Be Happy! Why Worry ?

Breastfeeding

A specific nursing plan must be followed from the moment the baby is placed to the breast. This is absolutely crucial for the child's well-being and will primarily help to maintain the parent's health, making her an excellent caregiver who will also like her work.

This does, however, imply that the mother must pay close attention to her own health because her child's health is largely dependent on it. 

Milk that is nutritious, wholesome, and easily digested can only be obtained from a healthy parent. It defies logic to assume that a mother who harms her digestion and health due to poor food, inactivity, or contaminated air can still give her child a fluid that is as pure and wholesome as if she had paid close attention to these crucial details. Every time the nurse becomes indispositional, the baby could be impacted.

This prompts me to note that it is a frequent misconception that a woman who is nursing should have a very full life and include wine, porter, or other fermented liquor in her regular diet. 

All that this approach accomplishes is to introduce an artificial level of fulness into the system, putting the nurse at risk of illness and often stopping rather than increasing milk flow.

The proper course of action is quite obvious: just pay heed to the standard laws of health, and if the mother has a strong constitution, she will make a better nurse than by any stupid deviance based on ignorance and whimsy.

 

The example that follows demonstrates that this assertion is accurate : 

A young woman, in excellent health and confinement with her first child, departed the lying-in room at the end of the third week. 

She briefly experienced minor issues with her nipples, but they were quickly resolved.

 

The porter system was now started, and in the next four and twenty hours, people drank from a pint to a pint and a half of this beverage. This was done not because there wasn't enough milk available for the baby, who was eating well, but rather because the nurse informed her that it was customary and required and that without it, her milk and strength would soon run out.

Following this plan for a few days caused the mother to become lethargic and inclined to sleep during the day; headache, thirst, hot skin, and fever actually subsided; the amount of milk decreased; and the infant's stomach and bowels became disturbed for the first time. After corrective action was recommended and the porter was told to stop, the child's and parent's symptoms eventually disappeared and their health returned..

 

She had been drinking a glass or two of wine and sometimes a tumbler of table beer before becoming a mother, so she was told to stick to her previous dietary plan exactly, but to add half a pint of barley milk every morning and evening. Throughout the remainder of the nursing period, the infant and parent remained in perfect condition, and the latter did not encounter artificial food until the ninth month, as the mom's milk was adequate to meet its needs.

 

There's no denying that the evil in this instance originated with the porter. 

The patient arrived in the lying-in room in excellent health, enjoyed herself, and left the chamber (relatively) just as strong as when she entered. Since she had an abundant supply of milk and her constitution had not been weakened by repeated childbearing and nursing, she was perfectly capable of handling the responsibilities that now fell to her without the need for any exceptional stimulants or support. Her prior behaviors were completely at odds with the strategy that was implemented; as a result, her body overflowed, her illness developed, and the outcome she experienced was predictable.

The six-month plan will be implemented. The newborn must be fed on a little thin gruel or on one-third water and two-thirds milk, sweetened with loaf sugar until the breast milk is properly established, which may not occur until the second or third day after delivery (nearly always so in the first confinement).

After this point, the newborn must only get nutrition from the breast, and the mother's hunger must determine how often to supply the breast for the next seven or ten days. 

Since the stomach is weak and has not yet become used to eating, its needs are easily met at birth but are often refilled. However, it takes a while for the little that is eaten to be digested before the appetite returns and demands more.

After a week or so, it becomes imperative—and for some babies, safely—to nurse the baby every three to four hours throughout the day. 

This gives the baby enough time to digest each meal and helps to maintain a healthy gastrointestinal tract. 

Consistency in feeding the baby also helps to reduce anxiety and the persistent crying that seems to have no relief other than nursing the baby all the time. However, a new mother often makes a serious mistake in this regard.

in particular, taking into account any sign of discomfort as a sign of hunger and, even though it may not have been ten minutes since its last feeding, giving the baby the breast anytime it screams. 

This is a harmful and even dangerous practice because it causes the food to remain undigested, upset the child's digestive system, make it restless and feverish, and possibly even cause it to die. 

All of these problems could have been avoided if the baby had only been nursed according to the above guidelines, which would have kept it healthy and active.

For the same reason, it is forbidden to let an infant sleep with its parent's nipple in its mouth the entire night. 

If it is nursed as advised, it will be observed to wake up very regularly as the time for its meal draws near. 

When it comes to night breastfeeding, I would advise nursing the baby until as late as ten p.m. and then holding it till five a.m. 

the following day. Numerous women have embraced this tip, greatly benefiting from it for their personal health and not in the slightest for their children. With the latter, though, it takes early instruction to establish the habit.

It is necessary to follow the above schedule exactly through the sixth month.

If the mother has an ample supply of nutritious milk once the child reaches the sixth month of life and the child appears to be doing well on it, there is no need to alter the child's diet at that point. 

If not, the infant can be fed twice a day, with the type of food selected based on what is most agreeable after a short trial—a situation that will all too often occur even before the child reaches the sixth month.