Letter to Emma from her daughter Beth

Ford, Kansas
Fall 1924
Tuesday p.m.

Dear Mamma,
......  Lots of the time we laid the headset down and I could hear in bed
nursing the baby.  The set is where the sewing machine stood, so you can see
how it carried.  Last night was bad for static.  We had a thunderstorm and
quite a rain with more threatening, and cold weather threatening too.
.........................................
Tell Jennie to feed herself lots of cocoa made rich.  I drank it for supper
and have materially increased my milk, also I am drinking more water as I
remember to.  Robert wasn't getting enough.  I know he got three ounces and
once four when we weighed him before and after nursing last week.  Yesterday
we weighed him before and after every feeding and once he got eight ounces.
He averaged over five, though twice I gave him both breasts.  My right one
caked day before yesterday, and was pretty sore yesterday but is soft again
today.  Joe says it was because I made more milk than the baby took.  I
don't know.  He gained two ounces from Tuesday till Sunday and will do
better, I believe this week.  He is still constipated, but is good mostly.
He has got to putting his feet straight up in the air and is nearly
impossible to keep covered.
Tell Jennie to eat bran too.  We keep it all the time for the cows.  What
one eats makes a difference.  It certainly does with them, so why not with
us. ........................
Beth

The baby was 4 months old, her sister had a new infant, her fourth.  This is
from family letters that I am transcribing.

Pat Thomas PHN IBCLC
Winona County Community Health Department
Winona, MN, USA

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