Getting ready to be a mother

by Carolyn Conant Van Blarcom

I realize that it is not easy entirely to reorganize your life and assume new and exacting duties, while recovering from an experience resembling an illness in some of its effects, and still remain calm, undiscouraged and perpetually cheerful. But each tiny victory that you accomplish in your attempt to achieve this end will bring such satisfaction that you will not count the cost. And the incomparable, always deepening happiness of watching your very own baby grow lovelier and sturdier, day by day, because of the things that you, and no one else, are doing, will make you deny, even to yourself, that anything you do is hard. Particularly will this be true if you repeatedly remind yourself that the satisfactorily breast-fed baby is much more likely to live through the difficult first year than is the bottle-fed baby, and also is much less susceptible to disease and infection.

We shall consider, for a moment, the more important details of the routine care that you should give yourself, for the baby’s sake, and then we shall be ready for the pleasantest task of all—the actual care of the baby himself.

In general you should try to live just a normal, tranquil, unhurried kind of life that is unfailingly regular in its daily routine.

Diet. As was the case during pregnancy, the question of your diet is an important one. Throughout the entire nursing period your food should be such that it will nourish you and also aid in producing milk of a character that will meet the baby’s needs, the needs of a growing, developing body. The best producer of such milk is a diet consisting largely of milk, eggs, “leafy” vegetables and fresh fruit, all taken with an appetite made keen by constant fresh air. Bear this in mind and it will keep you from putting your faith in so-called milk-producing foods and nostrums.

Your meals may well be made up from the groups of foods that are suitable for the expectant mother, as given in Chapter V. At this time, as during pregnancy, you should avoid all food that may produce any form of indigestion, but for the baby’s sake now, as well as your own. While it is not generally believed by doctors of to-day, that there are many, if any, articles of diet which may in themselves injure the mother’s milk, it is generally accepted that if her digestion is upset this may be, and usually is, bad for her milk and therefore bad for the baby.

Certain drugs are excreted through the milk and may affect the baby just as they would if administered to him directly, as for example alcohol and opium, from which morphine, heroin, codein, laudanum and paregoric are derived.

Although the old belief no longer holds sway, that certain substances from such highly flavored vegetables as onions, cabbages, turnips and garlic were excreted through the milk and upset the baby, it is definitely known that certain substances in certain foods are excreted through the milk to the baby’s great advantage. It is necessary to the baby’s well-being, therefore, that the nursing mother’s diet shall include, regularly, those articles of food which contain these substances. These foods are milk, egg-yolk, glandular organs such as sweetbreads, kidneys and liver; the green salads such as lettuce, romaine, endive, and cress and the citrous fruits which are oranges, lemons, grapefruit and limes.

These are called “protective foods” because they protect the body against certain diseases which will be described in the chapter on Nutrition. It is possible for a baby who nurses at the breast of a woman whose diet is poor in protective foods, to be so incompletely nourished as to be on the border line of one of these diseases, or even to develop the disease itself.

It becomes apparent, therefore, that although you did not have to “eat for two” before the baby came, you have to do so now in certain very important respects. For this reason it may be advisable for you to increase the nourishment provided by your three regular meals by taking a glass of milk, cocoa, or some beverage made of milk, during the morning and afternoon and before retiring.

The morning and afternoon lunches would better be taken about an hour and a half after breakfast and luncheon, respectively, in order not to spoil your appetite for the meals which follow. It is of considerable importance that you take your meals with clock-like regularity and enjoy them, as enjoyment promotes digestion; but at the same time you should guard against overeating for fear of causing indigestion, as this, you know, is almost sure to upset the baby. Rich and highly seasoned foods, in fact any articles of food or drink which might upset you, should be avoided for the same reason. Drink water freely but do not take alcohol nor strong tea or coffee without your doctor’s permission.