PARTURITION. 
712 
woman refumes the ordinary family-diet, which, if no¬ 
thing unfavourable has occurred, fhe may begin to do 
about the tenth day. 
The diet of a nurfe fhould be fimpie, nutritious, and 
fuch as is eafily digefted. It is an eftablifhed faCt, that, if 
plain and nourifhing, a mother may, with impunity to a 
child, gratify herfelf in any article of food, if the at firft 
habituate her ftomach to it s and it will rarely be found 
that any thing will difagree with an infant which agrees 
with herfelf. 
It is a common prejudice, and a great error, that nurfes 
Ihould “live well,” in the abufed acceptation of the 
words. Nutritious diet is certainly neceflary, but rich 
living renders the milk grofs and indigeftible. It is of 
fome importance that food be taken frequently, and in 
final 1 quantities, as the milk is fecreted in a few hours, 
probably in about five, after the ftomach'receives its nou- 
rifhment. The milk is then fit for the fuftenance of the 
child ; but, if fecreted much longer, it becomes unfit, be- 
caufe the ferum, or thinner parts, become abforbed, and 
thofe parts only which are digefted with more difficulty 
remain in the breaft. 
There is an evil too generally prevalent, and moft per¬ 
nicious in its confequences on individuals and on fociety, 
and by no means confined to mothers in the lowed clafles 
of the community, which cannot be too feverely repro¬ 
bated ;—it is the wretched habit of taking wine or fpirits 
to remove the languor prefent during pregnancv and 
fuckling. It is a practice fraught with double mifchief, 
being detrimental both to mother and child. The relief 
afforded is temporary, and is invariably followed by a 
greater degree of languor, which demands a more pow¬ 
erful ftimuius, which at length weakens,-and eventual iy 
deftroys, the tone of the ftomach, deteriorates the milk, 
and renders it altogether unfit to fupply that nutriment 
which is efTentialtotheexifter.ee and welfare of the child. 
Some young mothers greatly increafe their fatigue in 
fuckling, by the awkward manner in which they place 
their children at the breaft. A woman fhould ufe her 
child to fuch pofitions in giving it fuck as are moft eafy 
to herfelf. If in bed, the child ftiould take the breaft as 
it lies, and not incommode the mother by obliging her to 
fit up in bed ; becaufe, without any benefit to the child, 
the mother’s fatigue is greatly augmented. When up, 
the mother fhould by all means fit upright, and raife the 
child to her breaft. The diftorted pofture fo commonly 
feen in fuckling, produces exceftive pain in the back and 
limbs, without relieving the child in any refpeCt. 
Fretfulnefs, agitation, and violent emotions of the 
mind, invariably do injury to an infant at the breaft. 
The milk becomes vitiated, its fecretion very often dimi- 
niflied, or altogether fufpended, and the little fufferers 
have in many well-authenticated inftances fallen victims 
to the indulgence of thefe pafllons by the nurfe or mo¬ 
ther. Unlefs very peculiarly urgent reafons prohibit, a 
mother Jhonld fvpport her infant on the milk Jhe herfelf Je¬ 
er cUs. It is the dictate of nature, as well as of common 
fenfe and realon. Were it otherwife, it is not probable 
that fo abundant a fupply of fuitable food would be pro¬ 
vided to meet the wants of an infant, when it enters on 
a new ftate of exiftence. It is difficult to eftimate the 
mifchief refulting from infants being deprived of their 
natural noufifhment ; for, however near the refemblance 
may be between food artificially prepared and breaft-milk, 
ftili reafon and obfervation demonftrate the fuperiority 
of the latter to the former. 
No children exhibit fuch unequivocal figns of health, 
or bear up fo well under difeafe, as thofe that live exclu- 
fively on the breaft. Wherever inftinCt and nature are 
permitted to teach, fuch is the courfe w'hich they point 
out 5 and happy would it be for mankind, if parents 
would fo far return to a ftate of nature, as to regulate 
their own diet, and that of their children, by her fimpie 
and falutary dictates. In many parts of the world 
where children attain to the greateft beauty and 
vigour, they are not permitted to have any other nourifh- 
ment but the mother's milk, till they have attained the 
age of twelve months; and fome of the fineft and moft 
robuft children to be feen in this country are thofe that 
are reared in a fimilar manner. And, as a further induce¬ 
ment, it fhould be remembered, that medical men concur 
in their opinion that very rarely does a conftitution fuffer 
from giving fuck; whilft the health of many women is 
moft materially improved by the performance of the du¬ 
ties of a nurfe. Delicate females are generally ftrength- 
ened by nurfing, and many of the complaints incident to 
women are removed by it. Fewer women die whilft 
nurfing than at any other period of life ; and it is a very 
common obfervation that their fpirits are more lively and 
uniform, their tempers milder and more even, and gene¬ 
ral feelings more healthy and pleafant, than under any 
other circumftances. 
A very ferious evil refulting from a woman neglecting 
this imperious duty, is the probability of her becoming 
more frequently pregnant than the conftitution of moft 
females can fuftain without permanent injury. A wo- 
man who fuckles her children, has generally an interval 
of a year and a half, or two years, between each confine¬ 
ment; but (he who, without any adequate caufe for the 
omiftion, does not nurfe, muft expeCt to bear a child 
every twelve months, and muft reconcile her mind to a 
fhattered conftitution and early old age. 
Prefuming that the laudable determination is formed 
to indulge the child with that nutriment which is defign- 
ed for its fupport, it becomes neceflary to ftate, that, un¬ 
lefs very ftrong objections fhould exift, twelve hours Ihould 
never elapfe before the infant has been put to the breads. 
InftinCt direCts it what to do; and the advantages ot al¬ 
lowing it to fuck foon after birth are many and impor¬ 
tant, both to the mother and child. By this commenda¬ 
ble practice, the parent is generally preferved from fever, 
from inflamed and broken breafts, and from the diftreifing 
and alarming confequences refulting from thefe com¬ 
plaints. 
If the breafls fhould not have fecreted milk previous 
to delivery, the aft of fuckling will encourage and expe¬ 
dite the fecretion. Thus the mother will be faved from 
much of the pain connected with diftended breafts. Be- 
fides which, if the infant be not put to the nipple till the 
breafts become full and tenfe, the nipple itfelf will fome- 
times almoft difappear, on account of its being ftretched ; 
and, without much and often ineffectual labour on the 
part of the child, it cannot be laid hold of; and even then 
the pain endured by the mother is exquifitely fevere, and 
not unfrequently the caufe of fore nipples. 
It mult be admitted that fome mothers cannot fuckle 
their infants. Still it fhould be attempted, unlefs it is 
altogether impoflible ; for, though a woman may not be 
able to perfevere for any confiderable time, yet fuckling, 
if but for three or four weeks, may avert thofe local 
and general complaints which have been before named. 
Many nurfes are too often difeouraged when children are 
awkward in taking the breaft, or when the nipples are 
flat and fore : but not unfrequently, if the mother has 
but refolution to make the attempt, fhe will be able to 
fuckle, though fhe may have been foiled in two or three, 
or more, previous confinements. Conquejl, 173-182. 
Females are fubjeCt to what is called the milk-ubfeefs 
during the whole period of fuckling, but they are more 
efpecially liable to be affeCted with it immediately after 
delivery ; and it is to the abfeefs which is wont to occur 
at this particular time that our remarks will be confined. 
The character of this abfeefs is phlegmonous, more or lefs ; 
and its formation in the breaft is attended by the fame 
phenomena as the formation of phlegmonous abfeefs in 
any other part of the body. On the fecond or third day 
after delivery, when a copious fecretion of milk has be¬ 
gun, the attack commences, and is marked by fullnefs, 
general tenfion with more or lefs liardnefs, and an un- 
eafy fenfe of weight in one or other of the breafts: thefe 
6 fymptoms 
