Feminine Interests

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 573, 28 January 1929, Page 5

Feminine Interests

OUR BABIES By Hygeia. Published under the auspices of the Royal New Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children (Plunket Society) “It is wiser to put up a fence at the top of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom.” CONSTIPATION A Plunket Nurse's Talk to Mothers FOR THE BABY Sometimes illness or other unavoidable circumstances break the good of early days, or for some reaso.. a babe becomes constipated. Boiled water given between feeds may be all ho will require, or at most regular abdominal massage for a few days. Prune juice, prune pulp, spinach (cooked and sieved), apple juice or pulp are all mild natural laxatives, and if the food and feeding methods are correct, one or other will usually correct any tendency to constipation in infancy. S€;e or write to your Plunket nurse; she will examine his diet, correct it if i necessary, and explain the amounts of ! prune juice or other laxative to give. Be faithful, regular and persistent in following her directions, otherwise you cannot expect really good results. For the older children introduce the coarse meals and all vegetables, going slowly, and teach them to chew The ! always ready apple, ripe and raw, must i be part of their daily diet. ABDOMINAL MASSAGE In cases of long-standing or neglected constipation some other help is needed. In baby’s case massage of the abdomen is most useful to stimulate the lazy bowel to the necessary strong wave-like movements. Place baby on the table, not on your knee; with warm oiled lingers commence lightly, so as not to frighten baby and keep him amused. The desired result is lost if lie cries and tightens the

muscle wall that covers the bowel be- i neath. Press evenly and deeply, following the course of the bowel. \ on j cannot injure any organ or hurt baby. Also bend the legs on to tlie abdomen, each in turn and then together half a dozen times. After, say. five minutes of this treatment, hold baby out; if necessary stimulate the bowel, opening with an oiled finger, thus suggesting what is desired. This should be done morning and evening until a regular habit is established, and should always be resorted to as a first-aid measure if help is required at any time to procure a bowel movement. THE ENEMA In urgent cases—that is, if baby has gone more than 24 hours without a motion and the above treatment has hud no result —it may be necessary to give an enema. A small bulb, or Plunket* syringe, is the only necessary article. Use salt and water in the proportion of one teaspoonful of salt to a pint of boiling water. Give tlie injection at a temperature not hotter than blood heat (i.e.. about lOOdeg. Fahr.). A small amount, say, one bulbful. given slowly, will cause baby to expel the water and with it the motion, times the mere introduction of the oiled tip of the syringe will be sufficient without any injection, and it is a good plan to try this first. Guard against giving large enemas; they only increase the difficulty by over-stretch-ing the elastic-like bowel walls. If baby is badly constipated inject a largo tablespoonful of warm olive oil in the same manner. Then press tjie buttocks together firmly, to help him to retain the oil. This softens an obstinate, hard motion so that it will come away easier. Try this at night, and then give a salt and water injection in the morning if necessary. Never use soapy water for enemas. They irritate and damage the bowel wall, whereas salt and water tones it up. If, however, in emergency, no other means are at hand to bring about a motion, one may use a soap stick made of Castile or similar soap. Cut it the shape of a torpedo, and soften the surface with warm water before pushing it genaly, about one inch, into the bowel opening. MEDICINES You may notice that the usual remedies for constiptaion have been given last place. Emphatically medicines do not cure constipation. Usually they increase it by making the bowel more

sluggish. Most particularly is this so i with castor oil. Never give nor take ji castor oil to secure a bowel action. The only exception is in cases of diarrhoea, j when its drastic sweeping action is used to remove the irritating cause of the diarrhoea and to give the bowel j rest afterwards. Castor oil given to j a new-born baby to empty the bowel i of the tarry substance there at birth j is one of the surest way of establishing constipation. That tarry substance is a natural laxative and educating medium for tlie baby’s bowels. Na- | ture never makes mistakes; hence we , strive to keep to natural means. Avoid j purgatives. i Liquid extract of cascara in small | doses fo. the adult is beneficial. It is | certainly the best laxative for die nursing and expectant mother. Ten drops three times daily, decreasing gradually as improvement takes place, is usually sufficient. Cascara has a special tonic action on the muscles of i the bowel. SUMMARY Now let me summarise the essentials for the prevention and cure of constipation:—• Exercise in the open air; special exercises if necessary; abdominal massage. Bathing: Cool or cold. Fresh air and sunshine in abundance. Proper food for baby and adult, including the natural laxative foods. Ample water to drink. Regularity of all habits, especially the habit of daily evacuation, established early. Patience and perseverance. In other words —right living. Disease and disordered functioning of the body should be a rarity in tlie life of a baby, and would be in the life of the adult, if these simple and inexpensive measures were the mother’s golden rules. No one need be in ignorance of any of these methods, nor are they difficult to carry out. Printed instructions for the exercises I have described and recipes and diet suggestions with special menus will all be given by your nearest Plunket nurse gladly, and she is always ready to help if she can in any of your difficulties. It lies within the mother’s power to endow young lives with the most priceless heritage of good health. Remember: lealth is made or marred during the growing period. Health means happiness. Health means economy. Health is every child’s natural birthright.