Advice to a wife and mother in two parts

by Pye Henry Chavasse

601. For the next—the second day.—Breakfast,—either dry toast and butter, or bread and butter, and black tea. Luncheon,—either a breakfast-cupful of strong beef-tea,[^[107]] or of bread and milk, or of arrow-root made with good fresh milk. Dinner,—either chicken or game, mashed potatoes, and bread. Tea, the same as for breakfast. Supper,—a breakfast-cupful of well-boiled and well-made gruel, made either with water or with fresh milk, or with water with a tablespoonful of cream added to it.

602. If beef-tea and arrow-root and milk be distasteful to the patient, or if they do not agree, then for luncheon let her have either a light egg pudding or a little rice pudding instead of either the beef-tea or the arrow-root.

603. On the third and fourth days.—Similar diet to the second day, with this difference, that for her dinner the patient should have mutton—either a mutton-chop or a cut out of a joint of mutton, instead of the chicken or game. The diet ought gradually to be improved, so that at the end of four days she should return to her usual diet, provided it be plain, wholesome, and nourishing.

604. The above, for the generality of cases, is the scale of dietary; but of course every lying-in woman ought not to be treated alike. If she be weak and delicate, she may from the beginning require good nourishment, and instead of giving her gruel, it may, from the very commencement, be necessary to prescribe good strong beef-tea, veal-and-milk broth,[^[108]] chicken-broth, mutton-chops, grilled chicken, game, the yelk and the white of an egg beaten up together in half a teacupful of good fresh milk, etc. Common sense ought to guide us in the treatment of a lying-in as of every other patient. We cannot treat people by rule and compass; we must be guided by circumstances; we can only lay down general rules. There is no universal guide, then, to be followed in the dietary of a lying-in woman; each case may and will demand separate treatment; a delicate woman, as I have just remarked, may, from the very first day, require generous living; while, on the other hand, a strong, robust, inflammatory patient may, for the first few days, require only simple bland nourishment, without a particle of stimulants. “And hence the true secret of success rests in the use of common sense and discretion—common sense to read nature aright, and discretion in making a right use of what the dictates of nature prescribe.”[^[109]]

BEVERAGE.

605. For the first week, either toast and water, or barley-water and milk,[^[110]] with the chill taken off, is the best beverage. Wine, spirits, and beer, during this time, unless the patient be weak and exhausted, or unless ordered by the medical man, ought not to be given. All liquids given during this period should be administered by means of a feeding-cup; this plan I strongly recommend, as it is both a comfort and a benefit to the patient; it prevents her from sitting up in bed every time she has to take fluids, and it keeps her perfectly still and quiet, which, for the first week after confinement, is very desirable.

606. When she is weak, and faint, and low, it may, as early as the first or second day, be necessary to give a stimulant, such as either a tumblerful of home-brewed ale or a glass or two of wine daily; but, as I before remarked, in the generality of cases, either toast and water, or barley-water and milk, for the first week after a confinement, is the best beverage.

607. After a week, either a tumblerful of mild home-brewed ale or of London or Dublin porter, where it agrees, should be taken at dinner; but if ale or porter be given, wine ought not to be allowed. It would be well to keep either to ale or to porter, as may best agree with the patient, and not to mix them, nor to take porter at one meal and ale at another.

608. Barreled, in this case, is superior to bottled porter, as it contains less fixed air. On the whole, however, I should prefer home-brewed ale to porter. Either old, or very new, or very strong ale, ought not, at this time, to be given.

609. Great care is required in the summer, as the warm weather is apt to turn the beer acid. Such beer would not only disagree with the mother, but would disorder the milk, and thus the infant. A nursing mother sometimes endeavors to correct sour porter or beer by putting soda in it. This plan is objectionable, as the constant taking of soda is weakening to the stomach and impoverishing to the blood. Moreover, it is impossible, by any artificial expedient, to make either tart beer or porter sound and wholesome, and fit for a nursing mother. If beer or porter be sour, it is not fit to drink, and ought either to be thrown away or should be given to the pigs.