If the free flow of milk is delayed beyond forty-eight hours, some nourishment must be given. A little modified cow’s milk is best. The preparation of this will be taken up under Artificial Feeding.
The mother should not permit herself to become easily discouraged about her ability to nurse her child, for even though the supply at first seems very deficient and it is necessary to give the baby other nourishment, it should be put to the breast at regular intervals, as the sucking by the child stimulates the secretion of milk. The flow of milk often increases when the mother becomes more active.
When the milk flows freely, the contents of one breast is sufficient for one nursing, and the breasts should be used alternately, that is one breast at one feeding and the other at the next.
Nursing should not last longer than from ten to twenty minutes. Too rapid nursing is apt to cause vomiting. If it is necessary to check the flow of milk somewhat, it can be done by pressing the breast slightly between the fingers.
There is a warmth, a purity, and a vitality to the mother’s milk that is impossible to secure in any artificial food no matter how carefully and skilfully prepared. It is also germ-free.
Some women seem unable to nurse their babies for more than two or three months and it is sometimes thought that it is not worth while for a woman to nurse her baby unless she can do so for a considerable time. This, however, is a great mistake, because there is no time in the baby’s life when it is more important for it to have breast milk than in the beginning. This is the time when the baby’s digestion is most easily disturbed and most difficult to correct. Every day or week that a baby gets breast milk gives it a better start.
It has been thought that it is dangerous to use both breast and artificial feeding. This idea is erroneous. The artificial food cannot make the breast milk hard to digest, while the breast feeding seems to make the artificial food digest more readily. This may be due in part to the ferments which the breast milk contains, but more probably is due to the fact that the baby is able to utilize the proteins of human milk to build tissue when it cannot so readily utilize the proteins of the artificial food.
Wet Nursing
Wet nursing is resorted to less frequently now than in the past on account of better methods for artificial feeding.