Some mothers send at once to the doctor whenever they see or fancy that anything ails their child. But this way of getting rid of responsibility is not always possible, nor, indeed, on moral grounds, is it always desirable, for the mother who delegates each unpleasant duty to another, whether nurse, governess, or doctor, in order to save herself trouble or anxiety, performs but half a mother's part, and can expect but half a mother's recompense of love.
Whenever a child is unwell, a mother may do much to ascertain what is the matter, and may by the exercise of a little patience and common sense save herself much needless heart-ache, and her child much suffering.
The first point to ascertain is the presence or absence of fever; that is to say, whether, and how much, the temperature of the body is higher than natural. If the temperature is not higher than natural, it may be taken as almost certain that the child neither has any inflammatory affection of the chest, nor is about to suffer from any of the eruptive fevers. The temperature, however, cannot be judged of merely by the sensation conveyed to the hand, but must be ascertained by means of the thermometer.[4] In the case of the grown person the thermometer is placed either under the tongue, the lips being closed over it, or in the armpit, and is kept there five or six minutes. In young children, however, neither of these is practicable, and I prefer to place the instrument in the groin, and crossing one leg over the other, to maintain the thermometer there for the requisite five minutes. The temperature of the body in health is about 98.5° Fahr. in the grown person, and very slightly higher in childhood; but any heat above 99.5° may be regarded as evidence that something is wrong, and the persistence for more than twenty-four hours of a temperature of 101° and upwards, may be taken as almost conclusive proof of the existence of some serious inflammation, or of the onset of one of the eruptive fevers.
At the same time it is well to bear in mind that temporary causes, such as especially the disorders produced by over-fatigue, or by an over-hearty or indigestible meal, may suddenly raise the temperature as high as 102°, or higher, but the needed repose or the action of a purgative may be followed in a few hours by an almost equally sudden decline of the heat to the natural standard.
It is well to learn to count the pulse and the frequency of the breathing; but to do the former accurately, requires practice such as is hardly gained except by hospital training; and indeed, with few exceptions, the value of the information furnished by the pulse is less in the child than in the adult. The reasons for this are obvious, since the rapidity of the circulation varies under the slightest causes, and the very constraint of holding the sick child's hand makes it struggle, and its efforts raise the frequency of the heart-beats by ten or twenty in the minute. The place at which to seek the beat of the pulse is at the wrist, just inside and below the protuberance of the wrist-bone; but if the child is very fat it is often difficult to detect it. When detected it is not easy to count it in early infancy, for during the first year of life the heart beats between 120 and 130 in the minute, diminishing between that age and five years to 100, and gradually sinking to 90 at twelve years old. In proportion, moreover, to the tender age of the child, is the rapidity of its circulation apt to vary under the influence of slight causes, while both its frequency and that of the breathing are about a third less during sleep than in the waking state.
The frequency of the breathing is less difficult to ascertain, while at the same time it furnishes more reliable information than the pulse. This is best tested when the child is asleep, remembering always that the breathing is then slower than in the waking state. The open hand, well warmed, should be laid flat and gently over the child's night-dress on the lower part of the chest and the pit of the stomach. Each heaving of the chest, which marks a fresh breath being taken, may be counted, and the information thus obtained is very valuable. Up to the age of two years the child breathes from 30 to 40 times in a minute, and this frequency gradually declines to from 25 to 30 till the age of twelve, and then settles down to from 20 to 25 as in the grown person. You would thus know that a sleeping infant who was breathing more than 30 times, or a child of five who breathes more than 25 times, has some ailment in its chest, and that the doctor should be sent for in order to ascertain its exact nature.
It would answer no good purpose to give a description of the information to be obtained by listening to the chest. To learn from this, needs the well-trained ear; and harm, not good, comes from the half-knowledge which serves but to lead astray.
A child may be very suffering, seem very ill, and its suffering and illness may depend on pain in the stomach owing to indigestion, constipation, or even to an accidental chill. After early infancy it is not difficult to make out the seat of the child's suffering: the warm hand placed gently on its stomach will soon ascertain whether it is tense or tender, whether the tenderness is confined to one particular spot, or whether it is more acute at one spot than at another; and, lastly, whether, as is the case when pain is produced by wind in the intestines, the pain and tenderness are both relieved by gentle rubbing.
In the young infant the character of the cry will, as I have already said, give some clue to the seat of its pain, while, if you lay it down in its cot or in its nurse's arms in order to examine its stomach, it will often resist and begin to cry. Its stomach then becomes perfectly tense, and you cannot tell whether pressure on it causes pain or whether the cries are not altogether the consequence of fretfulness and fear. It is therefore the best plan to pass your hand beneath the child's clothes and to examine its stomach without altering its posture, while at the same time the nurse in whose arms it is talks to it to distract its attention, or holds it opposite the window, or opposite a bright light, which seldom fails to amuse an infant. If there is no tenderness of the stomach the child will not cry on pressure; or if during your examination the presence of wind in the intestines should occasion pain, gentle friction, instead of increasing suffering, will give relief.
The one thing which still remains to do, especially in the case of children in whom teething is not over, is to examine the mouth and ascertain the state of the gums, since some ailments are caused and others are aggravated by teething. A wise mother or an intelligent nurse will teach the child when well the little trick of putting out its tongue and opening its mouth to show its teeth when told to do so; and though it may sometimes indulge rather out of place in these performances when wished to behave especially prettily before strangers, yet when older it will quickly learn the proprieties of behaviour, and in the meanwhile you profit much by the lesson when illness really comes.
Sometimes, however, infants who when well will open their mouth and allow their gums to be felt without difficulty, refuse to do so when ill; and it is always desirable that the mother or nurse whose duty it is to tend the sick child constantly, should not frighten it, or lose its confidence, by doing forcibly that which the doctor who comes occasionally may yet be quite right in doing. You will, however, generally get a good view of the mouth and throat in young infants by gently touching the lips with your finger: the child opens its mouth instinctively, and then you can run your finger quickly over its tongue, and drawing it slightly forward perfectly see the condition of the throat, feel the gums as you withdraw your finger, and notice the appearance of the tongue. Sometimes it is important to ascertain whether a tooth which was near coming through has actually pierced the gum, and yet the child's fretfulness renders it almost impossible to induce it to open its mouth. If now, while the nurse holds the child in her arms, you go behind her, you can, unseen and unawares, introduce your finger into its mouth and ascertain all you wish to know before the little one has recovered from its surprise.
I have but little to say here about the general signs of brain disease in infancy and childhood, because they will need minute notice afterwards. All that I would at present observe is, that you must not at once conclude that a child's head is seriously affected, because it is heavy and fretful and passionate, and refuses to be amused. The head, as we know by our own experience, suffers by sympathy in the course of almost every ailment, certainly of every acute ailment, at all ages. If the babe is not sick; if its bowels can be acted on by ordinary means; if, though drowsy, it can be roused without difficulty; if, though it may prefer a darkened room, it does not shrink from the light when admitted gradually; if it has no slight twitchings