Advice to a wife and mother in two parts

by Pye Henry Chavasse

617. As soon as the patient has recovered from the fatigue of the labor—that is to say, in about four or six hours—attention ought to be paid, more especially in a first confinement, to the bosoms.

618. In a first confinement, there is, until the third day, but very little milk; although there is usually on that day, and for two or three days afterward, a great deal of swelling, of hardness, of distention, and of uneasiness of the breasts, in consequence of which, in a first confinement, both care and attention are needed.

619. If there be milk in the breast, which may be readily ascertained by squeezing the nipple between the finger and the thumb, the infant should, at first, be applied—not frequently, as some do, but at considerable intervals, say until the milk be properly secreted—every four hours; when the milk flows, the child ought to be applied more frequently, but still at stated times.

620. To wash away any viscid mucus from the nipple, or any stale perspiration from the bosom, let the breasts and the nipples, before applying the baby, be first sponged with a little warm water, and then be dried with a warm, dry, soft napkin; for some infants are so particular that unless the breasts and the nipples be perfectly free from mucus and from perspiration, they will not suck. If after the above cleansing process there be any difficulty in making him take the bosom, smear a little cream on the nipple, and then immediately apply him to it.

621. If the breasts be full, hard, knotty, and painful, which they generally are two or three days after a first confinement, let them be well but tenderly rubbed every four hours, either with the best olive oil (a little of which should, before using it, be previously warmed, by putting a little of the oil in a teacup on the hob by the fire) or with equal parts of olive oil and of eau de Cologne, which should be well shaken up in a bottle every time before it be used.

622. On the third day, more especially after a first confinement, the breasts are apt to become very much swollen, painful, and distended. If such be the case, it might be necessary, for a few days, to have them drawn, once or twice daily, by a woman who makes it her business, and who is usually called either a breast-drawer, or, in vulgar parlance, a suck-pap. A clean, sober, healthy, respectable woman ought to be selected. There is, in nearly every large town, one generally to be found who is at the head of her profession. Such a one should be chosen.

623. If the bosoms be more than usually large and painful, in addition to assiduously using the above liniment, apply to the breasts, in the intervals, young cabbage-leaves, which should be renewed after each rubbing. Before applying them, the “veins” of the leaves, with a sharp knife, must be cut smooth, level with the leaf. It will require several, as the whole of the breast ought to be covered. The cabbage-leaves will be found both cooling and comfortable. Each bosom should then be nicely supported with a soft folded silk handkerchief, going under each breast and suspending it; each handkerchief should then be tied at the back of the neck, thus acting as a kind of sling.

624. The patient ought not, while the breasts are full and uncomfortable, to drink much fluid, as it would only encourage a larger secretion of milk.

625. When the milk is at “its height,” as it is called, she ought every morning, for a couple of mornings, to take a little cooling medicine—a Seidlitz powder—and, every four hours, the following effervescing mixture:

Take of—Bicarbonate of Potash, one drachm and a half;