THE POSITION OF A MOTHER DURING SUCKLING.

656. Good habits are as easily formed as bad ones. A mother, when in bed, ought always to suckle her child while she is lying down. The sitting up in bed, during such times, is a fruitful source of inflammation and of gathering of the breasts. Of course, during the day the sitting-up position is the best. Let me caution her not to nurse her baby in a half-sitting and half-lying posture; it will spoil her figure, disturb her repose, and weaken her back.

THE TEMPER.

657. Passion is injurious to the mother’s milk, and consequently to the child. Sudden joy and grief frequently disorder the infant’s bowels, producing griping, looseness, etc.; hence, a mother who has a mild, placid temper generally makes an excellent nurse, on which account it is a fortunate circumstance that she is frequently better-tempered during suckling than at any other period of her life; indeed, she usually, at such times, experiences great joy and gladness.

658. The happiest period of a woman’s existence is, as a rule, when she first becomes a mother. “The pleasure of the young mother in her babe is said to be more exquisite than any other earthly bliss.”[[115]]

659. It is an old and, I believe, a true saying, that the child inherits the temper of his mother or of his wet-nurse. This may be owing to the following reasons: If the mother or the wet-nurse be good-tempered, the milk will be more likely to be wholesome, which will, of course, make him more healthy, and consequently better-tempered.

660. While, on the other hand, if the mother or the nurse be of an irritable, cross temper, the milk will suffer, and will thus cause disarrangement to his system; and hence ill health and ill temper will be likely to ensue. We all know the influence that good or bad health has on the temper.

661. An important reason, then, why a nursing mother is often better-tempered than she is at other times is, she is in better health, her stomach is in a healthier state:

“A good digestion turneth all to health.”[[116]]

There is an old and a true saying, “that it is the stomach that makes the man,” and if the man, the woman: