The care of the MOTHER’S BREASTS is important. Before the milk is abundantly secreted, she should not be fretted by very frequent ineffectual attempts at nursing, though it may be necessary to draw out the nipple by means of a breast pump. The milk should be drawn out when the breasts become full and distended, and they should not be allowed to remain hard and sore. Apply fomentations; cabbage leaves, wilted in hot vinegar and water, or warm solution of carbolic acid, one part to eighty. If they continue to be swelled and painful use F. 221, 223. It may be necessary to make gentle pressure upon them by means of strips of adhesive plaster, or by a sort of jacket or bandage, that should be prepared especially for the purpose. When the breasts are closely bandaged they should be supported on each side by pads of cotton, so that the pressure will be made equally upon them. Delay in applying the child to the breasts is often a cause of swelled breasts. After it has been fed for a few days it may refuse to nurse, and if it does nurse the nipple may be quite tender. But, unless for some cause the secretion is to be checked, the effort should be made every two hours to induce the child to draw. You will be more successful in these efforts if you can reduce the heat and swelling. Rub the breasts every four hours with good, warm olive oil, vaseline, or camphorated oil, and keep the excoriated nipple thickly coated with sub-nitrate of bismuth. The breast should be rubbed, and the child should be nursed regularly, although I do not advise that the child or the mother should be roused from their slumbers; it is better to delay for awhile the usual effort. But, even at first, a child can be nursed with considerable regularity every hour and a half during the day, and twice during the night; and it should be applied alternately to either breast, even if it seems to prefer one to the other. It is often necessary to wash the breast and nipple with warm water, and dry it with a soft napkin, before applying the babe. During all the time that the mother nurses the child, the MIND OF THE MOTHER exerts an influence on the latter through her milk. If the mother’s mind is very much disturbed by any apprehensions, fears or anxieties, these perturbations will not only be likely to check the flow of milk, but will alter its quality, and perhaps render it hurtful and dangerous to the infant. The nurse should guard the patient as much as possible from anything causing nervous agitation, fretting, anger, grief, fear, sudden terror, or great anxiety, as these are injurious to the mother, and may be harmful and fatal to the child. Equanimity and cheerfulness of mind on the part of the mother are important at any period of her pregnancy or nursing. I will now give more particular directions in regard to THE CARE OF THE CHILD.