HOMOEOPATHIC TREATMENT OF BABIES
George : Today I want to give you some information concerning the treatment of little babies. When you come to the point of treating babies, you wonder what to look for, especially when you are treating over the telephone. (Laughter) There area few things that we can look at. We could first look at the mood of the baby – the psychological state – weeping, laughing and so on. We also look at the expression of the face. The second thing that we observe is the color of his face – red, pale, vesiculated, blue.
Question : Are you talking about acute situations ?
George : Acute or chronic, the first thing is to look at the gestures. The next ing is the wrinkles. I will give you examples l a t e r on, but first I want to give you some definite things to look for. These are hints. The next thing is the texture of the skin. And the next is the perspiration. Check the tongue. Look at the way in which he stands, sits, or lies down. Check color and odor of the urine. Check the color, odor and texture of the stool. Check his reactions to milk and food in general. And investigate the salivation. These are the main points you should have in mind during the examination of a case.
But the first thing you have to observe in a baby is whether he is properly clothed, properly nourished and the type of food he is taking, because there might be external causes for his condition. If they dress the baby too much and there is too much heat, he will become irritable and cry and cry. And look for mechanical causes that might make the baby cry.
Question : Is general odor under perspiration ?
George : Yes. Check the perspiration and the odor of the baby in general. An old looking infant may need Arg-n., Calc., Nat-m., or Op. Question : Old looking ?
George : Yes, like an old man or woman. When the first thing you see is that the baby looks old, you have to think of these remedies. Also Sec. If there is a frightened face, we need Acon. or Stram. A very sleepy baby may need Cann-I. or Op. This is sleepy rather than actually sleeping. The whole idea is sleepy. Your mind should go to these remedies when such a condition exists.
Question : With a sleepy baby with fever, someone might think of Gels. or something like that.
George: Sleepy is a general characteristic of the baby. 1 don’t talk about fever or if the baby has remained awake the whole night and then is tired and sleepy the next day. The sleepiness will be a general characteristic of that baby. They never make up entirely or look bright.
The crying will also give you certain keys. For instance, you may have a baby that cries the moment you put it in bed. Here you have to differentiate. In Bor. the child cries the moment the mother puts it down.
But the moment that the child cries and you take it in your arms and walk with it, then it will be Brom. or Chan. That would be so if it is relieved by catrying it.
The crying may become shrieking type and occur during sleep. That may be Bor., Lyc. or Zinc. If there is a shrieking and then convulsions, you may need Cupr., Cic. or Lyc.
Question Do you mean trembling or actual convulsion ?
George It goes like this (demonstrates). It is Cupr. if it is mostly in the extremities. But if you see that the trembling starts from the solar plexus and goes into the whole body, then that is Cic.
Do you know what is called a”brain cry”? A brain cry will wake the child in the night, especially if it is accompanied by jerkings in the sleep. Then suddenly the child will wake up and have a shrieking cry. You think that something is going on there in the brain. It is not a cry that comes from the chest. It comes from the brain. It is a cutting shriek. The sound will give you goose pimples.
Apis is when there is this cry in the night but it is accompanied by convulsions which come after a warm bath.
Question They have this “brain cry” too ?
George Yes. The convulsions will take place after a warm bath.
What pathology would be indicated in a child that cries continuously?
Response Colic
George : Ear pains. And then you will need to use medicines like Graph., Psor., Merc. This is another acute remedy. An earache will keep the baby crying and shrieking and nothing can please him or quiet him. You would suspect ear trouble, and so you would have to differentiate between Merc., Graph. and Psor. most probably.
Question I would think of Puls. and Cham.
George : No. This is crying from pain. It is not moaning. It is a shrieking and it is constant. That will most probably indicate ear trouble. If there is moaning and groaning in the child, remedies like Acon. , Bell. or Hell. should be thought of.
The color and odor of the ear will differentiate the remedies. Discharge from the RIGHT ear would make you think of Merc-i-fl., Lyc., Sit., Thuj. or Nit-ac., Discharges from the LEFT ear would include Graph., Psor. and Merc-i-r. Discharges which are MIXED WITH BLOOD would be Calc-s., Merc., Psor or Sit. But if there is PURE BLOOD FROM THE EAR, then you would think of Phos. of course and Crot-h. Croth. you will remember has a lot of retinal haemorrhages. OFFENSIVE DISCHARGES in general could be Merc., Sil., Aur. and Lyc.
These are not all the remedies that you will have to work with.
I give you hints where your mind can go.
If the discharge SMELLS LIKE FISH, the first remedy you would think of is Graph. also Sank. and Tell.
I am talking about ANY discharge which smells SOUR – perspiration or any discharge – would remind us of Sulph. Sulph. and Calc. are correct remedies for sour children, but the main one is Rheum.
Question : At some point in there you shifted from ear discharges to discharges in general.
George : That was at the time we talked about bloody discharges. Offensive discharges in general would be Aur., Lyc., Psor. or Sil.
Now if you have an infant who has a high fever and enteritis and the stool is very offensive and the fever is going towards a kind of typhoid fever, it will bring the child down, and that means a serious condition. When the intestines are involved and you have a stool which is VERY offensive, then what remedies would you think of? Bapt., Ars.. Merc. and Sulph.
Another interesting thing that I have noticed is the wrinkles. Vertical
ate brain an … ” wrinkles that are not straight wo u l d i n d i c a t e b r a i n a n d m e n i n g e s troubl es. You would need remedies like Hell., Stram., Chan., Caust., and Lyc.
Usually this here (indicates on the board) affects mostly the brain. But if the wrinkles are on this side of the face (indicating), on the ears and zygoma, and these parts of the face, there is trouble on the chest which is chronic and quite deep. If it is here, down on the chin, the wrinkles would indicate intestinal problems.
If there is a line here, very close to the margin of the lower lid, another second line would indicate a predisposition to hysteria, children who will go into tantrums easily, and they will need remedies like Nat-n. and Ign.
It is an intelligent child, highly strung and there is something in his face which is dry. There is a dryness of the skin like on our friend who does the meditation. No, it is not a dryness, it is skinny. He has a typical Nat-m. appearance. There is a kind of … I wish that I could give you this feeling, but it is very difficult to describe. There is something … you see a face and you see that it is highly strung. Another one will be more relaxed or another one will appear sour or another one will appear sleepy or another one is frightened. There is a kind of fright you will see.
Question : I have trouble with those lines. Are the lines that Laurin has the same ?
George : It is under the lower lid margin. It is a VERY FINE line. It gives you the impression that the lower lid is inflamed.
Response : I will try to take some picture of children.
Question : George, Is there any chance of using video equipment in your office where classic types like that could be recorded on video or camera? Would the Greeks go along with that?
George : Everybody would want you to take him as a model in Greece.
Response : We could pick classical types, but we do not have the knowledge. It could be best for you to do this first.
George : You see Stan, who was talking to us, is a constitutional Graph. This the appearance, not his behaviour. Have you heard how Haney talks? Can you tell me the characteristic ?
Response : The voice trails away.
George : The last syllable is up. It is an idea that will not come out Thuj. George has a trace of Thuj. and may be after 2-3 remedies the Thuj will come up. Don’t go by these keynotes to give Thuj.
Question: On these children, when you have so little information and you make some decision on one of them, what potency can you give?
George : 200 is the best potency for babies. If you are sure about the remedy then you can give as high as you like, 50m or cm as long as you are sure about the remedy.
Question: What about people whose sentences end with a question?
George : I don’t know. But with this characteristic I have confirmed Thuj. It has worked beautifully when you have a few symptoms only and the way of talking is a big confirmatory thing. If the skin is dry, that is Bell, and Bry„ Cale., Cham., Kali-c., Lye., Petr., .Sulph„ Strom„Teucr. That is for dry skin. But if the skin is dry and rough, the first remedy you think of is Petr., Cale., Sulph., and Sep.
Question : Is the skin rhat has small, almost papules in the upper arms in children characteristic of any remedy? They are multiple and hard little papules. There is no discoloration, jusr dry.
George : Like haemangioma ?
Response: No, they are goose pimples, but they are always there and they are rougher than goose bumps. Goose bumps are when you get cold and you get little bumps on the skin.
George : Oh yes. So it is constant and it is very dry and rough. No, my mind does not connect a remedy to that now.
Question: What about little white knots that are a lot like vitiligo and they are in boys who are 7, 8 or 9 years old ?
George : So there is a discoloration ?
Response : It is very light as though they had not washed the soap off after washing.
George: Mostly Sep. There are white patches of discoloration. This is in young children.
If there is a history of skin eruptions on the baby since birth and they keep on with different types of skin eruptions, you have Psor., Sulph., and Graph. as prominent remedies.
A red color of the face will be Bell. ,Ferr. ,Cham., Apis., Puls. The face will be red and circumscribed and the remedies will be Chin., Ferr. , Tub., Phos., and Sulph. These can be in acute cases.
Hysterical children would tend to need Nat-m. or lgn.
Question : Could you describe exactly what you mean by that?
George : Hysteria, yes, (cries like a hysterical child). There are tantrums and you wonder what he has or what is wrong or what he wants. And they are totally out of control. The children who are going towards that, the first remedy that you will think of is Nat-m. or lgn.
If there is swelling around the lids, above and below, the first remedy you will think of is Apis.
Question : Do you see Kali-c. in children?
George: Yes. ‘There will he inflammation on the margins of the lids and you will use Clem„ Graph. and Sank. With swollen meibomian glands, which appear on the glands of the margins of the lids (they are like styes, but it is an inflammation), and you will use Clem. and Staph. With conjunctivitis, red eyes, you will use Apis., Arg-n.. Euphr., Rhus-t. and Sulph. If one eye is VERY red and it looks like a piece of meat that has just been cut and the blood is running, you will use Arg-n. Sometimes you take more credit for curing a thing like that, because it is so obvious – it is not like curing cancer.
Question : Would that eye be swollen and oedematous too?
George : No, it will not be swollen. It will be smooth but very red, as if you have cut the flesh and have left it exposed.
Question : Is that the whole scleral part of the eye?
George : No, not the scleral pan of the eye, it is a patch. It is a kind of haemorrhage of the capillaries, superficially. This is the appearance; I cannot tell you the exact pathology involved.
Response : It would be nice to have photographic descriptions.
George : Yes.
Question : That is not an infection you are describing ?
George : No, it is not an infection. 1 cured a case of asthma by looking in the eye and the person was warm. He did not care about his asthma as much as this condition was bothering him, because everybody could see it.
Question : Is it painful ?
George : It can be painful, but it is not very much. That is not the characteristic of this condition. I am talking about a chronic condition. It will stay there for months, but it can easily stay for 5, 6 or 7 days or even into 10 or 15 days as well – it will not absorb.
There will be swelling around both the upper and lower lids and so we have Apis., Calk, Ars. and Kali-ar.
If it is especially the lower lids, it shows a wrong kidney function. It is upper and lower, but mostly the lower lid will be swollen. It will be mostly Kali-c. and Apis. You will get Phos. and Med. and things like that, but lam just giving you the more prominent remedies. Ars. has upper and lower lid involvement.
But when it is the lower lid only, the first remedy you should think of is Kali-c. [Kent Rep. P.267, it is Kali-ar…Ed.l. And you will not see this in babies. On the lids at this point (demonstrates) on the back, it appears like a sac of water here. If there are little sacs of water here, it will be Kali -c.
If the margins of the lids are swollen, equally swollen, then the main remedy will be Euphr.
Black lips – VERY DARK – in children and also in grown-ups, especially those who are suffering from stomach trouble, will be Ars. It is interesting how much Ars. has to do with death. You will see the death picture, the fear of death, the person who is going towards death. In the last momenrs before death, many times if you want to relieve the person, Ars. will be the indicated remedy. The poison in Ars. will bring death. This whole idea must be in the mind. They will say things like, “Save me, I am going to die. I am dying. You do not understand how serious I am. Save me. I don’t care about others. I want to care, but I cannot.” It is death.
Question : In these last moments would you give a high potency?
George : Yes, a high potency – 10m or 50m. But if you see an aggravation after that, you will have to run for the next remedy. (Laughter) You expect an amelioration and a peaceful death and it suddenly produces an aggravation and his final vitality is still inside. Then you look for the next remedy quickly.
The face which is bluish around the lips is Cina. When the face is bluish in general – especially in respiratory troubles – you will come to Stram., Tab. and Cupr
Question : What about dark rings under the eyes ?
George : Often that is Sec.
There are a lot of remedies that may have darkness around the eyes. Ph-ac. will be dark blue under the eyes. Ars. and Sulph-ac. also.
Perspiration in the cervical region, especially during sleep, the first remedy you will think of is Calc. I am not talking about general perspiration, but in the cervical region. Sank. also has that.
Question : That does not include the back of the head but just the neck ?
George : Yes. The occiput and cervical regions. It will make the pillow wet.
You will use Lach. and Ph-ac.
Now you sometimes get a story that the baby is perspiring a lot, but during a crisis of, say something like dyspnea, the baby is really dry. We would expect the perspiration to be more with the effort to breathe, but at that moment the perspiration subsides. Most of the perspiration is not with the crisis. The remedy you will need to remember most with bronchial asthma in babies is Samb.
Question : For the crisis or constitutionally ?
George: Constitutionally. They perspire a lot in general. They will run a little bit and come out in full perspiration. There is extreme perspiration at the least exertion. But during the crisis they do not perspire.
Sometimes the perspiration continues or becomes less and so forth during the crisis, hut the parents will not tell you that the baby perspires more during the crisis.
It is only perspiration when it is Thuj., Merc., Chin., Nat-m. Sometimes the tongue is coated white, but in a color which appears as if it had been snowing on the tongue. It is completely white, but is not glistening. Response : There is no ice on the snow ? George : (Laughing) No, no ice on the snow. Question :
Do you mean that it is powder-like ?
George : No. You have the impression that it is thick and it does not glisten. Which is the remedy? The books even call it snow-white. Response : Ant-c.
George: Yes, very good, Ant-c. But if the tongue is as if it had been painted white with oil paint, then it becomes Ars. The textures of the two conditions are quite different. When the tongue is yellow at the base, it is Nat-p., Merc.,Tarax.,Iod. If you see a geographical tongue, you will think of Tarax.
Question : That is not the hereditary type ?
George : Yes, you will think of Tarax.
Question : Isn’t that pretty common ?
George : No, it is not so common. If the tongue is white on two sides, you should think of Caast. If the tongue is white on ONE side, think of Rhus-t.
Now here is a rubric that everybody will know “great salivation”.
All kinds of Mercuries – Merc-c., Merc-br-r., Merc-i-r., Merc-i-f, also Bar-c., Bor., Nit-ac., Nat-m.
I remember in the college in Calcutta when one of the professors would go to the out-patient clinic every day. You know the Indians come by the tens and hundreds. So he was doing the out-patient clinic for one hour and he had much experience with these things, like prescribing on keynotes. Usually we would all be tight behind him trying to get some infotmation.
He would NEVER tell us why he gave a remedy – NEVER! He said that one or two questions would give the remedy. Ofcourse l did not know Hindi or the different dialects which they speak. Sometimes they would explain something and sometimes they would not. There came a child. The mother was holding the child. I tried to look and see what was written and he covered it with his hand. He had a very strong voice and he said, “WHAT HAVE I GIVEN?” I looked at the child and I said “.Merc.” There was saliva,. running all oveF the child. He was given Mere. of course. He would not tell us ANYTHING/NOT A THING! He would prescribe this
‘ or that remedy and then you would ask, ‘Why did you give that remedy?” He would look at you and say, “GO AND STUDY”.
I have told you this story. He was very observant, you see. He would look. He was 82 or 83 and his mind was scattered, but he was shrewd and he would work for signs. The hospital was in a terrible situation and dirty. Certain professors would have this side to work with and others would have that side. So he would come in and he was not supposed to look at the patients on “that side”. His patients were on “this side”. Typhoid fever is common in India and so they would try to give different remedies to the people suffering with it. And so this was set up so they would not interfere with each other’s prescriptions. So this typhoid patient was getting worse and worse and he was going to die. He was very cold. So they prescribed Ars. etc. etc. So they reached the point where they asked him for his opinion. He goes to the bed of the patient and he said, “What is your name’?” And he said, “Sundaram” and he gave him Sulph. But is Sulph. so cold ?” But they gave him Sulph. and the next day he is warm and he wants air, and finally they had to bring him a fan.
He had noticed that. All the time he knew the remedies they were giving. And he said, “Oh. you have not given Sulph.. Okay, what is your name? Take Sulph! (Laughter) It was keynote prescribing, but of course he had had experience. You cannnot say that he should not do keynote prescribing. He knew the type. He saw the person. He had had 50 years of experience. He had studied with Kent. He was one of the few direct students of Kent. He would tell me interesting things about Kent. He said that he (Kent) was so irritable. He said a student would go and ask something which was outside the theory. That meant that he had not understood the theory. And he would ask a question and there would be no chance that he would go through the examination. Kent was very critical and very nervous. So he made a lot of enemies of course. Maybe he had made too many provings on himself
Question : Did Kent practise in Montana?
George ‘ No, he went there to die. He practised in Chicago, Philadelphia and St. Louis.
Question : What did he die of ?
George: Pneumonia, I think.
Question : Did he try to get well?
George : I think he had a bronchitis and he was very exhausted with his vitality. He was very exhausted. It was proposed that he go to the mountains of Montana and he was not able to recover. He was 62. Either a homoeopath dies either too early or too late.(Laughter)
So the position is very important. If a child lies in the knee-elbow position, what will it need ?
Response : Med.
George : Yes, very good, What else?
Response: Calc-p.
George: Kali-c.
You see a child that is crying while he is lying down. So you prop the child up and then it stops crying. This is true especially in dyspnea. What are the remedies ?
Response : Ars.
Question : I don’t understand what they are doing with the child – just holding it upright ?
George : It was lying down and they propped him up and put him up in bed. He is better when ,sitting up in bed. Response : Cale., Ars., Lach., Spo.
George : Right.
Lying on the abdomen ameliorates are Bell., Coloc., Steam., Med., Tub.
Question : Doesn’t Cina want to be held by the belly ?
George: The same remedies. When you exercise any kind of pressure and they are better, you have to think of these remedies. This is pressure on the abdomen. Of course, it is not always pressure: it can be the position of lying on the abdomen.
Question : What about Cina?
George : I gave you the main remedies. When the child lies with its arms over its head, it will be Puls.
Again, the reaction to food and to milk should be noted. If you see that they bring up their milk ten minutes af ter they have taken it, it is Aeth. They will vomit in curds. The milk has already changed. If the child develops a sudden aversion to milk, the usual remedy is Lac-d. This so when they do not want to touch milk – it is a sudden aversion. Lac-d. will put them
back to taking milk. This is any kind of milk-mother’s milk or a product from the. store.
When the urine is greenish in color, Merc-c. is indicated and Camph. When the urine is dark brown. Chel. or Sep. is indicated. Of course you will see dark brown urine in liver infections. Therefore Lyc. will also be indicated. In urine which is DARK yellow, Chel. is the remedy indicated. In urine which smells like fish, Sanic. and Bufo are indicated.
In urine which smells like the sweat of a horse. Nit-ac. is indicated and also Nat-c.
If the stool is like rice-water, the main remedies are Cupr., Camph. and Verat. There are other remedies of course, but these are the main ones.
Question : What does rice-water look like?
George Whitish and VERY liquid. It is a pale white.
When there is a stool which has the appearance of white chalk, Calc., .Sanic., Ign., Podo. and Mag-c. are the remedies you should first think of.
When the stool is watery and green, you should think of Cham. and Grat.
I am making a specific study of these remedies to bring out the characteristics. I hope one day I will be able to do that.
Question : Hasn’t Puls. got a green stool too ?
George : Sure. There are MANY remedies. If you open the repertory, you will see many more than just one or two,but I am giving you the most characteristic ones.
Question : Could you say something more about gestures ?
George: Gestures which are associated with great fever are usually Hyos. They will make gestures as if they are playing with someone and doing things with them. Hyos. will also direct hands to the genitals. Pete. and Bapt. are also indicated in gestures such as picking at the bed-clothes. Taren’. has a restlessness rather than gestures. That is another thing.
Question : Stram. ?
George : Yes, all of the violent remedies.
Question : Is Agar. more of a violent type of gesturing ?
George : It is a kind of gesturing which comes from the nervous system being irritated.
