The Journal-Lancet, Vol. XXXV, No. 5, March 1, 1915: The Journal of the Minnesota State Medical Association and Official Organ of the North Dakota and South Dakota State Medical AssociationsVarious
Science
The Journal-Lancet, Vol. XXXV, No. 5, March 1, 1915: The Journal of the Minnesota State Medical Association and Official Organ of the North Dakota and South Dakota State Medical Associations
Various
Medicine -- Periodicals
The practice of weaning the baby for trivial reasons has increased in
the last decade, and can be laid largely at the door of the medical
profession. For all practical purposes the only absolute indication
for weaning the baby is open tuberculosis in the mother. For the last
few years I have been making a systematic inquiry at the University
Dispensary and Infant Welfare Stations as to reasons for weaning
young infants; and in nine cases out of ten, the answer has been that
“the milk gave out.” In only a very small proportion of cases has
an ordinarily well-nourished mother insufficient milk; far oftener
the fault lies with the child. Insufficient and late development of
the sucking reflex prevents these infants from completely emptying
the breast, which in time “dries up.” This period can be tided over
by nursing from both breasts, by temporarily increasing the number
of nursings, or temporarily employing “allaitement mixte.” In cases
in which, after long, patient effort the supply of milk is still
insufficient, either supplementary or complementary feeding of cow’s
milk can be given. Where this mixed feeding is employed a minimum
amount of cow’s milk should be given; and the opening in the nipple
should be as small as possible, otherwise the child gets too much cow’s
milk, and with too little effort, and gradually refuses the breast.
Another excuse, and one fostered to some extent by physicians, is, that
certain breast-milks are “poison for the baby.” This has even less
foundation in fact; and here again the fault must be looked for in the
baby rather than in the mother. Outside of certain variations in the
fat-content, all breast-milks are alike in composition. In proof of
this Finkelstein has fed these babies at the breast of tried wet-nurses
with absolutely no benefit, while the children of the wet-nurses would
thrive at the breast of the “poison-milk mother.”
Abscess of both breasts may force a temporary cessation of nursing,
but the breast should be regularly emptied until the inflammation has
subsided; and then the nursing should be re-established. Cracked or
sunken nipples may render nursing impossible, but they do not stop the
flow of milk. In both these latter conditions the milk may be manually
expressed or removed with the breast-pump. In this connection I wish to
recommend the improved Jaschke pump, in which, by means of a releasing
valve, the sucking movements of the child can be very closely imitated.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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