Page:Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management.djvu/2123

Rh Till the appearance of the first or milk teeth, the child should be fed exclusively on the breast milk; after that, which is Nature's indication that the stomach has become fit to digest other substances, the child may be given rusks, Mellin's food, Robb's biscuits, or Robinson's groats.

About the ninth or tenth month the mother should begin to wean her child. The artificial feeding begun on the appearance of the teeth should now be increased in frequency, while the breast should be at the same time gradually withdrawn.

It is difficult to determine the quantity of food to be given at any one time, but it may be laid down, as a rule, that not more than about three ounces of fluid shall be given at any one time. When larger quantities are given the stomach is apt to become overloaded and the digestive powers impaired.

Should the breast become swollen after weaning, gentle saline medicines should be administered, such as Friedrichshall water, a seidlitz powder, or a little Epsom salts, and the breasts be bathed with a lotion of eau-de-Cologne and water.

If it is found advisable that the mother should not suckle her infant, and the breasts become full and painful, relief may be obtained by drawing off the milk with a breast-pump, and checking the secretion applying belladonna plasters to the breasts. The mother should also very much limit the amount of fluid nourishment she is taking, with these precautions the breasts will soon run dry.

The Wet Nurse.—For reasons that have been already stated, it may be found necessary to obtain the services of a wet nurse, the choice, qualifications and duties of whom have been fully dealt with in the previous section.

Rearing by Hand.—When from one or other of the causes already mentioned the mother is unable to nurse her child, and when, as frequently happens, especially among the working classes and the poor, the services of a wet nurse cannot be had, nothing remains but to bring the child up artificially, or "by hand," as it is called.

This is the most difficult kind of bringing up to accomplish satisfactorily, and many more hand-fed children die than those brought up at the breast.

There are three kinds of milk, any one of which may serve as a substitute for the breast milk. These are, the milk of the ass, the goat and the cow, in the order given. Cow's milk is the substitute generally adopted, but in order to make it more closely resemble human breast milk, it must be diluted with water, sweetened with sugar, and cream added.

The milk should be boiled and given at a temperature of 96° F., which is that of the human breast milk. The quantity given at a time will have to be increased with the growth of the child, but after the first few days are over it may be laid down, as a rule, that three or