I’ve been reading history stuff again. This time it’s about
feeding babies in 1839. I found the
following bit of information in The Guide for Mothers and
Nurses in the Management of Young Children, by Caleb Ticknor, A.M., M.D.
The influence of the
mind upon the body is well exemplified in the case of nursing women; the milk
always becoming deranged and being rendered unfit for nutrition when the mind
is any way disturbed. There are frequent instances of infants being seized with
convulsions after sucking an enraged nurse; and cases are not wanting where they
have been destroyed by violent inflammations from the same cause. An infant of
a year old, while he sucked milk from an enraged mother, on a sudden was seized
with a fatal bleeding, and died; and infants at the breast in a short time pine
away if the nurse be affected with grievous care.
I don’t normally make personal comments about the articles I
post here, but I can’t help myself in this case. Wow! I know how I felt after
my daughter was born. Emotional, in a word. And yes, I did get angry a couple
times, hormones being what they are. Can you imagine the pressure on a new
mother hearing this from her mother/sister/husband/mother-in-law/neighbor/or whoever?
“Abigail! Don’t get enraged! You’ll derange your milk and kill
the baby with fatal bleeding!”
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