Role of mother’s history in homoeopathy

Dr Prasoon Choudhary
Dr Kanchan Rathore

ABSTRACT
Upto a certain age group children are unable to explain what they are suffering from and what they are feeling, they are dependent on their mother for everything.While dealing with these paediatric cases we get few subjective symptoms and in some cases, we are unable to get any subjective symptoms of the patient. In Homoeopathic case taking we consider the mother’s history along with the child’s history. By taking this history and combining both we get the miasm of the child and the cause of disturbance of vital force of the child which is responsible for several congenital diseases and other diseases by birth. This helps us to arrive at a correct constitutional prescription.

Here in this article, we have tried to explain the importance of mother’s history and how the environment around a mother before, during and after pregnancy affects the child. We have also attempted to explain how homoeopathy can help in dealing with these cases. This article also gives an idea for further research to be done for preventing the congenital diseases which have been increasing worldwide since many years due to poor maternal and child care.

KEYWORDS – Mother’s history, pediatric case taking, congenital diseases, pregnancy, environment, homoeopathy

INTRODUCTION
In recent decades, the world has made significant progress reducing newborn and maternal deaths. Between 1990 and 2018, the newborn mortality rate was almost halved – from 37 to 18 deaths per 1,000 live births. From 2000 to 2017, the global maternal mortality rate fell by nearly 38 per cent.But newborns and mothers – including adolescent mothers – are still dying in unacceptably large numbers – mostly from preventable or treatable causes, such as infectious diseases and complications during pregnancy or childbirth. ^[1]

Uneven access to affordable, high-quality health care and services impedes many countries from improving maternal and newborn survival and reducing stillbirths. A significant proportion of maternal and newborn deaths occurs in settings of conflict or displacement.^[2]

This article gives an idea how most of the illnesses seen in a child in the initial few years of his life are directly or indirectly linked to the mother’s physical and emotional states during conception,pregnancy and various inquiries. ^[3]

For many pediatric problems, the history of the child is the most important single factor in making a proper assessment. ^[1] It includes the history of the mother before, during and after pregnancy and the history of the child after birth. The mother’s basic personality, her intention to become pregnant, the environment surrounding her during pregnancy, including any effects of bad news or events on her state of mind must be considered.

Her feelings and state of mind during pregnancy and labor,any history of injury during pregnancy and labor, any medical problem like prenatal or postnatal complication.Whether the mother has attempted to abort it, her socioeconomic and cultural background, her immediate feeling on hearing or seeing the baby following the completion of labor. Her feelings while she is breast feeding. These things may directly or indirectly affect the child. ^[3]

MATERNAL STRESS FACTORS AFFECTING THE EMOTIONAL MAKEUP OF CHILD

External stress factors

• Emotional stress during pregnancy – stress of raising child,fear of having a deformed baby,depression,anxiety and worry about childbirth
• Relationship with husband – coordination and stress between husband and wife and the way she handles this stress affects the child
• Relationship with other family members – her feeling in family with inlaws affects the child
• Attitude of close friends and relatives -any stress or feeling of guilt in any relation may affect the mother will indirectly affect the child
• Economic status of family -financial stress in family affects the development of the child

Internal stress factors

• Not wanting a baby at all – unwanted child feeling in mother develops negative feeling in babies psyche
• Not wanting a baby at that time – If the child is conceived at an inconvenient time probably interfering with their educational,vocational or social plans or shortly after marriage or the birth of another child or because of economic problems in the family and the husband blames the wife for being careless she could feel guilty about not preventing the unwanted pregnancy.Guilt,remorse,shame and similar feelings in the mother can go down a long way in affecting the in vitro child
• Strong desire to have misscarriage or abortion – many family members and relatives have a strong preferences for sex of the child to be.If the child is not of the sex they wanted, their disappointment often leads to rejected feeling.
• Wanting to have a miscarriage or abortion – when a child is unwanted,parents may secretly hope for miscarriage or they may contemplate an abortion.If a child’s life is ended by miscarriage or an abortion, they may feel guilty and carry over an unhealthy attitude toward subsequent children. If a miscarriage or abortion fails they are likely to express their guilt by becoming over-protective of the child as a form of compensation.
• Scorn for the child – Relatives,neighbours,or friends of family may develop attitude of scorn if the child is intelligent,the product of an inter-racial or inter-faith marriage,or if there is some stigma associated with mother’s and father’s side of family such as insanity,chronic alcoholism,drug addiction. These unfavourable social attitudes, expressed by outsiders, may make the parents overprotective as a form of compensation, or it may make them feel rejected.^[4]

 WHEN SHOULD WE CONSIDER MOTHERS HISTORY IN A CASE

• When maternal stress has been persistent
• If there is a very severe (unexplained) pathology right from the birth.Then,it seems the maternal stress must have influenced the child e.g. Congenital Disorders,Tumors,Cancers,Juvenile arthritis, juvenile diabetes etc.
• If the child resembles the father, then the father’s mental makeup and tension just before conception has to be considered

TIME OF UNFAVOURABLE CONDITIONS

• If the unfavourable conditions occur in the first few months of pregnancy which is the critical time of development in prenatal life then there are chances of developmental abnormalities and improper organ formation.If the mother takes alcohol or any drugs or experiences extreme stress or trauma then it leads to damage to the brain leading to difficulty in learning mathematics or may lead to schizophrenia in child when he grows to adult above 40 years.
• Prolonged emotional stress during the early part of pregnancy may cause hyperactivity of the adrenal gland of the mother leading to increased supply of hydrocortisone hormone . If this happens during the early part of pregnancy, it is likely to cause congenital anomalies and may cause mental retardation.^[3]
• During the 3-4th month of pregnancy there are chances of developing rubella or german measles if contracted there are chances of development of cataract , congenital anomalies of the heart.
• In the 4th month of pregnancy if the mother does not eat a varieties of food there are chances that the baby born may become a fussy eater and may show poor signs of development.It may also lead to obesity, heart problems, diabetes,failure to thrive.
• During the 5th month there is little or no effect of an unfavourable environment on the unborn child but if it continues for a long time it causes serious constitutional problems.^[5]

HOW TO INCLUDE MOTHERS HISTORY INTO THE CHILD’S HISTORY

• After the case taking is performed the details taken from mother about her pregnancy the feeling of the mother during that period must be considered eg. If the mother has a feeling of insecurity during pregnancy that must be considered during the process of repertorisation of case of the child and final similimum must be selected.

ROLE OF HOMOEOPATHY IN HEALING THE CHILD
Any psychological disturbance of mother during pregnancy and any sign of toxaemia of pregnancy or any other untoward complication in spite of proper antenatal care must immediately be treated with suitable anti-miasmatic drugs. if the foetus is genetically diseased or receives some hereditary disease dyscrasia from his parents, no amount of antenatal care, nutrition to the expected mother or hygienic precautions can make the child born healthy unless the hereditary dyscrasia is removed by constitutional, anti miasmatic treatment of the mother during pregnancy.

The best procedure in such cases is to treat the parents for their constitutional disturbances before they expected to have a child.Besides disease dyscrasia, many factors related to pregnancy may influence the growth and development of the fetus and thereby affect the

health of the newborn that should be brought to the knowledge of expected mother and family must be made aware about it in order to take proper care .^[6]

MOTHER’S TREATMENT AND PURIFICATION OF FETUS WITH HOMOEOPATHIC REMEDIES FOR PREVENTING TRANSFER OF MIASM FROM MOTHER TO BABY ^[7]

It’s advisable to give the mother Sulphur 30 (ANTIPSORIC) two globules and allow it to act for six weeks after which a dose of Calcarea Carbonica 30 (ANTISYCOTIC) is allowed to act for six weeks. Applicable to all cases and has the effect of purifying the fetus from psoric traits. H/o of skin disease in parents–two doses of sulphur 200 (ANTIPSORIC)at the intervals of two months and after the same interval one dose of 1 M potency to the mother.

In cases where mothers are suffering from venereal disease, two doses of Mercurius Solubilis 200 (ANTISYPHILITIC) and one dose of its 10 M potency must be given .To counteract the syphilitic miasm affecting the child, Syphilinum 30 every 15 days and Mercurius Solubilis 6C daily in the morning throughout the pregnancy until the child sucks the mothers breast. One dose of Mercurius Solubilis 6C to the child if in spite of the above child wasting.The administration of this treatment is a course of the five miasmatic doses – given to the Mother during her pregnancy. The oral doses are administered over a period of four to six months.

By administering one dose of each of the miasms:

1.  Psora

2.  Syphilitic

3. Sycosis

4.  Tubercula

5.  Cancer

Over the period of the pregnancy, the foetus is being prepared to deal with these specific illnesses, after birth. The following table refers to our character traits that we exhibit and the disease that manifests in certain illness. The human being with his self consciousness goes beyond animal. He can think, he can imagine, can voluntarily remember, act freely, can be creatively active, etc. The miasmatic progression of disease, and illness is as follows :

Miasmatic Table
Progression of Disease	Psora The itch	Syphilitic Destruction	Sycosis Over production	Tubercular Changing	Cancer Lack control	HIV & Aids
Character traits	Highs & Lows Delusion Anxiety, Fears	Pessimistic Sudden Despair Violent	Cannot trust Secretive Jealous & Tense	Dissatisfaction Lack tolerance Changes	Resentful Despair & Hopelessness	Self destruction
Manifestation of illness	Main action on the skin	Ulceration & Destruction of tissue. Disorder &  deformities	Growth like warts. Attack on internal organs	Respiratory imbalance.	Tumours.  Growths	Immune compromised

CONCLUSION
This topic thus concludes that in order to have a healthy baby the pregnant lady and the environment around her before, during and after pregnancy must be taken care of. Along with proper diet and rest, she must be given proper emotional support and care. Also giving proper anti miasmatic homoeopathic medicine during her conception period would help her to give birth to a healthy baby free from any inborn disease. Thus preventing newborn diseases and improving our future generations.

REFERENCES

1. Google Books. 2021. Current Pediatric Diagnosis & Treatment. [online] Available at: <https://books.google.com/books/about/Current_Pediatric_Diagnosis_Treatment.html?id=HqMiGyGDSJQC> [Accessed 27 October 2021].
2. Google.com. 2021. maternal and newborn health. [online] Available at: <https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjaja61kqr0AhWDX3wKHQpKDUUQFnoECCgQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.unicef.org%2Fhealth%2Fmaternal-and-newborn-health&usg=AOvVaw3It6vmfJvCTKUUTLv76U4e> [Accessed 21 November 2021].
3. Narayana-verlag.com. 2021. CLINICAL OBSERVATIONS ON CHILDREN REMEDIES. [online] Available at: <https://www.narayana-verlag.com/homeopathy/pdf/Clinical-Observations-of-Children-s-Remedies-Farokh-J-Master.03241_1.pdf> [Accessed 27 October 2021].
4. 2021. The lady’s manual of homoeopathic treatment in the various derangements incident to her sex – NLM Catalog – NCBI. [online] Available at: <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nlmcatalog/100958883> [Accessed 22 October 2021]jain, D., 2021.
5. essentials on paediatrics. [online] Facebook.com. Available at: <https://www.amazon.in/Essentials-Pediatrics-Pravin-Paperback-PRAVIN/dp/B091D55MP2/ref=sr_1_8?dchild=1&qid=1635327179&refinements=p_27%3APravin+Jain&s=books&sr=1-8> [Accessed 15 October 2021].
6. Homeopathy Resource by Homeobook.com. 2021. Homeobook- Everything on Homoeopathy. [online] Available at: <https://www.homeobook.com/> [Accessed 27 October 2021].
7. Google.com.2022.[online]Available at: <https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source =web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjEhP2F-Z71AhW8jdgFHYRGCKsQFnoECAMQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.homeobook.com%2Fantenatal-care-and-homoeopathy%2F&usg=AOvVaw0CR3sgfAiP3A5eeT_H4K7H> [Accessed 7 January 2022]

Dr Prasoon Choudhary
HOD of Department Of Pediatrics, Dr Mpk Homoeopathic Medical College Hospital and Research Centre (Under Homoeopathy University) Jaipur, Rajasthan.

Dr Kanchan Rathore
PG Scholar Department Of Pediatrics, Dr Mpk Homoeopathic Medical College Hospital Research Centre (Under Homoeopathy University) Jaipur, Rajasthan.