us devolved upon the mother, of the duties connected
with which she was entirely ignorant.
A wet-nurse was obtained. In a very few hours after this change was
effected, the screaming ceased, the child had quiet and refreshing
sleep, and in twelve hours a healthy motion was passed. The child
gained flesh almost as quickly as it had previously lost it, and is now
as fine and healthy an infant as it promised to be when born.
Whenever there has existed previously any nervous or mental affection
in the parent, wet-nurse suckling is always advisable; this, with
judicious management of childhood, will do much to counteract the
hereditary predisposition.
THE MOTHER WHO ONLY NURSES HER INFANT WHEN IT SUITS HER CONVENIENCE
OUGHT NOT.--The mother who cannot make up her mind exclusively to
devote herself to the duties of a nurse, and give up all engagements
that would interfere with her health, and so with the formation of
healthy milk, and with the regular and stated periods of nursing her
infant, ought never to suckle. It is unnecessary to say why; but I
think it right, for the child's sake, to add, that if it does not
sicken, pine, and die, disease will be generated in its constitution,
to manifest itself at some future period.
The child, then, under all the foregoing circumstances, must be
provided with its support from another source, and a wet-nurse is the
best.
2. WET-NURSE SUCKLING.
Ill health and many other circumstances may prevent a parent from
suckling her child, and render a wet-nurse necessary. Now, although she
will do wisely to leave the choice of one to her medical attendant,
still, as some difficulty may attend this, and as most certainly the
mother herself ought to be acquainted with the principal points to
which his attention is directed in the selection of a good nurse, it
will be well to point out in what they consist.
CHOICE OF A WET-NURSE.
The first thing to which a medical man looks, is the general health of
the woman; next, the condition of her breast, the quality of her milk
its age and her own; whether she is ever unwell while nursing; and,
last of all, the condition and health of the child.
IS THE WOMAN IN GOOD HEALTH?--Her general appearance ought to bear the
marks of a sound constitution, and ought to be free from all suspicion
of a strumous character; her tongue clean, and digestion good; her
teeth and gums sound and perfect; her skin free from eruption, and he
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