PUTTING TO THE BREAST
During the first two days the baby draws from the breasts little more than a sweetened watery fluid known as the colostrum; but its intake is essential to the child in that it acts as a good laxative which causes the emptying of the alimentary tract of the dark, tarry appearing stools known as the meconium. On the third day this form of stool disappears and there follows a soft, yellow stool two or three times a day.
The child should be put to the breast regularly every four hours; two things being thus encouraged: an abundant supply of milk on the third day and the early shrinking of the uterus. More than once a mother has missed the blessed privilege of suckling her child because some thoughtless person told her "why trouble yourself with nursing the baby every four hours, there's nothing there, wait until the third day;" and so when the third day came, there was little more than a mere suggestion of a scanty flow of milk, which steadily grew less and less.