Guard Your Child Against Danger

... How many are the accidents that wreck childhood! In this article, a warning to mothers on how to treat these emergency cases.

"May you live and eat another" is a phrase familiar to every one of us; if anyone has forgotten it from the days of his childhood, he doubtless hears it said to the little ones of the house around him. If it indicates anything, it indicates that we expect children's stumbles as something natural, arising from their constant movement and their love of exploration—two things we find in the child because they are necessary to his natural growth.

And since we expect these stumbles, we must prepare for their consequences, for they often cause bruises or wounds or other painful results, whether for the child or for his family. Here are the two following principles:

First—the doctor's advice must be sought quickly in all cases that go beyond simple bruises or wounds, for the first aid that may benefit a grown person may harm the infant or the child.

Second—we must be cautious in using medicines to treat these emergency cases, for the medicine may injure instead of curing, either by giving a reverse result or by hiding the marks of the ailment and thus giving sorrier results.

Then there is the duty which requires parents to keep in their homes some of the medicines necessary for first aid, in a special medicine cabinet, for use at the earliest moment when needed.

What Are We to Do?

In answer to the question "What are we to do?" I shall present some emergency cases and mention the medicines that can be used for them.

The child often swallows whatever his hand can reach. If it is a solid thing of large size, it must be brought up out of him; in this case the child must be taken to the doctor as fast as possible and prevented from making any movement. But if the child has swallowed poisonous things, you must make him vomit up the thing he swallowed, by touching his gullet with a bird's feather, for example; then he must be given a solution of egg white diluted with water.

We must not force the child to drink something against his will, or he will choke; rather he must be persuaded to accept drinking what is offered him.

The Child's Eye

Foreign bodies often get into the child's eye. If these are large, the upper lid is turned back and the foreign body lifted off, either with a clean ironed handkerchief or with a piece of sterilized gauze; then the eye is washed with a boric solution—a small teaspoonful of boric powder in a glass of boiled water, after the solution has cooled to body temperature—and then a drop of a 5 percent Argyrol solution is dropped into the eye. This solution must be kept in a red bottle, freshly prepared, and the solution must be in good condition.

Wounds!!

As for scratches and simple surface wounds, they must first be cleaned with soap and water and dried; then they are painted with an alcohol solution of 70 percent strength, then with a little sterilized vaseline of the kind kept in tubes like toothpaste tubes; a piece of sterilized cotton is placed over them and bound with a bandage, to protect them from dust and from the child's scratching them with his nails.

Alcohol

Alcohol of 70 percent strength is more antiseptic than the higher strengths—be it known that alcohol of 95 percent strength causes dryness and peeling of the skin. Should the wound or scratch occur in a place on the body that cannot be bandaged, an iodine solution is used in place of the alcohol.

Insect Stings!!

The child often suffers pain from an insect that has stung him, or from an irritation of the skin arising from the heat or from rubbing against his clothes, so that he grows peevish and cries at every little thing. As for the sting, it must be painted with a diluted ammonia solution as quickly as possible after the stinging, for this prevents swelling and prevents irritation. But if some time has passed over it, there is no use in painting it with the ammonia solution; instead it is painted with a preparation called Calamine Lotion,

which the pharmacist prepares when needed. This liquid is likewise used to paint skin irritated by any other of the foregoing causes.

Bruises

If the infant or child suffers simple bruises without any scratch occurring in the skin, the best way to treat him is to leave the bruise alone; but if cold water or ice happens to be at hand, a piece of cloth soaked in cold water is placed over the bruise; this greatly lessens the pain of the bruise and prevents swelling.

In case a fracture occurs in one of the limbs, the child must be prevented from making any movement; the body or the limb is bound to a stick or to a piece of wood, and he is taken to a doctor quickly.

Fire... Fire!!

Then, if the child's clothes catch fire, he must be wrapped at once in a blanket to put out the fire, and taken quickly to the doctor.

As for a simple burn arising from fire or from scalding by a hot liquid, the place is dried with a piece of soft cloth and painted with a mixture of oil and lime solution, or a solution of bicarbonate of soda, and the doctor is consulted for the necessary treatment. Meanwhile, care must be taken not to break the pockets in which fluid gathers in the membranes beneath the skin.

Wisdom, without doubt, lies in keeping away from the child everything that could cause him harm, without limiting his freedom of movement and play—his two essential rights.