Guest Post Written by Dr. Syed Furqan Ahmed (The Author)
INTRODUCTION
Infants are a gift of life to human race, a little one in anguish is the last thing anyone would want to see, but the fact is that these little lovely angels do get sick and very often they require medical intervention to return to the playful happy health. Unable to communicate in words, it is essential for those who dare to treat them, to learn their language of pain and suffering, study and master their signs of distress and focus to study their irritative and functional disorders that they tell by their gestures, symptoms and sounds.
Mothers are usually the first one to know and inform others that there is something wrong with the child, they see, feel, smell and think of their children every second of the day. On the other hand, to become an effective healer of one’s own child requires an iron heart, free of sympathy, fears and carelessness.
SORE MOUTH
Almost every mother would witness sore mouth of her child in first year of the infant’s age. Child would look irritative, tired with open mouth that looks red and salivating. Once a child gets a sore mouth, it would feel burning, cutting sensations on tongue and would keep the mouth open. One can easily see the redness at the tip of the tongue. Child might try to take the breast but would let it go in a moment and give a cry. The child would want to be carried and cling to mothers, crying if placed on bed, if the child is sleeping in the arms, it would immediately wake up when the mother bends forward to place him on the bed, as if conscious of downward motion. Gums could also give a red hue if the infection is strong.
Set of Symptoms
Red tongue – red lower lip – pin size white spots or marks on tongue or inside of cheek – inability to breast-feed – wants to be carried – looks weak and irritable – crying and whining – afraid of downward motion – jerks awake to sudden sounds – slight diarrhea – green patches in otherwise bright yellow stools.
Remedies for sore mouth
The remedy which first comes to my mind is Borax.
The other important remedies for sore mouth are Hydrastis, Arsenicum Album, Capsicumand Baptisia.
A sore may take a graver form. Ulcerative Stomatitis could be of syphilitic base and/or with gangrenous trend. Gangrenous Stomatitis may spread to the throat and accompany with some bleeding, mouth salivates freely and difficulty to swallow develops, though only for the solids. Liquids would be taken easily by the child but even a small particle of solid food if passes the throat and enters the esophagus, a spasm would be experienced and the child would gag and vomit that particle out. This is a picture where Baptisia would do wonders for the emaciating child with sore mouth, with or without fever.
Capsicum is good for rather over-weight infants with a parental history of liking red chilli in their food.
COLIC
Infant’s Stomach
Infants have really small stomachs; a new-born could hardly take two fluid ounces at one time. A full stomach is also accepted as a problem stomach by many doctors, due to the fermentation process, gasses would have no extra space inside if the stomach is already filled with milk. Infants would throw-up milk in that case, digestive juices of a new-born are also very weak.
Immediately after birth, it is best to feed the child as early as possible; this would ensure the new-born gets the food soon and does not become hypo-glycemic (low-blood sugar). Infants who do not get the milk in few hours of its birth are at great risk of becoming hypoglycemic .
It is always better not to attempt a digestion test on infants till the age of six months, unless a health condition demands something different. If you look at the belly of the little child, it appears as if filled with water, it is pressable without any change in the facial expressions of the child, the belly should not be hard, not as if air-filled nor should it appear very relaxed like in folds. Squeezing the belly with two fingers should not leave any marks upon relieving it, not wrinkled.
Child’s behaviour in Colic
A colic cry is sudden and loud with comparative periods of peace. A child lying on his back with limbs drawn, sometimes kicking with both legs and emits a loud cry; both hands are usually placed near shoulders and tremble. A hungry child may also behave like this but would take the breast eagerly; a child with colic might accept it too but for a very brief moment and would leave the nipple and give a cry again. If this is happening you need to check for two things. The stomach-ache or the earache.
If it is the earache, it would not be accompanied by a belly full with gasses and rumbling sounds from it. In earache it is usually one arm raised by the child and usually of the side of the painful ear. The earache is usually better by covering the ear or picking up the child in a way that the painful ear is on the shoulder.
On the contrary, the colic symptoms are the presence of griping noises, passing of flatus during the crying, hardness of abdomen, tympanic abdomen as if like an air drum.
Remedies for colic
The remedies which comes first to my mind are Nux Vomica, Colocynthis, Magnesium Phosphoricum and Carbo vegetabilis.
Remedies for earache
The remedies which comes first to my mind are Belladonna and Chamomilla.
Earache with severe anger would ease from Chamomilla.
Earache with pleading whining like crying would ease from Pulsatilla.
DIARRHEA
Stools of infant
In infancy, the stools should look like a homogenous mixture with no flakes, threads, mucus or lumps, without any particular offensive smell. While passing stool, the infant’s facial expressions should not show fear or pain, normal stools of an infant are neither watery nor hard. These could be called pasty with bright yellow color. Grey or white stools suggest liver derangement.
Loose Stools
Loose stools are second nature in children, most of the diarrhea’s never need a treatment. For example a new-born would develop diarrhea upon first taking the mother’s milk, this form is natural and as the milk acted as laxative. But then there are forms that require urgent medical intervention. Infants are very susceptible to temperature changes, an exposure to cold while washing can also induce loose stools, care to be taken to warmly wrap the infant in winters around abdomen, chest and legs.
Change in color, smell and texture are usually the first signs that points to intestinal derangement, the stools becomes sour and cause redness around anus, color may take a greenish tinge and may become as green as freshly mashed grass. The smell takes a pungent note and stools may contain particles of undigested food
Remedies for infantile diarrhea
Podophyllum: Yellow diarrhea with increased frequency, undigested particles in stool, prolapse of rectum, child is not fussy or angry, though has some salivation and thirst.
Chamomilla: Diarrhea during teething, green patches in stool, child very fussy, angry, crying, wants to be carried, the behavior so demanding as you will wonder what all you could do for her, and not infrequently you suppress the urge to raise you voice on the child.
Baptisia: The smell is putrid, pungent and offensive and stools are slate-colored. Baptisia has the ability to remove the inflammation of intestines that comes at a rapid pace and threatens the patient to death in just seven to ten days, though it is less indicated in idiopathic typhoid states that develops slowly and run for a longer time.
VOMITING
It is not unusual for infants to throw up curdled milk, especially when over fed. However if the child starts to throw up un-curdled milk, or watery fluid, the stomach is taking spasms. At this delicate age, an infant cannot take frequent vomiting spells. De-hydration may occur sooner than one thinks of it.
Child Behavior in vomiting
The crying becomes lesser or even absent, child looks sleepy and after every vomit it would lie down as if in peaceful sleep. This is dangerous, in fact the child is growing weaker and drowsy.
Caution for Mothers
1. After giving the feed, ensure you burp the child and then let him lie with its head high. It has happened many times that child was laid flat on bed with face up and it vomited, thus filling his little mouth with fluids, instead to gulping it back, the child gasps for air, and lungs get filled with the sucked-in fluids. The weak child cannot fight against this aspiration of fluids and dies without a sound. It is like drowning, the ignorant mother would keep sleeping and think the child is asleep, only in morning when she tried to wake it up – it won’t wake up.
2. During the vomit, the child should be kept in the vomiting posture, i.e. bent forward with face down, ensure to see the fluids do not come out from child’s nose and to clean immediately if it happens.
Remedies for vomiting
The remedies which comes first to my mind in case of emergency situations of vomiting arePhosphorus and Aethusa Cynapium
VOMITING and DIARRHEA TOGETHER
This is really dangerous combination and no delays should be ensured in taking the little one to hospital immediately. Once the condition stabilises, Veratrum Album, Phosphorus and Chinacan be of immense help.
The Copyright is reserved with the author (Syed Furqan Ahmed). All opinions are that of the author.
About the author: Syed Furqan Ahmed
Dr. Syed Furqan Ahmed, DHMS, is a registered Homeopathic Medical Practitioner from Islamabad, Pakistan. He retired prematurely as a pilot and took up the challenge to heal the sick as he belonged to a family of very first of homeopaths since 1955. He can be contacted at faukishah@gmail.com
