Unquestionably the quality of the milk is much deteriorated by a conception; and therefore, both in the interest of the mother and child, the husband should renounce his usual privileges at such times.
Most women do not have their periodical illness, and consequently are not liable to a second pregnancy, before seven months have elapsed after childbirth. There are, however, numerous exceptions to this rule, and it is impossible to foretell who will and who will not be the exception.
Moreover, as any excitement of the passions alters to some extent the secretion of the breasts, often to the injury of the child, it is every way advisable that great temperance be exercised in all cases in the marital relations at these epochs.
SIGNS OF OVER-NURSING.
The symptoms of over-nursing may be enumerated as follows:—Aching pain in the back; often, pain across the shoulders, and on the top of the head or forehead; marked paleness of the face; inability to sleep; frightful dreams when sleep does come; great debility; extreme depression of the spirits; disorders of the sight, and mental disturbances, which take on the form of melancholia, the delusions relating mostly to subjects of a religious character, to the effect that the unpardonable sin has been committed, and the like. The headache is situated on the top of the head, and this spot may be noticed to be perceptibly hotter to the touch than other parts of the head. These symptoms indicate that the process of nursing is making too great a drain upon the system.
A woman in ordinary health will generally be able to suckle her child for twelve months without experiencing any bad effects. When the child is kept at the breast much beyond this time, most mothers render themselves liable to the injurious consequences we have mentioned. Some, indeed, cannot furnish the child all the nourishment it needs longer than three or four months, without detriment to themselves. In such cases, by feeding the child two or three times a day, the mother may be relieved of the burden of its entire support, and may thus be enabled to continue nursing. The proper food for infants, under these circumstances, will be shortly mentioned. The prostrating effects of nursing upon the body and mind of the mother are in some, though comparatively rare, instances so marked, as to render it altogether improper from the commencement.
The treatment of the condition of system described as resulting from over-nursing is, if it cannot be remedied by partially feeding the infant and the use of tonics, to remove the child from the breast altogether, and either procure a wet-nurse for it, or wean it. The wet-nurse is greatly to be preferred; and the preference is the stronger, the younger the child. We have already alluded to the great difficulty of rearing children from birth by the hand. But after the infant has attained the age of several months, the danger of artificial feeding is much lessened, provided that the weaning does not take place during hot weather. This brings us to the consideration of the regimen of the mother who cannot nurse her own child, of the rules for the selection of a wet-nurse, of the directions for bringing up by hand, and of the proper method of weaning. These subjects we will now take up in the order mentioned.
DIRECTIONS FOR MOTHERS WHO CANNOT NURSE THEIR OWN CHILDREN.
There are many reasons why a mother should, if possible, nurse her own child. 'One of the principal is,' says the distinguished Dr. Tilt, 'that as nursing, generally speaking, prevents conception up to the tenth month, so it prevents the ruin of the mother's constitution by the too rapid bringing forth of children, and, we might even add, prevents a deterioration of the race, by the imperfect bringing up of this too-fast-got family.'
The same author appropriately adds: 'But while advocating maternal nursing, we must not forget that woman is not now the Eve of a primeval world; that human nature, wherever it is now met, in barbarous tribes or in civilised communities, is frequently so deteriorated, so diseased or prone to disease, that, by nursing, a mother may sometimes undermine her own frail constitution for the sake of giving an imperfect sustenance, and perhaps a poisonous heritage, to her babe.'