I have just returned from an estate sale, where I couldn't resist buying a
little book published in 1916--"Baby's Health. A Practical Handbook for the
Young Mother". ( published by the Merval Corporation, New York)
Here is what it says about breastfeeding:
Mother's Milk is Nature's Food
If you love your baby, nurse it. Mother's milk is nature's food, and no
other food is as good. The chances of your baby living are nine times
greater on breast milk than on cow's milk or any other food. Even though
you have but little milk at first, do not get discouraged. Be patient and
try, try again. There are very, very few mothers whose breasts will not
give sufficient milk, if they will but encourage the baby to suck. This
keeps the milk flowing and increases the flow. Even though you feel weak,
you can nurse your baby without danger to yourself. Only a few diseases
forbid nursing. If you are in doubt, consult your doctor. His advice is
better than that of your neighbors.
Nurse your baby until the tenth month. If you cannot nurse your baby so
long, give him your milk as long as you can; for every drop he gets adds
strength for his hard fight in life as no other food does or ever will.
The majority of mothers can nurse their babies, at least in part, if they
have suitable care and advice. What is chiefly required is that this
conviction should enter the mind of the mother and abide there: for the
fear that she will not be able to perform this function, or that the milk
will not or does not agree with her child, has more to do with the supposed
inablilty to nurse than any other one factor. The gland which secretes
maternal milk is a wonderful and delicate mechanism. So intimate is the
connection of the mammary nerves with the mind that the mental states of
the mother are readily reflected in their function. Fear, anger, or worry
may serve to check the secretion of the milk, or to change its quality so
much that, for the time being, it is unfit for use, while, on the other
hand, a calm mind, joy, laughter and delight in life, coupled with the
desire and intention to nurse the baby, will make it possible to do so.
Failing this spirit, all other efforts may prove futile.
The milk necessary for the normal healthy growth of every infant mammal,
including the human species, is created for it in the breast of the mother.
The milk of the cow, mare, ass, goat, and other animals has been analyzed
by many investigators, to see whether any one of them bears so close a
resemblance to human milk that it may be used as a substitute. All these
investigations show that the milk of each animal is different from that of
every other and each is especially adapted to the requirements of the young
of that species. No other argument should be needed to induce a thoughtful
mother to nurse her baby.
The mother should consult her physician before giving her baby any other
food than her own breast milk, in order to avoid the danger of wrong
feeding.
Statistics gathered from this country and many others show that breast-fed
babies have a much greater chance for life than those who are bottle-fed,
and also that the infant illnesses, not only those of the digestive tract
but many other varieties, afflict bottle-fed infants much oftener and much
more seriously than those who have breast milk. But not only does breast
milk protect the nursing baby from illness and increase materially his
chance for life, but it practically insures that his development shall
proceed in a normal, orderly fashion.
The body makes a greater proportional growth during the first year of life
than during any other, and the brain increases more in the same time than
in all the rest of the years of life out together. It is therefore of the
utmost importance to the whole existance of each individual that during
this most critical period that the baby be surrounded with all possible
conditions for perfect health. The most important of these conditions is
breast milk.
The term "artificial feeding" refers, in common acceptance, to the method
of feeding which must be employed when a baby is, for any reason, denied
the breast milk, because any other method of feeding a young baby than at
its mother's breast is truly artificial.
***
fascinating...and almost perfect advice for the "Young Mother" in 2005 too.
Kirsten
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