The maternal management of children, in health and diseaseBull, Thomas
Science
The maternal management of children, in health and disease
Bull, Thomas
Child care
To the infant at the breast.
At the period of weaning.
And to the infant brought up by hand.
1. TO THE INFANT AT THE BREAST.
UNHEALTHY MILK.--The infant's stomach and bowels may become deranged
from the breast-milk becoming unwholesome.
This may arise from the parent getting out of health, a circumstance
which will be so manifest to herself, and to those more immediately
interested in her welfare, that it is only necessary just to allude to
it here. Suffice it to say, that there are many causes of a general
kind to which it may owe its origin; but that the most frequent is
undue lactation, a subject to which reference has already been made,
and the effects both upon mother and child fully dwelt upon.[FN#31] To
cure derangement of the bowels from this cause, a wet-nurse is the
only remedy.
[FN#31] See page 15.
Anxiety of mind in the mother will cause her milk to be unhealthy in
its character, and deficient in quantity, giving rise to flatulence,
griping, and sometimes even convulsions in the infant.[FN#32] A fit of
passion in the nurse will frequently be followed by a fit of bowel
complain in the child.[FN#33] These causes of course are temporary, and
when removed the milk becomes a healthy and sufficient for the child as
before.
[FN#32] See page 25.
[FN#33] See page 33.
Sudden and great mental disturbance, however, will occasionally drive
away the milk altogether, and in a few hours. A Mrs. S., aet. 21, a
fine healthy woman, of a blonde complexion, was confined of a boy in
October, 1836. She had a good time, and a plentiful supply of milk for
the child, which she continued to suckle till the following January, a
period of three months, when her milk suddenly disappeared. This
circumstance puzzled the medical attendant, for he could not trace it
to any physical ailment; but the milk never returned, and a wet-nurse
became necessary. In the following spring the husband of this lady
failed, an adversity which had been impending since the date when the
breast-milk disappeared, upon which day the deranged state of the
husband's affairs was made known to the wife,--a fact which at once
explained the mysterious disappearance of the milk.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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