Breastfeeding's ABCs

A breastfeeding baby's ability to latch on to the breast is a must-have talent. The distinction between a good and a bad latch, on the other hand, is not always clear. Dr. Jane Morton's instruction, which was also issued as a companion pamphlet for the movie "Breastfeeding, a Guide to Getting Started," explains the essential principles of an efficient latch and how a mother can make the process easier.

 The newborn must be nursed according to a certain plan from the moment it is placed on the breast. This is crucial for the child's well-being, and it will primarily help to the parent's health preservation. The parent will thus be rendered a good nurse, and her task will become a pleasure at the same time.

This, however, necessitates the mother's meticulous attention to her own health, as her child's health is largely dependent on it. Healthy, nourishing, and digestible milk can only come from a healthy parent; and it defies logic to expect that if a mother's health and digestion are harmed by poor diet, lack of exercise, and exposure to polluted air, she can still provide her child with as wholesome and uncontaminated a fluid as if she paid careful attention to these critical factors. Every indisposition ill the nurse has the potential to influence the newborn.

As a result, I'd like to point out that it's a popular misconception that just because a woman is nursing, she should live lavishly, with an allowance of wine, porter, or other fermented liquor added to her regular diet. The main effect of this strategy is to induce an unnatural level of fulness in the system, putting the nurse at risk of sickness and, in turn, frequently halting rather than boosting milk flow. The correct course of action is obvious; simply observe the conventional laws of health, and the mother, if she is of good constitution, will make a better nurse than any silly deviation.

This statement is supported by the following example:

At the end of the third week, a young lady confined with her first child, a good nurse, and in perfect health, left the lying-in room. Her nipples had been bothering her for a while, but that was quickly resolved.

The porter system was now in effect, and between a pint and a pint and a half of this beverage was consumed over the course of four and a half hours. This was done not because there was a shortage of milk; there was plenty, and the baby thrived on it; but because, as a nurse, she had been informed that it was normal and necessary, and that without it her milk and strength would soon disappear.

After a few days of following this strategy, the mother grew lethargic and sleepy during the day; and headaches, thirst, a hot skin, and, in reality, fever set in; the milk supply decreased, and the infant's stomach and bowels became disturbed for the first time. The porter was told to leave; therapeutic treatments were provided; and all symptoms, in both the parent and the child, were eventually gone, and health was restored.

She was recommended to keep her previous dietary regimen, but with the addition of half a pint of barley-milk morning and night, having been accustomed to have a glass or two of wine and the occasional tumbler of table beer before to becoming a mother. During the remainder of the suckling period, both parent and child were in perfect condition, and the latter did not taste artificial food until the ninth month, the parent's milk being sufficient for its needs.

No one can deny that the porter was the cause of the trouble in this case. The patient had entered the lying-in-room in good health, had a good time, and had emerged (relatively) as strong as she had arrived. Her constitution had not been worn down by repeated child-bearing and nursing, she had a sufficient supply of milk, and she was thus completely capable of executing the duties that had been entrusted to her without the use of any unusual stimulant or support. Her prior behaviors were completely incompatible with the new strategy; her system got overburdened, sickness developed, and the end outcome was exactly what one could predict.

For the first six months, this is the plan to follow. The newborn must be fed a little thin gruel or one third water and two thirds milk, sweetened with loaf sugar, until the breast milk is properly established, which may not be until the second or third day after delivery (nearly always in a first confinement).

After that, it must rely solely on the breast for nutrition, and over the next week or ten days, the mother's frequency of breast-feeding must be guided by the infant's appetite. The stomach is feeble at birth and has not yet become acclimated to eating; as a result, its needs are easily met, but they are constantly replenished. However, enough time passes for the little swallowed to be digested before the appetite returns and a new supply is needed.

After a week or so, it is essentially necessary to breastfeed the infant at regular intervals of three or four hours, day and night, and this can be done safely with some children from the first day of suckling. This enables enough time for each meal to be digested and helps to keep the child's bowels in check. Furthermore, such consistency will help to alleviate worry and that incessant wail, which appears to be alleviated only by placing the infant at the breast all the time.

A young mother frequently makes a severe error in this regard, mistaking every expression of discomfort for hunger and administering the breast to the newborn whenever it cries, even though it has only been ten minutes since its last meal. This is a harmful and even dangerous practice because, by overloading the stomach, the food remains undigested, the child's bowels are always out of order, the child becomes restless and feverish, and the child may eventually die, when the infant could have been healthy and vigorous by simply following the above nursing rules.

For the same reason, an infant that sleeps with its parent should not have the nipple in its mouth the entire night. It will awaken with great regularity as the hour for its meal approaches if nursed as indicated. When it comes to night-nursing, I recommend suckling the baby as late as ten o'clock at night and not placing it back to the breast until five o'clock the next morning. Many women have taken this advice to improve their own health while having no negative impact on their children's. It quickly becomes a habit with the latter; nevertheless, it must be taught early to induce it.

The preceding strategy must be followed to the sixth month without deviation.

If the woman has a significant supply of nutritious and nourishing milk beyond the sixth month and her child is healthy and clearly flourishing on it, no changes in the child's diet should be undertaken. If this is not the case (and it will be, even before the sixth month), the infant may be fed twice during the day, with whichever meal is discovered to accord best after a little testing.