Obstetrical Nursing: A Text-Book on the Nursing Care of the Expectant Mother, the Woman in Labor, the Young Mother and Her BabyVan Blarcom, Carolyn Conant
Science
Obstetrical Nursing: A Text-Book on the Nursing Care of the Expectant Mother, the Woman in Labor, the Young Mother and Her Baby
Van Blarcom, Carolyn Conant
Infants -- Care; Maternity nursing; Pregnancy
Fresh air during the day and open windows at night; prudent eating; a
comfortable bed furnished with warm but light bedding; warm baths; a hot
water bag to the feet and a hot drink upon retiring are all conducive to
sleep.
But in addition to these, and perhaps of even more import, are
cheerfulness and a tranquil, untroubled state of mind. It is well for
the nurse to make a mental note of that intangible but influential fact,
for she can usually exert a great deal of influence in shaping her
patient’s or patients’ moods.
BREASTS.—Breast feeding is the most urgent single need of the baby, for
whose coming we are making preparation, and practically every mother,
excepting those with definite physical disability, can supply this need
of her baby’s, if she gives herself proper care both before and after
its birth. It is true, that everything that promotes her general health
helps to prepare her to nurse the baby, but there is need also for care
of the breasts and nipples themselves, to make the nursing satisfactory,
and to prevent sore nipples and possibly even breast abscesses.
Briefly, this local care consists of supporting heavy breasts, but
avoiding pressure; bringing out flat or retracted nipples and toughening
the skin which covers the nipples.
After they become heavy and uncomfortable the breasts may be supported
by brassieres, which are snug below the breasts, loose over the breasts
themselves and suspended from shoulder straps; or by some such binder as
is shown in Figs. 34, 35, and 36, which answers the same purpose.
If the patient’s nipples are flat or retracted, she should begin about
the fifth month to make them more prominent in order that the baby may
grasp them easily. There are several ways of accomplishing this, all of
them in the nature of massage, but whatever is done must be done
regularly and persistently. One simple and effective method is to grasp
the nipple between the thumb and forefinger, draw it out, hold it for a
moment, then release it and allow it to retract. This should be done
over and over, two or three times daily. Or the unstoppered opening of a
warm bottle may be placed over a flat nipple and held in place until the
nipple is drawn up into the neck of the bottle as it cools and forms a
vacuum.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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