The Maternal Management of Children, in Health and Disease. | Page 8

also but too evident its body was not nourished by the parent's milk, which, although abundant in quantity (the breast being large and full of milk), was at this time seriously deteriorated in its nutritive quality. This was caused, I believe, from great anxiety of mind. Her nurse became suddenly deranged, and the whole responsibility and care of the child thus devolved upon the mother, of the duties connected with which she was entirely ignorant.
A wet-nurse was obtained. In a very few hours after this change was effected, the screaming ceased, the child had quiet and refreshing sleep, and in twelve hours a healthy motion was passed. The child gained flesh almost as quickly as it had previously lost it, and is now as fine and healthy an infant as it promised to be when born.
Whenever there has existed previously any nervous or mental affection in the parent, wet-nurse suckling is always advisable; this, with judicious management of childhood, will do much to counteract the hereditary predisposition.
THE MOTHER WHO ONLY NURSES HER INFANT WHEN IT SUITS HER CONVENIENCE OUGHT NOT.--The mother who cannot make up her mind exclusively to devote herself to the duties of a nurse, and give up all engagements that would interfere with her health, and so with the formation of healthy milk, and with the regular and stated periods of nursing her infant, ought never to suckle. It is unnecessary to say why; but I think it right, for the child's sake, to add, that if it does not sicken, pine, and die, disease will be generated in its constitution, to manifest itself at some future period.
The child, then, under all the foregoing circumstances, must be provided with its support from another source, and a wet-nurse is the best.

2. WET-NURSE SUCKLING.

Ill health and many other circumstances may prevent a parent from suckling her child, and render a wet-nurse necessary. Now, although she will do wisely to leave the choice of one to her medical attendant, still, as some difficulty may attend this, and as most certainly the mother herself ought to be acquainted with the principal points to which his attention is directed in the selection of a good nurse, it will be well to point out in what they consist.

CHOICE OF A WET-NURSE.

The first thing to which a medical man looks, is the general health of the woman; next, the condition of her breast, the quality of her milk its age and her own; whether she is ever unwell while nursing; and, last of all, the condition and health of the child.
IS THE WOMAN IN GOOD HEALTH?--Her general appearance ought to bear the marks of a sound constitution, and ought to be free from all suspicion of a strumous character; her tongue clean, and digestion good; her teeth and gums sound and perfect; her skin free from eruption, and her breath sweet.
WHAT IS THE CONDITION OF THE BREAST?--A good breast should be firm and well formed; its size not dependent upon a large quantity of fat, which will generally take away from its firmness, giving it a flabby appearance, but upon its glandular structure, which conveys to the touch a knotted, irregular, and hard feel; and the nipple must be perfect, of moderate size, but well developed.
WHAT IS THE QUALITY OF THE MILK?--It should be thin, and of a bluish- white colour; sweet to the taste; and when allowed to stand, should throw up a considerable quantity of cream.
WHAT IS ITS AGE?--If the lying-in month of the patient has scarcely expired, the wet-nurse to be hired ought certainly not to have reached her second month. At this time, the nearer the birth of the child, and the delivery of its foster-parent, the better: the reason for which is, that during the first few weeks the milk is thinner and more watery than it afterwards becomes. If, consequently, a new-born infant be provided with a nurse, who has been delivered three or four months, the natural relation between its stomach and the quality of the milk is destroyed, and the infant suffers from the oppression of food too heavy for its digestive power.
On the other hand, if you are seeking a wet-nurse for an infant of four or five months old, it would be very prejudicial to transfer the child to a woman recently delivered; the milk would be too watery for its support, and its health in consequence would give way.
THE NURSE HERSELF SHOULD NOT BE TOO OLD!--A vigorous young woman from twenty-one to thirty admits of no question. And the woman who has had one or two children before is always to be preferred, as she will be likely to have more milk, and may also be supposed to have acquired some experience in the management of infants.
INQUIRE WHETHER SHE IS EVER UNWELL WHILE