ys, until the milk has come and the milk
fever passed, the mother should live upon light food,--oatmeal gruel,
tea and toast, panada, or anything else of little bulk and unstimulating
character. Afterwards the diet may be increased by the addition of
chicken, lamb, mutton or oyster broth, buttered toast, and eggs. The
object of light nourishment at first is to prevent the too rapid
secretion of milk, which might be attended with evil local and
constitutional effects. If, however, the mother be in feeble health, it
will be necessary from the outset that she shall be supported with
nourishing concentrated food. _Beef-tea_ will then be found very
serviceable, particularly if made according to the following
recipe:--Take a pound of fresh beef from the loins or neck. Free it
carefully from all fat. Cut it up into fine pieces, and add a very
little salt and five grains of unbroken black pepper. Pour on it a pint
of cold water, and _simmer_ for forty minutes. Then pour off the liquor,
place the meat in a cloth, and, after squeezing the juice from it into
the tea, throw it aside. Return to the fire, and boil for ten minutes.
After the first week, the diet of the lying-in woman should always be
nutritious, though plain and simple. The development of the mammary
glands, the production of the mammary secretion, and the reduction which
takes place in the size of the womb, all require increased nourishment,
that they may be properly performed.
After the third or fourth day _the dress should be changed_. The dress
worn during labor, if our directions have been carried out, will not
have been soiled. The clothing should be changed without uncovering the
person, and without raising the head from the pillow. Pull the bed-gown
from over each arm, and draw it out from under the body. Then unfasten
the chemise in front and draw it down underneath her so that it can be
removed from below, as it should not be carried over the head. Place her
arms in the sleeves of the clean chemise, throw its body over her head,
and, without lifting her shoulders from the bed, draw it down. Then
change the bed-gown in the same manner.
In changing the upper sheet, it should be pulled off from below, and the
clean one carried down in its place from above, underneath the other
clothing, which can be readily accomplished by plaiting the lower half.
In introducing a clean under-sheet, one side of it should be plaited and
placed under the patient, lying on he
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