The Prospective Mother, a Handbook for Women During Pregnancy

by J. Morris Slemons

As a rule the appetite is a reliable guide not only as to how much to eat, but also as to the choice of food, for without exception what is good for the mother is good also for the child. Generally the diet should be a mixed one, consisting of milk, gruels, soups, vegetables, bread, and meat. In order that monotony may not dull the appetite, no one article of food should be employed continuously. With this exception food should be selected with regard only for its wholesomeness and digestibility. All food is milk-making food; no sharp distinctions between the various kinds can be recognized. Milk, because it contains all the elements necessary for perfect nutrition, is particularly wholesome. Water also, since it forms such a large proportion of their milk, should be taken freely by nursing mothers. Generally it proves advantageous to take milk or some other nutritious drink between meals and again before retiring at night, but the danger of ruining in this way the appetite for solid food must not be overlooked.

It ought to be unnecessary to say that a nursing mother should deny herself any article of food, no matter how much she may want it, if she knows it will disagree with her; but she must remember also that the same article of food will not necessarily disagree with other mothers. Generalizations of this kind are largely responsible for the wrongful tendency to reject from the dietary many altogether harmless articles. There would be little left for a nursing mother to eat if she avoided every article of food which one person or another assures her will damage her milk.

No belief regarding what a nursing mother should eat is held more widely, I suppose, than that she should abstain from salads, tomatoes, and fruits which contain acid. This view is erroneous. The very idea upon which it is based is incorrect, since acids are neutralized as soon as they pass from the stomach to the intestines and cannot enter the milk. With certain persons some varieties of fruit invariably cause indigestion. Lactation does not correct such an individual peculiarity, and a nursing mother who knows she possesses it will act accordingly. Occasionally those who have no such idiosyncrasy worry after they have eaten something which contains an acid because they have heard it will do harm. In such cases it is the mental state of the woman which disturbs her milk and upsets the baby. With the exception of those who have such an idiosyncrasy and those inclined to worry, nursing mothers may partake of fruits and salads with impunity.

There are vegetables, of which the onion and turnip are good examples, that contain ingredients that find their way unaltered into the milk. So long as these do not disturb the mother their presence has no unfavorable influence upon the child. Similarly a number of substances appear in the milk when administered as medicine to the mother. In one way this is fortunate, for under certain circumstances it provides a very satisfactory method of treating unhealthy children without giving the medicine directly. In another respect, however, it is a disadvantage, for it sometimes interferes with giving the mother purgatives, which she may need. So far as possible, therefore, the taking of medicine should be limited during lactation, and certainly no drug should be employed without the advice of a physician.

Time and again some drug, some beverage, usually one that contains alcohol, or some special article of food has been recommended as a means of increasing an inadequate secretion of milk, but thus far all attempts in this direction have failed of general application. There are at present on the market widely advertised preparations for which astounding efficiency is claimed. None of them, however, has a definite or consistent value; and it is unfortunately true that no substance has yet been discovered that has the specific action of increasing the production of milk.

Psychic Influence.—Although the nerves of the breast which regulate the secretion of milk do their work whether the mother wills it or not, her state of mind has an influence over the process, just as it has over digestion. No one doubts that our minds influence our digestions as has been so clearly proved by the skillful experiments of Pawlow, an eminent Russian physiologist. Cheerfulness promotes perfect assimilation of the food, whereas mental depression decreases the secretion of the digestive juices or checks them altogether. In a similar way, perhaps, we shall some day have explained to us the unquestioned fact that mothers who maintain a happy disposition nurse their babies efficiently, while those who are inclined to worry often experience real or imaginary troubles with lactation.

The most striking manifestations of such psychic influences are those in which, as a result of some strong passion or deep sorrow, the secretion of milk suddenly ceases altogether. Fortunately such effects occur rarely and are never permanent. After a few hours at most the secretion is reestablished; and if there are alterations in the quality of the milk, these will correct themselves just as quickly.

More common, and therefore much more important, are cases in which, because the mother allows herself day after day to worry over one thing or another, the secretion of milk suffers permanent disturbance in quantity or in quality. Sometimes worrying lest the milk will be unsatisfactory causes it to become so. Generally, however, unnecessary anxiety for the baby is to blame. Again and again, when there is really nothing out of the way, inexperienced mothers make themselves miserable because they fear something may go wrong. Such a state of mind always invites trouble; not infrequently it is the direct cause of insufficient or unwholesome milk. The self-assurance gained through taking care of the first baby is responsible more than anything else for the greater success mothers have in nursing subsequent children.

The mother who is nursing her first baby should take success for granted, and never mistrust her ability to succeed. If the physician has been asked to visit the baby regularly, as was suggested at the beginning of this chapter, he will quickly detect the evidence of failure should failure be imminent. His opinions should be accepted and his directions followed, for by so doing the mother will most readily acquire the assurance which is so necessary to success. The habit, easily fallen into, of paying attention to promiscuous advice is unwholesome, for such advice is injudiciously given and is usually incorrect. More often than not the counsel of well-meaning friends only serves to perplex and distress the mother.

Recreation and Rest.—Next to worry no influence upon lactation is more detrimental than neglect of recreation and rest. Both are very necessary to a nursing mother, for without them she will soon begin to exaggerate minor troubles and even to worry though nothing is wrong. A mother who has the care of a baby added to other responsibilities may have extraordinary difficulty in finding time for outdoor exercise, for congenial companionship, or for diversion of any kind. Occasionally it may seem almost impossible even to get time for sleep, a necessity so fundamental to health that, as we should expect, a mother deprived of it would fail utterly in nursing her infant. Difficult as it may seem, however, the mother must find time for recreation, for if she does not there will follow disturbances, generally in the quantity, or sometimes in the quality, of her milk.