This is necessary to the well-doing of the
child, and will contribute essentially to preserve the health of the
parent, who will thus be rendered a good nurse, and her duty at the
same time will become a pleasure.

This implies, however, a careful attention on the part of the mother
to her own health; for that of her child is essentially dependent upon
it. Healthy, nourishing, and digestible milk can be procured only from
a healthy parent; and it is against common sense to expect that, if a
mother impairs her health and digestion by improper diet, neglect
of exercise, and impure air, she can, nevertheless, provide as
wholesome and uncontaminated a fluid for her child, as if she were
diligently attentive to these important points. Every instance of
indisposition in the nurse is liable to affect the infant.

And this leads me to observe, that it is a common mistake to suppose
that, because a woman is nursing, she ought therefore to live very
fully, and to add an allowance of wine, porter, or other fermented
liquor, to her usual diet. The only result of this plan is, to cause an
unnatural degree of fulness in the system, which places the nurse on
the brink of disease, and which of itself frequently puts a stop to the
secretion of the milk, instead of increasing it. The right plan of
proceeding is plain enough; only let attention be paid to the ordinary
laws of health, and the mother, if she have a sound constitution, will
make a better nurse than by any foolish deviation founded on ignorance
and caprice.

The following case proves the correctness of this statement:--

A young married lady, confined with her first child, left the lying-in-
room at the expiration of the third week, a good nurse, and in perfect
health. She had had some slight trouble with her nipples, but this was
soon overcome.

The porter system was now commenced, and from a pint to a pint and a
half of this beverage was taken in the four and twenty hours. This was
resorted to, not because there was any deficiency in the supply of
milk, for it was ample, and the infant thriving upon it; but because,
having become a nurse, she was told that it was usual and necessary,
and that without it her milk and strength would ere long fail.

After this plan had been followed for a few days, the mother became
drowsy and disposed to sleep in the daytime; and headach, thirst, a hot
skin, in fact, fever supervened; the milk diminished in quantity, and,
for the first