More from Obstetrical Nursing, 1935:

Women with happy, cheerful dispositions usually nurse their babies
satisfactorily, while those who worry and fret are likely to have an
insufficient supply or milk, or milk of a poor quality.  And in addition to
this sustained influence, the temporary effect of a fit of temper; of
fright; grief; anxiety or any marked emotional disturbance is frequently
injurious to the quality of milk that previsouly has been satisfactory.
Acutal poisons are created by such emotions and may affect the baby so
unfavorably as to make it advisable to give him artificial food, for the
time being, and empty the breasts by stripping or pumping, before he resumes
breast feeding.

The baby is usually put to the breast for the first time between eight and
twelve hours after he is born.  This interval gives the tired mother an
opportunity to rest and sleep, and the baby, too, is benefited by being kept
warm and quiet during this period.  His need for food is not great as yet,
nor is there much if any nourishment available for him.

As a rule the baby should nurse from one side, only at each nursing,
emptying the breasts alternately, but if there is not enough milk in one
breast for a complete feeding, both breasts may be used at one nursing.
Neither the mother nor the baby should be permitted to sleep while he is at
the breast, but he should be made to pause every four or five minutes to
keep from feeding too rapidly.

.....She should nurse him in a quiet room where she will not be disturbed
nor interrupted and where the baby and her breasts will be protected from
drafts or from being chilled.

The length of the nursing periods and the intervals between them have to be
adjusted to the needs and condition of each baby......the length of the
nursing period itself is usually from ten to twenty minutes.  The average
baby is put to the breast for the first time about twelve hours after birth
and he may nurse every six hours during the first two days or he may be put
immediately upon a four-hour schedule as follows: [chart of times, 6, 10, 2,
6].  Although the four-hour schedule for nursing is the more common, many
babies are fed at three-hour intervals as follows: [chart of time].

The amounts and intervals of the feedings are so necessarily regulated by
the needs of each baby they cannot be entirely standradized.  The tendency,
however, with the average baby, in good condition, is to omit night feedings
after 10 p.m. when the infant has regained its birth weight.  When this
practice is adopted the baby not only seems to do as well as he normally
should, but to benefit by the unbroken sleep and long digestive rest during
the night.  Certainly the mother profits by the unbroken sleep which this
makes possible.

Tomorrow's words of wisdom: on weaning.



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Katherine A. Dettwyler, Ph.D.                         email: [log in to unmask]
Anthropology Department                               phone: (409) 845-5256
Texas A&M University                                    fax: (409) 845-4070
College Station, TX  77843-4352