DIET OF THE NURSING MOTHER
The general suggestions on diet which we made to the expectant mother are also valuable for the nursing mother. The food should be appetizing, nutritious, and of a laxative nature. Three meals should be eaten: one at seven a. m., one at one p. m. and one about six-thirty at night, with the heaviest meal usually at one p. m. As the mother usually wakens at five o'clock, or possibly earlier, she should be given a glass of milk, cocoa, or eggnog. If she awakens at six, nothing should be taken until the breakfast, which should consist of a good nourishing meal, such as baked potatoes with white sauce, poached eggs, cereal, milk or cocoa, prunes, figs, or a baked sweet apple, with bread and butter, etc.
From that hour until one p. m. only water is taken, and several glasses are urged during this interval. With nothing between meals but water and a little outdoor exercise, a good appetite is created for the one p. m. meal which should abundantly supply and satisfy the hungry mother; and then again, nothing is to be taken between dinner and supper but water. And after the supper hour, a walk out into the cool night air should be enjoyed with the husband and on going to bed about ten p. m., an eggnog or glass of milk may be taken. At the close of the other meals a cup of oatmeal gruel or milk or any other nourishing liquid may be enjoyed.
The eating of food or the drinking of nourishing drinks between the meals not only interferes with digestion and disturbs the mother, but it also upsets the baby; and it is often the reason why the appetite of the mother is so deranged at the meal time, her spirits depressed, and her milk diminished. Plenty of good nourishing food, taken three times a day with an abundance of water drinking between the meals, together with a free happy frame of mind occasioned by the recreation before mentioned, usually produces good milk and plenty of it. A nap between meals will probably produce more milk than eating between meals.