James Elroy Flecker - "Hassan: The Story of Hassan of Baghdad and How He Came to"

J. A. Mitchell - "The Last American"

John Lothrop Motley - "The Life of John of Barneveld, 1619 23"

Anna Katherine Green - "The Leavenworth Case"

New Philadelphia Book Publisher Highlights Local Talent
Book and Publishing News from Publishers Newswire(tm)

Looking for Child to be on Cover of a New Book, 'The Model Child'
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. -- The Philadelphia literary world will celebrate the launch of two new players today, April 10th: Kay Square Press, a new publishing company focused on Philadelphia-area artists, their stories, and their art; and Kay Square's first release, 'With the Rich and Mighty: Emlen Etting of Philadelphia' (ISBN: 978-0-9815129-0-7), a critical biography by Kenneth C. Kaleta.

FlatSigned Press Alleges Don Imus Remarks Damage Legacy of President Gerald R. Ford
NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Nathan Yungerberg, an accomplished model scout and professional child photographer is launching a nation-wide casting call to find the cover model for his highly anticipated book release, 'The Model Child: A Parents Guide to the Child Modeling Industry' (ISBN: 978-0-9817018-0-6).

Books: The Prospective Mother

J >> J. Morris Slemons >> The Prospective Mother




The quantity of nourishment required by nursing mothers is not so
large as might be expected, and in many instances it is over-feeding
rather than under-feeding that must be guarded against. Very accurate
observations have been made which indicate that during the early
weeks of nursing no more food is needed than at other times; in all
probability this remains true throughout the whole period of
lactation. Over-eating, as many of us know, is a frequent cause of
indigestion. It is of the first importance, therefore, that nursing
mothers should not take more food than they can assimilate, for
indigestion will provoke disturbances in the milk which in turn will
make the baby uncomfortable. For a similar reason mothers should have
their meals at regular intervals.

As a rule the appetite is a reliable guide not only as to how much to
eat, but also as to the choice of food, for without exception what is
good for the mother is good also for the child. Generally the diet
should be a mixed one, consisting of milk, gruels, soups, vegetables,
bread, and meat. In order that monotony may not dull the appetite, no
one article of food should be employed continuously. With this
exception food should be selected with regard only for its
wholesomeness and digestibility. All food is milk-making food; no
sharp distinctions between the various kinds can be recognized. Milk,
because it contains all the elements necessary for perfect nutrition,
is particularly wholesome. Water also, since it forms such a large
proportion of their milk, should be taken freely by nursing mothers.
Generally it proves advantageous to take milk or some other
nutritious drink between meals and again before retiring at night,
but the danger of ruining in this way the appetite for solid food
must not be overlooked.

It ought to be unnecessary to say that a nursing mother should deny
herself any article of food, no matter how much she may want it, if
she knows it will disagree with her; but she must remember also that
the same article of food will not necessarily disagree with other
mothers. Generalizations of this kind are largely responsible for the
wrongful tendency to reject from the dietary many altogether harmless
articles. There would be little left for a nursing mother to eat if
she avoided every article of food which one person or another assures
her will damage her milk.

No belief regarding what a nursing mother should eat is held more
widely, I suppose, than that she should abstain from salads,
tomatoes, and fruits which contain acid. This view is erroneous. The
very idea upon which it is based is incorrect, since acids are
neutralized as soon as they pass from the stomach to the intestines
and cannot enter the milk. With certain persons some varieties of
fruit invariably cause indigestion. Lactation does not correct such
an individual peculiarity, and a nursing mother who knows she
possesses it will act accordingly. Occasionally those who have no
such idiosyncrasy worry after they have eaten something which
contains an acid because they have heard it will do harm. In such
cases it is the mental state of the woman which disturbs her milk and
upsets the baby. With the exception of those who have such an
idiosyncrasy and those inclined to worry, nursing mothers may partake
of fruits and salads with impunity.

There are vegetables, of which the onion and turnip are good
examples, that contain ingredients that find their way unaltered into
the milk. So long as these do not disturb the mother their presence
has no unfavorable influence upon the child. Similarly a number of
substances appear in the milk when administered as medicine to the
mother. In one way this is fortunate, for under certain circumstances
it provides a very satisfactory method of treating unhealthy children
without giving the medicine directly. In another respect, however, it
is a disadvantage, for it sometimes interferes with giving the mother
purgatives, which she may need. So far as possible, therefore, the
taking of medicine should be limited during lactation, and certainly
no drug should be employed without the advice of a physician.

Time and again some drug, some beverage, usually one that contains
alcohol, or some special article of food has been recommended as a
means of increasing an inadequate secretion of milk, but thus far all
attempts in this direction have failed of general application. There
are at present on the market widely advertised preparations for which
astounding efficiency is claimed. None of them, however, has a
definite or consistent value; and it is unfortunately true that no
substance has yet been discovered that has the specific action of
increasing the production of milk.

_Psychic Influence_.--Although the nerves of the breast which
regulate the secretion of milk do their work whether the mother wills
it or not, her state of mind has an influence over the process, just
as it has over digestion. No one doubts that our minds influence our
digestions as has been so clearly proved by the skillful experiments
of Pawlow, an eminent Russian physiologist. Cheerfulness promotes
perfect assimilation of the food, whereas mental depression decreases
the secretion of the digestive juices or checks them altogether. In a
similar way, perhaps, we shall some day have explained to us the
unquestioned fact that mothers who maintain a happy disposition nurse
their babies efficiently, while those who are inclined to worry often
experience real or imaginary troubles with lactation.

The most striking manifestations of such psychic influences are those
in which, as a result of some strong passion or deep sorrow, the
secretion of milk suddenly ceases altogether. Fortunately such
effects occur rarely and are never permanent. After a few hours at
most the secretion is reestablished; and if there are alterations in
the quality of the milk, these will correct themselves just as
quickly.

More common, and therefore much more important, are cases in which,
because the mother allows herself day after day to worry over one
thing or another, the secretion of milk suffers permanent disturbance
in quantity or in quality. Sometimes worrying lest the milk will be
unsatisfactory causes it to become so. Generally, however,
unnecessary anxiety for the baby is to blame. Again and again, when
there is really nothing out of the way, inexperienced mothers make
themselves miserable because they fear something may go wrong. Such a
state of mind always invites trouble; not infrequently it is the
direct cause of insufficient or unwholesome milk. The self-assurance
gained through taking care of the first baby is responsible more than
anything else for the greater success mothers have in nursing
subsequent children.

The mother who is nursing her first baby should take success for
granted, and never mistrust her ability to succeed. If the physician
has been asked to visit the baby regularly, as was suggested at the
beginning of this chapter, he will quickly detect the evidence of
failure should failure be imminent. His opinions should be accepted
and his directions followed, for by so doing the mother will most
readily acquire the assurance which is so necessary to success. The
habit, easily fallen into, of paying attention to promiscuous advice
is unwholesome, for such advice is injudiciously given and is usually
incorrect. More often than not the counsel of well-meaning friends
only serves to perplex and distress the mother.

_Recreation and Rest_.--Next to worry no influence upon
lactation is more detrimental than neglect of recreation and rest.
Both are very necessary to a nursing mother, for without them she
will soon begin to exaggerate minor troubles and even to worry though
nothing is wrong. A mother who has the care of a baby added to other
responsibilities may have extraordinary difficulty in finding time
for outdoor exercise, for congenial companionship, or for diversion
of any kind. Occasionally it may seem almost impossible even to get
time for sleep, a necessity so fundamental to health that, as we
should expect, a mother deprived of it would fail utterly in nursing
her infant. Difficult as it may seem, however, the mother must find
time for recreation, for if she does not there will follow
disturbances, generally in the quantity, or sometimes in the quality,
of her milk.

Keeping in mind that whatever benefits the mother will react
favorably upon the infant, one should regulate exercise during
lactation with regard to the kind and the amount of exercise to which
she has been previously accustomed. Walking usually fulfils all the
requirements satisfactorily, and there is ordinarily no reason why
nursing mothers should not participate in sports that are unattended
by violent exertion. Exhausting sports, however, must be shunned,
because fatigue has the same injurious effect upon the secretion of
milk as lack of exercise.

As might be expected, women who are frail are most susceptible to the
strain of nursing, especially if they fail to get sufficient rest.
All nursing mothers ought to have at least eight hours of sleep in
the twenty-four. The night-feeding, generally advisable for the first
six to eight weeks, does not break the mother's rest longer than half
an hour if the baby is well trained. But if a baby that has not been
properly trained turns night into day and keeps the mother awake for
long intervals, the milk will quickly deteriorate. Under such
circumstances someone must relieve the mother of the care of the
infant during the night; she should not be disturbed even to nurse
it. The night-feeding will then be supplied artificially; as will
also one feeding during the day in order that the mother may have
opportunity for exercise and diversion.

THE SUPPLEMENTARY BOTTLE.--At first glance it may seem that in the
suggestion that the infant be given one artificial feeding each day
the mother's comfort alone has been considered. As a matter of fact,
however, the adoption of the plan benefits mother and infant alike.
The diversion and recreation which the mother, thus relieved of her
maternal duties for from four to six hours, has time to secure
becomes a direct benefit to the infant. Not infrequently by pursuing
this plan, mothers who would otherwise be incapable of nursing are
assured successful lactation. The child, moreover, having thus become
accustomed to the bottle, is much more easily denied the breast when
the time for weaning comes.

Objections have been raised to giving the baby even one bottle when
the mother has an ample supply of milk, but none of them are valid.
Since cow's milk is acknowledged to be less easy of digestion than is
human milk, it will occur to someone that there is danger of
upsetting the baby by giving it a bottle. But this need not be
feared; extensive experience has shown that if an infant is getting
human milk of satisfactory quality at all its feedings during the
twenty-four hours, save one or two, at these times it will digest
properly modified cow's milk without the least inconvenience. Nor is
it true that if once a day cow's milk is substituted for that of the
mother, the infant will come to prefer the bottle to the breast.
There is no danger, on the other hand, that the mother's milk will
dry up. Very thorough investigation of these objections has failed to
substantiate them in the least.

Of course, it will be necessary in preparing the supplementary
feeding to take the same precautions as if the infant were on the
bottle exclusively. To avoid contamination of the milk care must be
exercised to have everything perfectly clean that comes in contact
with it. And it will be necessary also to vary from time to time both
the strength and the amount of the feeding. These alterations will be
made most successfully if left to the judgment of a physician who is
familiar with the development of the infant and who may be guided
accordingly.

WEANING.--Occasionally, even before they are delivered, women express
the conviction that they will be incapable of nursing. A few mothers
who take this attitude, which it would seem is becoming more and more
common, make no attempt at nursing, and others give it up after a
very short trial. Premature weaning is practiced among the women of
two widely different classes: those who are unwilling to deny
themselves social pleasures, and those who, because they must earn a
living, cannot be encumbered with maternal duties. A still larger
class, however, are those mothers who wean the baby for neither of
these reasons, but rather because they become discouraged and
conclude that there is something wrong with their milk. In this way
many infants are weaned without sufficient reason. Before giving up
nursing her child a mother should submit several samples of the milk
for analysis. If it is unfit for the infant, reliable evidence of the
fact will often be secured in this way.

With the exception of tuberculosis, physicians recognize no condition
that necessarily unfits a mother for nursing. As we have already
seen, pregnancy is generally incompatible with lactation; in the
event of conception the mother's milk almost always takes on
qualities which render it unsatisfactory for the infant, and yet
occasionally pregnancy advances several months before these changes
in the milk occur. Meanwhile the infant suffers no inconvenience, and
often in these cases the symptoms of threatened miscarriage give the
first intimation of the mother's condition. Under all circumstances,
however, nursing should cease as soon as the mother recognizes that
she is pregnant, for probably no woman is strong enough to provide
nourishment for her infant and for the development of the embryo
simultaneously.

Menstruation, on the other hand, rarely if ever provides a good and
sufficient reason for weaning. In the great majority of instances
this function is re-established before lactation ends. There may be a
reduction in the amount of milk during menstruation, but if the
infant has been given the breast as usual, the supply increases as
soon as the period ends. Qualitative disturbances which would render
the milk unfit for use are practically never a consequence of
menstruation.

It may happen as the infant grows older that the flow of milk will
diminish; then the breast feedings will of necessity be more
frequently replaced by the bottle, and the question of weaning will
settle itself. But if the time of weaning is a matter of choice, it
should be approximately coincident with certain notable developments
in the infant's digestive functions, which occur toward the end of
the first year. The fact that the infant is prepared to take other
food is outwardly shown by the appearance of teeth, of which there
are usually six or eight at the end of the year.

If the suggestion regarding the daily substitution of one bottle for
the mother's milk has been adopted, there will be no difficulty in
discontinuing breast-feeding whenever it is desirable; otherwise an
infant may raise strong objection to the change. The mother, on the
other hand, will not be seriously inconvenienced by the weaning,
provided she leaves her breasts alone.

Until recently mothers were advised to employ a very elaborate
treatment for drying up the breasts. The diet was restricted, and as
far as possible liquids of every kind were forbidden; strong
purgatives were administered daily; and, in addition, the breasts
were covered with some ointment, swathed in cotton, and tightly
compressed with a bandage. Fortunately, we now realize that none of
these measures are required. When nursing is discontinued the breasts
are apt to become distended and uncomfortable. They require support
while the distention lasts, which is never very long, and if they
become painful, medicine may be employed to give relief. But other
measures, some of which occasionally do harm, are absolutely
unnecessary, for, at whatever period of lactation the breasts cease
to be used, they dry up spontaneously.




GLOSSARY


[Footnote: The Century Dictionary has been freely used for these
definitions.]


ABNORMAL.--Irregular; deviating from the natural or standard type.

ABORTIFACIENT.--Whatever is used to produce an abortion.

ABORTION.--The expulsion of the embryo during the first four months
of pregnancy.

AFTER-BIRTH.--The mass of tissue expelled from the uterus at the end
of labor. It includes the placenta, the umbilical cord, and the
membranes of the ovum.

ALIMENTARY CANAL.--The digestive tract. It begins with the mouth,
includes the stomach and the intestines, and ends with the rectum.

AMNIOTIC FLUID.--The liquid inclosed within the amniotic membrane.

AMNIOTIC MEMBRANE.--The innermost of the two membranes which envelop
the embryo; the lining membrane of the closed sac familiarly called
"the bag of waters."

ANEMIA.--A deficiency of some of the constituents of the blood.

ANATOMY.--The science which deals with the structure of the body.

ANTISEPTIC.--Anything which destroys bacteria.

AREOLA.--The colored, circular area about the nipple.

ARTERY.--A vessel through which the blood flows away from the heart.

ASEPSIS.--The exclusion of disease-producing bacteria.

ASEPTIC.--Free from injurious bacteria.

ASPHYXIA.--The extreme condition caused by lack of oxygen in the
blood, brought about by interrupted breathing.

ASSIMILATION.--The process by which living creatures digest and
absorb nutriment so that it becomes part of the substance composing
them.

ATROPHY.--To waste away.

AUTO-INTOXICATION.--Poisoning by material formed within one's body.

BACTERIA (the plural of bacterium).--Exceedingly minute, spherical,
oblong, or cylindrical cells which are concerned in putrefactive
processes. Some varieties cause disease.

BACTERIAL DECOMPOSITION.--Putrefaction brought about by the action of
bacteria.

BIOLOGY.--The science which deals with the phenomena of life.

BIRTH-CANAL.--The passage through which the child enters the world.
It is composed of the uterus and the vagina, and is surrounded by the
pelvic bones.

BLADDER.--A thin, distensible sack acting as a reservoir for the
urine between the time it is secreted by the kidneys and leaves the
body.

BREECH.--The buttocks.

CESAREAN OPERATION.--The operation by which the child is taken out of
the uterus by an incision through the abdominal wall.

CALORIE.--The unit ordinarily employed by scientists to measure heat.

CAPILLARIES.--The minute blood vessels which form a network between
the terminations of the arteries and the beginnings of the veins.

CARBOHYDRATE.--Any one of a group of chemical substances of which
starch and sugar are the most familiar members.

CARBONIC ACID GAS.--An animal waste product eliminated in the breath.
In daylight plants absorb it energetically from the atmosphere
through their leaves, and decompose it, assimilating the carbon, and
returning the oxygen to the air.

CARTILAGE.--A firm, elastic tissue; gristle. From this material many
of the bones develop.

CATHETERIZE.--To empty the bladder by means of a tube-like instrument
which is introduced into the passage through which the urine normally
leaves the bladder.

CELL.--One of the microscopical structural units which make up our
bodies.

CELL-DIVISION.--The process by which a single cell becomes two cells.

CEREBRUM.--The portion of the brain which is the seat of mental
activity.

CHORIONIC MEMBRANE.--The outermost of the two membranes which
surround the embryo.

CHROMATIN.--A substance within the nucleus of a cell which has a
special affinity for certain staining agents.

CHROMOSOMES.--One of the pieces into which the chromatin is broken
during the act of cell-division.

CLINICAL.--Pertaining to the sick-bed.

COLOSTRUM.--The fluid secreted by the breasts during pregnancy and
for two or three days after the birth of the child.

CONTRACTION.--The act by which the muscle fibers of the uterus become
shorter and press upon its contents.

CURETTAGE.--Scraping out the lining of the uterus.

DELIVERY.--The birth of the child.

DIAGNOSIS.--The determination of either normal or abnormal states of
the body.

DIAPHRAGM.--The muscular partition between the chest and the abdomen.

DIETETIC.--Pertaining to the diet.

DUCT.--A tube which conveys the secretion from a gland.

EMBRYO.--The offspring before it has assumed the distinctive form and
structure of the parent.

ENEMA.--A quantity of fluid injected into the rectum.

ENGAGEMENT.--The entrance of the fetus into the birth-canal.

ETHNOLOGY.--The science which deals with the character, customs, and
institutions of races of men.

EUGENICS.--The science which deals with the improvement of the human
race by better breeding. (Davenport.)

EXCRETION.--Waste substance thrown off from the body.

FEBRILE.--Attended with fever.

FETUS.--The unborn child after the third month of development.

FOOD-STUFF.--Anything used for the sustenance of man.

FUNCTION.--The discharge of its duty by any organ of the body.

GASTRIC JUICE.--The digestive fluid secreted by the wall of the
stomach.

GERMINAL CELLS.--The structural units from which a new individual
takes origin. The cell contributed by the mother is called an egg-
cell or ovum; that contributed by the father, a spermatozoon.

GESTATION.--Same as pregnancy.

GLAND.--An organ which separates certain substances from the blood,
and pours out a material, usually fluid, peculiar to itself.

HYGIENE.--That department of medical knowledge which relates to the
preservation of health; sanitary science.

INANITION.--The condition which results from insufficient
nourishment.

INFECTION.--A disease due to bacteria.

INTESTINE.--The bowels; the long membranous tube extending from the
stomach to the rectum.

INVOLUTION.--The process by which the uterus returns after child-
birth to its former size and position.

LACTATION.--The secretion of milk.

LIGAMENT.--A band of tissue serving to bind one part of the body to
another.

LIGATURE.--Anything that serves for tying a blood-vessel.

LOCHIA.--The discharge continuing for several weeks after the birth
of a child.

LOTION.--Any liquid holding in solution medicinal substances intended
for application to the skin.

LUNAR MONTH.--A month of twenty-eight days.

MAMMAL.--The highest order of animal, namely, one which suckles its
young.

MAMMARY.--Relating to the breast.

MASTICATION.--The act of chewing.

MENOPAUSE.--The permanent abolishment of the menstrual process, which
generally occurs between the 45th and the 50th years.

MICRO-ORGANISMS.--Bacteria and other living agents of disease which
are visible only with the aid of the microscope.

MISCARRIAGE.--The termination of pregnancy prior to the seventh
month.

MUCOUS MEMBRANE.--The lining of certain cavities of the body, such as
the mouth, stomach, intestine, uterus, etc.

MUCUS.--The material manufactured by the glands in a mucous membrane.

MUSCLE-FIBERS.--The muscle-cells.

NARCOTICS.--Drugs which produce sleep.

NITROGEN.--One of the chemical elements.

NUCLEUS.--A clearly defined area found in every cell which seems to
be its seat of government.

OBSTETRICS.--The branch of medicine which deals with the treatment
and care of women during pregnancy and child-birth.

OVARY.--The organ which contains the egg-cells or ova.

OVIDUCTS.--Two tubes, each of which leads from the neighborhood of
one of the ovaries; both terminate in the uterus.

OVUM.--An egg: the cell contributed by the mother to her offspring.

OXYGEN.--One of the chemical elements.

PATHOLOGY.--The branch of medicine which deals with the altered
structure and activity of diseased organs.

PEPSIN.--A ferment found in the digestive juice secreted by the
stomach.

PELVIC FLOOR.--The muscles, ligaments, and other tissues which form
the bottom of the basin inclosed between the hips.

PELVIS.--The bony ring formed chiefly by the hip bones. Posteriorly
the ring is completed by the sacrum.

PERINEUM.--The region extending backward from the outlet of the
vagina to the rectum; it is the most essential part of the pelvic
floor.

PHYSIOLOGY.--Scientific knowledge of the manner in which the various
parts of the body perform their duties.

PIGMENT.--Any coloring matter.

PLACENTA.--The organ through which the communication between the
mother and the offspring is established. One of its surfaces is
attached to the wall of the uterus; at about the middle point of the
other surface the umbilical cord takes its origin.

PRENATAL.--Pertaining to the period before birth.

PROTEIN.--A food-stuff which is distinguished by the fact that it
contains nitrogen and is a tissue builder.

PROTOPLASM.--The living substance in the cells which compose our
bodies.

PUBERTY.--Sexual maturity in human beings.

PUBIC BONES.--The part of the pelvis which forms an arch in front of
the bladder.

PUERPERIUM.--The same as the lying-in period.

RETINA.--The innermost coat of the eye-ball and the one which
receives visual impressions.

RICKETS.--A disease of infancy characterized by softening of the
bones.

SECRETION.--The product of the activity of a gland.