Advice to a wife and mother in two parts

by Pye Henry Chavasse

730. Remember, then, that if the above warning symptoms be disregarded, dangerous consequences, both to parent and child, might be the result. It might either throw the mother into a consumption, or it might bring on heart disease; and, in consequence of his not being able to obtain sufficient or proper nourishment, it might cause the infant to dwindle and pine away, and, eventually, to die of water on the brain.

731. Soon after nine months’ nursing, “the monthly courses” generally return. This is another warning that the babe ought immediately to be weaned, as the milk will lessen both in quantity and in nourishment, and the child in consequence will become delicate and puny, and every day he is suckled will lose, instead of gain, ground. I have known many children, from protracted suckling, smaller at twelve months than they were at nine months; and well they might be, as, after nine months, the mother’s milk usually does them harm instead of doing them good, and thus causes them to dwindle away.

732. At another time, although the above train of symptoms does not occur, and notwithstanding she may be in perfect health, a mother may not be able to suckle her baby. Such a one usually has very small breasts, and but little milk in them, and if she endeavor to nurse her infant, it produces a violent aching of the bosom. Should she disregard these warnings, and should still persevere, it might produce inflammation of the breast, which will probably end in a gathering.

733. An obstinate sore nipple is sometimes a symptom denoting the necessity of weaning.—When the nipples are, and, notwithstanding judicious treatment, persistently for some time continue, very sore, it is often an indication that a lady ought to wean her baby. Long-continued, obstinate sore nipples frequently occur in a delicate woman, and speak, in language unmistakable, that the child, as far as the mother herself is concerned, must be weaned. Of course, if the infant be not old enough to wean, when practicable a wet-nurse ought to take the mother’s place. If the above advice were more frequently followed than it is, gathered breasts, much suffering, and broken health would not so frequently prevail as they now do.

734. If a mother be predisposed to consumption; if she has had spitting of blood; if she be subject to violent palpitation of the heart; if she be laboring under great debility and extreme delicacy of constitution; if she has any of the above complaints or symptoms, she ought not on any account to suckle her child, but should by all means procure a healthy wet-nurse.

735. Occasionally a mother suckles her infant when she is pregnant. This is highly improper, as it not only injures her own health, and may bring on a miscarriage, but it is also prejudicial to the baby, and may produce a delicacy of constitution from which he might never recover.

---

In conclusion, I fervently hope that this little book will, through God’s blessing, be to my fair reader, during the whole period of her wifehood, a friend in her need, a guide in her difficulties, and a silent but trusty counselor in all things pertaining to her health. I sincerely trust that it will give her as much pleasure in the reading of these pages as it has given me in the writing of them.

INDEX.

• Ablution after labor, [245].
  • among the poor, [41].
  • manner of young wife performing, [42].
  • morning, [41].
  • in pregnancy, [124].
  • thorough, [41].
• Abortion, [174].
  • the procuring of, [120].
• Accoucheur, the duties of, [206].
• Advice to a monthly nurse, [196].
• After birth should never be brought away by nurse, [233].
• After pains, [212].
• Age at which menstruation commences, [105].
• Age, best, to marry, [104].
• Ages of mother and wet-nurse, [265].
• Ailments of pregnancy, [140].
  • during suckling, [236].
• Air, cold, the value of, [37].
  • pure in bedroom, [34].
• Air and exercise in pregnancy, [125].
  • during suckling, [268].
  • and occupation, [126].
• Ale and porter, sour, [253].
  • more nourishing than wine, [266].
• Alcohol a deadly poison, [57].
  • in brandy and in wine, [57].
• Aloe paste in weaning, [295].
• Amusements of a young wife, [20].
• Aperient pills after confinement, [241].
• Aperients in pregnancy, [140].
  • the abuse of, [244].
  • before labor, [155].
  • immediately after, improper, [241].
  • during suckling, [287].
  • on frequent, [99].
• Appetite, bad, [51].
  • and leanness, [54].
• Applications for hair, [47].
• Armstrong on ablution, [49].
• Articles wanted at labor, [216].
• Artificial respiration, [232].
• Assisting nature, on, [209].
• Bad breast, [282].
• Bandage after confinement, [236].
• Barley-water and new milk, [251].
• Barren wives, [14].
  • diet of, [38].
  • number of, [14].
• Barrenness and fashion, [68].
  • in higher ranks, [60].
• Bathing feet, [45].
  • shoulders and back, [42].
  • whole body, [42].
• Bay salt, [45].
• Bearing down pains, [202].
  • of womb, [247].
• Beauty-sleep, [72].
• Bed, “the guarding of,” [218].
• Bed-pan, the best kind of, [244].
• Bedroom for pregnant female, [137].
  • ventilation of, [73].
• Bedstead, a four-post, in labor, [216].
• Beef-tea, how to make (note), [249].
• “Being out in reckoning,” [187].
• Beverage after labor, [251].
  • the best for young wife, [55].
  • for mother whose child is ill, [268].
• Bidet should be regularly used, [124].
• Bladder, irritability of, [164], [199].
  • importance of attending to, [233].
  • in pregnancy, [164].
  • sluggishness of, [164].
  • state of, after confinement, [239].
• “Blue-stocking,” as a wife, [93].
• Bosom after labor, [259].
• Bowels to be opened before labor, [155].
  • if regular, no aperient required, [145].
• Bowel complaints of pregnancy, [145].
• Bowels, state of, after labor, [241].
• Boy or girl?, [188].
• Brandy to be in the lying-in room, [222].
  • on the use of, during labor, [222], [235].
• Bran-bread as an aperient, [289].
• Breakfast for young wife, [50].
  • a meager, [50].
• Breast-drawer, [258].
  • during suckling, [260], [282].
• Breast, full and uneasy, [282].
  • in second and in succeeding confinements, [259].
  • painful during pregnancy, [162].
  • gathered, [282].
    • causes of, [283].
    • importance of early treatment, [286].
    • shivering fit in, [286].
    • symptoms of, [286].
    • two forms of, [285].
• Breast-pump, ill effects of, [296].
• Bringing up of girls, [96].
• Bugs and fleas, [97].
• Business of a wife, [90].
• Calomel dangerous in pregnancy, [140].
• Carbonic acid gas in crowded rooms, [33], [86].
• Carpet for bath-room, [47].
• Carriage exercise, on the abuse of, [29].
• Castor oil, the dose and manner of administering, [141].
  • external use of, [144].
• Caudle should be banished lying-in room, [236].
• “Caul,” a child’s (note), [230].
• Cause, one, of small families, [60].
• “Ceasing to be unwell,” [117].
  • to menstruate, [115].
• Champagne-cup, [63].
• Change of air for delicate wife, [96].
• “Change of life,” [115].
• “Change of life,” great importance of not neglecting, [115].
  • of room after labor, [253].
• Cheerful wife, [87].
• Cheerfulness during labor, [220].
  • and occupation, [87], [93].
• Child born before arrival of medical man, [228].
  • should be gradually weaned, [294].
• Childless house, [14].
• Chimney, on stopping, [35].
• Chloroform in hard and lingering labor, [225].
• Chlorosis and hysteria, [113].
• Circulation, languid, [30], [55].
• Cleanliness of body, [41].
• “Cleansings,” [245].
• Clever wife a fortune, [90].
• Clothing in pregnancy, [123].
  • after labor, [234].
  • during suckling, [262].
• Clysters, [242], [288].
• Coffee as an aperient, [142], [290].
• Complexion, a fine, [25], [27].
• Contentment, [87].
• Cook, an idiot of a, [90].
• Cookery, good and careful, [89].
• Costiveness during pregnancy, [140].
  • a cause of hard labor, [143].
• “Count,” [185].
  • the German method of making, [187].
  • a good plan to make the, [186].
• Country, on living in the, [36], [137].
• Cramp of the bowels, [168].
• Cramps of the legs and thighs in pregnancy, [168], [203].
• Creasote in toothache, [156].
• “Croakers,” during labor, [190], [219].
• Croquet, best of games, [85].
• Crying out, when in pain, [214].
• Curates’ wives, [38].
• Dancing, danger of young wife, [86].
• Dangers of wine-drinking, [56].
  • of early marriages, [104].
• Daylight, importance of, [79].
• Depression of spirits during suckling, [267].
• Derbyshire oatmeal gruel, [143].
• Dews of morning and evening, [26], [70].
• Diarrhœa in pregnancy, [145].
• Dietary of a young wife, [49].
  • pregnant female, [134].
  • after labor, [249].
• Diet during suckling, [263].
  • of lying-in women, [249]
  • of young wife, [49].
• Digestion, a good, [271].
• Dirt in wrong place, [132].
• Difficulty of lying down in pregnancy, [138].
  • of making water, [223].
• Dinners and tempers, [92].
• Disinfectant, [129].
• Dissipation and barrenness, [14].
• Domette bandages, [153].
• Dozing, ill effects of, [67].
• Drainage, [132].
• Dress for labor, [217].
  • for young wife, [82].
• “Drying up the milk,” [296].
• Duration of menstruation, [105].
• Duties of a nursing mother, [255].
  • of a wife, [92].
• Early Maturity, [106].
  • riser needs refreshment, [68].
  • rising and early to bed, [71].
    • a cosmetic, [70].
    • a duty, [71].
    • good effects of, [70].
• Early rising rejuvenizes, [70].
• Economy, domestic, [87].
• Employment “nature’s doctor,” [274].
• Enceinte, the origin of the word (note), [113].
• Enema apparatus, [100], [197].
  • for costiveness, [100].
  • for lying-in patient, [242].
• Enemata of tepid water, [152].
• Ewers and basins, Liliputian, [41].
• Exercise for a young wife, [23].
  • a necessity, [24].
  • before breakfast, [47].
  • best aperient, [144].
  • for the delicate, [25].
  • immense importance of, [23].
  • in close carriages, [29].
  • in pregnancy, [125].
  • during suckling, [268]
  • fresh air and occupation during pregnancy, [126].
  • in open air after labor, [254].
  • promotes sleep, [78].
• False labor pains, [183].
• Fainting in pregnancy, [165].
• Faintness during suckling, [287].
• “Falling of the womb,” [247].
• Falling off of hair, [47].
• Fashion and barrenness, [38].
• Fashionable system of spending married life, [18].
• Fat and pregnancy, how to distinguish between, [121].
• Feet, cold, exercise the remedy for, [30].
  • and legs, bathing, [45].
• Females who have sick pregnancies, [161].
• “Female slipper,” [239].
• Fire-guard on lying-in room grate, [237].
• Fire, ill effects of sitting near, [27].
• Flannel, [218].
  • next skin, [83].
• Flatulence and “quickening,” [121].
• Fleas and bugs, [97].
• Fœtal circulation (note), [122].
• Folly of shutting out light, [79].
• Food, variety of, necessary, [265].
• French bed-pan, [244].
  • cookery, [91].
  • plums, stewed, [289].
• Friend, the choice of, during labor, [219].
• Fruit useful in pregnancy, [136].
• Fruitful women, [60].
• Fruit tree, a simile, [15].
• Fruitless suckling, [283].
• Fumigations, [129].
• Garters, ill effects of, in pregnancy, [123].
• Gathered breasts, [282].
  • causes of, [283].
  • importance of early treatment, [286].
• German breakfast, [289].
• Gestation, period of, [185].
• Ginger plaster, [157].
• Girl or boy?, [188].
• Greens, cabbages, and pickles, [290].
• “Guarding of the bed,” [218].
• Hair, on washing, [46].
• Health, a beautifier, [23].
  • importance of, [101].
  • of wives, [13].
  • worth trying for, [17].
• Heart, palpitation of, during pregnancy, [167].
• Heartburn in pregnancy, [147].
• Hints to attendants, [228].
  • to mother when infant is ill, [268].
• Home known only in England, [86].
• Honey, on the wholesomeness of, [289].
• Hot-water bag, [147], [168].
• House, a healthy, [36].
• Household duties, [86].
  • good, [272].
• Hysteria, [113].
• Husband in lying-in room, [210].
• Idle ladies, [78].
  • people, [25].
• Idleness brings misery, [127].
  • effects of, [17].
• India-rubber teat and shield for drawn-in nipple, [276].
  • for sore nipple, [280].
• Indolence, the ill effects of, in pregnancy, [126].
• Infant born apparently dead, [230].
  • the period of suckling an, [293].
  • the cry of an, [230].
• Introductory Chapter, [13].
• Irish women, poor, [38].
• Irritation and itching, [172].
• Jam as an aperient, [89].
• Jeremy Taylor’s description of a wife, [13].
• Labor, [199].
  • the easy and the hard, [94].
  • rapid, directions concerning, [228].
  • symptoms of, [199]–215.
  • treatment of, [216]–254.
• Lavements in pregnancy, [144].
• Leather cheaper than physic, [24].
• Legs, the swollen, of pregnancy, [152].
• Length of time of first labor, [210].
  • of an after labor, [210].
• Life is to be well, [18].
• Light, effects of, [79].
  • is life, [79].
• Little ablution—much clothing, [84].
• Lively women and easy labors, [127].
• Luxurious idle wife, [77].
• Luxury, an age of, [28].
  • ill effects of, [38].
• Lying-in room, [237].
  • temperature of, [237].
• Maid-servants and the “ologies,” [92].
• Marmalade as an aperient, [290].
• Marshmallow and chamomile fomentation (note), [245].
• Martin Luther on work, [89].
• Mastication, thorough, [54].
• Materials of food should be mixed and varied, [265].
• Means to strengthen, [16].
• Meddlesome breast-tending, [260].
  • midwifery reprobated, [205].
• Medical men, [209].
• Medicines in pregnancy, [140]–173.
  • opening, danger of, [99].
• Menstrual fluid, [111].
• Menstruation, [103].
  • accompanied with “the whites,” [112].
  • before marriage, [111].
  • during 30 years, [102].
  • painful, [111].
  • dangers of, [111].
  • profuse, [112].
  • sparing, [112].
  • too pale or too dark, [111].
  • when not properly performed, [111].
• Milk at its “height,” [259].
  • the best way of “drying up” the, [296].
  • flowing away constantly, [280].
  • very fattening, [54].
• Miscarriage, [174].
  • care required after, [178].
  • causes of, [175].
  • consequences of a neglected, [178].
  • flooding in, [177].
  • prevention of, [179].
  • symptoms of a threatened, [176].
  • treatment of, [179].
  • usual time of taking place, [177].
• Misconception and prejudice, [238].
• Mission, the glorious, [101].
• Monthly nurse, [189]–198.
• Morning sickness, [117], [158].
• Mothers predisposed to consumption, [300].
  • who cannot suckle, [299].
  • unnatural, [255].
• Mountain-air, [97].
• Mufflers and sore throats, [84].
• Mutton-chops, folly of living entirely on, [52].
• Nature in early morning, [68].
• Navel, pouting of, as a sign of pregnancy, [122].
• Navel-string, the manner of tying, [233].
  • not to be tied until the child breathes, [232].
• Nipple, cracked and fissured, [279].
  • during suckling, [257].
  • means to harden, [162].
  • great importance of hardening, [162].
  • retraction of, [275].
  • shields, [276].
  • sore, [277].
  • an obstinate, [299].
  • washing of, and breast, [257].
  • wet, [280].
  • shields, Wansbrough’s, [279].
• Nose, a sentinel, [129].
• Nurse, monthly, [189]–198.
  • importance of choosing a good, [189].
  • on wearing crinoline, [197].
  • on wearing slippers instead of shoes, [198].
• Nursery-basin, [43].
• Nursing, prolonged, danger of, [293].
  • apron, [263].
• Oatmeal, Derbyshire, [143].
  • gruel as a fomentation, [245].
• Occupation, [87], [272].
  • fresh air, and exercise, [272].
• Offspring of very young and very old, [104].
• Olive oil as an aperient, [142].
• Opening medicine, [99].
• Pains, “bearing down,” [203].
  • before and during menstruation, [111].
  • “grinding,” [200].
  • at night in pregnancy, [139].
• Painless parturition, [212].
• Palpitation of the heart in pregnancy, [167].
• Passion, the ill effects of, during suckling, [270].
• Pendulous belly of pregnancy, [154].
• Pepper plaster, [157].
• Period of gestation, [185].
  • of taking exercise, [254].
• Pessaries, [248].
• Physic, a substitute for exercise, [31].
  • best, is exercise, [25].
• Piles in pregnancy, [148].
• Pleasure and health, [85].
• Plethoric pregnant females, [136].
• Poisoned by one’s own breath, [35].
• Porter and ale for a nursing mother, [266].
• Position after delivery, [237].
  • of a mother during suckling, [270].
  • of patient after labor, [237].
• “Pottering” nurse, [190].
• Poultice, a bread and milk and sweet oil, [282].
• Precursory symptoms of labor, [199].
• Pregnancy, [117].
  • duration of, [185].
  • a natural process, [127].
  • period of, [185].
  • signs of, [117].
• Preliminary observations, [13].
• Preparation for health, [47].
  • for labor, [216].
• Profession of a wife, [90].
• Prolific mothers (note), [105].
• Proper time for a patient to sit up after labor, [246].
  • to send for medical man, [200], [203].
  • to send for the nurse, [200].
• Protrusion of the bowels, [149].
• Prunes, stewed, [289].
• Puberty, period of (note), [105].
• Pump-water, contamination, [132].
  • on boiling, [133].
  • on purity of, [132].
• “Quickening,” [120].
  • flatulence mistaken for, [121].
• Quiet after confinement, [246].
• Rain and wind, exercise in, [24].
• Rats in drains and sewers, [130].
• “Reckoning,” to make the, [186].
• Refreshment after labor, [235].
• Remedies to prevent costiveness, [291].
• Respiration, artificial, [232].
• Rest after delivery, [234].
  • in pregnancy, [133].
  • and quietude after labor, [246].
• Restlessness at night, [138].
  • remedies for, [138].
• Rich ladies, [38].
• Rising of the sun on seeing the, [71].
• Rock-salt, [45].
• Rules for a female prone to miscarry, [180].
  • for barren wife, [14].
  • of health, [99].
• Sea-bathing, in pregnancy, [125].
• Sea water good for hair, [46].
• Servants taught the “ologies,” [92].
• Shivering during labor, [201].
• “Show,” a sure sign of labor, [200].
• Shower-bath in pregnancy, [125].
• Sick pregnancies, [161].
• Sickness during labor, [201].
• Signs of the fœtal circulation (note) 123.
  • of pregnancy, [117].
• Sitting over fire, [27].
  • with back to fire, [27].
• Sitz-bath, the value of, [44], [124], [172].
• Skin of the abdomen cracked, [154].
• Skylight the best ventilator, [128].
• Sleep in pregnancy, [137].
  • the choicest gift, [77].
  • the value of, immediately after labor, [238].
  • for young wife, [78].
• Sleepiness of pregnant females, [138].
• Sleeplessness of pregnant females, [138].
• Slipper bed-pan, [239], [244].
• Sluggard’s dwelling, [71].
• “Smoking dunghill,” a, [131].
• Sore nipples, [277].
• Spirits during suckling, [268].
• Spurious labor pains, [183].
• Stages of labor, [213].
• Stays should not be worn during labor, [218].
• Stocking, elastic, [153].
• Stomach, functions of, [271].
• Subsidence of the womb before labor, [199].
• “Suck-pap,” [258].
• Suckling, [255].
  • when female is pregnant, [300].
• Suppers, hearty meal, [52].
• Support to bowels after confinement, [236].
• Swedish ladies, [91].
• Swollen legs in pregnancy, [152].
• Symptoms of labor, [199].
  • denoting necessity of weaning, [298].
• Table of duration of pregnancy, [185].
• Taking, the frequent, of physic, [31].
• Teat, india-rubber, and shield, [276].
• Teeth frequently decay in pregnancy, [156].
  • and gums, [55].
• Temperature of a lying-in room, [237].
• “The top of the morning,” [72].
• Things which will be wanted at a labor, [216].
• Tic-douloureux, [157].
• Tight lacing injurious to a young wife, [81].
  • ill effects of, in pregnancy, [123].
• Time when a child should be weaned, [293].
• Toothache in pregnancy, [155].
  • remedies for, [156].
• Tooth extraction, the danger of, in pregnancy, [155].
• “Trap to catch sunbeam,” [81].
• True labor pains, [202].
• “Trying of a pain,” [221].
• “Turn of years,” [115].
• Unladylike, on being, [96].
• Urine, retention of, [240].
• Vaginal syringe, [196].
• Veal-and-milk broth, [251].
• Veins, enlarged, of the leg, [152].
• Ventilation, importance of, [33], [128].
  • manner of performing, [34].
  • of lying-in room, [254].
  • thorough, [36].
• Visitors in a lying-in room, [238].
• Walk before breakfast, [47].
  • in frosty weather, [28].
• Walking glorious exercise, [23].
• Warm ablutions after labor, [245].
  • baths for infants apparently still-born, [231].
• Water poisoned by drains, [132].
• Waters, “the breaking of the,” [202].
• Weaning, [292].
• Weaning an infant, the method of, [294].
• Wellington, the Duke of, [67].
• Westmoreland and Cumberland poor women, [229].
• Wet-nurses’ and mother’s milk, [265].
• Whining and repining, [95].
• “Whites” during pregnancy, [169].
  • cause miscarriage, [112].
  • when not pregnant, [112].
• Wife, a domestic, [90].
  • educated to be useful, [90].
  • instructing servants, [92].
  • the mission of a, [22].
  • the profession of a, [90].
  • young, [13].
• Wine, abuse of, [57].
  • bibbing causes barrenness, [57].
  • drinking of, [55].
  • in France, [61].
  • on children taking, [61].
  • much injures complexion, [64].
  • during suckling, [267].
• Womb, bearing down of, [247].
• Work, a cure for many ailments, [93].
• Wormwood on nipples in weaning, [296].