Breastfeeding - The Nursing Mother and Her Baby : Part 4

The Mother and Her Child
by William S. Sadler, M.D., Lena K. Sadler, M.D.

(Page 18 of 43)

Aids to the Milk Supply

Believing that many more mothers than do so should nurse their babies, we have carefully tabulated a number of aids to the milk supply, which we hope will be most earnestly tried before the baby is taken from the breast - for so many, many more bottle-fed babies die during the first year than the breast fed. The dangers of infection, the worry of the food preparation, the uncertainty of results, all call for a most untiring effort on the part of every doctor, nurse, and mother, in their endeavors to secure maternal nursing. The following is a summary of "aids to the milk supply:"

1. Regular periodical sucking of the breasts from the day of baby's birth.

2. Systematic applications of alternate hot and cold compresses, followed by massage to the breasts.

3. Three good nourishing meals each day, eaten with merriment and gladness of heart.

4. A glass of "cream gruel," milk, cocoa, or eggnog at the close of each meal, with a glass just before retiring.

5. Three outings each day in the open air.

6. Nurse the baby regularly and then turn its care over to another, you seek the out of doors and engage in walking, rowing, riding and other pleasurable exercise.

7. Take a daily nap.

8. You can bank on fretting and stewing over the hot cook stove to decrease your milk. It seldom fails to spoil it.

9. Regular body bathing, with cold friction rubs to the skin.

10. A happy, carefree mental state. Nothing dries up milk so rapidly as worry, grief, or nagging.

11. The administration, preferably in the early days, of desiccated bovine placenta; although it may be given at any time during the period of nursing.

When the Baby Should Not Be Nursed

As much as we desire maternal nursing for the babe, there do occur instances and conditions which demand a change to artificial feeding, such as the following:

1. A new pregnancy.
2. Mothers with uncontrollable tempers.
3. Cases of breast abscess.
4. Prolonged illness of the mother with high fever.
5. Wasting diseases such as tuberculosis, Bright's disease, heart disease, etc.
6. Maternal syphilis.
7. When maternal milk utterly fails, or is wholly inadequate.

When a maternal anesthetic is to be administered, or in case of inflammation of the breast or during a very short illness not covering more than two or three days, then the breast pump may be used regularly every three hours to both breasts; the baby may be artificially fed and then returned to the breast after the effects of the anesthetic has worn off or the temperature has been normal for twenty-four hours.

There may also appear definite indications in certain children which make it imperative that the nursing child should early be weaned. These manifestations of disordered nutrition and failing health admonish us to put the baby on properly modified milk, or to transfer it to a wet nurse.

These conditions are:

1. Progressive loss in weight.

2. A bad diarrhea of long standing; one which does not yield to the usual remedies, at least not as long as the baby continues to feed from the breast. These diarrheas are especially serious when accompanied by a steady loss in weight.

3. Excessive vomiting accompanied by progressive loss in weight.

The Wet Nurse

Because of the rarity of good, healthy wet nurses, it is always better to attempt to feed the baby with scientifically modified milk (not proprietary foods), good, clean, cow's milk properly modified to suit the weight and age of the child. We put weight first, for we prepare food for so many pounds of baby rather than for the number of months old he is.

If modified food has failed and the best specialist within your reach orders a wet nurse; she must have the following qualifications:

1. She must be free from tuberculosis and syphilis. 2. She should be between twenty and thirty years of age. 3. She should abstain from all stimulants. 4. She should be amiable, temperate, and should sense her responsibility.

If an unmarried mother of her first child is engaged as a wet nurse, she should not be "stuffed" or allowed to overeat, which is commonly the result of moving her from her lower life into more comfortable surroundings, or given ale or beer to increase her milk. She should continue her normal eating, take light exercise, which does not mean the scrubbing of floors or doing the family washing, and live under the same hygienic regime outlined for the nursing mother. Should she be the mother of the second or third illegitimate child, then she is quite likely to be mentally deficient and she should not be engaged. Her own babe will have to be fed artificially as very few mothers can endure the strain of two suckling children.

The baby's own mother should keep general supervision and not turn her babe entirely over to the care of the wet nurse. Remember always that no one in the wide world will ever take the same mother interest in your offspring that can spring from your own mother heart.

About the Author

Dr. William S. Sadler M.D. was a well-known American psychiatrist and college teacher in the school of medicine at the University of Chicago. For over sixty years he practiced his profession in Chicago, thirty-three years being associated in practice with his wife, Dr Lena Kellogg Sadler. The doctors were pioneers in the research on the mysterious Urantia Papers.