Library

The viscera and bowels of infants are weak, and their bones and limbs have not yet fully developed; therefore, it is fundamentally inappropriate to administer medication lightly. The flavors and properties of herbal medicines are not pure, and the nature of mineral and metallic substances is even more aggressive and harsh, which is inherently unsuitable for those with tender and fragile spleen and stomach (Spleen and Stomach). Moreover, inquiry and pulse-taking cannot be entirely accurate, making it difficult to precisely locate the disease. One must rely on observing facial color to trace the pathology, examine carefully, and thereby ascertain the location and severity of the disease, applying treatment based on long-term clinical experience. A difference of a hair's breadth leads to an error of a thousand miles; how easily can medication be administered? Crude and ignorant individuals, lacking understanding of physiology and pathology, cannot distinguish between deficiency and excess, cold and heat. It is hardly possible for them to identify symptoms without error or prescribe medication without mistake. Therefore, whenever minor ailments occur, parents should never panic or become anxious. If the nursing mother strictly avoids greasy, meat-based, and alcoholic foods, ensuring her milk remains clear and harmonious, the infant ingesting this milk will first benefit from this clarity and harmony in the intestines and stomach. Consequently, the infant's resistance power will immediately recover. Within two or three days, minor pathological factors will heal naturally without medication. As the saying goes: "Not using medicine is the mark of a superior physician"; this statement is truly profound. It is common to see people in markets who do not understand physiology, believing only that medicine cures diseases while unaware that medicine can also exacerbate them. When an infant occasionally shows signs of lethargy, they hastily seek medical help and medication. If the physician is experienced and adept, misdiagnosis may be avoided; however, incompetent doctors, confident in their own wrong views, often use general resolving agents or wind-dispelling convulsion remedies. This creates disease where none existed, harming the innocent body, and actually aggravating the condition. Seeing no improvement, parents inevitably change doctors repeatedly. Such rashness makes it unlikely to encounter skilled practitioners. Instead, there is only arbitrary speculation, attributing symptoms to wind, phlegm, fright, or heat. Before the effects of the previous medication have spread, subsequent medications follow. Cold and heat-inducing drugs are indiscriminately administered in a chaotic manner. Sometimes, multiple physicians are consulted daily, each offering subjective theories, with drugs of differing natures stacked upon one another without delay. How can an infant survive such treatment? Alas! Drug properties vary, and insights differ. How can delicate intestines and stomach withstand these ruthless drug flavors causing turmoil within the abdomen? Without the disease itself harming the person, medication alone can cause death. Furthermore, the constitution of infants differs from that of fully mature adults; infants' bodies tend toward both excess and deficiency. By "deficiency," we mean that righteous qi (Zheng Qi) easily becomes deficient; by "excess," we mean that pathogenic factors easily become excessive. However, the excess formed by pathogens necessarily takes advantage of the deficiency of righteous qi. If one ignores the deficiency of righteous qi and solely pursues the excess of pathogens, few will avoid failure. For example, cold damages Ying (Nutritive) level; thus, one should only warm and nourish the Yin-Ying. Wind damages Wei (Defensive) level; thus, one should only use pungent methods to regulate Wei-Qi. By ensuring the harmony and free circulation of Ying and Wei, external pathogens will dissipate without direct attack. Allowing the innate resistance of the body to self-defend and expel pathogens results in the retreat of pathogens and the peace of righteous qi. As minor pathological signs in infants subside, health is naturally restored. Therefore, pharmacological treatment requires careful and detailed examination. Medication should only be selected if it is impossible to cure the disease without drugs, and even then, only those with mild potency and minimal damage to Qi and Blood should be used. Otherwise, abstaining from medication is preferable, waiting for the body's natural response and acquiring innate resistance. Although this may lack significant efficacy, it prevents lingering complications.