For constipation in a child.—­One to two teaspoonfuls of Mellin’s food, added to each bottle of his usual modified milk formula will often help a great deal.  As soon as the bowels move naturally it should be gradually diminished until after four or six weeks, the child can do without it.

Condensed milk and Malted milk.—­These can be prepared with water only, and so are best to use on a long journey.  Give the baby one or two meals daily a week or two before the journey.  Discontinue when at the end of the journey.

Imperial Granum.—­This is often useful in acute diarrhea, when milk cannot be given.  Mix the proportion as given on the box with water into a smooth paste, then add a pint of boiling water and boil for fifteen or twenty minutes.

Peptogenic Milk Powder.—­This may be used for a short time during or after acute illness; you can add it to the formula used as directed on the package.

[Nursing department 625]

Nursing department
Including
Care of the Sick and the Sick Room

Foods, formulae, delicacies for sick room,
how to prepare them; diet in fevers
and other diseases, secured from
trained nurses, physicians
and hospitals.

Every Phase of Nursing Given in Detail and in Plain Mothers’
Language, including Latest Sanitary Care and Science.

Ventilation.—­The sick room should be ventilated without any draught hitting the patient.  The patient’s bed should be placed out of the line of air currents.  If this is not possible he must be protected by means of screens, the head of the bed being especially guarded.  That draughts are dangerous is founded on fact no less than is the modern idea that an abundance of fresh air is necessary and helpful.  A nurse has been guilty of gross neglect of duty when the patient contracts pneumonia through exposure to too severe currents of air.  A simple way to ventilate a private room is to raise the lower sash of window six inches and place a board across the opening below; the air will then enter between the two sashes and be directed upward, where it becomes diffused and no one in the room is subjected to a draught.  In a room where there is only one window a pane of glass may be taken out and a piece of tin or pasteboard may be so placed that the current will be directed upwards; or a window can be opened in an adjoining room which fills with fresh air and the door of the sick room opened afterwards to admit the air; or, the patient may be covered up, head and all, for a few minutes two or three times a day, while all the windows are thrown open, The room should be thoroughly warmed before it is so thoroughly ventilated.

[624 Mothers’ remedies]