Remarks on the Subject of Lactation | Page 3

embryo, in
consequence, languishes and dies, and, becoming an extraneous body,
is thrown off, producing abortion; while, on the other hand, should the
womb still obtain its due proportion of blood, the breasts are robbed of
it, and the secretion of milk, if not altogether suppressed, is rendered
either deficient in quantity or deteriorated in quality.
Finally, the breast-milk may become depraved and injurious by the
process of lactation being continued too long, a practice which is,
unfortunately, in this, as well as other countries, extensively prevalent.
I have not yet had an opportunity of examining the breast-milk in these
diseased conditions except by the eye, and that rarely--but even this
slight examination has enabled me to state, that it was greatly altered
from its natural condition;--that it was more fluid than usual, and
changed in colour, resembling a yellowish turbid serum, instead of
displaying its well-known bluish hue.
I propose in future to attend carefully to this subject, and I would beg
leave to recommend it as one well worthy the notice of those members
of our profession who have made animal chemistry a particular study,
having no doubt that they would be able, by a series of accurate
experiments upon the breast-milk at different periods after delivery,
and under various conditions of the mother, to collect many interesting
and important facts--such, perhaps, as would tend very materially to
augment our knowledge of pathology, and improve our practice in the
treatment of certain diseases[C].

We cannot but believe that the Supreme Being has done nothing
without an infinitely wise and good object, and it is obviously our
interest, no less than our duty, to be guided by those indications of the
Divine purpose which are distinctly to be traced throughout the
creation.
It must appear evident to all who examine the matter in question, that
the infant was intended to be nourished for the first few months of its
existence through the medium of a fluid; because no teeth are provided
to prepare for its use substances of a more solid description; and there
can be no doubt that this fluid is the mother's milk;--but when the child
has attained a certain age the teeth begin to appear, doubtless at the
precise time when they are meant to be used; and, therefore, more solid
food should now be given. Besides, in consequence of its new
acquisition, the child sucks less perfectly than before, an additional
proof that weaning ought at this period to be commenced. Indeed, the
teeth are calculated indirectly to produce this effect themselves, the
mother being now liable to suffer inconvenience by letting the child
take the breast--for the latter bites instead of sucking the nipple, and the
pain hence arising may, perhaps, induce the former, for her own sake,
to discontinue a practice injurious to both.
It must also be remembered, that when the teeth are usually produced,
the milk loses its nutritious properties, and this too at a time when the
infant from his increasing size must evidently require a more solid and
substantial, rather than a thinner and less nourishing diet. What rational
argument, therefore, can be offered why he should still be suckled? If
we observe the brute creation, do any analogies appear by which we
can defend the propriety in the human species of protracted suckling?
by no means:--on the contrary, we find that the female animals soon
drive away their young from their dugs; and what is, perhaps, still more
to the purpose, I have heard stated, on good authority, as a well-known
fact among the breeders of cattle, that if calves be allowed to suck
beyond a few months they do not thrive, but, on the contrary, become
lean and diseased.
The belief so generally prevailing, that the longer a child is suckled the

stronger it will become, is a prejudice, like many others concerning
women and children, which has been handed down from mother to
daughter for ages, and has thereby become so universally entertained
and so deeply rooted in the minds of females, that even medical men
scarcely venture to question its propriety. My own experience, however,
compels me to declare, that there is not a more erroneous or
mischievous doctrine; and I can most truly affirm, that I never yet
witnessed an instance where protracted lactation had produced any
good effect[D], though I have seen numerous examples (some of which
will be introduced hereafter) where, I believe, it had been the indirect
cause of death.
Having thus strongly noticed the impropriety of long continued
suckling, it will, perhaps, be proper to state my opinion as to the period
when this process should terminate. As a general rule, at nine months
after birth the child ought to be entirely weaned; and in no instance
should he be permitted to