spring water; let it be preserved in a bottle for use. A teaspoonful of this, first shaking the vial, may be added to each quantity of food. Or, three teaspoonfuls of bruised caraway-seeds may be boiled for ten minutes in a teacupful of water, and then strained. One or two teaspoonfuls of the caraway-tea may be added to each quantity of his food, or a dose of rhubarb and magnesia may be occasionally given.
Opodeldoc, or warm olive oil, well rubbed, for a quarter of an hour at a time, by means of the warm hand, over the bowels, will frequently give relief. Turning the child over on his bowels, so that they may press on the nurse's lap, will often afford great comfort. A warm bath (where he is suffering severely) generally gives immediate ease in flatulence; it acts as a fomentation to the bowels. But after all, a dose of mild aperient medicine, when the babe is suffering severely, is often the best remedy for "wind."
Remember, at all times, prevention, whenever it be—and how frequently it is—possible, is better than cure.
What NOT to do.—"Godfrey's Cordial," "Infants' Preservative," and "Dalby's Carminative" are sometimes given in flatulence; but as most of these quack medicines contain, in one form or another, either opium or poppy, and as opium and poppy are both dangerous remedies for children, ALL quack medicines must be banished the nursery.
Syrup of poppies is another remedy which is often given by a nurse to afford relief for flatulence; but let me urge upon you the importance of banishing it from the nursery. It has (when given by unprofessional persons) caused the untimely end of thousands of children. The medical journals and the newspapers teem with cases of deaths from mothers incautiously giving syrup of poppies to ease pain and to procure sleep.
