The following cases are related by Professor Carpenter as occurring within his own knowledge. They are valuable as a warning to nursing mothers to avoid all exciting or depressing passions. A mother of several healthy children, of whom the youngest was a vigorous infant a few months old, heard of the death from convulsions of the infant child of an intimate friend at a distance, whose family had increased in the same manner as her own. The unfortunate circumstance made a strong impression on her mind, and being alone with her babe, separated from the rest of her family, she dwelt upon it more than she otherwise would have done. With her mind thus occupied, one morning, shortly after nursing her infant, she laid it in its cradle, asleep and apparently in perfect health. Her attention was soon attracted to it by a noise. On going to the cradle she found it in a convulsion, which lasted only a few moments, and left it dead. In the other case, the mother had lost several children in early infancy, from fits. One infant alone survived the usually fatal period. While nursing him, one morning she dwelt strongly upon the fear of losing him also, although he appeared to be a very healthy child. The infant was transferred to the arms of the nurse. While the nurse was endeavouring to cheer the mother by calling her attention to the thriving appearance of her child, he was seized with a convulsion, and died almost instantly in her arms. Under similar circumstances, a child should not be nursed by its mother, but by one who has reared healthy children of her own and has a tranquil mind.
An interesting illustration of the powerful sedative action of the mother's milk—changed in consequence of great mental distress—upon the impressible nervous system of the infant, is furnished by a German physician. 'A carpenter fell into a quarrel with a soldier billeted in his house, and was set upon by the latter with his drawn sword. The wife of the carpenter at first trembled from fear and terror, and then suddenly threw herself furiously between the combatants, wrested the sword from the soldier's hand, broke it in pieces, and threw it away. During the tumult, some neighbors came in and separated the men. While in this state of strong excitement, the mother took up her child from the cradle, where it lay playing and in the most perfect health, never having had a moment's illness. She gave it the breast, and in so doing sealed its fate. In a few minutes the infant left off sucking, became restless, panted, and sank dead upon its mother's bosom. The physician, who was instantly called in, found the child lying in the cradle as if asleep, and with its features undisturbed; but all his resources were fruitless. It was irrevocably gone.'
Professor William A. Hammond of New York mentions, in a recent number of the Journal of Psychological Medicine, several instances, from his own practice, of affections in the child caused by the mother's milk. 'A soldier's wife, whilst nursing her child, was very much terrified by a sudden thunderstorm, during which the house where she was then quartered was struck by lightning. The infant, which had always been in excellent health, was immediately attacked with vomiting and convulsions, from which it recovered with difficulty.' 'A lady, three weeks after delivery, was attacked with puerperal insanity. She nursed her child but once after the accession of the disease, and in two hours subsequently it was affected with general convulsions, from which it died during the night. Previous to this event it had been in robust health.'
Again, Dr. Seguin of New York relates, in his work on Idiocy, a number of cases of loss of mind produced by the altered state of the mother's milk. 'Mrs. B. came out from a ball-room, gave the breast to her baby, three months old: he was taken with spasms two hours after, and since is a confirmed idiot and epileptic.'
'In a moment of great anxiety Mrs. C. jumped into a carriage with her suckling, a girl of fifteen months, so far very intelligent and attractive. The child took the breast only once in a journey of twenty miles, but before arriving at destination she vomited several times, with no interruption but that of stupor, and after an acute fever the little girl settled down into the condition of a cripple and idiot.'
The celebrated physician Boerhaave mentions the milk of an angry nurse as among the causes of epilepsy.
These facts show the importance of a placid mind and cheerful temper in the mother while nursing.
POSITION OF THE MOTHER WHILE NURSING.
The habit of nursing a child while sitting up in bed or half reclining upon a lounge is a wrong one. Such a position is injurious to the breasts, hurtful to the woman's figure, and apt to cause backache. When in bed, the mother ought always to be recumbent while the child is at the breast, held upon the arm of the side upon which she lies. When out of bed, she should sit upright while nursing.