Tokology : $b A book for every womanStockham, Alice B. (Alice Bunker)
Science
Tokology : $b A book for every woman
Stockham, Alice B. (Alice Bunker)
Women -- Health and hygiene
Many are prejudiced against graham gruel, yet it has been proven that
most women relish it better than anything else after labor. In the Home
of the Friendless, Leavenworth, Kan., are many cases of confinement
every year. Almost universally the inmates are prejudiced against
graham in any form, and rarely taste it before confinement. A former
matron had been a nurse in a Water Cure. Invariably she brought a bowl
of graham gruel to the mother a few hours after delivery. She never
had one express any repugnance to it. On the contrary, they would say,
“That tastes good;” “That goes right to the spot;” “Can any one eat too
much of anything that is so good?” and similar expressions, showing
that there was an actual relish for the dish. The gruel should be made
thin at first, and without cream or milk. After a few days it can be
made thick like mush, and eaten with fruit or cream and sugar. New
milk, wheatlet, cracked wheat, barley, oatmeal, graham gems, fruit,
etc., can be added to the diet as desired.
_There is no need of milk fever._ Women have been led to expect more or
less constitutional disturbance accompanying the advent of the milk.
With the bathing and diet recommended above, even if she has not had
the best conditions during pregnancy, one hardly realizes any change
in the system at that time. When patients were fed on brandy panada,
wine whey, strong tea, and beef broth, were kept in unventilated rooms,
deprived of water externally and internally, and besides were poisoned
with drugs, it is no wonder they had milk fever, and were liable to
other post partum diseases.
The child should be placed to the breast several times a day, even if
there seems to be no milk. The act of nursing stimulates secretion,
prevents engorgement, and from sympathetic relation causes uterine
contractions. When the breasts become filled and are knotty and tender,
bathe them in hot water and have them drawn. If the child does not
empty them sufficiently, the nurse or some member of the family should
do it. This is better than a breast pump, and can be easily done by
remembering to lap the tongue around the nipple until it meets the
upper lip.
The old tradition used to be that a woman, on no account, must leave
her bed before the _ninth day_. No matter how well she felt, the
nine days must be spent in bed. There is no positive rule. One must
be guided by her strength. Probably few women can expect to be about
before four or five days. The cases where they can leave their beds
earlier than that are exceptional.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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