What to eat and when

by Susanna Cocroft

The mother should be firm in her decision to nurse her child and be encouraged to persevere in efforts to secure the proper development of the breasts before the birth of the child, that the quantity as well as the quality of the milk may be adequate.

The fact that nearly one-fourth of the civilized race dies during the first year of life is astounding. This mortality is due directly or indirectly to nutritional disturbances that could in a great measure be prevented if the babies were properly nursed at the breast or if the artificial feeding was carefully regulated.

Of six hundred and forty-one infants under observation by Dublin, in Fall River, Mass., five hundred and sixty-five were breast-fed and seventy-six bottle-fed. After the first week there were one hundred and six deaths. In seventy-four of these the infants were breast-fed, and in thirty-two, bottle-fed; nearly one-half of the bottle-fed babies died and only 10 per cent. of the breast-fed babies. The breast-fed child, therefore, has five chances to live where the bottle-fed child has one.

One fundamental principle on which all of the leading specialists in the study of the baby agree, is that the milk of the healthy mother is the only ideal baby food. Every mother should be made to realize the importance of nursing her baby for at least nine or ten months, unless circumstances beyond control make it impossible or inadvisable.

Proper care of the breasts and of the general health during the expectant period will usually secure a sufficient flow of milk for the child’s needs.

The mental attitude of the mother has much to do with the secretion of milk; therefore she should cultivate the habit of kindly, cheerful, healthful thoughts. She should keep her circulation and vitality up to par.

She should take regular exercise and be out in the fresh air daily.

During the first two or three days the child receives little nourishment from the breast, simply a few ounces daily of a yellowish substance known as colostrum, which is supposed to have a laxative effect on its bowels.

It is, however, usual to put the child to the breast at regular intervals of about four hours after the first day, to stimulate the milk secretion, which should be quite free on the third day; it, however, may be slow in coming for a day to two longer.

A teaspoonful or two of warm boiled water, or of a five per cent. solution of milk-sugar may be given every few hours, in fact it is considered advisable by some physicians, in order to lessen somewhat the loss in weight which takes place during the first week.