CHAPTER IIITHE NURSING BABY
THE NURSING BABY—WHY THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND BABIES ARE SACRIFICED EVERY YEAR TO IGNORANCE—INFLUENCE OF THE MOTHER’S DIET ON THE BABY’S HEALTH—WHEN THE NEW-BORN BABY MUST BE BOTTLE-FED—A WELL-BALANCED DIET FOR THE NURSING MOTHER—CARE OF THE BREASTS AND NIPPLES—IMPORTANCE OF REGULARITY IN NURSING
THE NURSING BABY—WHY THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND BABIES ARE SACRIFICED EVERY YEAR TO IGNORANCE—INFLUENCE OF THE MOTHER’S DIET ON THE BABY’S HEALTH—WHEN THE NEW-BORN BABY MUST BE BOTTLE-FED—A WELL-BALANCED DIET FOR THE NURSING MOTHER—CARE OF THE BREASTS AND NIPPLES—IMPORTANCE OF REGULARITY IN NURSING
Correctfeeding is the foundation on which the baby’s good health rests. A dirty baby, properly fed, will thrive. A baby deprived of fresh air, but wisely fed, will survive and even develop into a strong man or woman. But the baby raised according to the latest and most approved rules of sanitation and hygiene, if improperly fed, will languish and die.
If every mother who reads this book will grasp this vital fact and live up to the doctrine for which it stands, she will not only reduce the family doctor bills, but will protect herself from untold hours of trouble, sleeplessness, anxiety and, perhaps, grief. Correct feeding and good digestionfor the baby spell health-insurance. The well-nourished body of a properly fed child does not furnish an abiding-place for disease-germs.
Through watching the conferences between mothers and physicians at Better Babies Contests, I have come to realize that, while 75 per cent. of the ailments from which babies suffer can be traced to some form of stomach or bowel trouble, comparatively few women recognize symptoms of malnutrition or overfeeding for the menace which they really are. Many mothers seem to consider that a slight digestive trouble is almost as casual a feature of baby’s career as teething.
At times I felt as if the doctors at the contests were introducing mothers to their babies, for hundreds of intelligent, affectionate, well-intentioned mothers did not really know their babies. Oh, yes, they knew Baby’s name, the color of his hair and his eyes, the exact point where his cheek or his chin broke into a delightful dimple, the side of his family from which Babykins inherited his many good points and his few bad ones, the day when he first sat up or toddled across the floor; these and many other things the mothers knew, but still they did not know what was going on inside of Baby, in the digestive apparatus on which so much of his health and happiness depend.
At one contest, I saw a physician penalize anattractive eighteen-months baby because of a rash. The mother protested.
“Why,” she cried, “Baby has always had that rash. It’s a sort of birthmark.”
“No,” answered the physician; “it’s a symptom of rich food. You are either overfeeding this baby or giving him food that is too heavy, milk that is too rich for him to digest.”
That mother learned how to modify milk.
Another mother presented a doll-like baby girl for examination, perfectly proportioned but under-weight, and under-height for its age. With silky curls and rose-petal cheeks, Baby leaned wearily against her mother, watching the doctors languidly from eyes around which there were blue circles. Think of that! Blue circles round the eyes of a baby that had not yet celebrated its first birthday!
It did not take the doctors long to analyze this baby’s trouble and to introduce Mother to her child’s true condition.
“Mrs. S——,” said the doctor, “you are starving your baby.”
The mother was shocked and hurt.
“I nurse her every three hours,” she protested.
“No doubt,” answered the doctor; “but your milk is not nourishing her. Perhaps you are not strong enough. Perhaps your baby should have both the breast and modified milk. We will find out.”
They did. That mother learned that her baby was drifting toward the dangerous rock of anemia. Her lesson was how to alternate the breast milk with a bottle feeding of modified milk.
A third baby was what you would call a “fat boy.” He was covered with the most “pattable” creases, and his complexion was blooming, but he had an ugly scowl on his round face and he shoved everything and everybody away from him as if the entire world were distasteful. Mother said he had never been a really good-natured baby, and she didn’t know why. But the doctors found out. The plump stomach of which his mother was so proud was not an indication of health but of undigested, unassimilated food, overfeeding.
At sixteen months, a baby’s head, chest and abdomen should measure just the same, 18½ inches. This poor little laddie had an eighteen-inch head, a seventeen-inch chest and an abdomen measuring twenty inches. And just by exploring with his finger, the doctor found an ugly little mass of undigested food down in one corner of that bulging abdomen. Of course, Baby wanted to shove people away. So do grown-ups when they have a sick headache or a bilious attack.
Here was a baby being overfed with milk, just milk, but milk not properly prepared.
And there you have it, rash, malnutrition, and indigestion, all because three mothers did not know what was going on inside of Baby’s stomach.Mothers often think that so long as Baby has milk and nothing else he is safe; but milk, even mother’s milk, needs watching.
Nature provides signs when milk does not agree with the baby. Of course, if the baby could talk, mother would know exactly how he feels, because he could explain where the ache is located. But when one’s means of communication is limited to wriggling, and rolling up the eyes, and emitting disturbed yaps, mother must look for signs or symptoms to take the place of worded complaints.
It is estimated that 300,000 infants under one year of age die in the United States each year. Of this frightful number, it is also estimated that fully 50 per cent. could be saved by proper care. Men and women who specialize in the care and feeding of infants affirm that practically all of these unnecessary, preventable deaths can be charged to improper feeding. Is it not vitally important, therefore, that every mother should make an earnest, unremitting study of infant feeding as health-insurance for her family circle?
The nourishment of the child begins before it is born. Ailments in digestion accompany it into the world. For this reason, in ChapterI, special stress was laid on diet for the pregnant mother. But it is not enough to bring the baby into the world blessed with a sound digestion. The mother must study the science of keeping her child’s digestion sound.
Half her battle for baby’s good health will be won if she nurses it. The natural, the almost unfailingly safe food for the new-born babe is mother’s milk. The Creator, who made woman the mother of the human race, provided also the first means of nourishing the children brought into the world. The average woman has the strength to nourish her child in the natural way; and only a real physical inability, admitted by the family physician, should lead her to deprive the child of its rightful nourishment.
It is often said that the lack of maternal instinct in the modern woman is responsible for the large proportion of bottle-fed babies. I think that this charge against my sex is undeserved. Women are far more apt to stop nursing their babies as the result of ailments in themselves which they do not know how to cure or control, or because they accept the word of those who are not in a position to give medical advice or even offer common-sense suggestions.
Sometimes, directly after the baby’s birth, when the mother is extremely weak, well-meaning but interfering relatives or neighbors urge her to wean the baby at once. So another baby’s life is endangered and another mother is induced to undertake the grave responsibility of artificial feeding, when, with a little patience at the time of the baby’s birth, the supply of mother’s milk could be increased and strengthened.
The mother who suffers or has suffered from tuberculosis, epilepsy, persistent anemia, kidney disease, or any grave mental disturbance should not attempt to nurse her baby. If a fever, such as scarlet fever, typhoid, etc., develops shortly after the birth of the child, it must be weaned promptly. An operation which will greatly weaken the mother is another cause for discontinuing breast-milk. The reappearance of menstruation does not necessitate weaning the child; but pregnancy makes it desirable. Thus it will be seen that only the gravest conditions in the mother justify her in placing the new-born baby on the bottle until she is convinced by symptoms in the child itself that breast milk does not nourish.
The mother of her first-born, beset by a thousand fears, is very apt to regard the first flow of milk from her breast with suspicion. For two or three days it is a thin, colorless, watery fluid. The frightened young mother decides that it cannot possibly satisfy her baby. The very thought of the precious little creature being hungry terrifies her, and she accepts the advice of an untrained nurse or a fussy neighbor to give him sweetened water, or diluted and sweetened cow’s milk. So the new baby starts life all wrong on artificial food, when the thin, watery fluid provided by nature is precisely what he needs at this time. Naturally, if he is fed artificially, he will not draw onthe breast, for he is not hungry, and so the flow of milk is discouraged. The new-born baby should be given the breast every four hours, whether he seems hungry or not, whether the flow of milk is established or not.
It is most important that at this time the mother should not worry. Nervousness and hysteria of themselves react on the baby’s digestion.
As the mother gains strength and begins to move about, she should guard her health carefully, because upon this depend the quantity and quality of the milk she furnishes her baby. At this time she requires plenty of sleep; and while her rest is broken at night to nurse the baby, she should have regular naps during the day. Eight hours’ sleep at night and a short nap in the middle of the afternoon form a good rule.
As far as possible, she should lead what, to her, is a normal life, free from excesses or any wide deviation from her habits before the birth of the baby. Unhappiness and discontent unsettle the nerves of the mother and injure the quality of the milk. The woman who is accustomed to much outdoor exercise should not shut herself up in the house, nor should the woman of sedative habits plunge into violent outdoor exercise. The latter needs fresh air as a mother, precisely as she should have had it as a girl, but she should form the habit gradually, not start with exhausting walks. Moreover, the woman who is fond of society andaccustomed to going out, should not deprive herself of all social pleasures because she has become a mother. Within reason, she should enjoy them. The moment motherhood becomes a hateful burden, an altar on which the woman sacrifices all personal preferences and pleasures, the drastic changes entailed affect the health of the mother and react on the child.
The same is true of diet for the nursing mother. Deprivation and excess alike are undesirable. A well-balanced diet, made up from a variety of foods which the mother craves under normal conditions, will nourish both the mother and the child.
In this connection, the young mother should be warned against what might be termed superstitions in diet, “old women’s tales.” While attending Better Babies Contests, I have often been shocked at the superstition and ignorance which interfere with the nourishment, comfort, and contentment of the nursing mother. One young mother said that she was drinking malt to make her milk more nourishing for the baby. And how she did hate that malt! It nauseated her every time she drank it.
When the doctors told her that anything which nauseated her would affect the baby in the same way, she was actually relieved. Yet she had been forcing herself to drink the malt, because an elderly neighbor told her what wonders it had donefor other women. Doctors, not neighbors, should be consulted on these problems.
Another woman told me that she did not see why her baby could not retain her milk. It curdled on his stomach. And she assured me quite solemnly that she never ate anything acid. She did love pickles, salads and lemonade, but her nurse had told her she must not eat sour things while she nursed the baby. I heard the sensible doctor in charge of that contest tell her to go straight home and make herself a good fresh salad.
Her digestion craved acid, and her child actually suffered because her system was denied it. Excessive indulgence in acids, as in anything else, would not be good for the mother or the baby; but, well balanced with other foods, sweet pickles, properly sweetened lemonade, and salad dressing prepared with plenty of good olive oil, would not hurt this mother.
The same judgment must be shown in the matter of drinking. The woman of German parentage and customs should not give up the moderate use of beer to which she has been accustomed; but, on the other hand, the woman who is not accustomed to drinking beer, and does not care for it, will not improve the quality of milk for her child by forcing herself to drink beer. The Italian mother, habituated to the use of light wine with her meals, would miss it sorely if deprived of it while nursing her child; but the averageAmerican would find it stimulating only. The woman who drinks coffee and tea in moderation may increase the supply of milk by drinking to excess; but the milk will not gain in quality, and her nerves will suffer from overstimulation. Milk, cocoa, and chocolate in moderation increase the quantity of milk and improve the quality, except in the rare cases where the mother cannot digest them. The woman who can sip gruel, plain or with cream, will find the supply of breast milk gaining in both quantity and quality; but when the gruel is disliked, when it actually nauseates the mother, it does not have a good effect on the milk.
In fact, sanity, good judgment, ordinary common sense, should govern the planning of diet for the nursing mother. It should include cereals, soups, meat at least once a day, fish, eggs, macaroni or spaghetti, fresh vegetables, salads, fruits, and light, wholesome desserts. The fresh vegetables and salads prepared with olive oil are particularly good, as they prevent constipation. Stewed fruit is better than fresh, especially when the fruits are highly acid. No dessert like pies, pastries, or puddings made from heavy dough, which are apt to lie undigested on the stomach, should be eaten; but custards and all desserts with fruit for a foundation are desirable. Nuts are highly recommended by vegetarians, but they must be well chewed.
The nursing mother must bear in mind that she is eating for two. If she depends upon the three daily meals served to the balance of her family, she is apt to become very hungry and to overeat at the table. It is better for her to eat wisely between meals, in the mid-morning and mid-afternoon. These lunches should consist of milk, cocoa, a cup of soup or gruel, or a little stewed fruit, with zwieback or toast. Crackers do not make more or better milk. The nursing mother who must prepare breakfast for her family should eat a little fruit, or a slice of bread, or drink milk, before taking up her task, and she should also have a nourishing drink just before retiring.
The busy house-mother who is nursing her baby is particularly warned against nursing the child when greatly exhausted. It is far better to keep the baby waiting a few minutes, while the mother sits down and rests or sips a glass of milk. Nursing a baby when overtired or overheated, or extremely nervous and angry, is positively injurious and unjust to the child.
Of the utmost importance in regulating the condition of the baby’s health through breast milk is the condition of the mother’s bowels. These should move once daily and, if possible, the movement should be natural. Drastic cathartics disturb both mother and child. If constipation in the mother does not yield to careful diet, includingfresh vegetables and fruit, she should consult her physician and not dose herself. If the mother’s bowels are in good condition and the baby’s are not, the physician should be consulted about the baby.
The care of the breast and nipples is extremely important, for many ills, notably the very painful abscess of the breast, may spring from lack of cleanliness. The tugging of the baby’s mouth on the nipple makes it soft and tender, often laying it open in tiny cracks which are easily infected. The nipple, therefore, should never be handled by mother or nurse unless the hands have first been scrubbed with soap and a nailbrush.
Not only for cleanliness but for hardening them, the nipples should be washed after each nursing with a solution of boracic acid and very hot water, in the proportion of one teaspoon of the acid to one pint of water. When thoroughly dried with soft old linen or gauze kept for the purpose, they should be covered with a piece of sterilized gauze to prevent any possible infection from clothing. If, in spite of all these precautions, the nipple shows cracks or fissures, and nursing becomes torture, the baby must not be permitted to suck at the nipple, but a nipple shield should be used. There are various kinds, the best being of glass with a rubber nipple on the end. When the nipple is as sore as this, boracic acid in solution will not effect a cure. Zinc ointmentmust be used instead; but only when the nipple shield is used, never when the baby’s mouth touches the breast.
Another aid to baby’s digestion is regularity in feeding. Directly after birth, the feedings should be regulated by the doctor and the nurse, who are better able to determine the strength and needs of the baby. If it is a normal, healthy child, for the first few days it will spend most of its time in sleep, but it should be given the breast at least once in four hours. A small, weak baby should nurse once in two hours, between 6A.M.and 10P.M., with one nursing in the middle of the night between 1:30 and 2:30.
After the first week, a strong baby may be nursed every three hours, between 6A.M.and 9P.M., with one night feeding. At three months, a healthy baby is nursed every three hours, and at four months the night feeding is dropped. That is, he is not nursed between 9P.M.and 6A.M.
Feeding a baby every time he cries is bad for both mother and child. It ties the nursing mother to her baby’s side. It injures the baby’s digestion. It is the first misstep in molding the baby’s character.
If, in spite of the care here outlined for mother and baby, the child does not thrive on breast milk, the cause must be ascertained and artificial feeding must be considered.