The average baby nurses about every six hours during the first two days, or four times in twenty-four hours. After this, according to one schedule, he will nurse every three hours during the day for about three months and at 10 p.m. and 2 a.m., or seven times in twenty-four hours. From the third to the sixth month he nurses every three hours during the day and at ten o’clock at night, or six times in twenty-four hours, and from that time until he is weaned he nurses at four-hour intervals during the day and at ten o’clock at night, or five times daily. Such a feeding schedule may be arranged in a table as follows:
| Day | Night | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First and second days | 6 | 12 | 6 | 12 | |||
| First three months | 6 | 9 | 12 | 3 | 6 | 10 | 2 a.m. |
| Third to sixth month | 6 | 9 | 12 | 3 | 6 | 10 | |
| After the sixth month | 6 | 10 | 2 | 6 | 10 | ||
It is becoming more and more common to omit night feedings after ten o ’clock with the average baby who is in good condition even during the first three months. When this practice is adopted the baby seems not only to do as well as he normally should, but to profit by the long digestive rest during the night. Certainly the mother is benefited by the unbroken sleep thus made possible.
As a rule the baby nurses from one side, only, at each nursing, emptying the breasts alternately, but if there is not enough milk in one breast for a complete feeding both breasts may be used at one nursing. Neither you nor the baby should go to sleep while he is at the breast, but he should pause every four or five minutes to keep him from feeding too rapidly.
After you sit up you will find it a good plan to occupy a low, comfortable chair while nursing the baby. Lean slightly forward and raise the knee upon which the baby rests by placing your foot on a stool; support his head in the curve of your arm and hold your breast from his face though slightly above it, just as you did while nursing him in bed. Nurse him in a quiet room where you will not be disturbed and where neither your breasts nor the baby will be exposed to drafts or the possibility of being chilled.
Some mothers like to lie down while nursing the baby, for in addition to finding the position comfortable they are glad to have these regular, though short periods of rest.
Abdominal Binders and Bed-Exercises. Most women are interested in this question as it concerns the restoration or preservation of the “figure.”
The application of a snug binder for the first day or two after the baby comes, is a fairly common practice, for many women are very uncomfortable as a result of the sudden release of tension on their abdominal walls, a discomfort which a binder relieves. And during the first few days after the mother gets up and walks about she is sometimes given great comfort by a binder that is put on and snugly adjusted about her hips and the lower part of her abdomen, as she lies on her back.
In addition to this, some doctors like to have the young mother wear a snug binder throughout her entire stay in bed, while others instruct their patients to take bed exercises. If the binder is your portion, you have nothing to do but wear it, for some one else must put it on you. But if bed exercises are in order, the following descriptions and pictures of the exercises taken by young mothers at the Long Island College Hospital may be helpful.
The day upon which the exercises are started, the rate at which they are increased and the length of time during which they are continued, are, of course, entirely regulated by the doctor according to the strength and needs of each patient, for they are never continued to the point of fatigue. Quite evidently, then, there can be no definite directions for these exercises; one can give only a description of the positions and movements that are frequently used and the order in which they are adopted.