Chapter XII: Part IV: Suckling (2)

712. If a lady, then, during the period of suckling, were to take systematic exercise in the open air; to bustle about the house and to attend to her household duties; if she were to drink, the moment she awakes in the morning, a tumbler of _cold_ water, and every day _during_ dinner a glass of sherry; if she were to substitute _brown_ bread for _white_ bread, and _coffee_ for _tea_ at breakfast, and _brown_ for _white_ sugar; if she were to vary her food, both animal and vegetable, and partake plentifully of sound ripe fruit; if she were to use an abundance of _cold_ water to her skin; if she were, occasionally, at bedtime, to apply a “wet compress” to her bowels, and to visit the water-closet daily at one hour; if she were—even if the bowels were not opened for four or five days—_not_ to take an aperient of any kind whatever, and avoid quacking herself with physic; in short, if she would adopt the above safe and simple remedies, which are in the reach of all, she would not suffer so much from costiveness, which is frequently the bane, the misery, and the curse of her existence! But then, to get the bowels into a proper and healthy state, it would take both time and trouble; and how readily can a couple of pills be swallowed, and how quickly they act, and how soon they have to be repeated; until at length the bowels will not act at all unless goaded into action, and the pills become a necessity! Oh, the folly and the mischief of such a system!

WEANING.

713. There is an old saying, “that a woman should carry her child nine months, and should suckle him nine months.” It is well known that the first part of the old adage is correct, and experience has proved the latter to be equally so. If a babe be weaned _before_ he be nine months, he loses that muscular strength which the breast-milk alone can give; if he be suckled _after_ he be nine months, he becomes flabby, weak, and delicate. “It is generally recognized that the healthiest children are those weaned at nine months complete. Prolonged nursing hurts both child and mother; in the child, causing a tendency to brain disease, probably through disordered digestion and nutrition; in the mother, causing a strong tendency to deafness and blindness. It is a very singular fact, to which it is desirable that attention were paid, that in those districts of Scotland—viz., the Highland and insular—where the mothers suckle their infants from fourteen to eighteen months, deaf-dumbness and blindness prevail to a very much larger extent among the people than in districts where nine or ten months is the usual limit of the nursing period.”[125]

714. _The time, then, when an infant ought to be weaned._—“This, of course, must depend upon the strength of the child, and upon the health of the mother: nine months on an average is the proper time. If she be delicate, it may be found necessary to wean him at six months; or if he be weak, or laboring under any disease, it may be well to continue suckling him for twelve months; but after that time the breast will do him more harm than good, and will, moreover, injure the mother’s health.”[126]

715. If he be suckled after he be twelve months old, he is generally pale, flabby, unhealthy, and rickety; and the mother is usually nervous, emaciated, and hysterical. A child who is suckled beyond the proper time, more especially if there be any predisposition, sometimes dies either of water on the brain, or of consumption of the lungs, or of mesenteric disease.

716. _The manner in which a mother ought to act when she weans her child._—“She must, as the word signifies, do it gradually—that is to say, she should by degrees give him less and less of the breast, and more and more of artificial food; she ought, at length, only to suckle him at night; and lastly, it would be well for the mother either to send him away, or to leave him at home, and for a few days to go away herself.”[127]

717. “A good plan is for the nurse to have in the bed a half-pint bottle of new milk, which, to prevent it from turning sour, has been previously boiled, so as to give a little to the child in lieu of the breast. The warmth of the body will keep the milk of a proper temperature; and will supersede the use of lamps, of candle-frames, and other troublesome contrivances.”[128]

718. If the mother be not able to leave home herself, or to send her child _from_ home, she ought then to let the child sleep in another room, with some _responsible_ person—I say _responsible_ person, for a baby must not be left to the tender mercies of a giggling, thoughtless young girl.

719. If the mother, during the daytime, cannot resist having her child in the room with her, then I should advise her to make a paste of aloes—that is to say, let her mix a little powdered aloes with a few drops of water, until it be of the consistence of paste—and let her smear it on the nipple every time just before putting him to the breast; this will be _quite_ enough for him; and one or two aloe applications to the nipple will make him take a disgust to the bosom, and thus the weaning will be accomplished. A mother need not be afraid that the aloes will injure her baby; the _minute_ quantity he will swallow will do no harm; for the moment he tastes it, the aloes being extremely bitter, he will splutter it out of his mouth.

720. Another application for the nipple, to effect weaning, is wormwood. There are two ways of applying it, either (1) by sprinkling a very small pinch of powdered wormwood on the nipple; or (2) by bathing the nipple with a small quantity of wormwood tea just before applying the babe to it—either the one or the other of these plans will make him take a dislike to the breast, and thus the weaning will be accomplished. Wormwood is excessively bitter and disagreeable, and a slight quantity of it on the nipple will cause an infant to turn away from it with loathing and disgust—the wormwood, the minute quantity he will taste, will not at all injure him. Wormwood was in Shakspeare’s time used for the purpose of weaning:

“And she was wean’d,—I never shall forget it—
Of all the days of the year upon that day:
For I had then laid wormwood to my dug [breast],
Sitting in the sun under the dove-house wall,
My lord and you were then at Mantua:
Nay, I do bear a brain: but, as I said,
When it did taste the wormwood on the nipple
Of my dug, and felt it bitter, pretty fool!
To see it tetchy, and fall out with the dug.”[129]

721. The best way of “_drying up the milk_” is to apply to each breast soap plaster (_emplastrum saponis_), spread on soft pieces of wash-leather, the shape and size of the top of a hat, with a round hole the size of a shilling in the middle of each to admit the nipple, and with a slit from the center to the circumference of each plaster to make a better fit. These plasters ought to be spread by a chemist.

722. When the child is once weaned, the breasts ought _not_ to be drawn, as the drawing of them would cause them to secrete larger quantities of milk; if, therefore, the bosoms be ever so full or uncomfortable, a mother ought to leave them alone; she should wait patiently, and the milk will gradually diminish, and will at length disappear.

723. The drawing of the bosoms, during weaning, either by means of a breast-pump, or by the mouth, or by other like contrivances, has frequently caused gathered breasts. If not drawn, they scarcely, if ever, gather.

724. The foregoing plan of “drying up the milk” will generally in five or six days assuage the milk away; but if, at the end of three days, the bosoms still continue full and uncomfortable, the plasters should be removed, and the breasts ought, every four hours, to be well but tenderly rubbed with equal parts of olive oil and of _eau de Cologne_; the nurse supporting the bosom, during such friction, with her other hand.

725. Let me impress the above important advice on a nursing mother’s mind; it might save a great deal of after-suffering and misery.

726. It might be well to state that, after the child has been weaned, the milk does _not_ always _entirely_ leave the breast, not even for weeks, and, in some cases, not even for months; it is not of the slightest consequence, and requires no treatment to get rid of it.

727. A mother ought, during the period of weaning, to live abstemiously, and should drink as little as possible. In many cases, it is necessary to give, every morning, for two or three mornings, a few doses of mild aperient medicine, such as either a Seidlitz powder, or a teaspoonful of Henry’s magnesia and a teaspoonful of Epsom salts in half a tumbler of warm water.

728. _Symptoms denoting the necessity of weaning._—A mother sometimes cannot suckle her child; the attempt bringing on a train of symptoms somewhat similar to the following: singing in the ears; dimness of sight; aching of the eyeballs; throbbing in the head; nervousness; hysterics; tremblings; faintness; loss of appetite and of flesh; fluttering and palpitation of the heart; feelings of great exhaustion; indigestion; costiveness; sinking sensations of the stomach; pains in the _left_ side; great weakness and dragging pains of the loins, which are usually increased whenever the infant is put to the bosom; pallor of the countenance; shortness of breath; swelling of the ankles.

729. Of course, every mother who is suffering from suckling does not have the _whole_ of the above long catalogue of symptoms! But if she has three or four of the more serious of them, she ought not to disobey the warnings, but should discontinue nursing; although it may be necessary, if the babe himself be not old enough to wean, to obtain a healthy wet-nurse to take her place.

730. Remember, then, that if the above warning symptoms be disregarded, dangerous consequences, both to parent and child, might be the result. It might either throw the mother into a consumption, or it might bring on heart disease; and, in consequence of his not being able to obtain sufficient or proper nourishment, it might cause the infant to dwindle and pine away, and, eventually, to die of water on the brain.

731. Soon after nine months’ nursing, “the monthly courses” generally return. This is another warning that the babe ought _immediately_ to be weaned, as the milk will lessen both in quantity and in nourishment, and the child in consequence will become delicate and puny, and every day he is suckled will lose, instead of gain, ground. I have known many children, from protracted suckling, smaller at twelve months than they were at nine months; and well they might be, as, after nine months, the mother’s milk usually does them harm instead of doing them good, and thus causes them to dwindle away.

732. At another time, although the above train of symptoms does not occur, and notwithstanding she may be in perfect health, a mother may not be able to suckle her baby. Such a one usually has very small breasts, and but little milk in them, and if she endeavor to nurse her infant, it produces a _violent aching_ of the bosom. Should she disregard these warnings, and should still persevere, it might produce inflammation of the breast, which will probably end in a gathering.

733. _An obstinate sore nipple is sometimes a symptom denoting the necessity of weaning._—When the nipples are, and, notwithstanding judicious treatment, persistently for some time continue, very sore, it is often an indication that a lady ought to wean her baby. Long-continued, obstinate sore nipples frequently occur in a delicate woman, and speak, in language unmistakable, that the child, as far as the mother herself is concerned, must be weaned. Of course, if the infant be not old enough to wean, when practicable a wet-nurse ought to take the mother’s place. If the above advice were more frequently followed than it is, gathered breasts, much suffering, and broken health would not so frequently prevail as they now do.

734. If a mother be predisposed to consumption; if she has had spitting of blood; if she be subject to violent palpitation of the heart; if she be laboring under great debility and extreme delicacy of constitution; if she has any of the above complaints or symptoms, she ought not on any account to suckle her child, but should by all means procure a healthy wet-nurse.

735. Occasionally a mother suckles her infant when she is pregnant. This is highly improper, as it not only injures her own health, and may bring on a miscarriage, but it is also prejudicial to the baby, and may produce a delicacy of constitution from which he might never recover.

* * * * *

In conclusion, I fervently hope that this little book will, through God’s blessing, be to my fair reader, during the whole period of her wifehood, a friend in her need, a guide in her difficulties, and a silent but trusty counselor in all things pertaining to her health. I sincerely trust that it will give her as much pleasure in the reading of these pages as it has given me in the writing of them.

INDEX.

Ablution after labor, 245.
among the poor, 41.
manner of young wife performing, 42.
morning, 41.
in pregnancy, 124.
thorough, 41.

Abortion, 174.
the procuring of, 120.

Accoucheur, the duties of, 206.

Advice to a monthly nurse, 196.

After birth should never be brought away by nurse, 233.

After pains, 212.

Age at which menstruation commences, 105.

Age, best, to marry, 104.

Ages of mother and wet-nurse, 265.

Ailments of pregnancy, 140.
during suckling, 236.

Air, cold, the value of, 37.
pure in bedroom, 34.

Air and exercise in pregnancy, 125.
during suckling, 268.
and occupation, 126.

Ale and porter, sour, 253.
more nourishing than wine, 266.

Alcohol a deadly poison, 57.
in brandy and in wine, 57.

Aloe paste in weaning, 295.

Amusements of a young wife, 20.

Aperient pills after confinement, 241.

Aperients in pregnancy, 140.
the abuse of, 244.
before labor, 155.
_immediately_ after, improper, 241.
during suckling, 287.
on frequent, 99.

Appetite, bad, 51.
and leanness, 54.

Applications for hair, 47.

Armstrong on ablution, 49.

Articles wanted at labor, 216.

Artificial respiration, 232.

Assisting nature, on, 209.

Bad breast, 282.

Bandage after confinement, 236.

Barley-water and new milk, 251.

Barren wives, 14.
diet of, 38.
number of, 14.

Barrenness and fashion, 68.
in higher ranks, 60.

Bathing feet, 45.
shoulders and back, 42.
whole body, 42.

Bay salt, 45.

Bearing down pains, 202.
of womb, 247.

Beauty-sleep, 72.

Bed, “the guarding of,” 218.

Bed-pan, the best kind of, 244.

Bedroom for pregnant female, 137.
ventilation of, 73.

Bedstead, a four-post, in labor, 216.

Beef-tea, how to make (_note_), 249.

“Being out in reckoning,” 187.

Beverage after labor, 251.
the best for young wife, 55.
for mother whose child is ill, 268.

Bidet should be regularly used, 124.

Bladder, irritability of, 164, 199.
importance of attending to, 233.
in pregnancy, 164.
sluggishness of, 164.
state of, after confinement, 239.

“Blue-stocking,” as a wife, 93.

Bosom after labor, 259.

Bowels to be opened before labor, 155.
if regular, _no_ aperient required, 145.

Bowel complaints of pregnancy, 145.

Bowels, state of, after labor, 241.

Boy or girl?, 188.

Brandy to be in the lying-in room, 222.
on the use of, during labor, 222, 235.

Bran-bread as an aperient, 289.

Breakfast for young wife, 50.
a meager, 50.

Breast-drawer, 258.
during suckling, 260, 282.

Breast, full and uneasy, 282.
in second and in succeeding confinements, 259.
painful during pregnancy, 162.
gathered, 282.
causes of, 283.
importance of early treatment, 286.
shivering fit in, 286.
symptoms of, 286.
two forms of, 285.

Breast-pump, ill effects of, 296.

Bringing up of girls, 96.

Bugs and fleas, 97.

Business of a wife, 90.

Calomel dangerous in pregnancy, 140.

Carbonic acid gas in crowded rooms, 33, 86.

Carpet for bath-room, 47.

Carriage exercise, on the abuse of, 29.

Castor oil, the dose and manner of administering, 141.
external use of, 144.

Caudle should be banished lying-in room, 236.

“Caul,” a child’s (_note_), 230.

Cause, one, of small families, 60.

“Ceasing to be unwell,” 117.
to menstruate, 115.

Champagne-cup, 63.

Change of air for delicate wife, 96.

“Change of life,” 115.

“Change of life,” great importance of _not_ neglecting, 115.
of room after labor, 253.

Cheerful wife, 87.

Cheerfulness during labor, 220.
and occupation, 87, 93.

Child born before arrival of medical man, 228.
should be gradually weaned, 294.

Childless house, 14.

Chimney, on stopping, 35.

Chloroform in hard and lingering labor, 225.

Chlorosis and hysteria, 113.

Circulation, languid, 30, 55.

Cleanliness of body, 41.

“Cleansings,” 245.

Clever wife a fortune, 90.

Clothing in pregnancy, 123.
after labor, 234.
during suckling, 262.

Clysters, 242, 288.

Coffee as an aperient, 142, 290.

Complexion, a fine, 25, 27.

Contentment, 87.

Cook, an idiot of a, 90.

Cookery, good and careful, 89.

Costiveness during pregnancy, 140.
a cause of _hard_ labor, 143.

“Count,” 185.
the German method of making, 187.
a good plan to make the, 186.

Country, on living in the, 36, 137.

Cramp of the bowels, 168.

Cramps of the legs and thighs in pregnancy, 168, 203.

Creasote in toothache, 156.

“Croakers,” during labor, 190, 219.

Croquet, best of games, 85.

Crying out, when in pain, 214.

Curates’ wives, 38.

Dancing, danger of young wife, 86.

Dangers of wine-drinking, 56.
of early marriages, 104.

Daylight, importance of, 79.

Depression of spirits during suckling, 267.

Derbyshire oatmeal gruel, 143.

Dews of morning and evening, 26, 70.

Diarrhœa in pregnancy, 145.

Dietary of a young wife, 49.
pregnant female, 134.
after labor, 249.

Diet during suckling, 263.
of lying-in women, 249
of young wife, 49.

Digestion, a good, 271.

Dirt in wrong place, 132.

Difficulty of lying down in pregnancy, 138.
of making water, 223.

Dinners and tempers, 92.

Disinfectant, 129.

Dissipation and barrenness, 14.

Domette bandages, 153.

Dozing, ill effects of, 67.

Drainage, 132.

Dress for labor, 217.
for young wife, 82.

“Drying up the milk,” 296.

Duration of menstruation, 105.

Duties of a nursing mother, 255.
of a wife, 92.

Early Maturity, 106.
riser needs refreshment, 68.
rising and early to bed, 71.
a cosmetic, 70.
a duty, 71.
good effects of, 70.

Early rising rejuvenizes, 70.

Economy, domestic, 87.

Employment “nature’s doctor,” 274.

_Enceinte_, the origin of the word (_note_), 113.

Enema apparatus, 100, 197.
for costiveness, 100.
for lying-in patient, 242.

Enemata of tepid water, 152.

Ewers and basins, Liliputian, 41.

Exercise for a young wife, 23.
a necessity, 24.
before breakfast, 47.
best aperient, 144.
for the delicate, 25.
immense importance of, 23.
in close carriages, 29.
in pregnancy, 125.
during suckling, 268
fresh air and occupation during pregnancy, 126.
in open air after labor, 254.
promotes sleep, 78.

False labor pains, 183.

Fainting in pregnancy, 165.

Faintness during suckling, 287.

“Falling of the womb,” 247.

Falling off of hair, 47.

Fashion and barrenness, 38.

Fashionable system of spending married life, 18.

Fat and pregnancy, how to distinguish between, 121.

Feet, cold, exercise the remedy for, 30.
and legs, bathing, 45.

Females who have sick pregnancies, 161.

“Female slipper,” 239.

Fire-guard on lying-in room grate, 237.

Fire, ill effects of sitting near, 27.

Flannel, 218.
next skin, 83.

Flatulence and “quickening,” 121.

Fleas and bugs, 97.

Fœtal circulation (_note_), 122.

Folly of shutting out light, 79.

Food, variety of, necessary, 265.

French bed-pan, 244.
cookery, 91.
plums, stewed, 289.

Friend, the choice of, during labor, 219.

Fruit useful in pregnancy, 136.

Fruitful women, 60.

Fruit tree, a simile, 15.

Fruitless suckling, 283.

Fumigations, 129.

Garters, ill effects of, in pregnancy, 123.

Gathered breasts, 282.
causes of, 283.
importance of early treatment, 286.

German breakfast, 289.

Gestation, period of, 185.

Ginger plaster, 157.

Girl or boy?, 188.

Greens, cabbages, and pickles, 290.

“Guarding of the bed,” 218.

Hair, on washing, 46.

Health, a beautifier, 23.
importance of, 101.
of wives, 13.
worth trying for, 17.

Heart, palpitation of, during pregnancy, 167.

Heartburn in pregnancy, 147.

Hints to attendants, 228.
to mother when infant is ill, 268.

Home known only in England, 86.

Honey, on the wholesomeness of, 289.

Hot-water bag, 147, 168.

House, a healthy, 36.

Household duties, 86.
good, 272.

Hysteria, 113.

Husband in lying-in room, 210.

Idle ladies, 78.
people, 25.

Idleness brings misery, 127.
effects of, 17.

India-rubber teat and shield for drawn-in nipple, 276.
for sore nipple, 280.

Indolence, the ill effects of, in pregnancy, 126.

Infant born apparently dead, 230.
the period of suckling an, 293.
the cry of an, 230.

Introductory Chapter, 13.

Irish women, poor, 38.

Irritation and itching, 172.

Jam as an aperient, 89.

Jeremy Taylor’s description of a wife, 13.

Labor, 199.
the easy and the hard, 94.
rapid, directions concerning, 228.
symptoms of, 199–215.
treatment of, 216–254.

Lavements in pregnancy, 144.

Leather cheaper than physic, 24.

Legs, the swollen, of pregnancy, 152.

Length of time of first labor, 210.
of an after labor, 210.

Life is to be well, 18.

Light, effects of, 79.
is life, 79.

Little ablution—much clothing, 84.

Lively women and easy labors, 127.

Luxurious idle wife, 77.

Luxury, an age of, 28.
ill effects of, 38.

Lying-in room, 237.
temperature of, 237.

Maid-servants and the “ologies,” 92.

Marmalade as an aperient, 290.

Marshmallow and chamomile fomentation (_note_), 245.

Martin Luther on work, 89.

Mastication, thorough, 54.

Materials of food should be mixed and varied, 265.

Means to strengthen, 16.

Meddlesome breast-tending, 260.
midwifery reprobated, 205.

Medical men, 209.

Medicines in pregnancy, 140–173.
opening, danger of, 99.

Menstrual fluid, 111.

Menstruation, 103.
accompanied with “the whites,” 112.
before marriage, 111.
during 30 years, 102.
painful, 111.
dangers of, 111.
profuse, 112.
sparing, 112.
too pale or too dark, 111.
when not properly performed, 111.

Milk at its “height,” 259.
the best way of “drying up” the, 296.
flowing away constantly, 280.
very fattening, 54.

Miscarriage, 174.
care required after, 178.
causes of, 175.
consequences of a neglected, 178.
flooding in, 177.
prevention of, 179.
symptoms of a threatened, 176.
treatment of, 179.
usual time of taking place, 177.

Misconception and prejudice, 238.

Mission, the glorious, 101.

Monthly nurse, 189–198.

Morning sickness, 117, 158.

Mothers predisposed to consumption, 300.
who cannot suckle, 299.
unnatural, 255.

Mountain-air, 97.

Mufflers and sore throats, 84.

Mutton-chops, folly of living entirely on, 52.

Nature in early morning, 68.

Navel, pouting of, as a sign of pregnancy, 122.

Navel-string, the manner of tying, 233.
not to be tied until the child breathes, 232.

Nipple, cracked and fissured, 279.
during suckling, 257.
means to harden, 162.
great importance of hardening, 162.
retraction of, 275.
shields, 276.
sore, 277.
an obstinate, 299.
washing of, and breast, 257.
wet, 280.
shields, Wansbrough’s, 279.

Nose, a sentinel, 129.

Nurse, monthly, 189–198.
importance of choosing a good, 189.
on wearing crinoline, 197.
on wearing slippers instead of shoes, 198.

Nursery-basin, 43.

Nursing, prolonged, danger of, 293.
apron, 263.

Oatmeal, Derbyshire, 143.
gruel as a fomentation, 245.

Occupation, 87, 272.
fresh air, and exercise, 272.

Offspring of very young and very old, 104.

Olive oil as an aperient, 142.

Opening medicine, 99.

Pains, “bearing down,” 203.
_before_ and _during_ menstruation, 111.
“grinding,” 200.
at night in pregnancy, 139.

Painless parturition, 212.

Palpitation of the heart in pregnancy, 167.

Passion, the ill effects of, during suckling, 270.

Pendulous belly of pregnancy, 154.

Pepper plaster, 157.

Period of gestation, 185.
of taking exercise, 254.

Pessaries, 248.

Physic, a substitute for exercise, 31.
best, is exercise, 25.

Piles in pregnancy, 148.

Pleasure and health, 85.

Plethoric pregnant females, 136.

Poisoned by one’s own breath, 35.

Porter and ale for a nursing mother, 266.

Position after delivery, 237.
of a mother during suckling, 270.
of patient after labor, 237.

“Pottering” nurse, 190.

Poultice, a bread and milk and sweet oil, 282.

Precursory symptoms of labor, 199.

Pregnancy, 117.
duration of, 185.
a natural process, 127.
period of, 185.
signs of, 117.

Preliminary observations, 13.

Preparation for health, 47.
for labor, 216.

Profession of a wife, 90.

Prolific mothers (_note_), 105.

Proper time for a patient to sit up after labor, 246.
to send for medical man, 200, 203.
to send for the nurse, 200.

Protrusion of the bowels, 149.

Prunes, stewed, 289.

Puberty, period of (_note_), 105.

Pump-water, contamination, 132.
on boiling, 133.
on purity of, 132.

“Quickening,” 120.
flatulence mistaken for, 121.

Quiet after confinement, 246.

Rain and wind, exercise in, 24.

Rats in drains and sewers, 130.

“Reckoning,” to make the, 186.

Refreshment after labor, 235.

Remedies to prevent costiveness, 291.

Respiration, artificial, 232.

Rest after delivery, 234.
in pregnancy, 133.
and quietude after labor, 246.

Restlessness at night, 138.
remedies for, 138.

Rich ladies, 38.

Rising of the sun on seeing the, 71.

Rock-salt, 45.

Rules for a female prone to miscarry, 180.
for barren wife, 14.
of health, 99.

Sea-bathing, in pregnancy, 125.

Sea water good for hair, 46.

Servants taught the “ologies,” 92.

Shivering during labor, 201.

“Show,” a sure sign of labor, 200.

Shower-bath in pregnancy, 125.

Sick pregnancies, 161.

Sickness during labor, 201.

Signs of the fœtal circulation (_note_) 123.
of pregnancy, 117.

Sitting over fire, 27.
with back to fire, 27.

Sitz-bath, the value of, 44, 124, 172.

Skin of the abdomen cracked, 154.

Skylight the best ventilator, 128.

Sleep in pregnancy, 137.
the choicest gift, 77.
the value of, immediately after labor, 238.
for young wife, 78.

Sleepiness of pregnant females, 138.

Sleeplessness of pregnant females, 138.

Slipper bed-pan, 239, 244.

Sluggard’s dwelling, 71.

“Smoking dunghill,” a, 131.

Sore nipples, 277.

Spirits during suckling, 268.

Spurious labor pains, 183.

Stages of labor, 213.

Stays should not be worn during labor, 218.

Stocking, elastic, 153.

Stomach, functions of, 271.

Subsidence of the womb before labor, 199.

“Suck-pap,” 258.

Suckling, 255.
when female is pregnant, 300.

Suppers, hearty meal, 52.

Support to bowels after confinement, 236.

Swedish ladies, 91.

Swollen legs in pregnancy, 152.

Symptoms of labor, 199.
denoting necessity of weaning, 298.

Table of duration of pregnancy, 185.

Taking, the frequent, of physic, 31.

Teat, india-rubber, and shield, 276.

Teeth frequently decay in pregnancy, 156.
and gums, 55.

Temperature of a lying-in room, 237.

“The top of the morning,” 72.

Things which will be wanted at a labor, 216.

Tic-douloureux, 157.

Tight lacing injurious to a young wife, 81.
ill effects of, in pregnancy, 123.

Time when a child should be weaned, 293.

Toothache in pregnancy, 155.
remedies for, 156.

Tooth extraction, the danger of, in pregnancy, 155.

“Trap to catch sunbeam,” 81.

True labor pains, 202.

“Trying of a pain,” 221.

“Turn of years,” 115.

Unladylike, on being, 96.

Urine, retention of, 240.

Vaginal syringe, 196.

Veal-and-milk broth, 251.

Veins, enlarged, of the leg, 152.

Ventilation, importance of, 33, 128.
manner of performing, 34.
of lying-in room, 254.
thorough, 36.

Visitors in a lying-in room, 238.

Walk before breakfast, 47.
in frosty weather, 28.

Walking glorious exercise, 23.

Warm ablutions after labor, 245.
baths for infants apparently still-born, 231.

Water poisoned by drains, 132.

Waters, “the breaking of the,” 202.

Weaning, 292.

Weaning an infant, the method of, 294.

Wellington, the Duke of, 67.

Westmoreland and Cumberland poor women, 229.

Wet-nurses’ and mother’s milk, 265.

Whining and repining, 95.

“Whites” during pregnancy, 169.
cause miscarriage, 112.
when not pregnant, 112.

Wife, a domestic, 90.
educated to be useful, 90.
instructing servants, 92.
the mission of a, 22.
the profession of a, 90.
young, 13.

Wine, abuse of, 57.
bibbing causes barrenness, 57.
drinking of, 55.
in France, 61.
on children taking, 61.
much injures complexion, 64.
during suckling, 267.

Womb, bearing down of, 247.

Work, a cure for many ailments, 93.

Wormwood on nipples in weaning, 296.

ADVICE TO A MOTHER
ON THE
MANAGEMENT OF HER CHILDREN,
AND ON THE
TREATMENT ON THE MOMENT
OF
SOME OF THEIR MORE PRESSING ILLNESSES AND ACCIDENTS.

BY

PYE HENRY CHAVASSE,

FELLOW OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS OF ENGLAND; FELLOW OF THE
OBSTETRICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON; FORMERLY PRESIDENT OF QUEEN’S COLLEGE
MEDICO-CHIRURGICAL SOCIETY, BIRMINGHAM; AUTHOR OF “ADVICE TO A WIFE ON
THE MANAGEMENT OF HER OWN HEALTH.”

“Lo, children and the fruit of the womb are an heritage and cometh of
the Lord.”

SEVENTEENTH EDITION.

PHILADELPHIA
J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO.
1881.

TO

SIR CHARLES LOCOCK, BART., F.R.S.,

FIRST PHYSICIAN-ACCOUCHEUR TO HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN.

DEAR SIR CHARLES:

Your kind and flattering approval of this little Book, and your valuable suggestions for its improvement, demand my warmest gratitude and acknowledgments, and have stimulated me to renewed exertions to make it still more complete and useful, and thus more worthy of your approbation.

You have greatly added to my obligation, by allowing me to indicate those passages of the work that you considered required correction, addition, and improvement. On reference to these pages, it will be at once perceived how greatly I am indebted to you, and how much I have profited by your valuable advice.

I have the honor to remain,
Dear Sir Charles,
Your faithful and obliged servant,
PYE HENRY CHAVASSE.

PRIORY HOUSE, OLD SQUARE,
BIRMINGHAM.