.

For the more severe types, such as the dysentery containing mucus and blood, everything that has been done for the simple diarrhea should be done; the baby should be kept very quiet, while castor oil should be promptly administered. Food is withheld and the bowels are carefully irrigated after each movement with the salt and soda solutions. After the bowels have moved from the castor oil, then bismuth sub nitrate, which has been dissolved in two ounces of water, should be given - one or two teaspoons every three hours. This will naturally turn the bowel movements dark.

Under no circumstances should any other medicines be given without the physician's knowledge, as it is at such times as this that many "would-be friends" advise laudanum, paregoric, and other opiates. The skin must be kept warm, and fluids must replace those that have been carried off in the many stools. Water may be given by an enema, by water drinking, and in such rare cases as infant cholera, when water cannot be retained on the stomach, it often becomes necessary to inject it under the skin so that it may go at once to the wasted tissues and perhaps save the baby's life.

Give the baby ten days or two weeks to return to normal condition, and under no circumstances hurry the feeding of milk, as a second attack may occur much more readily than the first; may more profoundly overcome the baby and result in death.

Rupture

A protrusion of a loop or portion of intestine through a weakened abdominal muscle - which grows larger when baby cries and smaller when he is lying down in a relaxed condition - is known as rupture or hernia, and is of common occurrence in infancy. It is often seen at the navel and sometimes in the groin as early as the second week.

Hernia is always dangerous and should never be neglected. The physician will protect the navel by a special support with adhesive plaster which is carefully renewed twice a week, and if worn for several months usually entirely corrects the condition. A comfortable truss made from skeins of white yarn will amply protect a groin hernia. The condition should always be taken seriously and receive immediate treatment.

Prolepses of the Bowel

Occasionally, as the result of severe straining in constipation, the rectum protrudes sometimes one-half inch, and in rare instances two or three inches. The placing of a young child upon a toilet chair and insisting upon severe straining sometimes results in such a protrusion of the rectum. This may be avoided by the application of Vaseline to the rectum or by the use of the gluten or glycerin suppositories which cause the hardened masses to make their way out easily. Someone has suggested that if the buttocks are supported by a board placed over the toilet seat with a two-inch opening so that severe straining of the rectal muscles is impossible, the prolepses of the rectum will not recur.

The moment the mother observes the slightest protrusion of the rectum she should quickly put it back and have the child lie down and move the bowel in the diaper. Very severe cases require a physician's attention, but if prompt and quick measures are taken on the first appearance it may be quickly corrected and serious consequences be avoided.

In this connection we might mention a condition which sometimes babies are born with - the absence of the rectal opening. If the baby's bowels do not move for the first two days, surgical interference is more than likely necessary. Often the external opening alone is missing. Sometimes there is a complete closure of the lower part of the colon.

Bleeding from the Navel

There should be no hemorrhage from the umbilical stump after it has been properly tied, but occasionally a bit of blood is found upon the dressing and a second tying of the cord stump is necessary. The cord drops off in eight or ten days, and the umbilicus that is left may be moist or it may bleed slightly; if such is the case, great care should be exercised in bathing this ulcer that has been left behind.

It simply should be touched with alcohol, a bit of boric acid powder applied, and a small piece of sterile gauze be placed over it. In the course of two or three days it will entirely heal. Care should always be exercised in washing the umbilicus. Extensive hemorrhage from this portion of the body is rare, but it does happen occasionally and is a severe condition which demands surgical attention.

If the umbilicus remains moist and foul smelling, general blood poisoning of the infant may easily follow. Thorough dusting with boric acid powder, with possibly a little oxide of zinc, will usually effect a cure promptly, but should the condition continue, which it does only in rare instances, the doctor may have to cauterize it.

About the Author

Dr. William S. Sadler M.D. was a well-known American psychiatrist and college teacher in the school of medicine at the University of Chicago. For over sixty years he practiced his profession in Chicago, thirty-three years being associated in practice with his wife, Dr Lena Kellogg Sadler. The doctors were pioneers in the research on the mysterious Urantia Papers.