The Maternal Management of Children, in Health and Disease. | Page 9

conveys to the touch a knotted, irregular, and hard feel; and the nipple
must be perfect, of moderate size, but well developed.
WHAT IS THE QUALITY OF THE MILK?--It should be thin, and of
a bluish- white colour; sweet to the taste; and when allowed to stand,
should throw up a considerable quantity of cream.
WHAT IS ITS AGE?--If the lying-in month of the patient has scarcely
expired, the wet-nurse to be hired ought certainly not to have reached
her second month. At this time, the nearer the birth of the child, and the
delivery of its foster-parent, the better: the reason for which is, that
during the first few weeks the milk is thinner and more watery than it
afterwards becomes. If, consequently, a new-born infant be provided
with a nurse, who has been delivered three or four months, the natural
relation between its stomach and the quality of the milk is destroyed,
and the infant suffers from the oppression of food too heavy for its
digestive power.
On the other hand, if you are seeking a wet-nurse for an infant of four
or five months old, it would be very prejudicial to transfer the child to a
woman recently delivered; the milk would be too watery for its support,
and its health in consequence would give way.
THE NURSE HERSELF SHOULD NOT BE TOO OLD!--A vigorous
young woman from twenty-one to thirty admits of no question. And the
woman who has had one or two children before is always to be
preferred, as she will be likely to have more milk, and may also be
supposed to have acquired some experience in the management of
infants.
INQUIRE WHETHER SHE IS EVER UNWELL WHILE
NURSING?--If so, reject her at once. You will have no difficulty in

ascertaining this point; for this class of persons have an idea that their
milk is renewed, as they term it, by this circumstance, monthly; and,
therefore, that it is a recommendation, rendering their milk fitter for
younger children than it would otherwise have been. It produces,
however, quite a contrary effect; it much impairs the milk, which will
be found to disagree with the child, rendering it at first fretful,--after a
time being vomited up, and productive of frequent watery dark green
motions.
Last of all, WHAT IS THE CONDITION OF THE CHILD?--It ought
to have the sprightly appearance of health, to bear the marks of being
well nourished, its flesh firm, its skin clean and free from eruptions. It
should be examined in this respect, particularly about the head, neck,
and gums.
If a medical man finds that both mother and child answer to the above
description, he has no hesitation in recommending the former as likely
to prove a good wet-nurse.

DIET AND REGIMEN OF A WET-NURSE.

The regimen of a wet-nurse should not differ much from that to which
she has been accustomed; and any change which it may be necessary to
make in it should be gradual. It is erroneous to suppose that women
when nursing require to be much more highly fed than at other times: a
good nurse does not need this, and a bad one will not be the better for it.
The quantity which many nurses eat and drink, and the indolent life
which they too often lead, have the effect of deranging their digestive
organs, and frequently induce a state of febrile excitement, which
always diminishes, and even sometimes altogether disperses, the milk.
It will be necessary then to guard against the nurse overloading her
stomach with a mass of indigestible food and drink. She should live as
much as possible in the manner to which she has been accustomed; she
should have a wholesome, mixed, animal and vegetable diet, and a

moderate and somewhat extra quantity of malt liquor, provided it agree
with her system.
A very prevailing notion exists that porter tends to produce a great flow
of milk, and in consequence the wet-nurse is allowed as much as she
likes; a large quantity is in this way taken, and after a short time so
much febrile action excited in the system, that instead of increasing the
flow of milk, it diminishes it greatly. Some parents, however, aware of
this fact, will go into an opposite extreme, and refuse the nurse even
that which is necessary. Either excess is of course wrong. It is difficult
in general terms to say what ought to be considered a proper daily
allowance, but some is in general necessary; and whenever a woman
has been used to drink malt-liquor, she will rarely make a good
wet-nurse if she is denied a reasonable quantity of that beverage. Good
sound ale sometimes agrees better than porter. It may be well here to
remark, that in London, I frequently