antique peds nursing text

[Clovery]

Someone gave me a pediatric nursing textbook that was published in 1925. I'm doing my peds rotation now and it's amazing how much things have changed! I was flipping through it tonight and came across a section called "Unfortunate Habits" and there was a big section on masturbation. It actually recommended putting children as young as infants in restraints for the course of a couple of weeks to stop them from touching their genitals. For older boys, it suggested restraining the hands and holding the legs apart with metal rods with rings that go around the thighs every night! They said that there's no way to reason with children that this is WRONG and they should be restrained as long as it takes to break the habit. If necessary, the nurse should stand there and watch them until they fall asleep to ensure it doesn't happen! And this was a legitimate text, published by Saunders, the same company that publishes the popular NCLEX guide.

I haven't had much time to look through most of it yet, but there is all kinds of interesting things in there... Like I guess back then they had a "milk laboratory" where the nurse would make infant formulas in the hospital by boiling down cow's milk and adding sugar and stuff to it. They also had no idea what caused common diseases like chicken pox.

Just thought I'd share - I was pretty shocked by some of the stuff in there! If anyone wants to know what it says about anything in particular, let me know and I will look it up and post it.

[Sanuk]

I LOVE old nursing texts and have a little collection. It's fascinating - and yes, sometimes horrifying - to read about practices that were in vogue throughout history. Every used book store, I look for a new one to add. I don't have any peds ones - that's pretty interesting. And strange. Glad we're not responsible for masturbation patrol anymore.

[talaxandra]

I used to love going through my mother's training texts from the 1950's, particularly the photos of contagious diseases - thank heaven for vaccinations!

Reading your example, and some of the WTH? passages from those books make me wonder what current commonly accepted practices will be read about with amused horror 80 years from now.

[llg, PhD, RN]

I also love old nursing textbooks. Thanks for sharing.

[Hospice Nurse LPN, BSN, RN]

Thanks for sharing. I, also, love reading through the old textbooks.

[SunshineDaisy, ASN, RN]

Huh, I might have to dig around for some old nursing books!

[caliotter3]

I had a few from my first go around in the early 70s. What amazed me the most was the physical quality of the text itself and the bookstore price tag still attached that said $9 or $12!!!!. Imagine paying $9 for a hardbound text in this day and age!