In thinking over the period of lactation, as a whole, it is apparent that the most valuable service which the nurse can offer to the nursing mother, is assistance in planning and living a simple, normal, tranquil life; helping her to eat, sleep, bathe, and exercise and to nurse her baby with unfailing regularity—all for the sake of providing her baby with adequate nourishment. This must be the chief end and aim of her existence. Normal breast-milk is the ideal baby food and there is no entirely satisfactory substitute. It greatly increases the baby’s chances of living through the first year, and protects him from many diseases. Quite evidently, breast-feeding is every baby’s right and the nurse can and should help him to secure it. CHAPTER XVII NUTRITION OF THE MOTHER AND HER BABY The importance of providing the expectant and nursing mother with suitable food has been stressed so insistently in the preceding pages, that it is advisable to explain to the nurse the reason for these recommendations, in regard to certain groups of foods, and thus make clear why a young mother may eat a large amount of food and have an adequate amount of breast milk, and yet fail to nourish her baby satisfactorily. The following material is available in these pages through the interest and generosity of Dr. E. V. McCollum and Miss Nina Simmonds, Professor and Assistant Professor of Chemical Hygiene, School of Hygiene and Public Health, Johns Hopkins University. This information is the result of many years of research and experimentation on many thousands of laboratory animals and of observations upon human beings as well. Dr. McCollum and Miss Simmonds offer the fruits of their labors to obstetrical nurses, in the belief that they are in a peculiarly favorable position to aid in improving the nutritional state of the coming generation. In order that such a discussion may not seem irrelevant to obstetrical nursing, the nurse must remind herself anew, that the object of obstetrics to-day is not only to carry a woman safely through childbirth, but to give her such care from the beginning of pregnancy that she and the baby shall emerge from this experience, not merely alive, but well and vigorous and with every prospect of continuing to be so. It is the acknowledged obligation of those engaged in obstetrical work to strive toward improving the health of the race at its source—the health of the mothers and babies. Malnourished mothers and malnourished babies do not develop a hardy race. It is probably safe to say that the two most influential factors in creating and maintaining a satisfactory state of health are suitable nutrition and prevention of infection; and although we shall concern ourselves solely with nutrition in this chapter, it should be stated in passing that a state of good nutrition goes far toward protecting the individual from infection.