Advice to a wife and mother in two parts

by Pye Henry Chavasse

638. I should advise a nursing mother to provide herself with a waterproof nursing apron, which may be procured either at any baby-linen establishment or at an india-rubber warehouse.

DIETARY.

639. A nursing mother ought to live plainly; her diet should be both light and nourishing. It is a mistaken notion that at these times she requires extra good living. She ought never to be forced to eat more than her appetite demands; if she be, either indigestion, or heartburn, or sickness, or costiveness, or a bowel complaint will ensue. It is a folly at any time to force the appetite. If she be not hungry, compelling her to eat will do her more harm than good. A medical man, in such a case, ought to be consulted.

640. The best meats are mutton and beef; veal and pork may, for a change, be eaten. Salted meats are hard of digestion; if boiled beef, therefore, be eaten, it ought to be only slightly salted. It is better, in winter, to have the boiled beef unsalted; it is then, especially if it be the rump, deliciously tender. Salt, of course, must be eaten with the unsalted meat. High-seasoned dishes are injurious; they inflame the blood, and thus they disorder the milk.

641. Some persons consider that there is no care required in the selection of the food, and that a nursing mother may eat anything, be it ever so gross and unwholesome; but, if we appeal to reason and to facts, we shall be borne out in saying that great care is required. It is well known that cow’s milk very much partakes of the properties of the food on which the animal lives. Thus, if a cow feed on swedes, the milk and the butter will have a turnipy flavor. This, beyond a doubt, decides that the milk does partake of the qualities of the food on which she feeds. The same reasoning holds good in the human species, and proves the absurdity of a nursing mother being allowed to eat anything, be it ever so gross, indigestible, or unwholesome. Again, either a dose of purgative medicine given to her, or greens taken by her at dinner, will sometimes purge the baby as violently, or even more so, than it will herself.

642. Even the milk of a healthy wet-nurse acts differently, and less beneficially, upon the child than the mother’s own milk. The ages of the mother and of the wet-nurse, the ages of her own and the latter’s infant, the constitutions of the one and of the other, the adaptability of a mother’s milk for her own particular child—all tend to make a foster-mother not so desirable a nurse as the mother herself. Again, a mother cannot at all times get to the antecedents of a wet-nurse; and, if she can, they will not always bear investigation.

643. With regard to the ages of the mother and of the wet-nurse—for instance, as a wet-nurse’s milk is generally a few weeks older than the mother’s own milk, the wet-nurse’s milk may, and frequently does, produce costiveness of the bowels of her foster-child; while, on the other hand, the mother’s own milk, being in age just adapted to her babe’s, may and generally does keep her own infant’s bowels regular. The milk, according to the age of the child, alters in properties and qualities to suit the age, constitution, and acquirements of her baby—adapting itself, so to speak, to his progressive development. Hence the importance of a mother, if possible, suckling her own child.

644. A babe who is suckled by a mother who lives grossly is more prone to disease, particularly to skin and to inflammatory complaints, and to disease which is more difficult to subdue.

645. Do not let me be misunderstood: I am not advocating that a mother should be fussily particular—by no means. Let her take a variety of food, both animal and vegetable; let her from day to day vary her diet; let her ring the changes on boiled and stewed, on grilled and roast meats; on mutton and lamb and beef; on chicken and game and fish; on vegetables, potatoes, and turnips; on broccoli and cauliflower, on asparagus and peas (provided they are young and well boiled), and French beans. “The maxim of the greatest importance in reference to the materials of human food is, mixture and variety—a maxim founded, as has been stated, upon man’s omnivorous nature. Animal and vegetable substances, soups and solid meat, fish, flesh, and fowl, in combination or succession, ought, if due advantage is to be taken of the health-sustaining element in food, to form the dietary of every household.”[^[114]]

646. But what I object to a nursing mother taking are—gross meats, such as goose and duck; highly-salted beef; shell-fish, such as lobster and crab; rich dishes; highly-seasoned soup; pastry, unless it be plain; and cabbages and greens and pickles, if found to disagree with the baby; and any other article of food which is either rich, or gross, or indigestible, and which, from experience, she has found to disagree either with herself or with her child. It will be seen, therefore, from the above catalogue, that my restrictions as to diet are limited, and are, I hope, founded both on reason and on common sense.