Undernourished infants and children whose chief apparent difficulty is digesting their food and are said to be suffering from malnutrition, respond very nicely under the proper, daily or twice daily use of the antisepticizing treatments, and a simple diet consisting of plenty of water, boiled milk diluted with water, and small quantities of orange juice or grapefruit juice, and the best of eggs. Older children should receive the same diet in smaller portions as that advised for adults in this system. Besides plenty of water and boiled, fresh milk, small quantities of orange juice and grape-fruit juice, their diet should include a little fresh butter and a few slices of toasted white bread, one to three of the freshest of eggs, a little of the lighter vegetables such as string beans, carrots, lettuce, fresh spinach, and vegetable soups or light soups made of healthy fowls freshly killed, or of the bones and meats of healthy animals very recently slaughtered.
The exact cause of the malnutrition, inanition, under-nourishment, anemia and poor powers of digestion is due to the constant eating of harmful food which continually keeps on lowering the infant’s and child’s resistance and this in turn, intensifies the individual’s common foundation of disease and thus enables it to produce these weaknesses, illnesses or diseases. Hence, in the final analysis, the child’s pronounced common foundation of disease is the principal reason for the malnutrition, anemia, nervousness, sleeplessness, restlessness, etc.
Many very young infants are unable to take nourishment from the mother’s breast. This is another explanation for malnutrition. Frequently it is explained as due to insufficient or poor quality of milk of the mother’s breast. Probably both explanations are right, nevertheless if both child and the mother receive the nasal antisepticizing treatments, in weak strengths, mildly and gently, then the mother will have more and better breast milk and the child will be stronger and be enabled to take the breast.
Quite a large percentage of infants suffering with this so-called malnutrition also have chronic infection of the middle ears and mastoid bone. Many of these infants were operated on for this chronic infection (chronic, purulent infection of the mastoid bone) under the mistaken idea that the infection of the mastoid caused the malnutrition. This system proves with almost mathematical certainty that all mastoid infections are due to the infection in the nose and nasal sinuses spreading to the mastoid bone. Therefore, the proper way in which to cure the mastoid infections is to eradicate the nasal and sinus infection. This can easily and quickly be done by the proper use of the antisepticizing treatments. The rapid recovery of the infant, in every way both as regards the mastoid and ear infection and the malnutrition, under the antisepticizing treatments and without the mastoid operation, proves conclusively that the malnutrition is due to the nasal and sinus infection, and not to the mastoid infection.
A mastoid operation, especially a double mastoid operation, is always a great shock to a sick child. It is much simpler and easier and no shock at all to these patients to give them the antisepticizing treatments very mildly and gently. The mere fact that these little sufferers from malnutrition have infection and pus in their noses and in their mastoid bones shows that they have a common foundation of disease. The mastoid infection is due to the nose infection. It is much easier to cure the mastoid infection through the nose by the gentle use of the antisepticizing treatments as taught herein, than to subject these extremely weak sufferers to the dangerous and serious strain of mastoid operations.
Repeatedly the writer has observed thin, anemic,undernourished children respond surprisingly well to the antisepticizing treatments and to a careful diet such as demanded by this system. In every respect there is a rapid improvement; their appetites improve; they gain weight; color improves nicely; they sleep better; all nervous complaints disappear; and bowels move more freely.
Malnutrition in infants is not due to gastrointestinal disturbances or to chronic purulent mastoiditis. The malnutrition, loss of appetite and starvation is due to a general nasal fossae and nasal sinus infection and lowered oxygen intake a common foundation of disease. These can easily be corrected by the antisepticizing treatments with immediate return in health and to normal of the infants.