RETENTION OF URINE.
Occasionally an infant will not pass any urine for many hours after
its birth. This most frequently arises from the fact of none being
secreted. In the last case of this kind that I was called to, three
days had elapsed since birth, and no urine had been passed; it proved
that none had been secreted. Sometimes, however, it is the effect of
another cause, which the use of the warm bath will be found to remove,
which should always therefore be employed four and twenty hours after
the birth of the infant, if it has not by that time passed any water.
It now and then happens, but fortunately very rarely, that some
physical obstruction exists. It is always important, therefore, for the
nurse to pay attention to the above point; and it is her duty to direct
the attention of the medical man to the subject, if anything unusual or
unnatural be present. The same observation applies to the bowel also;
and if twelve hours pass without any motion, the parts should be
examined.
SWELLING OF THE BREASTS.
At birth, or two or three days subsequently, the breasts of the infant
will frequently be found swollen, hard, and painful, containing a fluid
much resembling milk. Nurses generally endeavour to squeeze this out,
and thus do great mischief; for by this means inflammation is excited
in the part, and sometimes abscess is the result.
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