If the mother is unable to nurse the child herself and the conditions are ideal, that is the wet nurse a healthy, happy woman with a thriving baby of her own, and very particular in the care of her person, this is better than artificial feeding.
Contra-Indications to Nursing
Total absence of milk, after earnest efforts to stimulate its secretion necessitates artificial feeding.
If the mother has chorea, epilepsy, or tuberculosis in any form, it is best to resort to artificial feeding; also if the mother has syphilis and the baby is free from it. In these conditions the child must often be taken from the mother to avoid infection.
If the mother has had serious complications in pregnancy or parturition, the physician must decide on the advisability of natural or artificial feeding.
In case of nephritis, except perhaps in a very mild form, the milk is toxic and therefore nursing from the breast should be prohibited.
Sometimes in acute contagious disease it is safer to nurse the baby than to subject it to the dangers of artificial food. However, when the mother’s temperature exceeds 101 or 102 degrees, the milk will probably possess toxic qualities and disagree with the infant.
Anatomy and Physiology of the Infant
Every nursing mother should acquaint herself with the process of the infant’s digestion, as many of the infantile difficulties are caused by overfeeding or underfeeding, due to ignorance on this subject.