Advice to a Mother on the Management of Her Children by Pye Henry Chavasse
page 60 of 453 (13%)
page 60 of 453 (13%)
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if, perchance, you should be miles away and be out of the reach of
one, it would be well for you to know how the operation ought to be performed. Well, then, let him lie on the nurse's lap upon his back, and let the nurse take hold of his hands in order that he may not interfere with the operation. Then, _if it be the upper gum_ that requires lancing, you ought to go to the head of the child, looking over, as it were, and into his mouth, and should steady the gum with the index finger of your left hand; then, you should take hold of the gum-lancet with your right hand--holding as if it were a table-knife at dinner--and cut firmly along the inflamed and swollen gum and down to the tooth, until the edge of the gum-lancet grates on the tooth. Each incision ought to extend along the ridge of the gum to about the extent of each expected tooth. _If it be the lower gum_ that requires lancing, you must go to the side of the child, and should steady the outside of the jaw with the fingers of the left hand, and the gum with the left thumb, and then you should perform the operation as before directed. Although the lancing of the gums, to make it intelligible to a non-professional person, requires a long description, it is, in point of fact, a simple affair, is soon performed, and gives but little pain. 63. _If teething cause convulsions, what ought to be done_? The first thing to be done (after sending for a medical man) is to freely dash water upon the face, and to sponge the head with cold |
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